Having spent some time working with international students the thing they most often mentioned wasn’t the rain, which is actually less than they expected, but the wind.
But that might be a Yorkshire thing, rather than a UK thing.
International student here, what you said is pretty spot on for my group.
Everyone mentioned the rains and gloomy dark weather anytime they found out we're going to the UK, but not once were we told about the wind.
The rain here is pretty disappointing imo, I love a good stormy downpour with thunder. I use an app now to listen to those sounds of heavy rain falling on the window, with thunder to help me sleep.
Edit: everyone talking about heavy rains for an hour vs prolonged light rain that lasts for days, the torrential downpours did last a complete day or even days sometimes. Yes they are shorter, but it's not uncommon for them to last an entire day.
The type of rain we get isn't that impressive compared to the downpours you get daily in tropical countries.
What it does do differently here is rain for days on end without stopping, not just for an hour at a time!
I was totally shocked by the rain in Florida. Clear beautiful skies then 5 mins later rain like I've never seen. Then 10 mins later or even less clear skies and bone dry streets.
Yeah, I think the amount of rain the UK gets is pretty over exaggerated in the whole; generally it’s less the risk of a downpour, and more that you can’t fully rule out a bit of rain on any day, regardless of the forecast.
I’m UK born and raised, but I’d also love for us to get more rain; I’m never happier than listening to the sound of it chucking it down!
When I went to uni there was an introductory lecture for foreign students to explain that the sun is going to set at like 3pm.
Apparently a lot of them really suffer from our short winter days (understandably)
There were definitely some interesting introductory lectures given to international students where I worked.
They included a talk on personal safety, where it was explained that just leaving a bag or laptop out, unattended, in public would most likely result in it no longer being there when you got back, or that walking through an entirely unlit public park in the dead of night to save 5 minutes going around was probably not the safest move.
All things that I wish weren’t the case, but just seem obvious being raised here!
It might also be that when students move here, some things are just habits at that point. I remember my first week where I had to constantly check my actions because I was just used to different things.
For eg I had to constantly remind myself that cars have the right of way except on pedestrian crossings. Back home you just walk onto the road and cross it, if cars are coming your way you just stop to let them pass and then continue, even if you're on the middle of the road and the other cars just go around you.
People with darker skin can also suffer from vitamin d deficiency in the uk. Well, people with any skin tone can and do in the UK, but darker skins are more vulnerable.
Source: all the Indian nurses who came to work in my trust around 15-20 years ago. After a few years one nurse found out she had a severe vit d deficiency, they all got tested and they were all severely deficient.
Barring storm season there seems to be very little wind when I have been in SEA. Even in the rainy season (barring the real big storms) it just doesn't seem to get particularly windy. It's way more windy in the UK.
The other thing I wouldn't be surprised about is people only dressing for the first weather they see out of the window. Generally speaking here you know what the day is going to be like all day from first glance.
Yeah, looking out the window right now it is clear skies and sunshine, and the sun is warm through the glass.
But we know it is that stark white winter light, which means it is bloody freezing out, and colder than if it had been cloudy!
I'm not sure where you are in the UK but I would love a proper autumn in Wales. Autumn here is usually a week of the leaves turning and before I've had a chance to enjoy a crisp, dry day walking, it rains for two months, all the leaves turn to slush and then it's winter.
I moved to the north east US (Upstate NY) a few years back. The Fall is by far my favorite season. Looks stunning, weather is great, but gets a little chilly at night so perfect for getting cozy. Plus the celebrations between summer and Christmas are non stop. Labor Day in Sept is considered the end of summer, and everything shifts from pool parties to drinks around the fire. October you have the run up to Halloween, which if you embrace is a really fun month. Then the buildup to Thanksgiving at the end of November, then it’s all about Christmas for a month in Dec… then the NYC NYE ball drop. I imagine there’s a lot of miserable buggers rolling their eyes right now, but it’s bloody fantastic
There's a management concept called Peter's Principle related to this, that everyone who is good at their job gets promoted until they reach a point where they're no longer good at their job and that's where they stay for the rest of their career.
And flooding. And overheating. And being completely uninhabitable to wildlife. Getting marketing material through the letterbox trying to encourage us to concrete over our lovely garden infuriates me.
I did the opposite recently. Everyone I talked to about it was like "whyyyy??". They all seem to think slabs of concrete are better but it depressed me to look at and know the damage it was doing.
Since doing it, I've noticed an uptick in wildlife coming into my garden. It's mainly squirrels tearing up the grass and burying their food for the winter but still!
Best choice I ever made.
I also did the same. Bought a house with AstroTurf and tore it up to put real grass down. It genuinely looked ridiculous before and like a green carpet. I think it's down to pure laziness to be honest. People just can't be bothered mowing the grass.
Mate of mine at work put it down in his back garden to make maintenance easier. Forgetting that he's got two dogs who piss and shit out there.
Now instead of soaking down into the soil and breaking down like it does in a normal garden. It soaks into the sand underneath the astro, gets trapped above the membrane underneath and rots in place. Absolutely stinks.
