The advice thread for random problems #5

[avabella]

I've tried Google but I'm a dumb bitch apparently my friend got a loan with a settlement fee of £4K. What is the settlement fee?

The settlement fee is just that, how much it will cost to settle the loan. How much is the loan for?

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

A random long shot

Does anyone own a Vauxhall Adam or a Toyota Aygo?

There's are the two I have my eye on, looking for pros/cons of them, are you happy with them, are they good cost wise, how are they with visibility vision (my last car was a Ford Ka convertible an when the roof was up it was incredible restricted seeing out the back) what are they like with hills? my work has a god awful corner hill going up to it

Also had my eye on the little VW beetles but they have discontinued those an I'd rather not have another discontinued car, just looking for something kinda small

I’ve not had these specific models but Vauxhall and Toyata are vehicles that me and my family have driven through the years and imo you can’t go wrong with either.
In terms of the hill I can’t answer

 

[Snippysnips]

Question about best before dates.

A friend with her husband has opened a new shop. I went to buy some things and all had expired “before before”. I mentioned it after he asked me why I was looking at dates and didn’t I trust them, and he went for me calling me stupid and it’s totally ok to sell as it’s not “use by”. BUT the food doesn’t have a “use by”, then he had a go at me about lying about my age - he’s determined I’m almost two decades younger than I am (yep I took it as a compliment, which actually made him worse) so yep he’s a git

I know best before doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but how does someone (business/customer) know if it’s ok to sell if there’s no use by? I’m worried for my friend (for more than one reason now having met her husband!).

She’s illegally giving out free carrier bags because he says it’s fine (in wales it’s not and is very strict, they’ve moved here from England where the rules are more relaxed).

I don’t want her business to fail or her to get into trouble.

You can sell stuff that's got a best before date on it that's past it's date, however I don't believe you can charge full price for them plus it has to be clearly stated it's past it's best before, typically stores here have them by the till in like a little basket with a sign saying they are past the best before, you can't just put them in with the stuff that's fine

You CANNOT sell anything past it's date if it has a use by on it though, an can actually get in bother with that, anything coming close to it's use by usually shops sell cheap an again make it known it's close to it's expiry date or it's on the day of its expiry

I don't know about the carrier bags as am Scotland an here it's the shops decision if they want to charge or not, some do an some don't an that's with both private and franchise

 

[griftalo]

What about thread journaling?

How to | Make a Thread Journal | The Simple Things

Keeping a record of your days doesn’t have to mean picking up a pen and paper; you can be as creative as you like If we say so ourselves, we loved the weather scarf in our February issue (pictured above by Josie George ). It seems like an ingenious way both to keep a small record of each day as

www.thesimplethings.com

 

[Bloody orange Hell]

A random long shot

Does anyone own a Vauxhall Adam or a Toyota Aygo?

There's are the two I have my eye on, looking for pros/cons of them, are you happy with them, are they good cost wise, how are they with visibility vision (my last car was a Ford Ka convertible an when the roof was up it was incredible restricted seeing out the back) what are they like with hills? my work has a god awful corner hill going up to it

Also had my eye on the little VW beetles but they have discontinued those an I'd rather not have another discontinued car, just looking for something kinda small

My mum had a Toyota Aygo. She really liked it and I borrowed it for a month and enjoyed driving it. It was surprisingly spacious. Don’t recall any visibility issues but I guess your height may affect that so test drive one if you can. it was easy to park so don’t think there were issues. Was very nippy too. We are tall and the height of the car roof was good for us.

One thing I noticed was that I felt I had to rev much higher when pulling away than either of my two cars I have had in last 20 yrs (ford focus and a Nissan). I don’t know if that was her car or typical of the make and model.

hth

 

[piquant]

Health related. Please skip if it’s triggering (Not asking for diagnosis).

For the past 2/3 weeks, I have been experiencing daily nausea. From the moment I wake up, until bed time. I vomited an entire day two weeks ago and thought it was good poisining but I don’t think this is the case given how long it’s lasted. I thought it was PMS related but I had my period last week, it’s now ruled out.

I can barely eat because of how nauseous I’ve been. My appetite has severely decreased as well but I’m putting this down on the nausea.

The doctor gave me a prescription to use 5 days, it helped a bit but the moment the prescription ended, the nausea came back instantly.

