AMLinington

I might live to regret asking this, but: I'm due to have a Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (Keyhole Gall Bladder removal) in August and I'm bricking it a bit because the receptionist on the booking line was not very professional or appropriate and told me her horror-story about how much terrible pain she was in, and how they had to make a huge incision and etc etc. How she regretted having it done, and how the pain was unbearable. Now I'm bricking it because I've had an ambulance out to me twice with this condition, and the first time the pain was so bad I passed out. I'm not sure I could cope if it was the same kind of pain but persistent and unremitting. So have any of you had this surgery and can any of you give me a realistic account of how manageable the pain is going to be? Bear in mind I cannot take Codeine or any painkillers that contain Codeine, so my painkiller regime is restricted to Paracetamol and Ibuprofen, or Aspirin, or Naproxyn. Or possibly a sock filled with rocks to the side of the head....

I submitted it with the quote "I can't think of anything witty to say about it. I just want it because Raspberry Honeycomb Fudge is amazeballs."

What about Mr Dramatic?

I really want to submit 'Raspberry Honeycomb Fudge' but can't think of anything witty to say about it. I just want it because Raspberry Honeycomb Fudge is amazeballs.

Pauper* Sorry. But yes, unfortunately you are in the wrong. It is not YET illegal to park partially on footpaths, I believe there is imminent legislation that will make this a road traffic violation. This will affect LeHusband and I because atm we have to park one car on the driveway, and one on the pavement. We'd park in the layby opposite, but the douchecanoe on the corner vandalises people's cars because he believes he has the right to monopolise the layby with his 4 vehicles. Us and our neighbours have all had wing mirrors kicked off and our cars keyed. We just can't afford to have the driveway extended right now. We have the space but not the money. That being said, I think MORALLY there isn't an issue here - having to walk single file when you have massive buggies is common courtesy anyway - what about pedestrians going the other way? Sounds to me like the women in question were self-entitled selfish snobs, and your solution morally was the best of a bad situation - if you'd parked in the road completely, you'd be hampering traffic flow, so by parking half on and half off, you are trying to reduce the impact of your parking on two fronts. I don't really think there is a 'best' solution here tbh. Legally I suspect you'd be told to park in the road or park elsewhere, but from a social courtesy aspect, I think it's fine.

I think the key benefit to smart meters and water meters IS the transparency. Even if our bills DO go up, we are paying for what we physically use. I don't mind taking responsibility for my own usage. I DO think companies gouge you on pricing WHATEVER tariff you're on - and this is only going to get worse - especially now the government is considering removing the limit on fuel and alcohol duty. The cost of fuel is going to be astronomical and I'm not naive enough to think this won't have a knock-on effect on the whole economy - gas and electricity and water will be affected - water by proxy - running costs will increase so of course this will be passed onto the customer to avoid upsetting the shareholders. Non-metered customers pay a value that is essentially an 'average' for houses of their type and size. So take me and my neighbours as an example - 10 people one side with about 4 dogs and at least one small child, 4 people the other, with 2 kids, a dog and a pond, versus LeHusband and I in the middle with our water butts and our bunnies and our cat. I don't need to bathe my animals at all. Dogs on the other hand probably need bathing as much as a small child because they STINK. So the combined water usage for our three consecutive houses is probably astronomical, but on a non-metered tariff LeHusband and I would be paying effectively 1/3 (this is an illustrative example and not based in fact). But there is no way we would actually use 1/3 of the total water usage for our three houses. Obviously both the other houses are probably paying way less than they actually should be, because paying an 'average' works out well for them because they are high-usage homes, but for low-usage homes, I think a meter is a much fairer way forward. Even if my bill goes up, at least I know I'm paying for my own usage and not overpaying to support people like my neighbours who waste water.

Last I looked, our water bill for Southern Water is £30 a month and Portsmouth Water is £13.27 per Quarter? I dunno, it was last requested in February so it might be every 6 months or every year - I don't have a clue. I'm more interested in reducing the Southern Water bill tbh.