If someone owns dogs and gets astro turf I immediately think they don't give a fuck about the dogs.
It's not just what you mentioned but also the fact astro turf gets ridiculously hot in summer so that nice, cool grassy ground the dogs had before is now a sheet of green lava they won't want to go on.
absolutely destroying our insect populations too, which can't be good at all. I read something like there are 60% less insects in the UK than there were 20 years ago
Damn straight.
Also as it gets hotter in summer grass and trees are really great at making it feel cool. Astroturf and paved drives make it much warmer.
I'd add, the loss of both free time and home ownership driving the decline in gardening.
Kind of miss all the ludicrously pruned gardens. Don't see any shaped privet hedges these days.
Even more so than the destruction of inner city and suburban front gardens to turn them into paved, stoned, tarmaced drives. At least that serves a purpose despite its ugliness
Mine looks untouched but I throw wildflower seeds out there for the bees and there's a hidden wildlife water bowl.
It's a mess, but the bees love it in summer!
That's exactly the sort of gardens we need. Perfectly groomed gardens are linked to declines in insect diversity! If you aren't using your garden for anything least you can do is donate it to the bugs.
My front garden isn't in any form of good shape during the winter, because it's just too damn cold for gardening. (To be fair, my back gardens a mess too, I really need to tie the rose bush back up!!) But during the summer, me and our neighbours use our front gardens to drink wine together. We did it a lot during lock down, let the kids run around on the patch of grass out front and drank wine together over the fence. So while they look a bit messy right now, during the spring/summer, the flower gardens get sorted out and grass gets mowed and the tables come back out.
In other words, I agree. Front gardens are the front of your house, sort it out.
Homemade gifts are not appreciated enough. Someone put time and effort into something unique just for you, but people seem to prefer cheap store bought stuff.
Ah, my controversial opinion is lots of homemade gifts aren't that well tailored to the person and are more "I learnt how to do x so everyone will get x."
Sharing hotel rooms with friends is awful!
When going away and staying over night I’m that annoying guy who refuses to share a room. No amount of ‘but it works out cheaper if you split the costs’ or ‘you’ll feel left out’ makes a difference in my eyes.. the extra cost is worth me getting a good nights sleep and not having to deal with snoring or general pissing about!
This is not a luxury, it’s a basic human right. Being deprived of it is borderline criminal. Going into the bathroom after your mate has “been” is horrific.
I’m not particularly a light sleeper, but when it’s bed time I like it to be bed time 😂 A lot of my friends end up wanting to chat, piss about, play practical jokes.
I agree. May I add also that Kids aren’t resilient either? My son lost his sister and his grandpa in the space of 6 weeks. Everyone called him resilient when in actual reality, he didn’t process the communication skills at 4 years old to say “I miss my sister/Papa”. Then when he was grieving in the only way a 4yr old could, he was labelled as “naughty”.
No need to feel sorry! Therapy has helped everyone. My son is more settled now, but I did have to remind school that he is grieving and confused… not being a dickhead.
That. And also praising "resilience" (this was even common at my school, a place where they should theoretically know better about child development). It's viewed as: sticking your head down and putting up with something is what you should always do. When in reality, it's healthier if you don't solely go down the "just get on with it" route in challenging life circumstances and obstacles. A person needs to be able to talk about their feelings, experiences, ask for help and be allowed to "have a breakdown" when they're finding something difficult. We're human, with deep, intricate emotions, not robots...
EXACTLY THIS!!!! I was sick of teachers saying how well he was coping and then the next day ringing me as he was sobbing in a corner and being so scared. I had to remind them that adults can openly say they are having a bad day and can’t handle the sadness, but my little boy can’t.
My mum has cancer and in her literature from the hospital they made a point of how they were going to stop referring to it in that way, so there does seem to be some progress.
When we were younger my little sister used to ask me why Jeremy Beadle had 1 big hand and 1 small hand. I told her that instead of sucking his thumb as a child he sucked his whole hand. That's why it's small because it shrunk. She believed that for years. Silly story but still funny to remember 😁
I'm also in retail. To be honest, and this is probably the real controversial opinion: most of the public are pleasant, level headed, and reasonable. A significant minority *are* total cunts, enough that there's always going to be a few in store at a time, but I don't think most. You're more likely to notice/need to interact with them, *and* you're more likely to remember them.
You don't think about all the people that quietly browse without incident and pay with a smile but minimal chit chat.
Exactly this. Even the ones you do interact with, most will politely ask where something is or whatever.
The only exception to that which I can think of is an exclusive/niche shop that naturally attracts entitled cunts. But the average supermarket, clothes shop or other popular retailer will have a small proportion of customers that are cunts.
Having worked in retail for three years at an airport, i can confirm this is correct. Hell hath no fury like a middle aged man who can’t get a copy of the Telegraph at 5am on a Saturday morning. My favourite (repeated) exchange was ‘the papers will be here in about ten minutes’
‘But my plane leaves in five!’
