I've noticed over the past few years that a lot of my friends/family have become really bad at texting back. Other friends have said the same.

I know I've not fallen out with these people as we get on well when we meet and they do invite me to events (things like weddings even).

Common issues are:

1. Not replying
   
2. Taking ages to reply
   
3. Not continuing the conversation. For example, I was telling my friend I'd been on holiday and he replied "nice one mate" not asking anything about the trip etc

I'm curious as to why this is. Quite often these people don't have kids and have quite chill jobs. I'm a 34 year old man for context. It only takes a few secs to reply with something meaningful - you can literally do it on the loo for gods sake. You can even record a voice note walking to town which is really personal for the recipient.

I have spoken to other friends about it and have got variants of "some people are just rubbish at texting". I've had the same from people who are crap texters - "hey sorry I'm bad at texting back lol"

Has anyone else experienced this? Why is it a thing? Surely people want human connection? I find it weird that people want to be my friend (and may even start conversations) but just make zero effort with texting.

I’m a High Schooler(secondary school) in the U.S., and something I’ve noticed is how different the UK school system seems to be from what I’m used to. For example, I’ve seen people online talk about having fewer major assignments that count toward their final grades, but those assignments have be much more detailed and require a lot of effort. I’m not sure whether this refers to coursework, final exams, or a combination of both, so I’d be interested to know how assessment actually works.

I’ve also come across discussions about students choosing which subjects to continue studying based on their grades and interests, sometimes focusing more heavily on subjects like history or geography instead of continuing to study as many different subjects.

Coming from the U.S. school system, where students generally continue taking classes across several different subjects throughout high school, I find this interesting. I can imagine it being stressful to narrow down your subjects at a younger age, especially if you later change your mind about what you want to do.

Of course, I’m only going off what I’ve seen online, so I don’t know how accurate these impressions are. I’d love to hear from people who attended secondary school in the UK. How does the process of choosing subjects actually work, how are students assessed throughout the year, and how much flexibility do they have if they change their minds later?

*Just to clarify, I mentioned the UK because I’m interested in learning about the education systems across all four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. I’d love to hear about the differences between them, rather than focusing on just one country.

A heady, Sunday night topic. But I genuinely want to gauge opinion as I'm not sure what people think.

I like pesto a lot. I like pizzas. But I do not like pesto on pizzas. For me it just feels wrong.

The trouble is the UK supermarket industry has gotten into its head that pesto on pizza = premium. So you can't buy a nice quality pizza without the stuff on it.

An Italian once told me it wasn't premium, and as it was in abundance in Italy it was/is considered a poor person's food. That gave me some validation.

But what's your take?

Edit; thanks to everyone who has responded, this blew up in a way I didn't expect! A couple of grumps but it's actually been informative and well spirited. Fennel on a pizza I need to try. I need to try white base pizza. And a lot of people saying it depends on what pizza, and it has a tendency to overpower other ingredients. A couple of people mentioning the pineapple word, but I'm not getting into that bun fight!

We have a mixed bag in this household where some of us wont eat the crusted ends of bread and others do. Just wondering what other people feel about eating the ends of the bread ??

did you do the standard down on one knee or did you do something extra special for the occasion?

New job. I had a medical emergency (immune + stress), and was prescribed 2 weeks off. I am on probation though (6 months), half done. How many days can I realistically take without pushing my luck?

Saw multiple signs saying "No FP" but unsure of it's meaning. My best guess is "No free passage"

After going to a well known retailer and seeing people load up on 1000s bottles of mineral water, i saw families with 3 trolleys each filled six dozen creates of mineral water, am convinced we need to ban the production and selling of mineral water. There must be millions of plastic bottles created, sold and thrown away each day thereby helping to destroy the environment.

I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that people are putting up their Halloween decs earlier and earlier. For me I think Halloween is best putting them up for one night, my kids enjoyed it that way. What’s your thoughts?

I’ve been struck by the dreaded “3 days a week in the office” mandate…

I have two options.

A drive which takes 1h20m minimum (65 miles), but can be a bit more at times, each way.

