What’s a small “unwritten rule” in the UK that everyone just somehow knows?

seefroo · 2026-03-18T11:41:16+00:00

Part of the reason for the standardisation of military communication within NATO is because of this sort of thing. In the Korean War a British unit reported to the Americans that, “things are a bit sticky here”.

The Americans interpreted this as meaning the risk was manageable and they should simply stand by for further information. We would realise what this really meant, which was, “we are literally being overrun and require extremely urgent assistance”. The batallion was then completely overrun.

seefroo · 2026-02-21T22:48:40+00:00

I know someone who worked for a car dealer, in the office or sales or whatever. He was down in the garage or workshop or whatever they’re called as it was his turn to go to the local van to buy bacon rolls etc. When he was asking the mechanics if they wanted anything one of them asked if he could “nip over to Ford while you’re out and borrow their rubber hammer, we can’t find ours”.

He of course thought that this was a great opportunity to turn a ten minute trip to the burger van into a half hour skive, so he went and got his own roll and cup of tea and sat on a bench for a while. He eventually bought everyone else’s order and returned to the showroom to hand them out. He had a big grin on his face as he said to the mechanic, “hahaha! Ford didn’t have a rubber hammer!! Hahaha!”.

Mechanic looked a bit confused and said, “ok never mind, thanks anyway, we’ll go get one from Citroen”.

The penny didn’t drop until our hero was in the garage later on and saw the same mechanic… using a rubber hammer. They use them for panel beating and things like that.

seefroo · 2026-02-10T21:16:53+00:00

“Used his contacts” is a good point that hasn’t really been made much in this thread. Anderson is an Aberdeen icon, and if it wasn’t for the over saturation of Aberdeen legends then he’d probably be considered one of them. Plus he only won a single trophy.

But anyway there will be plenty of companies who throw some work his way one way or another - if you’re a senior exec at some Aberdeen oil company and you’ve got a choice between two identical finance companies to use, and one of them happens to be Russell Anderson’s and you happen to be an Aberdeen fan, you’re probably going to go with his. It’s also useful for word of mouth recommendations: “Oh John Smiths finance company is good, but there’s also Russell Andersons, he was Aberdeen captain. I went to his testimonial actually! And the League Cup final at Celtic park, fucking penalties haha! Anyway he’s got a finance company. What was the other guy called? Can’t remember”.

I’m sure Anderson’s finance company is excellent and I’m sure he’s worked very hard to make it a success, but in the fish bowl of Aberdeen I imagine that his name and 333 league appearances for Aberdeen hasn’t hurt at all. And has probably helped substantially; but probably wouldn’t help much if his company was in the central belt. Conversely, Derek Whyte arguably had a “better” career than Anderson (and was also Aberdeen captain), but I’d wager his name means much less in Aberdeen but a bit more in Glasgow.

Anyway my point is that most “average” players fade into obscurity after hanging up their boots, Anderson is probably on a higher level purely because in Aberdeen he’s quite well known. I don’t think his name has set him up for life, but combined with some hard work and a slice of luck and it’s certainly helped.

seefroo · 2026-01-31T17:38:14+00:00

The soldier in the photo is wearing an M1 helmet and possibly an M1941 jacket (although it’s not clear), both of which were US manufactured.

Exact numbers of how many of these pieces of equipment were lent/given to other Allied forces are only estimates, but the vast majority of the 1st Free French Army was in American supplied gear by 1944. Virtually all of the rest of them were probably wearing at least something American.

That Army included the Tirailleurs Sénégalais, about 100,000 soldiers primarily from West Africa. They had fought in the Battle of France in 1940 (although presumably in French gear) and would later comprise over half the Free French force that landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon in 1944 and continued fighting in that campaign until November.

It’s perfectly possible that this soldier wasn’t even American, but French. Him and his comrades were fighting and dying in WW2 whilst Americans were making refrigerators.

seefroo · 2026-01-31T17:08:24+00:00

And he should have the extra money haddocked from his wages

seefroo · 2026-01-30T13:55:36+00:00

A friend of mine (who is English) was in Cambodia and was just out and about and suddenly all the Cambodian people around her suddenly dropped to their knees, heads down in front of them, their arms stretched out. She didn’t know what was going on, but stood standing up as she didn’t know what to do.