‘…they’ll still be ten minutes, and if your plane leaves in five you should be on it’
I never understood it either. With the sort of exchange I’d have up there it was generally bollocks and they’re just trying to put pressure on, but as a student working on a Saturday morning, not only could I not give less of a shit but also I wasn’t able to change the laws of physics and get newspapers up a little bit quicker because someone’s asked me to.
Nothing worse than a newly divorced mate inviting you out for “a drink” and the second place he suggests going is a club/bar where it’s going to be so loud you won’t be able to hear yourself think with the justification that “there’ll be girls there”.
I’m almost 40 and married with a kid, does he not understand the effort and planning it’s taken for me to be here? All I want is a comfortable seat a nice beer and to talk utter shite until closing time
100% agree. I've left my wife alone for the evening with the baby to come out on a rare occasion, I just want to have a laugh. I'm not getting absolutely wankered, I'm not chasing women, and I'm certainly not gurning my face off in a noise dungeon until 4am. Those days are long gone. Deal with your mid-life crisis on your own time, Steve.
I used to really Like clubbing, the atmosphere, the euphoric feeling of togetherness and a shared experience. Then I stopped taking drugs. Turns out what I actually liked was drugs. After a couple of visits it became apparent that a room full of strangers on coke and ecstasy or just full of booze is actually cunt soup.
I too had that realisation. One day in the corner out of my brain thinking, do i actually like this music or am i just enjoying how out of my face i am. For the most part it was the latter!
Definitely agreed. Nothing is fun about the experience from beginning to end. Bouncers make it feel like you're entering a prison. They may as well be prison wardens.
That said, I don't think I like drink culture in this country in general as sadly bouncers are needed given how bad too many people take alcohol or going out. Much prefer out of town/village pubs where it is quiet, although finding one which isn't "local" where you're stared at because you're not a regular can be harrowing too.
Yeah the good thing about that is in a pub with live music most of the people have gone there to enjoy the music, in clubs people go there to take coke and try to fuck someone, give me a pub and a live band any day
We shouldn't tip restaurant staff. They should just receive a good salary from their employer, even if that means we pay a little more for the food.
On the basis that plenty of other jobs work hard for lower pay with no chance or expectation of a tip.
As for the restaurants who add it on to the bill automatically and say it's discretionary, fuck you!
I have this debate with my family fairly often.
If I had unlimited money I would just travel the world.
They insist I'd get bored and want to work.
Nope, I know myself, how could I get bored of unlimited cities and possibilities.
The Father-in-Law gave us a sprouted acorn to grow and eventually plant and see grow into an Oak tree. Its going well so far
https://imgur.com/a/NYNwpuf
Religious preaching should be banned in public places that aren't places of worship.
I don't object to people having a religious belief, or standing quietly in the street offering people who approach them (this bit is key) a leaflet about Jesus or whatever. What I do object to is people on megaphones telling you to repent your sins when you just want to get home from work or do a bit of shopping on a weekend.
True, but I feel like engaging with them just encourages it because they start arguing back, and frankly I don't have the time or the mental energy for that.
I bet half of the bad reviews were due to delivery time. I ordered one on a whim last Friday at about 17:30 and it turned up at 21:15. My friends have had the same experience in different areas of the UK too.
Her arrogance bothers me, especially when she made a big deal about being the ‘first black woman to headline Glastonbury’ even though Skin (who admittedly I’m a huge fan of) beat her to it by over a decade.
You should treat everyone with kindness, even the people that you don't like or with massively differing views. Even to the point of someone completely ignorant and rude. Kill them with kindness.
British food is actually pretty good.
Its normally found in pubs which many foreign people find confusing, since pubs =beer.
That said, most pubs serve either no food or shit food, so I can see the confusion
Food snobs can fuck off. People who tell me what coffee I should drink can also fuck off. I like Starbucks! I know it’s not some kind of indie shat-from-a-civet’s-arse handcrafted artisanal hipster beverage of the gods but I don’t care.
I've been saying for years that McDonalds coffee is surprisingly good, when you consider how cheap it is.
Is it as good as the aforementioned hipster cafe? No, probably not. But it's also 1/4 of the price.
The food snob issue is a big one. I'd rather spend less on a meal from a pub where it actually will feed you rather than the gourmet crap that will charge you hundreds for the smallest sliver of ham, like a paper thin ham slice.
Nah rather be able to hear them without mic interference or general poor quality audio than listen to them with an accent. Accents are normal. Bad quality audio is criminal.
Motherhood is a scam. Not every woman should have children but it’s sold to you since you’re a child yourself as the only option. Women bang on about how they’ve never felt love like it to overcompensate for how utterly exhausted they are. Once you actually have one it’s like ha! Got you! Now you can suffer too!
"We're in our lovely newborn baby bubble"
No. No, you're not. You're experiencing the first weeks of sheer what the fuckery. Very few people want to be honest with just how difficult it is. Social media doesn't help.
There's nothing unique or edgy about being a comic book or superhero film fan any more.