This is an interesting thread to me because I literally had a meter fitted last week. We live in a 3 bed semi-detached in one of those annoying areas where we pay 2 water bills - one to Portsmouth water for the water that comes through the tap, and one to Southern Water for the 'waste water discharge'. As I understand it, our previous bills were calculated on 'rateable value' or based on an 'average' of what people in our neighbourhood use. LeHusband and I use WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY less water than the houses either side of us - one house has about 10 people living in it (3 generations worth), and the other side have 2 kids and a pond. We have 3 water butts down the end of the garden that we use to water the plants in preference to using the hose (although we have run them dry in this recent heat wave), and we primarily shower - I think I can count the number of times I run a bath in a year on one hand. We have recently bought a dishwasher so our water use is at the lowest it can possibly be. We even buy bottled water to put in the fridge compartment so it doesn't get all scaled up. It is my opinion that our bills should be less than they were before, because compared to other houses in the immediate vicinity, we use less than half the amount of water - less people, less showering, less bathing, less washing clothes, ergo cheaper bills (in theory). Because we use less water, our water bills from Portsmouth Water are already small, so I'm not overly worried about them, but the key factor is the second, much larger 'waste water' bill - if you have a water meter, you get charged waste water according to how much you use, not 'rateable value'. It's the Southern Water waste water bill I am hoping to reduce.

Same with Asda and Sainsburys. I tend to find that Morrisons fresh fruit and veg lasts the longest.

That's a good plan - I already do this for Cat food and Yoghurts (Loose Muller Lights). As for Paper bags not being great for the environment - it is true that they aren't great resource-wise, but they can at least be put into recycling, or you can use the paper for other purposes around the home - we regularly recycle the paper from Primark bags or the paper packaging Amazon use to line the rabbit hutches, or we roll it up and keep it in the shed to use when decorating to protect surfaces - it's got tonnes more uses than a plastic bag.

LOL Me too. This is excellent news - I've been saying for AGES how if places like Primark can use paper bags, why aren't they more widespread? Paper bags are common in America so it's not like there isn't a precedent. It really annoys me that clothes shops in particular (looking at you M&S) aren't already using paper bags.

In our family, we usually buy 'keepsake' type things as 'Big' Birthday gifts - an heirloom-worthy watch (Rolex, Tag Heuer, etc), perhaps, or an engraved pocket watch. For his 60th we got my Dad a personalised number plate. For his 40th I think we bought him a silver crown from his birth year or something. My Dad bought my mum a Tag Heuer watch for her 50th. For my 30th, my family bought me a Pandora Bracelet. You could go for experiences too - a skydive, microlight lesson, helicopter lesson, driving experience, hot air balloon, zip line over Niagara Falls etc. I bought LeHusband a diving voucher as part of his 40th birthday present because he's always wanted to have a crack at scuba diving.

Sorry, I sort of derailed the thread. Getting it back on track, have you seen some of the build-your-own wooden models? These look great although they can be pricey. John Lewis has a Chronograph: https://www.johnlewis.com/ugears-chronograph-timer-wood-puzzle/p3254734 A Locomotive: https://www.johnlewis.com/ugears-locomotive-and-tender-mechanical-model-wood-puzzle/p3254728 (I'd buy this for my Father, but it's £68 - it's too far beyond my budget) And a Model Tram: https://www.johnlewis.com/ugears-mechanical-model-tram-wood-puzzle/p3254801 Although I believe UGear also do a working model of London Bridge, a London Bus and a bunch of others. Those would make excellent and unique gifts. There. Back on Topic. Edited to Add: https://ugears.online/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3v3YBRCOARIsAPkLbK5USsT8Wi4D7Zai32JCdtyG3yaERca337cGX3o8QOhb-j5Xr7W18e4aAryqEALw_wcB They have LOADS of options. They are Eco-friendly and made from sustainable wood.

He insists at every single Birthday, Father's Day and Christmas that he doesn't want a gift, he doesn't need anything, and not to buy him things. But I still have to turn up with something because my sister always manages to pull something last minute out the bag, and if I turned up with nothing I'd get shown up. Then there all that guilt piled on from my sister 'Dad does a lot for you in your house', 'you're so selfish' etc etc. My family is pretty toxic tbh. I always thought it was normal until I met my in-laws - they are so laid back and chill about everything it's ridiculous. They aren't as materialistic as my family. It's really weird for me at Christmas - LeHusband spends a fortune on me, so I feel obligated to spend more than I can afford on him, even though he insists that I don't need to. But I'm so conditioned to the materialism and gift-shaming that happens in my family that it's a nightmare for me.

