Not sure if this is the right place to post, but just had to pay £100 to fill up my very bog standard car. Everywhere cheaper had sold out.

We aren't exactly silly with our money, but can see us having to rein in spending even more.

Nothing really sensible to say, but it looks only set to get worse.

I’ve recently moved to this street.

I know it’s politely written but it’s so passive aggressive.

The “end of the road” in question has a primary school on it. There were no spaces there at 830am when I needed to park. And there was someone in the space outside my house so I parked about two door down from my house in the only possible space.

I also have a blue badge.

AIBU to be annoyed? No house number on it so not sure which neighbour sent it

I'm on a tight budget right now and managed to get a lot of stuff I like in the Warehouse sales. However, they seem annoyingly keen on making things backless/cutout etc when they really don't need to be. I usually check properly but when I ordered this dress I was tired & forgot.
I really like it- how could it be fixed? I have eczema there & don't really want to expose my back at the moment. Short of getting it altered, that is. I do sew (only by hand) so I might possibly be able to alter it myself- if there's a way to do that...

Of course I can cover it up with a wrap etc but ideally I'd like to change it.

Link to dress, suggestions appreciated!

https://www.warehousefashion.com/product/dorothy-perkins-dp-luxe-blouson-empire-sleeve-seam-detail-midi-dressbqq22104?colour=green

Supposed to be going on a date tonight. The man confirmed the restaurant last night (he booked the table) but didn’t specify the time. I messaged him saying let me know the plans tomorrow.

I have not heard from him all day. I messaged an hour ago asking whats the plan. He hasn’t been online for a few hours.

Shall I ring him? If we’re still going I need to start getting ready soon. (Shower makeup etc) but don’t want to come across as needy.

My nails are completely trashed after getting two manicures. What can I do? They were removed in February and the nails are just breaking off all the time. I’m a long time user of collagen. Can anybody recommend a good product? They are dull, weak and brittle.

I nipped down to the shop this morning to buy some tea bags. In the opposite aisle, all the chocolate bars were lined up. I don't buy chocolate generally, but a Wispa bar winked at me. I took it to the till - £1.25 for a Wispa bar that is easily 2/3 of the size of the Wispa bars of my childhood.

I exclaimed to the cashier, who I know, and we had a nice conversation with another customer about rising prices, the cost of cereal shooting up, fuel, of course...it got me thinking.

What prices have you been shocked by when you're doing your shopping? My tins of tomatoes seem very stable at 47p per tin (I could get them for 43p but can't be bothered to get the tin opener out so I'm happy to pay a 4p ring-pull tax).

DD is 15 and generally a lovely girl with whom I have a fantastic relationship. She’s an only child and I was on my own for most of her life (now living with her and DP who she gets on with). We’ve always been very close and that bond has remained into her teenage years. In most ways I feel extremely grateful. She’s bright, funny (usually) respectful and kind and doesn’t give me anything to worry about.

But I am starting to be concerned that we might almost be too close. Its very normal for teenagers to pull away from their parents and establish their own bonds and identities. She seems to have no interest in doing this really.

She has school friends, one close friend and a good broader friendship group. As far as I know there are no tensions and no signs of difficulty but she seems sort of uninterested in them and usually prefers to hang around with me.

To give an example: next week is half term and I am working most of the week so I am encouraging her to make arrangements to hang out with her friends. A small group of them are going to the cinema next week and I suggested she go and offered to pay for the tickets but she said she would rather wait and go with me?

At one level I love this. I realise I am lucky to have a nice, biddable and respectful teenager which I know isn’t always the case. At another a) it’s slightly annoying because it puts pressure on me to try to wangle time off work and sort out which she knows is hard, when there’s a perfectly good alternative. It also slightly worries me that at 15 she would rather hang out with her mum than a group of close peers, particularly when there’s no cost.

I have been trying to encourage her to sort more social stuff out and be more proactive about arrangements with friends and she does do stuff with them but more often than not she prefers to do it with me.

Should I be worried? Or is she just a late developer?

I wondered if anyone had advice. I am a chronic overthinker as a caveat.

I've made a new mum friend since having my baby (11weeks) we met at nursery and since then I've introduced her to a few other mum friends on the development and I think been nothing but supportive.

We recently went to a stay and play at the nursery we both attend and in front of the staff and new mums she bought up that it was good to be at a group we can talk at unlike another group we attended last week where she believed that I (rudely) talked over the group instructor and she felt bad for her and was wishing me to stop talking.

I don't disagree with her being that up if that's how she felt but it was in the context of being in front of the staff and new mums.

I mumbled something about not realising and I felt bad if I'd made the instructor feel that way but even the nursery workers commented saying 'its all coming out now'

I'm embarrassed and upset but we aren't close friends, we aren't even really close enough for me to cause an awkward situation by bringing it up. It would just probably end the friendship because I think she'd feel defensive. I don't know whether to just massively pull back or get over it (I think they are the two options I'd rather go for)

Does anyone feel like boy play is deeply unsupported and thoroughly discouraged in school up to the point where boys are questioning if play is actually good / encourages boys to question if their hard wired need for play is a bad thing. Isn't this a downward spiral for boys to not support what nature gave them which could in turn affect academic work.