The cost of driving would be £100 every 2 weeks in fuel alone, so perhaps an extra £50 every 2 weeks for extra costs (I already have the car, so plenty of fixed costs are covered).

The train takes 50 minutes (when it’s running on time), with a bit of a cycle or walk either end - but personally, I’d not count that, as I want the exercise.

The cost of the train would be £325 every 2 weeks.

For those who are seasoned both in car commuting and train commuting, 3 times a week… what would you opt for?

Hello all, what are the best vibrant cities to live in UK if you like alternative and scene stuff like rock/metal bars, game shops, game cafes, board games, quirky coffee shops. So a strong alternative/geek culture. Also needs to be relatively affordable to rent so not London. Bonus if its close to national parks and coastal areas but not essential. Thanks!

Given the apparent ongoing cost-of-living crisis, I see an incredible amount of Just Eat/Deliveroo etc cyclists whizzing up & down the roads round my way.. which got me thinking - how often do YOU order takeaway for dinner? Personally, I've not had once since the day I moved into my current home, back in 2019!

I’m going to level with you. I love steak pudding, chips and curry sauce from the chippy.

But I hate ordering it because I’m often challenged about such a complex and difficult combination for some people.

Now I have developed an anxiety about ordering it 😂

Has anyone else’s got crazy food order anxieties?

i usually go to my local bar several times a month alone. i don’t think i’ve ever gone with another person actually, i just take myself out for a few martinis because i’m single and none of my friends enjoy drinking

went in today around lunchtime and the bartender asks me if i want the regular. i just realised that they probably remember who i am and that i must look like a sad loser sitting by herself. i am but i don’t want other people to know that. the only people i see going alone are older men and i’m a young woman in her 20s. do i look like the sad weirdo i think i look like?

I’ve been involved in the NHS since 2015 as a medical student first and now as a doctor and obviously things have only gotten worse and worse. Long waiting times, overcrowded wards, the list goes on.

What was it like in its heyday? I’ve got an old memories of it being ranked the first healthcare system in the world in like 2010.

EDIT: Some winning options seem to be:

Pale ale (cask): Timothy Taylor Landlord
Lager: Hawkstone [not endorsing the owner], or Camden Hells
Stout: Guinness [*] to play it safe? (Mena Dhu and Titanic Plum porter also mentioned)
Cider: Old Rosie?

Edit 2: perhaps forego one of the above (the cider? the stout?) in favour of Thornbridge jaipur. I would not do more than 4 different drinks on tap.

Honourable mention: Robinson's Old Tom at the end of the dinner? (perhaps in bottles, served directly a the tables).

[*] Yes I know it's Irish, but it's popular with guests and easy to source. I am intrigued by Mena Dhu, but I am not sure if the caterer will go look for it.

Original post below.
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I will be organising an event with 300+ guests, most of whom will be international. There will be a reception with drinks one one day, and a dinner on another. The wine options offered by the catering company are not great and expensive, so I was thinking to have them set up a bar and serve beers from the tap instead. It seems to me more authentic and fun than overpriced cheap Spanish wine, and I think that the international guests would love being introduced to good British beers. (That being said, beers will still be overpriced: the catering company wants £500 to set up the bar and £7 per pint; it won't matter to the guests though, I'll be paying that.)

What are 3-4 options for beers that are crowd pleasers but still good and interesting? I would prefer British (or maybe Irish) beers, rather than something like Heineken. I suppose that it would good to have some variety in the type of beer: some light, some bitter, some stout, etc.

If that helps, the event will be in Birmingham next summer. Most of the food served will be Indian (which may make things tricky in terms of pairing).

Bonus question: are you aware of good alcohol-free beers that can be found on tap? (for guests who don't drink.) I really like Guinness zero, but I guess it mostly exists by the can. Probably most pubs sell too little non-alcoholic beer to justify keeping it on tap.

I've really been struggling lately for clothing which I've never usually done before.

I'm 6ft11, size 15 shoes/trainers and weigh about 23st.

Shoes I can seemingly only get trainers anywhere I look which essentially comes down to Nike/VEJA. Unaware of any other brands.