I have blood tests to do, but I’m honestly exhausted. I was at work today and had to rush to the bathroom multiple times because I felt so unwell.

Has anyone ever experienced this?

Could be an ear infection or vertigo...both can cause nausea
blood tests will show if it's an infection ( raised white cell count or inflammatory markers )

 

[Snippysnips]

Fly into Heathrow or Gatwick. They have direct trains to london. The Heathrow express goes direct to Kings cross and the Gatwick express is about a 5 min walk from there.

Thank you, most sites were giving Gatwick so I'll stick with there
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Is London city airport an option?

It might be if I looked more, I believe it was Gatwick, Luton and Stansted most sites had, I'd be going from Glasgow

 

[dressinggownofdoom]

I have a potential work/ salary dilemma. Heard on the grapevine that colleague X (who is junior to me) has been offered a job elsewhere. Role is a step up, good for them. However the person who told me also said that X was getting a 6 fig salary. Now obviously what they get in their new role is no business of mine, but separate to this I heard from another manager that Xs manager couldn't retain them as their new salary was a third higher than their current one. I've inferred this to mean they are currently earning 75k a year (at least) assuming the new role is dead on 100k.

It's the current salary that concerns me, because I'm senior to them yet my salary is nowhere near 75k. I expected X to be earning 45-50k at most. If this is correct I'm now wondering how many other people junior to me are earning significantly more? There is zero transparency about salaries in our workplace and we all joined at different times. I've just got the feeling that I've spent the last 10 years being financially shafted whilst my junior is colleagues all outearned me which is a bit depressing!

If you were in my position would you pursue this further (by at least trying to confirm if X and others are paid more - and potentially then argue for a rise based on the fact my role is more senior etc?)

Are you a member of a union? If not, then I would consider it.

 

[Snippysnips]

Thanks, it's quite a lot of work both back an front of house, basically they are changing quite a bit as well as extending

The noise is kept during decent hours so can't complain about that, personally they are quite lazy, start about 10, go for lunch then leave around 3, but it's the numerous vans abandoned all over the road, blocking drives, rubbish that's more the problem, an mentioning anything to them directly just results in them being smart arses an laughing about it

I just would like a finish date Tbh, I'll check with the council an see if maybe they have any idea, because it's private housing I just wasn't sure if the council would care about it

 

[and so say we all]

I want to change schools for my 7yr child ( it'll be their third school). They don't want to because of one favourite teacher who's there 2 days a week. Academically and socially, they've gone backwards in a big way. They have a few friends but their bestie moved states. Should I move her or should I allow her one more year at the "easy" school? She is not being challenged in any area, despite me talking to teachers about it.
Many thanks in advance

 

[Tommyb]

That’s exactly how I’m feeling, I’ve been in tears too and my mental health feels so low. Went down a rabbit hole online and found stories of people who said their taste and smell took months, years and some never came back at all. I’m sure I’ll be fine and I’m just being paranoid but it’s the only symptom of mine that hasn’t made any improvement so far🥲

Please try not to worry. My mum's took 3 weeks to come back once she was clear of COVID. Her smell came back first I believe. I know it's long but it will happen!

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

Thank you, most sites were giving Gatwick so I'll stick with there
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It might be if I looked more, I believe it was Gatwick, Luton and Stansted most sites had, I'd be going from Glasgow

If those are my options I’d pick Luton. The train from there is direct to Kings Cross and probably only take 30min from Gatwick it’s almost 2 hours

 

[Bloody orange Hell]

Thanks everyone, I will suggest doing something else but I'm struggling to think of something else - we did bottomless brunch last year and afternoon tea the year before. I thought somewhere we could drink and play games might be fun but someone I know got into a massive fight at one of them recently which definitely puts me off going there. My son suggested some bar that's full of table tennis tables however this unlocked a childhood memory of how I hate table tennis
I need to think of something else - oh also it has to be daytime.
This is why I never do anything for my birthday as I can't make a decision.