I've booked an appointment with Hillary's Blinds to look at getting blinds and shutters made for front windows of our house. Has anyone used them? Would you recommend? Can I ask if you thought it was good value? TIA x

My beautiful boy had a fit an hour ago and has lost movement in his back legs.

He’s almost 14. We’ve called the vet and they’re coming out as soon as the can to do the kindest thing, but it could be hours. I’m sitting with him, hand feeding him treats and giving him so much love, he’s his usual happy self but his body is saying no more. If he worsens I will of course take him to the vet, but he hates the vet and I’d like him to go at home where he feels safe.

I feel like my heart is breaking, he saved my life all that time ago and I can’t imagine him not being here.

Trying to stay vague as this is very outing.

My parents gave me a sum of money as a gift to get on the property ladder a few years ago. It was very helpful and we couldn't have gotten a property without it. Right now we are TTC and feeling the cost of living crisis pinch. My husband and I have saved up £35k through hard work and scrimping and saving over the years.

Now my parents are divorcing and in a tight spot financially.

My younger sister is buying her first home and was expecting the same that I got.

My parents cannot give her anything financially and it's already very messy.

They asked me if I would consider giving her half of what I got. That would be £15k.

I technically have it as I have £35k saved but it just feels so wrong. It would make a huge dent in our savings we so carefully have built up. I would never have accepted the gift if I was expected to pay any of it back. We wanted a buffer because we need to buy a car for when we have a child, get all things ready for the baby and the boiler is on it's last legs. My partner is on a fixed term contract that comes to an end in May.

I really feel for my sister but I also don't feel this is my problem to fix.

I haven't said anything yet as I will do what others seem is fair. My parents feel awful and me paying is the only way they see this getting resolved. So very much have put the pressure on me.

what should be done?

Looking for a climbing Rose (ideally pink!) for the front of my house. However, it’s North facing and therefore gets no direct sun. Is this likely to be an issue? Does anyone have any recommendations? Amateur gardener here!

I’m 37, have three kids, work full time so I’m busy.

Does this make me sound boring?
T total
No hobbies
Dont watch much tv
Dont exercise (just running after kids and dog walks)
Go to bed at 8 (up at 5)
Lots of work friends but don’t see anyone socially

So we live at number 1. Then there’s 1a,1B,1c and 1d. Not in the right order which doesn’t help. At least once a week, someone will knock on our door thinking we’re 1b. Mostly people off Facebook buying stuff, sometimes takeaways. It’s really annoying, I want to put a sign up saying we’re not 1b, this is where they are with a map. My husband says no, just take our number down. I worry then that our deliveries etc won’t reach us.

I’ve drawn a map, hopefully the photo loads quickly.

Been with my husband 19 years. We ‘were’ in a good place. He’s been away working this week. He got home this evening and I was round my neighbours (who he gets on with and we have a great community). I came out as soon as I saw him pulling up with our friend and came in to be with him. Chatted to our friend and offered him dinner which he declined as he said he needed to go. I said to my DH I’ve left my phone at neighbours so I’ll go grab it. No problem. Neighbour reminds me that I’m asking DH to go and see the band we saw last Saturday tonight (we all went and had a fab night) so call DH and ask him. He says he doesn’t want to go so I say fair enough, can you drop us around the corner as I’d quite like to go. We have tomorrow together (he’s working tomorrow evening) and we have Sunday and next week together. The connection drops so I try to call him back. He doesn’t answer. I’ve come home and he’s laid into me that he just wants to spend the time with me but I’d rather eff off with my neighbour (joint friend), threw his glass so it smashed in the kitchen, shouted at me some more that he’s been away working all week and I should just want to be with him and stormed upstairs telling me to eff off out.

Has anyone noticed mass evictions happening due to the section 21 ending? In may the new law will make it harder for landlords to evict tenants so a lot are evicting tenants now, even good ones.

My friend got a surprise eviction notice yesterday and she is in temporary housing as it is. The neighbours opposite me are also getting evicted. These are no fault evictions.

Where will all these families go?

My dh has an injection several times a year for a medical condition he has. He is incredibly needle phobic and the first couple of times he had the injection it was in his arm and he felt like he was going into shock; went sweaty, heart racing, felt sick and felt like he was going to faint. Once the nurse actually held onto him as she thought he was going to faint. He has now, for the past 18 months had this injection into his buttock with no issue, until his last injection. The nurse was very reluctant to administer it where he's had it done previously, and he felt had to really argue his position on it.
Today he received a letter from the practise manager saying he would no longer be able to have the injections into his buttock and will only be allowed to have it in his arm, stomach or thigh.
I looked at NICEs guidelines and it does say the recommended place is arm, thigh or stomach, but it's not saying it can only be in one of these areas. I feel potentially the nurse being on the younger side and maybe newish to the job is going by NICE instructions to the letter and there is no deviation, whereas the previous nurses appear older and are more inclined to make things easier for the patient.
He has had blood tests very often and it shows it is helping his condition so it's not as if it's not effective. It is.
He has contacted his consultant at our local hospital to see what they say, and then from there we will decide how best to proceed. Just wondered if anyone else has encountered anything like this and what they did.

