BoudaSmoke

£25k is basically minimum wage in today's wages. If you have a degree and are only getting that little, something has gone wrong somewhere.

I say breakfast, lunch, dinner. As a northener, I am regularly frustrated by the way most people round my way say breakfast, dinner, tea instead. I feel this is incorrect, though I appreciate that I am in the minority (at least up north). I think of dinner as the main hot cooked meal of the day, so I will sometimes use the latter option if the midday meal is hot and the evening meal is cold, which isn't as common these days.

It's only ever a small selection, and at the highest price range, that is truly suitable for purpose. I had a similar issue when buying a microwave and had to buy a standard capacity rather than a larger unit because of the jump in price. Govmint needs to step in. Have a legal minimum size for a toaster tray.

That is the seat I sit in too. Before covid, I used to sit up front next to the driver. Then the social distancing meant that the rear passenger gave the most space between driver and passenger. When the restrictions ended, I carried on using that seat out of habit. Also the driver is less likely to try and conversate with me.

The one on the left is about as dark as I'd go myself. The one on the right isn't toast, it's bread with a brown mark on it.

Restaurants (proper, sit down, order from a menu at the table restaurants) I expect to tip. Taxis/bar service/barbers, etc, I would say it is not customary, but not completely unheard of. Often people will round up to the nearest 10 if it was say 18.50 or 9.25 for example. I think the main difference is that because (service?) jobs pay actual minimum wage here rather than $3hr in the US, we still think of the tip as an actual bonus for exceptional service, whereas in America the customer is basically expected to subsidise the employers bullshit financial compensation to their staff. The average annual wage in the US is about double that in the UK, and yet minimum wage is $7.25 against £12.21 per hour for 'low-skilled' jobs. I'm amazed those at the bottom in America can survive at all. I'm not sure exactly how this translates or applies to Canada, as I am much less familiar with your country than your brash neighbour. From a European POV you guys seem fairly (but not totally) American, and with more empathy and manners? I hope that's not an unfair/offensive assessment. I assume the working conditions are better for Canadian workers, but also that a lot of American culture (both social and corporate) is absorbed or forced onto you due to proximity, so I imagine working conditions are somewhere between the highly regulated ones in Europe and the wild west free-for-all that is the US jobs market?

Everyone saying clotted cream but you can use whipped cream as an alternative. It's not quite the same but making clotted cream is a huge ballache, whereas whipped takes two mins with an electric whisk and it mostly does the job.

Bit of a jokey one, but also absolutely essential: fanny means vagina, not arse/ass. It cracks me up every time I hear an American man talking about his fanny. It is also very mildly offensive, falling into the category of cuss words that barely count as swearing, but may offend some sensitive souls. Most people are fine with it (at least in my circles!).

I'm 39 and when I was a child it was barely a thing, so perhaps this is just everything balancing back out after a few years of getting OTT with it?

If they don't do me the respect of paying me, I'm not doing them any favours. Many people will eat shit because they need the money that comes with a crappy job, but in this case, what are they going to do? Sack you? You don't earn any money, so they are basically giving you extra hours of free time to spend doing what you like free of the toxic office environment, or find an actual paying job.

I wake up in the night most nights. And often NOT to drink or pee (though it is sometimes). I just wake up, roll over, and go back to sleep, so at least I'm not laying awake for the rest of the night. I occasionally sleep right through, but it's not the norm.

No, they're still things. The world is just getting dumber. Dumber and dumber. I don't think we're gonna make it.

It depends on how many utility rooms the house has. I would want probably 5-6 bedrooms, but fewer if there are other 'spare' rooms in the house. Master bedroom (mine), two, maybe three guest bedrooms, an office/library and a storage room. I don't have friends/family visit often, but in this scenario I would encourage visits a little more frequently than in my current hole. Obviously, if the house has a small room downstairs for an office space, I don't need to use a bedroom for that. Similarly, if there is a decent amount of attic/basement space or other storage area, strike off another bedroom. I don't need it to be a hotel!

Don't do it. They can claim tax back on the donation, so essentially, you are trading some taxpayers' money from the government's coffers for more corporate profit.

I know your wife is not a professional so she can't charge top dollar for it, but I just Googled it and it said the average price is £400-£500, so anything under three figures feels like she's robbing herself. Even at £100 that is just £2 per slice, so I don't think charging a bit more than that is unreasonable. Also, £40 is only 3.5 hours at minimum wage and depending on how fancy the cake is it could take a lot longer than that to prep, bake and decorate, Mates rates is one thing, but this will be a lot of work. I guess it also depends how much you like the couple!

Use the plastic pack that the meat came in. Put some cold water in it to prevent the hot fat from melting the plastic. Leave it to cool, then you can pour away the water, leaving the fat in the tray. Then bin (if you don't mind not recycling that one piece of plastic).

I always/only eat a full tub. Wrap it in a towel and chow down.