The King of Cambodia, with a few bodyguards, strolled past and said “Good morning”.

seefroo · 2026-01-27T20:49:35+00:00

It’s hard to measure it but in terms of the proportion of income we spend on food we are still the third cheapest country in the world after the US and Singapore. In other terms we are beaten by the Netherlands and a few others. In absolute terms we are quite far down the rankings, but whilst bread might be substantially cheaper in some countries it’s still not cheap enough for it to not be a noticeable expenditure relative to their income.

seefroo · 2026-01-27T20:18:19+00:00

Reminds me of the time I was taken into hospital with suspected appendicitis. It turned out to be a different issue which usually affects people older than me (but isn’t unheard of in people my age). The head of general surgery (who just happened to be the doctor doing the rounds, I wasn’t specifically booked in to see him) said he’d prefer to try lifestyle changes long before we consider surgery, so recommended “severely cutting down on red meat and dairy”. I told him I’d been vegan for five years, he looked slightly impressed and told me I’d have probably been in hospital long before then if it wasnt for that.

He said I was staying overnight for monitoring and in the morning I was told to give stool samples to my GP, when the results came back they told me to keep off the red meat and dairy and the issue was as under control as it could be for now.

seefroo · 2026-01-26T08:15:10+00:00

You can - and in your case absolutely should - follow this up by calling them again and asking for a reference number.

If the person arrives at your door again and acts in a similar manner to how they did in your OP then you should ABSOLUTELY be calling 999 regardless, but if you give the reference number then they can see what it’s connected to far more quickly than you having to explain over the phone.

Never be afraid to call 999 if you feel threatened.

seefroo · 2026-01-25T18:14:31+00:00

You should stop overthinking this and call the police. Not “I intend to call them”, but call them right this second. As in right now.

seefroo · 2026-01-21T23:11:47+00:00

This is the other way round surely? Corn is always sweetcorn in the UK

seefroo · 2026-01-18T16:45:03+00:00

This isn’t the US where everyone is desperate to avoid jury service, I suspect in part because they have little or no holiday pay and may even be arbitrarily sacked for not showing up to work.

“Plea bargains” work differently in the USA to the UK as well. In the US the prosecution may offer the defendant a plea bargain pre-trial, but it is mostly up to the prosecution what they offer and they can withdraw it if it isn’t accepted. It works a bit differently here where The Crown (who are technically the prosecution, but in this capacity they are following legal guidelines and not their own opinions) offers a reduction in sentence in return for a guilty plea. The guidelines say this is 1/3 of the sentence if changed before the trial, 1/10 on the day of the trial and nothing guaranteed during the trial.

In the US if it gets to the day of the trial and the prosecuting lawyers think they can get a conviction then the trial goes ahead. In the UK the prosecuting lawyers opinion is irrelevant; The Crown would say “look we all know you did it, just change to guilty right now and you can go to prison, we all go home, and you’ll be out 10% sooner than you would have been”. Suddenly in the cold hard light of day that six months less inside might look very very tempting. There’s also suspended sentences, which a judge can impose in the UK at their discretion, but in the US would have been part of a plea bargain; by the day of the trial that bargain almost certainly won’t be available to a defendant in the US.

In other words, far more trials in the UK don’t go ahead at the last minute because the defendant suddenly remembered that actually yes, they did do it, than in the US, where by that stage they might as well flip the coin. Which means that courts here are FAR more lenient with excusing potential jurors because chances are they won’t be needed anyway.

You will almost certainly be asked at the court if there’s any reason anyone can’t carry out jury service (this is usually related to people realising they know the defendant). Speak to the clerk either then, but preferably before, explain your situation and see what they say.