Ha ha haaaaa my situation is the opposite - my MiL is the no-nonsense type, but my own mother isn't happy unless the card is ridiculously extravagant, glittery, 3 dimensional and with at least one moving part. I don't even bother going for humour any more - I just find the most neutral Father's Day card I can find. I got one this year that says 'Happy Father's Day from your Daughter and Son-in-Law' and it keeps to safe topics like how much we appreciate everything he does for us - which is true - he has done a lot in our house since we bought it, and we DO appreciate it. Am still stumped for a gift though. My budget is around the £20 mark. I refuse to spend more than that on an arbitrary 'Hallmark Holiday'. Birthdays are different, but all these invented 'appreciation days' are just a leech. Where is my card and gift for 'Sister's day'? Or 'Daughter's Day'? Or 'Auntie's Day'? Admittedly I occasionally get a 'present' from Enzo for Mother's day. I prefer the dead presents, but he seems to think the alive ones are more fun....

I suppose a lot of that depends on how close you are to your kids - my father and I have a..... volatile.... relationship. I avoid cards with too many 'glurgy words', I avoid anything with 'Best Dad' or 'Worlds #1 Dad' because, quite frankly, it's not true. The one time I bought him a card with 'words' in, he mocked me for it because we both know it's not true. So yeah, my Dad and I don't really get on. We generally just avoid each other. But I still have to 'represent' - my sister will no-doubt buy him something extravagant at the last minute and pretend like it was no big deal - she always does. So I at least have to look like I put some sort of effort in.

He gets a hand-baked cake for his birthday every year anyway... Although you have given me an idea.... I make an excellent chocolate-coated honeycomb that he loves, so I could make him some of that. I still need a gift though.

There is a tiny distillery - Edradour - who supply their own, as well as the House of Lords exclusive - if you've not already bought him some from there, I have it on good authority that they produce excellent whisky The Edradour Shop

LOL. Been there, done that. We've bought him experience days, stuff for his Hornby collection, he has more tools than you can shake a stick at and we've already bought him iPads and iPods and a mobile phone. He's had vouchers for all sorts of things - footplate steam rides, wine tasting, dinner and theatre tickets etc etc. We've done clothes ad nauseum At this point I feel like we've exhausted pretty much every genre of gift tbh.

LOL no ofc not, but the timing is convenient XD For mother's day one year I bought one of those woven baskets in Asda for about £4, 2 bottles of Fentiman's Gin-and-Something, a soft printed chiffon scarf and some Hotel Chocolat champagne truffles. It went down a storm. I wrapped it in cellophane with a ribbon and everything. Father's day on the other hand, I never know what to get him - he's a nightmare to shop for.

Perchance is this thread related to the upcoming Father's Day? I, too, have no idea what to buy...

I'm thinking of something like a cat litter tray - with high-ish sides. I'm currently looking at under-bed storage boxes but it depends on the dimensions

So. I have two very large, double-level rabbit hutches. They have removable top and bottom trays (4 per hutch), and yet STILL cleaning out their hutches is a complete nightmare. I have a bulging disc in my back which is making anything involving bending/lifting/carrying immensely.... challenging. We've tried lining their trays with gro-bag trays, but they aren't the right width so the bunnies perch on the edge and wee and poop over the side. We've tried litter-tray training them and are only partially successful with one of the 4 rabbits. The others either toss the tray around or deliberately sit on the edge and do their business over the side. We've tried all sorts of variations on plastic boxes, newspaper liners (they get soaked in wee and turn to concrete....), we've tried cat litter tray liners (the rabbits dig them up and shred them), we've tried bin bags, garden bags, plastic dust sheets (again - ripped up and shredded). I'm kinda at the end of my tether really. I need a way to totally line the trays in a way that the wee can't get through (because it's rotting the hutch itself and rusting a hole in the tray), and in a way that makes it easy to pick up and empty the contents of each tray. I've read some stuff about using Lino, but I really need whatever solution we use to go part-way up the side of the hutch because otherwise the wee just gets under it and we're back to square one. These hutches are huge, and cleaning them out is a whole day event. I am just looking for some sort of plastic box type solution that I can simply lift out, empty, spray down with the hose, then put back in. That way in the winter we can put foam underneath for warmth without worrying about the buns chewing it. The closest thing we have are gro-bag trays but they are too small width-wise and too shallow - they don't go high enough up the side of the hutch. Anyone have any thoughts or know of anything? Industrial-sized gro-bag trays perhaps?

I'm not at all heavy, but even the strongest person in the world can't hold me for long...

You know you work in a posh school when there are any posts named 'Master in charge of'....