Animedragon

Labrador

Up Grade

Nobody makes a good job of pretending to be happy when their not. But I'm sure your mom appreciated your efforts.

I understand why places are encouraging pre-booking, but if I'm planning on going to an outdoor place I prefer to check the weather before I decide to visit or not, with our famously unpredictable British weather it's the smart thing to do.

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Natal

Labyrinth

185

Welcome to the forum. Pull up a cushion, or a chair if sitting on the floor isn't your thing, and make yourself at home.

And it's not just shops. A lot of tourist attractions switched over to pre-booked entry only during covid for social distancing reasons, which was fine, but quite a few haven't gone back to walk-up entry, or if they have their websites give the impression that you need to book in advance with no mention of walk-up entry being available.

Stick to your principles and don't just follow what everyone else does because doing so won't make you any true friends and it will get you into trouble and possibly even harm your health. Many years ago a young friend of mine got mixed up with a group from his school that were into glue sniffing and solvent abuse, it nearly killed him and his so-called "mates" thought it funny. Having the courage to stand apart from others in your class because you don't want to just follow the crowd and doing things you know are wrong is hard, I know this from personal experience, but stick with it and you'll gain valuable resilience for when you go out into the world of work.

Today I finished watching Say "I Love You". This is a wholesome little high school Slice of Life romance series, it's got nothing really special about it, it's just a nice little story about two people with very different personalities spending time together and getting to know each other and spending time with their friends. The various characters have interesting and believable personalities, some are shy and withdrawn, others scheming and a bit manipulative while a couple of them are just annoying but as the series progresses the interactions between them have a lot to say about friendship. While there's nothing in the series that makes it stand out it still manages to be an enjoyable little series.

Regular Maintenance

Test

Nova

Drugs were never a problem when I was at school because the supply chains didn't reach down to school student levels and drugs were usually something only done by rock stars. Smoking was an issue, but no one smoked on school premises, those that took the risk usually ended up having their parents summoned to school and sometimes also the police who wanted to know where cigarettes came from and if a shop had sold them to a student the shopkeeper would be in trouble. Personally, I've never smoked, I can't stand the smell of them so I'm really glad it's now illegal in the UK to smoke on public transport and in any public buildings or shops.

I see that's not just a problem with ATMs in the UK, ours only give out £20 notes. The highest denomination bank note in the UK is £50 and no shop will take them, some even have signs up by till saying "no £50 notes" Same here, I never buy anything I don't have the money in my account to pay for. A friend of mine got into massive debt by getting carried away with his credit card.

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It's great fun and worth a listen.

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176

It's bright and sunny, but still only 8C

I'm like that as well. The only time I have more than £10 in my wallet is when I'm on holiday because some tourist attractions don't take card payments for payments less than £5, so I usually have a handful of coins in my pocket as well. However, since the covid pandemic some places now only accept card payments and London buses have been card only for several years, they charge a flat fare for each journey so your fare is the same if you travel the entire route or just go a couple of stops.

For on-line purchases I use my credit card, for in-store purchases I usually use my debit card unless the amount is less than £5 then I usually pay cash. Although actually getting cash is a problem here in the UK because so many banks are closing their branches, my town had 3 banks and 2 building societies and one by one they closed, now there's none left so the only way to get cash is from the "hole in the wall" cash dispenser at the railway station. This causes another problem, these machines often only give you £20 notes, and no shopkeeper likes being offered a £20 note for a £5 purchase.

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