Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone can give me some advice on the best way to arrange this.

I lost my iPhone in Germany, and thankfully, a lovely older lady has found it and agreed to help get it back to me.

I’d like to arrange and pay for a courier to collect the phone directly from her home / drop off centre in Germany and deliver it to me in the UK.

The phone is just a used iPhone, with no original box or accessories. Ideally, I want to make the process as easy as possible for the lady, I’d prefer her not to have to print shipping labels, fill out customs forms or pay for anything herself.

My questions are:

• Which courier would be best for sending a used iPhone from Germany to the UK?
• Is there a service that allows me to book and pay online, arrange home collection, and have the courier bring the shipping label?
• How do the customs declaration and any required paperwork work for returning a lost phone to its owner, rather than selling or gifting it?
• Are there any restrictions on shipping a phone with its lithium-ion battery installed?
• Is there anything I should know about potential UK customs charges, given that my brother originally bought the phone in the UK?

Thanks so much for any advice!

For context - my neighbours don't speak English, so I can't ask them. They're presumably South Asian. There's 2 adults living there and they often have guests.

They're friendly enough and I leave the house before them on bin day, so for the last 8ish months I've been putting their bins out. I'm always amazed at how little rubbish they have. Their food bin gets emptied weekly, but could probably be done once every 3 weeks. They have almost zero recycling. I haven't put their wheelie bin out once, I reckon they could comfortably not empty it for the next 18 months and still have space in there. They are seemingly home just as much as any other household.

Comparatively, myself and the rest of the street have bulging, overflowing bins.

Does anyone here have a similar footprint to them? Is it an ethnicity/cultural thing? I've noticed when I pop into Asian supermarkets food is often sold in bulk, is this how they're doing it? I'm intrigued because I would like to move in the direction of producing less waste.

I'm looking buy a whole new range of pots and pans so i am interested in peoples opinions.

I think I've settled on stainless steel being my preferred choice for everything, and Ideally want things that are oven safe.

Procook seem to be very highly rated so that’s where im looking right now.. just trying to gather as much information as possible before taking advantage of the black Friday sales. Cheers!

I’ve noticed rail tickets from the same rail company with the same conditions being charged different prices on the same day for anytime singles - for example, £20 for 9.30am and £10 for 11am but I can buy the £10 ticket and travel at 9.30am. Why is this?

The Mrs and I are seriously considering moving back to the UK from USA. We already spend a lot of the year in the UK.

To that end we have tried to open a UK bank account. Catch 22 is you can't open one without proof of an address. Proof generally requires you show something like a utility bill. You can't have any utility service, including a mobile phone (we tried this), without a bank account for direct debit.

Any other former expats got around this?

I didn’t ever really enjoy learning in school, but in the last 25-ish years since leaving I’ve really enjoyed going off and learning about Physics. It didn’t excite me when I was at school - maybe it’s the environment itself I didn’t enjoy rather than the subject. I’d absolutely love to work as a theoretical physicist.

If you could go back and take different subjects at school in order to help migrate you to a different career path, what would you change?

I earn an average wage and try to play by the rules, yet I see people cutting corners who seem to get further in life. With living costs rising and concerns about crime and antisocial behaviour, I wonder whether doing the right thing still pays off.

Do you think cricket will grow in these countries in the future?

Christmas roast/sunday roast not too fussed up about it but for some context, I don’t have any family in the UK and unfortunately will be alone for the Christmas holidays. I currently live in a shitty London flat with no living room or dining table, tiny kitchen and my own room is small (I literally eat my meals on my bed) as well so I’m thinking of easier ways to cook a roast for myself (also not really interested in cooking for my two other stranger flatmates they are both veggie and I love a meaty roast).

Any particular tips on how to make a roast for one? I’m usually a beef type of person but for one maybe a steak would be easier? A whole roasted chicken is actually too big for my potion of the fridge space lol. And in terms of sides I love cauliflower cheese, yorkshires, roasted veg, carrots and etc but it’s not really worth the effort if its for myself and I have to pay for every single ingredient and I can’t even finish everything before it goes bad (and not to mention there’s barely any space in the fridge and freezer… 3 people sharing a smaller than average fridge has been awful)

A month ago I got 5 parking fines because I parked at my allocated parking spot as in my tenancy agreement. I stupidly missed the sign where it said you need a permit (I was not given one btw). I told my agency and they said “this happens often, they will get rid of them” and told me they would appeal on my behalf.

Now i’ve got 5 parking fines past their deadline, with letters saying pay or we’ll have debt collectors or court proceeding coming. I only initially “ignored” them because my agency said they would appeal for me.