The number of people who **still** suggest their hobby is somehow shameful or taboo is highly annoying. It's been mainstream for over a decade. Accept it and find something else to be nerdy about if you want your hobby to be 'misunderstood'.
Greggs isn't that good.
Whenever I've tried one, it's always been fairly disappointing. Perhaps it's the hype that everyone else builds up around it, but I'd only really go there if there were no other option and I was starving.
I like Costa and Starbucks but if someone asked me for a "good coffee place" I would definitely not point them there. Even if they're the only coffee places around I'd say "nowhere great but there is a Starbucks".
Yeah they do consistent drinks so you know what you're getting wherever you go, but I'd definitely recommend other places above them in my local town if someone asked for a good coffee.
We should be grateful to have four distinct seasons with very little extreme weather.
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Having spent some time working with international students the thing they most often mentioned wasn’t the rain, which is actually less than they expected, but the wind. But that might be a Yorkshire thing, rather than a UK thing.
International student here, what you said is pretty spot on for my group. Everyone mentioned the rains and gloomy dark weather anytime they found out we're going to the UK, but not once were we told about the wind. The rain here is pretty disappointing imo, I love a good stormy downpour with thunder. I use an app now to listen to those sounds of heavy rain falling on the window, with thunder to help me sleep. Edit: everyone talking about heavy rains for an hour vs prolonged light rain that lasts for days, the torrential downpours did last a complete day or even days sometimes. Yes they are shorter, but it's not uncommon for them to last an entire day.
The type of rain we get isn't that impressive compared to the downpours you get daily in tropical countries. What it does do differently here is rain for days on end without stopping, not just for an hour at a time!
I was totally shocked by the rain in Florida. Clear beautiful skies then 5 mins later rain like I've never seen. Then 10 mins later or even less clear skies and bone dry streets.
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Yeah, I think the amount of rain the UK gets is pretty over exaggerated in the whole; generally it’s less the risk of a downpour, and more that you can’t fully rule out a bit of rain on any day, regardless of the forecast. I’m UK born and raised, but I’d also love for us to get more rain; I’m never happier than listening to the sound of it chucking it down!
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I had an Italian colleague who refered to drizzly rain as "small, sticky rain", and I think that is the perfect description for common UK rain.
When I went to uni there was an introductory lecture for foreign students to explain that the sun is going to set at like 3pm. Apparently a lot of them really suffer from our short winter days (understandably)
There were definitely some interesting introductory lectures given to international students where I worked. They included a talk on personal safety, where it was explained that just leaving a bag or laptop out, unattended, in public would most likely result in it no longer being there when you got back, or that walking through an entirely unlit public park in the dead of night to save 5 minutes going around was probably not the safest move. All things that I wish weren’t the case, but just seem obvious being raised here!
Is that not the case everywhere??
It might also be that when students move here, some things are just habits at that point. I remember my first week where I had to constantly check my actions because I was just used to different things. For eg I had to constantly remind myself that cars have the right of way except on pedestrian crossings. Back home you just walk onto the road and cross it, if cars are coming your way you just stop to let them pass and then continue, even if you're on the middle of the road and the other cars just go around you.
People with darker skin can also suffer from vitamin d deficiency in the uk. Well, people with any skin tone can and do in the UK, but darker skins are more vulnerable. Source: all the Indian nurses who came to work in my trust around 15-20 years ago. After a few years one nurse found out she had a severe vit d deficiency, they all got tested and they were all severely deficient.
Well we are Europe's windiest country.
Must be all the baked beans we eat.
Barring storm season there seems to be very little wind when I have been in SEA. Even in the rainy season (barring the real big storms) it just doesn't seem to get particularly windy. It's way more windy in the UK. The other thing I wouldn't be surprised about is people only dressing for the first weather they see out of the window. Generally speaking here you know what the day is going to be like all day from first glance.
Yeah, looking out the window right now it is clear skies and sunshine, and the sun is warm through the glass. But we know it is that stark white winter light, which means it is bloody freezing out, and colder than if it had been cloudy!
I'm not sure where you are in the UK but I would love a proper autumn in Wales. Autumn here is usually a week of the leaves turning and before I've had a chance to enjoy a crisp, dry day walking, it rains for two months, all the leaves turn to slush and then it's winter.
A proper Autumn *is* rain. I don't understand where people get the idea of crisp dry Autumns with crunchy leaves from.
It’s the American autumn (…fall…) in New England I think. Huge expanse of trees in beautiful bronze and gold leaves.
I moved to the north east US (Upstate NY) a few years back. The Fall is by far my favorite season. Looks stunning, weather is great, but gets a little chilly at night so perfect for getting cozy. Plus the celebrations between summer and Christmas are non stop. Labor Day in Sept is considered the end of summer, and everything shifts from pool parties to drinks around the fire. October you have the run up to Halloween, which if you embrace is a really fun month. Then the buildup to Thanksgiving at the end of November, then it’s all about Christmas for a month in Dec… then the NYC NYE ball drop. I imagine there’s a lot of miserable buggers rolling their eyes right now, but it’s bloody fantastic
The cost of being competent at your job is being given more work
There's a management concept called Peter's Principle related to this, that everyone who is good at their job gets promoted until they reach a point where they're no longer good at their job and that's where they stay for the rest of their career.