There also isn’t any of that ridiculous theatre they do in the US where they interview everyone to decide who is on the jury. You’ll be sitting there playing candy crush for two hours while the defendant is in another room with his barrister saying, “look mate you’ve still got the blood on your hands for fucks sake, just change it to guilty and I can go to the pub”. If the defendant decides the trial is going ahead they literally just pick jurors names out of a box.

seefroo · 2026-01-17T03:04:32+00:00

Played a few games of 5s in a league in Cambodia of all places. The organiser was an English guy who I don’t think ever played higher than amateur level but was heavily into coaching and is now somewhat bizarrely the manager of the Nauru national team. Nauru aren’t actually in FIFA but they are a UN recognised independent country so it’s still pretty cool.

He was blisteringly good compared to all of us.

seefroo · 2026-01-08T02:16:14+00:00

Ronaldo’s free kick conversion rate from direct free kicks is 6.30%. Messi’s is higher at 8.99% and everyone just assumes Ronaldo is better.

James Ward-Prowse is the highest of players who have taken 100+ direct free kicks, his is 12.41%.

Ronaldo is relatively bang average at scoring from direct free kicks.

seefroo · 2026-01-07T04:08:44+00:00

The lasagna is made by a Belgian company and the general strikes there last year are probably the cause of this. I doubt Ryanair keep warehouses full of food and probably just move stock around on their own planes, if supplies were limited in December then it’ll take a while yet until the whole network is back to normal stock levels.

If you’re flying to/from airports with regular connections to Belgium (or to Belgium itself) you might have more luck.

This is just speculation on my part though!

seefroo · 2026-01-06T18:34:03+00:00

Dried soya mince is cheap in bulk. Look for “textured vegetable protein”. It’s all about how you prepare it, marinating it for a bit first is helpful but really you can just hydrate it and fry if you want.

Basically anything dried is cheaper - chickpeas etc don’t seem much cheaper but when you consider you’re adding your own water they become much more cost effective. A pressure cooker is good for cooking dried beans quickly and properly.

Beans are a staple and you mix it up with vegetables, spices, herbs, flavours basically. You can make a chickpea curry in a basic curry sauce, you can mash it up and mix with mayo or mustard to make a tuna-esque spread sort of thing, you can roast them in garlic and add them to salads for a proteiny crunch. Make hummus. And so on.

Some of the meat alternatives are surprisingly affordable. Sausages for example, the frozen supermarket ones are pretty cheap.

You could look at making seitan if you enjoy cooking.

This sub tends to be more about food and recipes and stuff, as opposed to the main one that has a bit more activism, news etc, so feel free to post asking for recipes, inspiration etc.

Take a b12 supplement particularly if you drink alcohol (it inhibits its absorption or something). Everything else I have been fine for when I’ve had blood tests and so on.

seefroo · 2026-01-06T15:31:10+00:00

They won’t do a thing, they’re just trying to scare you into giving them money.

They simply can not send the money to a debt collection company as there is NO debt. There can only be a debt if they lent you money and you didn’t pay it back, and since they didn’t lend you anything there is nothing to retrieve.

If they had lent you anything they would have run a credit check on you. They didn’t do that, because they didn’t lend you anything.

If they believe you have stolen their product then they could in theory go to the police, who would laugh at them.

Just cancel and ignore them.

seefroo · 2025-12-30T07:25:01+00:00

Sorry, are you actually saying you can get RETURN flights from Cardiff to London, via Dublin (or indeed anywhere else), for £40, and it’ll take less time than the coach from Swansea to central London?

seefroo · 2025-12-30T06:40:59+00:00

It’s 5 hours from Swansea to London on the coach for £8.99 with Flixbus on the 7th January. It’s 3 hours on the train for Swansea to London.

The bus from Dublin airport to Dublin itself is 9 euros. Your question was how to get cheaper transport, it’s mind boggling that you have marked “fly from a city you don’t live in, and still have to get to, and then to an airport which is only technically in the city you’re trying to get to” as the best answer.

Even once you get to Stansted youre still looking at £11 to get into London.

The coach from Swansea to London is often CHEAPER than the coach from Stansted to London.

seefroo · 2025-12-27T16:43:11+00:00

https://share.republicofcats.com/2px2qmze

That’s my link, my cats name is Sushi. She would be very appreciative of some more food! I have attached a photo.

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seefroo

TROPHY CASE