But i’ve asked my agency for proof of appeal and there’s nothing?? I don’t have proof of them telling me they’ll appeal as it was done over the phone, and when i’ve asked for proof of appeal it seems like they’re stalling, saying they’ll send it “today”.

I’m super worried on what to do next? Just firm the fines? Or take it to court if needed and appeal?

It’s with IPC

Hello everyone. I realize I am 5 hours behind you in North America, so perhaps a lot of you are sleeping already. In any case, thank you in advance for your answers, I would appreciate anything you guys tell me.

I live in Toronto and one of my best girlfriends is English. She used to come here to visit me and travel around Canada and the US, but recently got a job opportunity here in Toronto. She is very happy about this obviously but i can tell she is struggling a little bit. I can empathize, being so far from home must be very tough.

Although she has been here before, she is missing home. I am worried she is feeling a bit depressed. The next time she goes back to the UK is for Christmas. I am trying to do nice things for her and make her time here in Canada worthwhile. And make her feel welcome. I have a cabin in northern Ontario so we are staying there next weekend. That will be lovely, she will see the lake, and there are tons of wildlife. I am hoping it will be a good experience for her. And be something new so she can feel better.

But is there anything else I can do, to alleviate her homesickness? Our tea game here kinda sucks. The Heinz beans for beans on toast are different, apparently. Also it’s going to be hard when winter comes. She has only ever visited in summer. I am trying to get her prepared for -30C and a meter of snow lol. I hope that that weather doesn’t make things worse. I’m so used to it, and thrive in it but I understand if you didn’t grow up here with it it must be so hard.

Any meals I can make her to help her feel better? I have heard a Sunday roast is a big thing across the pond. Anything else you could suggest?
I really just want to take care of my friend. What can I try or do? Thank you so much; as I said before I appreciate in advance your answers, and I hope everyone is doing well. I guess it’s the middle of the night for you guys - hope you all get a good sleep and have a lovely day tomorrow.

🇨🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ❤️

So this evening, walked the dog and realized Id dropped my phone somewhere when I was about to head back. Searched with flashlight no go, went home to get tablet before returning so I could play sound before it died overnight.

Anyways got to carpark again maybe 10pm, didnt think to turn off highbeam obviously no lights around. There were 2 cars there, I thought weird but until I was almost parked when I realized there were people in the car.

One car left immediately having had my highbeams bust them in their car (unintentionally). Anyways, lights off, turned my light on inside to look for flashlight, unclip dog, set maps to my lost phone turned off lights went looking.

Was out maybe 5 mins later, phone was where Id repeatedly checked but mainly buried under autumn leaves and other car had also driven off.

I did laugh but now I'm wondering what they thought I was doing going into woods at 10pm in the heavy rain with a flashlight.

What would you think?

Also to the couples I spooked, apologies, when you've been single as long as me, you dont think secluded carpark couples up to something, you go thats weird, other people walking in this shit?

I've just seen a news article that some singer has broken records for longest at number 1.

20 years ago I think I would have thought that was newsworthy and I probably would have heard the song everywhere, but in today's streaming era I'd never heard the song or the singer - I had to Google the song just to find out what it was!

So, I wondered who else is the same? I figure most people just listen to their own songs now, radio has been replaced by streaming and music is sourced from all over the world according to their own tastes, so are the UK charts still relevant?

Edit: here is the news story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cj3vqn4gyp53o

Forgive/correct me if I am mistaken. As I understand it, having a parent "in care" costs in the realm of thousands per month, if not per week. At the same time, the talented and dedicated people providing the care are paid minimum wage.

Where's all the money going?

I'm talking crumpets, scones, fish n chips, pasties, sausage rolls, shepherds pie. How often do you eat traditional and quintessential British foods?

It used to be you could get onto a lot of career ladders with it a licence and achieve social mobility (which costs £2000 to get, which not everyone can afford without parental support to save on rent).

For the last several years, it's been that almost every career path requires a licence, for example:

-Engineering apprenticeships

-Entry level social services roles

-Technician apprenticeships (eg elevator technician, Openreach)

-Employment sector

-Housing sector

-Even many manufacturing jobs, that don't involve driving on the job

Here's a good example. It's a mental health call handler job at a charity (at a non-rural site located in a city), which asks for a full licence and access to a vehicle: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/mental-health-call-handler-at-nottingham-community-housing-association-4480229334/?refId=U1mxqzutHEo9aZo8mVFv5g%3D%3D&trackingId=dbE0Gjp5jT4jIEcnZ8tPGA%3D%3D&originalSubdomain=uk

In my 30s. Feels like I’m starting over and lucky to have family support but I feel so much better for it, a relief.