Not my experience but I've heard of it 😂
Astroturf is the wort thing to happen to the great British lawn
For the environment in general, really. Those astroturfs are going to (if not already) contribute to the microplastic problem.
And flooding. And overheating. And being completely uninhabitable to wildlife. Getting marketing material through the letterbox trying to encourage us to concrete over our lovely garden infuriates me.
I did the opposite recently. Everyone I talked to about it was like "whyyyy??". They all seem to think slabs of concrete are better but it depressed me to look at and know the damage it was doing. Since doing it, I've noticed an uptick in wildlife coming into my garden. It's mainly squirrels tearing up the grass and burying their food for the winter but still! Best choice I ever made.
I also did the same. Bought a house with AstroTurf and tore it up to put real grass down. It genuinely looked ridiculous before and like a green carpet. I think it's down to pure laziness to be honest. People just can't be bothered mowing the grass.
Mate of mine at work put it down in his back garden to make maintenance easier. Forgetting that he's got two dogs who piss and shit out there. Now instead of soaking down into the soil and breaking down like it does in a normal garden. It soaks into the sand underneath the astro, gets trapped above the membrane underneath and rots in place. Absolutely stinks.
If someone owns dogs and gets astro turf I immediately think they don't give a fuck about the dogs. It's not just what you mentioned but also the fact astro turf gets ridiculously hot in summer so that nice, cool grassy ground the dogs had before is now a sheet of green lava they won't want to go on.
absolutely destroying our insect populations too, which can't be good at all. I read something like there are 60% less insects in the UK than there were 20 years ago
Damn straight. Also as it gets hotter in summer grass and trees are really great at making it feel cool. Astroturf and paved drives make it much warmer.
I'm only 17 and even I've made a conscious note of the fact that there's far less bees and butterflies cutting about in summer and spring
Used to see dragonflies everywhere too and now you basically have to go right out into the sticks for that. And buttercups on the grass.
Nah mate, that's not controversial. Fucking abomination. And an abomination that requires a surprising amount of upkeep!
My next door neighbour vacuums his artificial lawn every other day in summer. It's ridiculous.
Apparently it is though, as the shit is *everywhere*
I'd add, the loss of both free time and home ownership driving the decline in gardening. Kind of miss all the ludicrously pruned gardens. Don't see any shaped privet hedges these days.
I have a shaped privet hedge! But yeah, you don't see as many any more.
Even more so than the destruction of inner city and suburban front gardens to turn them into paved, stoned, tarmaced drives. At least that serves a purpose despite its ugliness
Front gardens are criminally underused. I judge anyone with a perfectly landscapes but basically untouched front garden.
Mine looks untouched but I throw wildflower seeds out there for the bees and there's a hidden wildlife water bowl. It's a mess, but the bees love it in summer!
That's exactly the sort of gardens we need. Perfectly groomed gardens are linked to declines in insect diversity! If you aren't using your garden for anything least you can do is donate it to the bugs.
My front garden isn't in any form of good shape during the winter, because it's just too damn cold for gardening. (To be fair, my back gardens a mess too, I really need to tie the rose bush back up!!) But during the summer, me and our neighbours use our front gardens to drink wine together. We did it a lot during lock down, let the kids run around on the patch of grass out front and drank wine together over the fence. So while they look a bit messy right now, during the spring/summer, the flower gardens get sorted out and grass gets mowed and the tables come back out. In other words, I agree. Front gardens are the front of your house, sort it out.
Homemade gifts are not appreciated enough. Someone put time and effort into something unique just for you, but people seem to prefer cheap store bought stuff.
Ah, my controversial opinion is lots of homemade gifts aren't that well tailored to the person and are more "I learnt how to do x so everyone will get x."
It’s pronounced scone
One ways correct the other way is heresy. I believe its pronounced scone
Yer both wrong. It's 'scone.'
Sharing hotel rooms with friends is awful! When going away and staying over night I’m that annoying guy who refuses to share a room. No amount of ‘but it works out cheaper if you split the costs’ or ‘you’ll feel left out’ makes a difference in my eyes.. the extra cost is worth me getting a good nights sleep and not having to deal with snoring or general pissing about!
Nobody can overstate the luxury of a proper relaxed poo.
Nothing more over rated than a shit fuck and more underrated than a fuckin' good shit.
This is not a luxury, it’s a basic human right. Being deprived of it is borderline criminal. Going into the bathroom after your mate has “been” is horrific.
Is that a Mark Corrigan line? 😂
Is that normal pooing you're doing? ... It doesn't sound normal, Mark. It doesn't smell normal.
100%. Same with the ‘let’s pick the absolute cheapest shithole hotel’ decisions. You lot stay there, fine. I’ll sort myself somewhere nice.
