I (35m) just walking aimlessly around Tesco with my newborn twins. Somebody sees a dummy on the floor and asks me if it’s mine?

I reply ‘no, it’s too small to be mine but it might belong to one of the babies’ classic dad joke.

No-one laughs, couldn’t believe it. I ask you, UK, has the country gone to the dogs?

I’m in a small town in the U.S.A that gets a lot of visitors from the UK, mostly due to an obscure tragedy that occurred there. It’s a general rule in my town that if a British person walks by, they have a very pleasant scent. It’s different for each individual, but I would describe it as almost floral, maybe with a hint of citrus and oakwood. Most are also fairly respectful and do not talk to the locals about the tragedy; as it is a very sensitive issue in this town. Can anyone from across the pond actually verify that this is true?

Been thinking of a few of these recently that get on my tits.

"Money talks, wealth whispers. The truly rich drive battered old Landrovers."

Someone making a joke about only millionaires can afford Lurpac. See also, someone moaning about the price of Freddos. Oh and moaning about Cadbury chocolate tasting bad since they changed the recipe.

"The left think the BBC is too right-wing, and the right think it's too left-wing, so they just be doing something right."

"It was just the one swan actually" Do we need to have the same fucking Hot Fuzz quotes on every post? See also, clean shirt Peep Show.

Im 22 year old woman and was brought up never asking (nor really caring about) how much someone earns. I’ve now been on two first dates in the last few months and the guy has outright asked how much I earn. Is this just more accepted now?

I think tiger bread is amazing but wouldn't use it for a burger

Are hours worse/better? Any special perks from being airside? Any interesting stories?

I've just come out of church and the priest was appealing for the congregation to oppose it and message our local MP. Personally I'm neither for or against it as I've have not been affected by it personally. If I have to have an opinion on it I would say each to their own, depending on how sick/ill they're.

About 10 or 15 years back, things were going really badly at work and I was drinking too much. While I'm certainly not posh, I could tell I was resented at my local pub in south-east London but I'd go there anyway to play pool and down a few pints after work some nights.

One Friday night I had one too many and ended up agreeing to back to the flat of some Rastafarian geezer I'd been playing pool with, along with a few others.

Anyway, we went back to his house and it was a really nice place on three levels, probably worth more than £1m. I was wandering about and then I realised all the pictures were of a white family.

Suddenly it dawned on me that this was not his house. I made my excuses and said I needed to sleep because I was working the next day.

He then angrily demanded that he drive me home. I got in the car and he drove at 60mph down residential streets. It was terrifying.

I dread to think where I'd be now if that house was raided when I was there.

I once got £20 for eating 3 spoonfuls of wet cat food when I was like 13, the smell and texture still makes me feel sick if I have to feed the neighbours cat

I feel like increasingly it is getting harder to get hold of anyone at almost any large company..

It started with phone calls…we have to get through a 3-4 minute list of options followed by inputting personal data via a keypad..

Website chat, was great when it came out, but now feels like you have to work out how to get through chatbots twisty maze to get through to an actual agent.

And now I feel like more and more it is difficult to find an actual email address on a website.. no submission forms, instead try to get you to read their faq, or post a question in the hope someone (a typically unpaid user of the same service or product) will come to your assistance…

I also can’t stand no_reply@ email addresses

Anyone else finding this??

My mum's family are Protestant and my dad's side are Catholic.

Neither my mum nor my dad are religious, but their parents were, so there was a kind of division. My mum got married in a Catholic church but her mum was livid because "you can never trust a Catholic".

Anyway, I'm about 5 or 6 and sitting in the back of the car and I shouted "Nana! Nana! Nana! Nana! Nana! Nana! Nana!" until my nana turned around and said "Yes son, what is it?"

I said, "Why does my other nana not like you? Are you really a snake?"

There was a deathly silence in the car for the rest of the journey.

Let's face it, we're going to be having lots of housing built over the UK in the next few years. There's even a site next to our home that is farmland to be turned into 50 or 60 houses soon, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

So my question is, what do people actually think of the building works? Is there any part of it that scares you, or are you happy that it's going ahead and why?

I'd particularly like to hear from people that work within or close proximity with local planning and councils, or people that have planned, ongoing or newly built developments next to them.

Thanks!

Help with extremely loud autistic neighbours and threatened with violence - Westminster council, England