I'm just drinking my first cuppa of the day, in the conservatory, with dd1 and boy cat. Girl cat is most likely back in bed with dd2.

Dd1's home for Easter this weekend - she booked some events in London with her friends for next weekend. She's currently applying her make up to go to work.

Today's plan is a trip into town with dd2 for pens for her exams - she wants specific ones - and a few other bits. Then home to start prepping the kitchen to decorate, after a trip to B&Q last night. I need to remove a vinyl wall sticker if anyone has any tips for doing that?

Later on, I might spend an hour sorting peg dolls to paint over the Easter holidays since dd2 has plans to attend every revision session school are offering.

Not sure what we'll have for tea yet 🤔, maybe the curry dd2 fancied.

This evening, it'll be an hour or two of crochet or my book, then a fairly early night ready to start decorating tomorrow.

What about all of you?

I’m mid 50’s and have a a real run of bad luck with health issues over the past 18 months. A bout of pneumonia, a few menopausal issues that needed bloods, scans etc, a slipped disc that I needed some physio for. I haven’t had much time off on the sick apart from the bout of pneumonia which I took a week and struggled on WFH the rest of the time. The other issues, apart from leave to go to medical appointments I’ve not been on the sick, I’ve just pushed on with a little WFH for a few days if needed when I’ve been very unwell.
I manage a team of 10 which is a tough gig, all manner of personalities and a very hard, fast paced role. I don’t stop from the minute I get in the morning until I finish, work through breaks etc.
Everything my manager asks me to do I do and do really well, my manager is hands off and doesn’t ask a lot but I do work managing projects for other areas of the business. My manager pretends to care but is hardly ever in office, I think as long as I keep the department going that’s all they care about - they rarely ask if everything is ok. I feel very unsupported.
With the health issues I’ve naturally kept them informed, it did feel for a while that I had a different issue every week but it was a run of bad luck health wise and I couldn’t help it.
Recently I found a lump, I’ve had various urgent tests and scans and I’ve tried to keep work absence to an absolute minimum. Apart from appointments I’ve not missed any time. I now need surgery and of course I’m informing my manager. I get the feeling they could care less. I’ve had answers along the line of ‘glad you are being seen’ and that’s about it. Not once have I been asked if I’m ok. They are reasonably sure (as they can be until the pathology) that the lump is benign but I’ve spent the past 6 weeks or so very worried.
I feel saddened that not once has my manager asked if I’m genuinely ok. They have seen me a number of times but never ask if I’m doing ok. I’ve told them I’ll need a few days after the surgery to let things settle and that I’ll WFH until my stitches are out. This has been accepted and I was answered ‘all fine’ but they haven’t said ‘just take your time’ or ‘stay off until you are out of pain’ like I would with my own team.
I Suspect they are sick of me and my poor health but I’ve tried not to let these things affect my work. Perhaps I’m being too sensitive? I’ve worked for this person for a long time, they seem to have completely disengaged over the past year or so.

A few years ago, a couple in my family moved to an expensive rural village with poor transport links for a well-paying private school job for the main earner..That post was made redundant last summer. The former 'main earner' has picked up some supply work in cities about 20 miles away, and quite a lot of seasonal online tutoring.

The partner's job is 3 days a week working for the local authority's 'medical education service". This is peripatetic work, using own car, preparing children who don't/won't school attend on medical grounds for GCSE exams; so 'inclusion'. That service is now being slashed. Choices are applying for the only subject-specific post to be retained, or redundancy.

Desperate times. They have a mortgage to pay and 3 children in primary school. They have to have two cars to be able to work. In teaching terms, they are "old and expensive". One has a PhD, the other an MA.

I find it hard to believe how harsh things are.

Tell me how to reframe "old and expensive" for them positively for job applications.

What the difference between the two? What brands are good?

I have dry, mature skin (mid-40s) that can be sensitive. I use Tretanoin at night. I'm finding that foundation has been a bit heavy and drying recently.

growing hair which is now shoulder length, want to style it with lose waves, any advice on what to use for this, it’s currently just hanging straight

My copy of Tom Bower's new book "Betrayal" has transported itself on to my Kindle . Just started it.
A thread for those reading for discussion if anyone is interested.
All opinions welcome , but no spitting , no fighting 😂

I don't wear much make up but I find make up tiktoks oddly fascinating. I'm always impressed at how some people can transform themselves so radically. I'm also mind boggled by how much make up people apply.

But what I find oddest is the way everyone trickles serum or oils directly onto their face so it dribbles down their cheeks, before rubbing in with their fingers. It would never have occurred to me to do anything other than put it on my fingers and then apply. Do people really do this "in real life" or is it just a tiktok trend?