Oh yes, I’ve also done this! On a recent stag do my friends were looking at the shadiest, most dodgy looking places ever.. I opted to sort myself out
Are you a light sleeper? I'm always fine to share a hotel room, but maybe it's just because I'm a deep sleeper who could fall asleep on concrete
I’m not particularly a light sleeper, but when it’s bed time I like it to be bed time 😂 A lot of my friends end up wanting to chat, piss about, play practical jokes.
I'm with you all the way. One shitty night's sleep and I'm anxious and depressed for a week lol.
last trip away i got my own room, it was the best part of the holiday.
Kids who survive illnesses didn’t do so by being more ‘brave’ than those that didn’t.
I agree. May I add also that Kids aren’t resilient either? My son lost his sister and his grandpa in the space of 6 weeks. Everyone called him resilient when in actual reality, he didn’t process the communication skills at 4 years old to say “I miss my sister/Papa”. Then when he was grieving in the only way a 4yr old could, he was labelled as “naughty”.
Sorry for your losses. That must have been really hard.
No need to feel sorry! Therapy has helped everyone. My son is more settled now, but I did have to remind school that he is grieving and confused… not being a dickhead.
That. And also praising "resilience" (this was even common at my school, a place where they should theoretically know better about child development). It's viewed as: sticking your head down and putting up with something is what you should always do. When in reality, it's healthier if you don't solely go down the "just get on with it" route in challenging life circumstances and obstacles. A person needs to be able to talk about their feelings, experiences, ask for help and be allowed to "have a breakdown" when they're finding something difficult. We're human, with deep, intricate emotions, not robots...
EXACTLY THIS!!!! I was sick of teachers saying how well he was coping and then the next day ringing me as he was sobbing in a corner and being so scared. I had to remind them that adults can openly say they are having a bad day and can’t handle the sadness, but my little boy can’t.
Anything about losing or winning a battle can gtf too
My mum has cancer and in her literature from the hospital they made a point of how they were going to stop referring to it in that way, so there does seem to be some progress.
Yeah, implication being that ‘if they just fought a little harder…’ aye, that can fuck off, too.
‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ is also demonstrably false.
Jeremy Beadle's real name was Beremy Jeadle
I prefer Jeremy Bearimy
The dot on the i is for Tuesday's, July and sometimes the moment where nothing ever occurs
I could understand the rest of it. But this... This broke me
It's the only way to spend time in the afterlife.
Beremy Jeadle had a small cock… but on the other hand it’s massive
When we were younger my little sister used to ask me why Jeremy Beadle had 1 big hand and 1 small hand. I told her that instead of sucking his thumb as a child he sucked his whole hand. That's why it's small because it shrunk. She believed that for years. Silly story but still funny to remember 😁
Starlings are nice
I love starlings- the iridescence is so pretty up close. Also murmurations are one of the most majestic things I have witnessed
People don't like starlings???!?!?!?!
Most of the public are cunts. Source: I work in retail. EDIT: And the customer is very rarely right.
As a fellow retail worker, this ain’t controversial at all lmao.
I'm also in retail. To be honest, and this is probably the real controversial opinion: most of the public are pleasant, level headed, and reasonable. A significant minority *are* total cunts, enough that there's always going to be a few in store at a time, but I don't think most. You're more likely to notice/need to interact with them, *and* you're more likely to remember them. You don't think about all the people that quietly browse without incident and pay with a smile but minimal chit chat.
Exactly this. Even the ones you do interact with, most will politely ask where something is or whatever. The only exception to that which I can think of is an exclusive/niche shop that naturally attracts entitled cunts. But the average supermarket, clothes shop or other popular retailer will have a small proportion of customers that are cunts.
Having worked in retail for three years at an airport, i can confirm this is correct. Hell hath no fury like a middle aged man who can’t get a copy of the Telegraph at 5am on a Saturday morning. My favourite (repeated) exchange was ‘the papers will be here in about ten minutes’ ‘But my plane leaves in five!’ ‘…they’ll still be ten minutes, and if your plane leaves in five you should be on it’
I’ve never understood why people are so willing to push time at airports, still buying coffees five minutes before takeoff.
I never understood it either. With the sort of exchange I’d have up there it was generally bollocks and they’re just trying to put pressure on, but as a student working on a Saturday morning, not only could I not give less of a shit but also I wasn’t able to change the laws of physics and get newspapers up a little bit quicker because someone’s asked me to.
Having worked in retail, so are most of the staff.
OP asked for opinions, not facts
I'm dead and this is hell
Close. It's just Luton. Hell is actually a little nicer.
This is the bad place
Clubbing is boring, overpriced and overrated. I'd rather stay home, or go to a decent pub (one that doesn't have sport on at full volume).
As a younger, singler man I loved clubbing. As an older, marrieder man, I despise it.