Need to brain storm what my interests are. I’m very high risk for burn out thanks to health issues.

I have nobody to tell this to really and I want to just keep it to myself and parents for now. Feels very good but also weird.

I always thought that the hot tap was drawn from tank with dead pigeons in it

I look at all the jobs there are available to me and never seem to like any of them, I'm thinking of taking Maths, Further maths and Chemistry for A Level but would be open to doing different A levels if there was a good job that I needed them for.

I haven't done my GCSEs yet but I took 3 early and got 998 on them and in my mocks I've got 99999976 on the rest of them (the extra one is astronomy), I took Spanish, Music, Geography and separates as my options, and have enjoyed chemistry and music a lot more than anything else. So safe to say I am capable to doing quite well.

So really I'm aiming to try to get the best job I could, probably go to Oxbridge if I can, but I don't know what job actually is the best one, as there doesn't seem to be a job that is both high paying and good that fits my interests, and I'm really hoping someone on here just has some strange niche fringe job that I could look into and actually enjoy doing.

Your city or region has been victim to a cyber attack and as a result has no electricity, water, gas, internet or phone signal.

How long can you last on what you have or what would you end up doing?

Context:

I am in my early thirties, the only qualifications I have on paper are some good GCSE’s, poor A-levels, and one year at uni before dropping out. So it’s been 13 years since I have been in education.

I am currently working in a mail centre, I’ve been here on and off for about six plus years as an agency worker. I am also a full time support worker, and have been doing that mainly for 5 years. I have no hard skills or qualifications.

I do believe that I have excellent customer service skills and communication skills. I am not a computer genius, but I can use google to learn stuff when I needed to do something that was slightly above basic.

I can commit my evenings and weekend for uninterrupted learning. I also have downtime during my main job, which I can utilise for learning.

I just want to gain skills that will give me a good shot at earning £50K+ in the future. I was thinking either accounting or tech jobs. I keep hearing that tech jobs and accounting jobs could be hit by AI, but it looks like most jobs can be hit by AI.

What options do I have?

I'm currently doing initial teacher training in London I'm trying to make plans about where I could live next year, when I will hopefully find a teaching job in England.

My salary will be somewhere between £34k and £40k, depending on if they count my prior industry experience or not.

I would like to live alone, ideally in a 1-bed flat which is well-connected by public transport, has a relatively modern interior and is in a safe area.

Although London has the most teaching jobs in my subject (Business), finding a flat like this in London seems like a distant dream with my budget, and my options appear very limited if I wish to live alone.

On the other hand, I've found flats (spacious, modern, clean) for around £1,100 in cities like Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield. Manchester also looks like a good option with slightly higher rents but seems to have more schools where my subject is taught.

Overall, I'm quite undecided about whether staying in London is worth it financially, or whether I would have a better quality of life in another city.

Which non-London cities would you recommend in terms of affordability, quality of life and safety? Bonus point if you're a teacher or parent and could share if your area has schools where Business Studies is taught in Secondary/Sixth Form.

Thank you!

So, I know the answer is obviously no but...

Back story first. I've just put up a playground set in my back garden. It's got a raised platform and one of my neighbours poked her head over the fence and said that the raised platform looks into her bedroom window (she's in a bungalow). I'm fully expecting her to put in a complaint and then I'll have to apply for retrospective planning permission etc. Etc.

That isn't the point I'm raising here, just giving some background.

Anyways this made me have a proper read of the planning laws as I was under the impression that because the platform isn't a fixed structure it isn't applicable, it's moveable if we needed to.

But on reading the laws, it turns out it applies to any structure over 30cm tall, regardless of if they are fixed to the ground or not.

So in theory, a picnic bench set is a raised platform... And if you put it somewhere in your garden that meant when sitting on it you could see into someone's window they could complain and the council could ask you to apply for planning permission.

I know this would never go through, no one would be that daft. But, if you read the laws... It implies a bench set, if it's above 30cm, would need planning permission.

I was talking to a friend who’s American, and they couldn’t believe kids are allowed in pubs here (during the day).

I explained that a lot of pubs (especially locals) serve food. It got me thinking, what’s everyone’s genuine thoughts on it?

For me, as long as they’re supervised and not running around, it doesn’t bother me. I think it’s relatively normal for a local but I sometimes feel a bit differently in town centres… I’m not sure if it’s because it’s often a bit rowdier

Think we’ve probably all had times like that and I dare say usually quite a story behind it to whatever degree!