SHOREDITCH CRAZY GOLF | Mini Golf | Dates, birthdays, parties

Date night, work parties, birthday night outs, and family outings just got crazier! London Shoreditch Crazy Golf.

www.junkyardgolfclub.co.uk

This is themed adventure golf with cocktails if so desired

 

[Doodlebug005]

That’s strange. Once our cat was neutered he was left alone. Neutered males aren’t called Toms so that’s where my confusion came in.
Put a paper collar on the black cat asking the owners to contact you

My apologies I always refer to him as a Tom! No point in contacting neighbour- we have called him several times when dogs were chasing farmers sheep etc “ ok ok ya ya will sort it out” …. saw them chasing calves this week🫣 he doesn’t care- the cat ( if his) is there to control vermin- will keep an eye- try and find out if it is his- if it’s not we will try to catch it and get it to a rescue. It is obviously hungry.

 

[Snippysnips]

Sadly not. I could change the order of the bins and move them fractionally down but not completely.

That's a pity, definitely go with the odour remover, or maybe even spray something they dislike around the bin, I don't think they like citrus or essential oils

 

[TwooTwooTwitTwitTwoo]

I'm going to try and get a GP appointment eventually if I can but wondering if anyone's experienced similar. For the last few months (or maybe longer but the frequency has increased) I can getting a feeling like I'm coming down with a cold which never comes to anything. Sore head, slightly sore/itchy throat, slight or high fatigue, sometimes bad body pain, low body temp. Goes away after 2-3 days. It used to be linked to my cycle and used to get it before period, then also started having it around ovulation but now it seems random. Not sure if it's to do with hormone change or something else, just to add I had a full blood panel done last December including vitamins, minerals, hormone levels etc and everything was perfect it's really starting to piss me off now

I used to have that loads. My neck glands would come up, I'd feel shivery and have a slight temperature and be completely exhausted but never actually end up ill. It often flares up after exercise. It reminds me a lot of the years after I had Glandular Fever when even something like staying up late would make me unwell for days.

I think some of it is down to my wonky thyroid but I've helped it by taking vitamin D supplements and by not pushing myself if I'm really not feeling up to it.

It is frustrating. I think you're doing the right thing having a check up, even if everything was OK last time.
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A friend of mine is selling his van and I'm tempted to buy it - he wants 4k for it, it has a built in vanlife - setup.

But it has over 200k kilometers and I think it's a ford transit from before 2010 which are know to have huge issues with rust. I know he has done some work on it, getting rid of rust as he's really good with welding, so it might not be an issue.

I want to do a 3 month trip to Sweden next year so I have enough time to look for a different car, but I would have to build the whole setup. Plus, I'll be buying in a different country probably which has tax implications too.

I want a reliable car as I will be spending a lot of time on the road. But that is always the risk with used cars, you could buy a lemon and not even know.

I don't know what to do really. Seeing my mechanic on Monday anyway and will ask him too, just thought maybe someone could weight in.

It's the position of the rust in relation to mountings that's the main issue. I'd highly recommend taking someone who knows about cars (and who owns a jack) with you and looking underneath.

I'd also recommend watching some YouTube videos about how to check the steering and brakes etc whilst you're viewing it, particularly if you are not able to test drive it.

 

[Captainmouse]

I've got a spot of gloss on my good black work trousers . They've been though the wash and it's still there (can only wash at 30). Any tips please .

Nail varnish remover? White spirit?

 

[griftalo]

I did. It’s sorted. They said that if early payment is made, the direct debit doesn’t come out.
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On another note - does anyone have chronic issues with UPS claiming they attempted to deliver a package when they never did? I was at home today and can 100% attest no one ever came to the door at the time they claim they did. Every delivery with them is an absolute nightmare and calls to customer service does nothing.

Our regular post guy who isn’t ups says the evening people cba and lie about attempting delivery so this may be the case here too.

 

[WeHadFunRight]

It sounds like the teacher is viewing doing that as encouragement for the class and, not actually thought it through, sometimes things that work on paper/assignments don’t actually translate into the real world of a class of 14/15 year olds who are going to be pouncing on differences because that’s what happens at that age.

I’m sure if it’s pointed out to the teacher in an appropriate way by another they won’t do it anymore.

Yeah, this is a nudge tactic that tries to get people to “do the right thing” like when you see those signs like “96% of people don’t litter” people don’t want to be the odd ones out but at school you just want to be cool bless them

 

[HoGi]

Has anyone tried Skechers sandals and do you know if they’re a narrow fit? I’m pregnant and in this heat my feet are quite swollen. I already have quite wide feet and keen to get some comfy flat sandals.

I have narrow feet and they are all too wide on me, hope that helps.