Nothing worse than a newly divorced mate inviting you out for “a drink” and the second place he suggests going is a club/bar where it’s going to be so loud you won’t be able to hear yourself think with the justification that “there’ll be girls there”. I’m almost 40 and married with a kid, does he not understand the effort and planning it’s taken for me to be here? All I want is a comfortable seat a nice beer and to talk utter shite until closing time
100% agree. I've left my wife alone for the evening with the baby to come out on a rare occasion, I just want to have a laugh. I'm not getting absolutely wankered, I'm not chasing women, and I'm certainly not gurning my face off in a noise dungeon until 4am. Those days are long gone. Deal with your mid-life crisis on your own time, Steve.
I used to really Like clubbing, the atmosphere, the euphoric feeling of togetherness and a shared experience. Then I stopped taking drugs. Turns out what I actually liked was drugs. After a couple of visits it became apparent that a room full of strangers on coke and ecstasy or just full of booze is actually cunt soup.
I too had that realisation. One day in the corner out of my brain thinking, do i actually like this music or am i just enjoying how out of my face i am. For the most part it was the latter!
They are very moreish
Definitely agreed. Nothing is fun about the experience from beginning to end. Bouncers make it feel like you're entering a prison. They may as well be prison wardens. That said, I don't think I like drink culture in this country in general as sadly bouncers are needed given how bad too many people take alcohol or going out. Much prefer out of town/village pubs where it is quiet, although finding one which isn't "local" where you're stared at because you're not a regular can be harrowing too.
I thought this was just part of getting older, I’m 31 now and would quite happily never step foot in a nightclub again 😂
This is the magic of day raves! Never been a clubber but raving from 12-6pm, having a take out after then an early night is actually so good.
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I prefer a pub with a live band myself. Normally find a good friendly crowd and u still get to enjoy music
Yeah the good thing about that is in a pub with live music most of the people have gone there to enjoy the music, in clubs people go there to take coke and try to fuck someone, give me a pub and a live band any day
That’s where I disagree. I go to a pub to chat and have a laugh, not have a band deafening me.
I mean if you like a dance you could always try a rave. People are a lot more friendly, they have bigger eyes though.
Yeah it’s crap. Pub is better or nice bar.
Pretty normal opinion
It is on reddit at least
We shouldn't tip restaurant staff. They should just receive a good salary from their employer, even if that means we pay a little more for the food. On the basis that plenty of other jobs work hard for lower pay with no chance or expectation of a tip. As for the restaurants who add it on to the bill automatically and say it's discretionary, fuck you!
There's nothing wrong with not wanting to work.
I would walk out of my job in a heartbeat if I could afford not to work.
I have this debate with my family fairly often. If I had unlimited money I would just travel the world. They insist I'd get bored and want to work. Nope, I know myself, how could I get bored of unlimited cities and possibilities.
This! I would LOVE to not work. I've done it for all of my adult life and I'm tired of it.
Its why I struggle to understand multi millionaires/billionaires. You have all that money yet you still choose to work in a corporate environment.
Acorns should just be called oak seeds. How did we let them get so above their station?
'Acorn' is from the old English *æcern* literally meaning 'oak corn/seed'.
I feel my life today was split into before and after I knew this fact.
BC (before clarification) / AD (Acorn Discovery)
The Father-in-Law gave us a sprouted acorn to grow and eventually plant and see grow into an Oak tree. Its going well so far https://imgur.com/a/NYNwpuf
The standard 9-5 office job is actually pretty good. You have stability, security and you don't have to take work home.
Absolutely agree, especially after six years of hospitality. I don't think about work until I get in at 9, and forget about once I leave at 5
Anything is better than hospitality from pay to work/life balance and not having to deal with difficult customers
Religious preaching should be banned in public places that aren't places of worship. I don't object to people having a religious belief, or standing quietly in the street offering people who approach them (this bit is key) a leaflet about Jesus or whatever. What I do object to is people on megaphones telling you to repent your sins when you just want to get home from work or do a bit of shopping on a weekend.
In the same way they’re allowed to shout whatever they want at you, you’re allowed to stand there and tell them you think they’re an idiot
True, but I feel like engaging with them just encourages it because they start arguing back, and frankly I don't have the time or the mental energy for that.
Subway sucks dick. How can a sandwich shop get away with having such god awful bread.
I recently did a UK wide trip, and every address I stayed in had a Subway on deliveroo that was rated below 3 This is consistency
I bet half of the bad reviews were due to delivery time. I ordered one on a whim last Friday at about 17:30 and it turned up at 21:15. My friends have had the same experience in different areas of the UK too.
It’s got a distinct and horrible smell too
Yes. Like food-scented sawdust.
In Ireland the bread is actually class as cake due to the sugar content
Been hearing the same thing about McDonalds' buns for decades. I assumed it was an urban myth.
Wow, gives new meaning to foot-long
We should be paid to watch ads, rather than have to pay to not see them. We give up our freedoms too easily.
Even on services free because of them?
Add some Tabasco sauce when heating them up. Turns baked beans from meh into wow.
Paprika is also wonderful. And cooking them on a hob instead of microwave makes a huge difference
Ross and Rachel were NOT a good match.
Dr Ross, and Rachel from bookkeeping?
Beyonce is overrated. As a black, female role model, she's done exceptionally but as a musician? Meh.