Before I start I'd like to say I am extremely sympathetic and understand the difficulty the kids and mother in the flat below us are going through. That being said the past six weeks have been hell ever since these new neighbours moved in the parents. Three autistic children who don’t stop making extremely loud screaming and howling noises from the moment they wake up until they fall asleep (and they don’t sleep much). I live with my elderly grandmother who is vulnerable, two parents and 2 younger brothers. We have missed work and school because of lack of sleep, been woken up at 2,3,4 am in the past to nothing but extremely loud screaming and banging on my wall, headphones and earplugs dont do anything. Other neighbours are also frustrated and may have been banging back on their walls as they are not aware of the situation but today the mother of the children came up today she came to our door at 8 am, screaming at us to stop banging. we calmly explained it was not us. We also suspect that she is banging herself and have videos of banging noises moving around the floors of our house. She then proceeded to threaten my family saying “I will get my brothers on you” and then swore repeatedly at my mother. She also said that the council were going to get us evicted (we have been here 20 years with no issues) because the block has many disabled residents (also not true). I have all of this on video and called the police straight after. We have made the council aware of the situation previously and they are taking forever to do anything, whether it is sound proofing the house or moving them to a more suitable accommodation. We have also spoken to our councillor but this has escalated due to her behaviour towards my mother. Us and multiple neighbours have made complaints to the council and the response is slow, more ridiculous as the family are in temporary accommodation. I really do sympathise with the children but why should we suffer with no sleep which could affect our jobs and livelihoods so drastically. Is it possible to take legal action against the council for lack of due care and negligence, because we have also had issue with an ASBO neighbour who was meant to be evicted but it never materialised? I just need some help please.

Apparently my stepdad tells me in the 70s 80s and 90s if you were to drive through the countryside your windshield would be filled with splattered bugs and flys. Ive driven to my local gym hundreds of times in the countryside with tall hedges on the side of the road spanning for miles and not encountered any splats. I understand it’s probably due to the things we spray on the fields but is the population of bugs in a decline? And when do you think this started?

My husband has always shaken hands with his Dad and brothers when saying hello or goodbye when we meet up. We recently came to the realisation that although they do this, he will hug other male family members, like uncles and cousins. His Dad is quite traditional and shakes hands with all the males in the family.

So, do you hug the other males in your family?

Or do you go with a handshake or another greeting or farewell?

With eating out getting more expensive I'm sick of all these extra fees. I like to give tips not a expected extra fee that I dont have to pay. Do the waiters actually get to share the service charges?

Hi there!

This is a question for both the neurodivergant and neurotypical people on the sub.

I'm an autistic dude who also suffers from ADHD and PTSD and am considering getting one of the sunflower lanyards (or varients of) to put somewhere on my backpack just to let people know if I'm a bit off or whatever there's a reason. Plus while I'm unable to take public transport alone rn, in the future if I'm able, I've heard they're good for letting bus drivers or airport staff or whoever know you might need a bit of extra guidance.

That being said I'm really interested in hearing peoples experiences with them.

Sunflower peeps:

• Do you find they're worth it?
• Have you had positive experiences because of the lanyard/whatever varient you use?
• Any negative experiences?

Non sunflower peeps:

• Have you had any noteworthy interactions whether noticing the other person has a sunflower lanyard/whatever made any kind of difference?
• Are you a retail worker or transport/airport/train worker who frequently sees the lanyards?
• Do you think it's helpful?
• Is it something you recognise or is/isn't widely known?

Would just love anyones input before I commit!

I (30,F) go horse riding with friends and occasionally there’s a 13 year old girl that comes with us, without her parents. She’s always the youngest of the bunch that regularly ride together.

She’s a really sweet kid and I’ve been told her parents don’t have a lot of money. She’s been on about wanting this phone mount to film her rides for the 2 months I’ve known her. The thing is like a tenner so I assume the parents haven’t got the cash for it.

If I bought it for her as a gift, without having ever spoken to or knowing her parents, is that weird? I don’t want them to freak out that some strange lady they don’t know is giving their kid presents and get accused of being some weirdo.

I’m too autistic to know what’s appropriate, thoughts please?

I'm alone and bored on this fine Sunday afternoon and love hearing about stories so I'd love to hear about anything that has happened to you at amy point last year or so far this year. Thanks in advance for your submissions and hope you're all having a great weekend.

My partner try and outdo each other for a bit of fun with stupid Easter eggs each year. I'm coming up short this year and she is the reigning champion.

The more bizarre the better

I got the following message from someone I know in the south of England, and I don't know what legal advice to give them so I thought I'd throw it to a really wide audience:

"I work in a pub, registered self-employed, but we only get £10 per hour. We've asked our boss for 2 years for more money but she tells us there's not enough. However, my wages have been paid into my account from the pub's account. I have text message evidence of how many hours I've worked every week. But surely she can't run a whole pub without declaring expenses including staff wages? She says it's "impossible" to pay us more money and keep the pub going. I want the pub to keep going so I don't want it to be closed by force. The pub serves as a community base. But what official force can I use to get her to pay us all at least a minimum wage? "

Does anyone know what I should tell them?

This is my problem basically. Just not very clever.

In view of tariffs, increase in national insurance and business rates how are you feeling today in running a business.

Probably the toughest time since COVID. What changes if any are you having to make?

Hi Ive been a barber for 10 years I own my own small shop in my town and business is thriving, I’ve never turned down kids as clients, I love that people recommend me for doing kids cuts for nervous kids or first timers, but more recently whenever I see a child is booked in I get an overwhelming sense of anxiety the day before, I understand this is normal but it makes me want to cancel them. Does anyone have any advice at all?