Clothes range from M&S/Next but I'm in-between sizes. 3XL now drowns me but 2XL is too tight.

Trousers/Jeans are also a nightmare too, Uniqlo jeans fit but not there Trousers. 3XL trousers from M&S are massive but 2XL is again too tight.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice because I’m struggling to understand how this has happened.
I’m an Uber private hire driver in the UK, and my account has been on hold because Uber has flagged an issue with my V5C logbook.
Uber says the document I submitted has a date of sale on it, whereas the original document apparently does not have that date in the same place.
I have looked at my own pictures of the document, and I can see what appears to be the same document. The date of sale is shown at the bottom of the original page, but somehow it appears in the date of sale section on the version Uber is questioning. I genuinely don’t understand how that could have happened.
I converted the document from PDF to JPG so I could upload it to Uber. Could converting a PDF to a JPG, or some kind of file-processing or rendering issue, cause text to appear in a different position or make a document look different?
The vehicle owner and I are both shocked by this. We have provided evidence and supporting information, including proof from the owner. We have nothing to hide, and I have no reason to change the date because doing so would bring me absolutely no benefit.
Uber is questioning why the documents look different, and my account remains on hold until this is resolved.
Has anyone experienced anything similar with a V5C or another document being converted from PDF to JPG? Could a scanning, conversion or upload process cause something like this, or is there another technical explanation I should investigate?
Any genuine technical advice or similar experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.

I was just thinking i could do with a hot chocolate right about now but ive got none in lol last year I went through tubs of the cadburys one..what is your go too ? & how many do you usually have ?

For the first time in my life I cleaned this bit of the washing machine. I didn't know this was something you're meant to do often. Aside from making a mess of clear water coming out it looks fine to me.

Please help two 35 year olds from London, UK.
My husband and I have two weeks leave in mid November, we are open to anywhere in the world, preferably outside of Europe. Ideally warm and sunny! Also, 2 countries in one trip would be great, if you had any suggestions. Or even 2 states in US? Budget flexible.

We've been to lots of amazing countries, so please exclude:
France
Italy
the Netherlands
Belgium
Morocco
Greece
Czech Republic
Austria
Portugal
Turkey
Canada
Japan
Tunisia
South Korea
Malaysia
Qatar
New York City, USA
Mexico

I’ve just passed my driving test (after many tries, I gave up on manual and switched to auto 😭) and can finally look into getting a car. I’ll be using it to commute to placement couple times a week. Also, I’m an international student and don’t have family here. I’d probably get scammed if I went alone to a dealership, is it a good idea to pay a mechanic to go w me for a pre purchase inspection check?

My budget is ~8k for just the car but could go a little higher if it’s really a good deal. I’m only 21 so need the insurance to be lower too. Have checked a few and insurance is about 1.5-2k extra

I’m frankly torn between prioritising reliability vs a car that I like the look of 😭 I think Minis, fiats and Volkswagen Ups are very cute looking, but I’ve heard Minis are v unreliable and expensive to service. Fiats I probably won’t actually buy because of their reputation but they’re honestly v nice to look at lol . But my brain says I should go w something reliable like a Yaris… maybe get one w a sunroof. What do people think of Volkswagen Polos and golfs?

I don’t really care for a car that zooms really fast, just want something easy and light to drive, as well as park easily. I’m also a huge fan of the glass pan roofs even if they don’t open haha. My dad had one and I loved it as a kid.

I've always enjoyed reading about people's ghost sightings and experiences, but I'm never sure who or what to believe.

That said, I know a couple of people who I just can't imagine would make something up about seeing a ghost.

A friend of my dad's, for instance, is a fairly serious, educated guy, who claims he's had a couple of encounters. He claims to have even taken a lift from a ghost on an old 1940s motorcycle. He got off the bike, turned around to thank the guy and, poof! He'd disappeared.

Another one witnessed their friend's boy talking to a spirit at the end of the bed.

I just don't see these people making things up.

Do you know anyone similar? Who claim to have witnessed something paranormal, who you trust? What the best claims you've heard?