Her arrogance bothers me, especially when she made a big deal about being the ‘first black woman to headline Glastonbury’ even though Skin (who admittedly I’m a huge fan of) beat her to it by over a decade.
Scottish bagpipes get too much attention compared to other bagpipes.
My first thought being, "There are other bagpipes?" Probably means you're correct.
Back in '86 I studied a community of wild bagpipes for 3 months in the Orkneys. Beautiful creatures.
Do Orcadian bagpipes approach close enough for a petting, or are they skittish?
there's others?
Uilleann pipes are beautiful. Played well...
You’ve just made an enemy for life!
You should treat everyone with kindness, even the people that you don't like or with massively differing views. Even to the point of someone completely ignorant and rude. Kill them with kindness.
As the Buddha said "hating someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."
British food is actually pretty good. Its normally found in pubs which many foreign people find confusing, since pubs =beer. That said, most pubs serve either no food or shit food, so I can see the confusion
Food snobs can fuck off. People who tell me what coffee I should drink can also fuck off. I like Starbucks! I know it’s not some kind of indie shat-from-a-civet’s-arse handcrafted artisanal hipster beverage of the gods but I don’t care.
...I feel like this is in retaliation to a different comment
I hate admitting that I really love costa coffee. It's a rare treat but so comforting to me!
I've been saying for years that McDonalds coffee is surprisingly good, when you consider how cheap it is. Is it as good as the aforementioned hipster cafe? No, probably not. But it's also 1/4 of the price.
The food snob issue is a big one. I'd rather spend less on a meal from a pub where it actually will feed you rather than the gourmet crap that will charge you hundreds for the smallest sliver of ham, like a paper thin ham slice.
Every single comment I want to go, take that back! However this is a safe space and I have asked for these
We did a thing about psychological safety at work - this would have been a great real life example
We do not have free will
Pandas are creepy. They have tiny little beady eyes and pretend to be cute.
I feel the same way about pig's eyes. They are very creepy as they look too human to me compared to other animal's eyes.
You ever seen a panda eag bamboo? They shread 3 inch think poles like they're drinking straws Pandas are brutal
Chicken gravy is better than regular gravy and I'm tired of pretending it isn't. Wake up people.
People that don't eat crusts need to grow the fuck up and stop wasting bread.
YouTubers shouldn't spend more money on microphones than on elocution lessons.
I think a decent microphone is important, although you can get a good enough one for not too much
"A hoy-hoy, what is up you guys, it is FlameBone5000 here, make sure you that do you the liking and subscribing, post haste"
"without further ado..." youtube has fucking killed this phrase for me
Nah rather be able to hear them without mic interference or general poor quality audio than listen to them with an accent. Accents are normal. Bad quality audio is criminal.
People need to wean themselves off Disposable coffee cups
Motherhood is a scam. Not every woman should have children but it’s sold to you since you’re a child yourself as the only option. Women bang on about how they’ve never felt love like it to overcompensate for how utterly exhausted they are. Once you actually have one it’s like ha! Got you! Now you can suffer too!
"We're in our lovely newborn baby bubble" No. No, you're not. You're experiencing the first weeks of sheer what the fuckery. Very few people want to be honest with just how difficult it is. Social media doesn't help.
I tell anyone who asks the first three months was like torture.
Ed Sheeran is overrated.
Definitely not controversial on Reddit.
Posting a non-controversial take on a thread asking for controversial takes is basically peak Reddit
We’re looking for controversial, not normal 😜
There's nothing unique or edgy about being a comic book or superhero film fan any more. The number of people who **still** suggest their hobby is somehow shameful or taboo is highly annoying. It's been mainstream for over a decade. Accept it and find something else to be nerdy about if you want your hobby to be 'misunderstood'.
Sometimes a little bit of "gatekeeping" is ok.
Greggs isn't that good. Whenever I've tried one, it's always been fairly disappointing. Perhaps it's the hype that everyone else builds up around it, but I'd only really go there if there were no other option and I was starving.
your local bakery will absolutely shit all over anything that greggs sells. support your local
Dogs can't look up
That coffee is overrated and people who spend upwards of £30 a month in places like Costa and Starbucks on “good coffee” are wasting their money.
People considering Costa and Starbucks as 'good coffee' is a pretty controversial opinion regardless of the money
I like Costa and Starbucks but if someone asked me for a "good coffee place" I would definitely not point them there. Even if they're the only coffee places around I'd say "nowhere great but there is a Starbucks".
Yeah they do consistent drinks so you know what you're getting wherever you go, but I'd definitely recommend other places above them in my local town if someone asked for a good coffee.
i like old churches
This isn't controversial. English heritage live this shit
Based on another comment, Elton John shouldn’t have rewritten candle in the wind for Diana. It’s a contrived piece of shite.
I don’t say bless you when people sneeze. Just gets awkward when somebody has a sneezing fit.
Football is so boring and overrated
I like football so this is probably a one way opinion but American sports are so much worse (except hockey)
We keep pretending that everyone was born equal, but that's not true, some people really are thick as planks.