The TPU UK Clubhouse

[Space Lynx]

Maybe Barratt homes will sell their new build houses to the public for £500 which was roughly the average price in 1952 in the West Midlands for the bank holiday weekend in a nostalgic gesture to those who don't own their homes.

I know a handful of people in their early 30's in the UK who are literally on the verge of being homeless or being forced to move back in with their parents because of rising costs and no rising wages.

I was looking at some jobs recently, and most only pay 10-11 quid an hr... I have to admit, America is actually much better than the UK when it comes to jobs. Loads of warehouse jobs you can get back home where i live that are in demand and pay 20-25 an hr, no experience or education needed. Not glorious, but money = freedom.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Like anywhere it depends what you do and to some extent your qualifications/experience, public sector starting salaries are generally poor, private sector tends to be better, for 15 years in the military my pay was crap (and at the 15 year point I had progressed through 6 ranks), really crap but when I left in 2004 it was fantastic, a nurse or teacher today starts newly qualified on about £23k, the equivalent average starting salary in the private sector for a professional role requiring degree level qualifications is around 30 - 35k I believe.

 

[Space Lynx]

Like anywhere it depends what you do and to some extent your qualifications/experience, public sector starting salaries are generally poor, private sector tends to be better, for 15 years in the military my pay was crap (and at the 15 year point I had progressed through 6 ranks), really crap but when I left in 2004 it was fantastic, a nurse or teacher today starts newly qualified on about £23k, the equivalent average starting salary in the private sector for a professional role requiring degree level qualifications is around 30 - 35k I believe.

this is where I disagree though, its not "like anywhere" cause back home someone can change their stars in less than two years if they are willing to do something in-demand... electricians in UK make like 26k a year, in USA you can go to community college for damn near free cost, and in two years be making 70-80k a year as an electrician. or no college and become a semi-truck driver, they start out at 80k a year now where I live. and it's not like you have to interview for these things, they are desperate and take about anyone willing to try.

UK has no incentives money wise for in-demand positions, why do the hard work of a nurse for 24k a year when nurses in america make 65k starting for the same job. i know several nurses in America that make six figures with just a RN degree cause of all the overtime they get. I can't imagine anyone wanting to be a nurse in the UK.

only way to get ahead in UK if you are young and starting is probably major in computer science and learn a bunch of coding languages... then you can prob get what 45k a year.

 

[the54thvoid]

I spoke with an electrician from Seattle (met in a pub in Vancouver on holiday). His pay was like, 'x' amount. His medical insurance was about 20-30% of his wage. Even then, he said his cover wasn't the best

What we lack in wage, many recoup in free medical support. Sure, it's not perfect but there is peace of mind that a treatment your life (or wellbeing) may depend on has no impact on your income.

And this is not to start a debate on healthcare or politics of such. Just a reminder that it's not so bad in ol' blighty.

Though, of course, I'd rather live in BC.

 

[Tatty_Two]

this is where I disagree though, its not "like anywhere" cause back home someone can change their stars in less than two years if they are willing to do something in-demand... electricians in UK make like 26k a year, in USA you can go to community college for damn near free cost, and in two years be making 70-80k a year as an electrician. or no college and become a semi-truck driver, they start out at 80k a year now where I live. and it's not like you have to interview for these things, they are desperate and take about anyone willing to try.

UK has no incentives money wise for in-demand positions, why do the hard work of a nurse for 24k a year when nurses in america make 65k starting for the same job. i know several nurses in America that make six figures with just a RN degree cause of all the overtime they get. I can't imagine anyone wanting to be a nurse in the UK.

only way to get ahead in UK if you are young and starting is probably major in computer science and learn a bunch of coding languages... then you can prob get what 45k a year.

Taking @the54thvoid points above, it's relative to the cost of living, well as it was before the world went mad and left us all in the situation we find ourselves in. Currently the average wage in the UK across all employment areas and salaries is around £38,000, in the USA it is around $52,000, that translates to £41,165 at the current exchange rate, the difference is not that great and when you factor in healthcare etc it is probably nothing at all, the real advantages that I can see with the US is that it appears that lower skilled workers get more than their UK equivalents but I am unsure how additional costs like healthcare would factor.

You also have to remember that the nurse who is starting on 23 or 24k has the potential to become a senior sister or Matron on 3 times as much, career progression is in itself an incentive but it requires patience and not everyone has the time to be patient when they have bills to pay, we are no different in that regard.

 

[Space Lynx]

Those are all fair points. I'm usually not one to defend USA to be honest, was just shocked at how hard it is to even find a job advert here with decent pay in the Devonshire region. UK government announced last week they expect gas prices to increase again in October, and they plan to offset that with a 650 pound bonus to low income people. Automatically will be deposited into peoples banks, and a second 650 pound bonus a couple months after that. Normally I don't agree with this kind of policy, but I have seen first hand a few friends literally on the brink of not being able to pay rent for the first time in their life due to all of the inflation.

It's really sad to watch honestly. Companies need to pay 2 quid more per hour, quality of life would improve exponentially even with that small of an amount.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Those are all fair points. I'm usually not one to defend USA to be honest, was just shocked at how hard it is to even find a job advert here with decent pay in the Devonshire region. UK government announced last week they expect gas prices to increase again in October, and they plan to offset that with a 650 pound bonus to low income people. Automatically will be deposited into peoples banks, and a second 650 pound bonus a couple months after that. Normally I don't agree with this kind of policy, but I have seen first hand a few friends literally on the brink of not being able to pay rent for the first time in their life due to all of the inflation.

It's really sad to watch honestly. Companies need to pay 2 quid more per hour, quality of life would improve exponentially even with that small of an amount.

An excellent suggestion but whilst I agree, that pay increase would also increase inflation and therefore the cost of living which of course means that the pay increase is unlikely to mean much in real spending terms. On top of the cost of living help recently announced (and overdue IMO), every household will get £400 given to them by way of credit on their energy accounts, this portion of the 15 Billion assistance is actually being paid by energy companies through a 5 Billion "windfall" tax place on energy companies.

Edit: By the way, i meant to say in my previous post, the example that you gave in your post 23,678 is way out, my youngest daughter works in "IT" and earns considerably more than that

 

[Space Lynx]

An excellent suggestion but whilst I agree, that pay increase would also increase inflation and therefore the cost of living which of course means that the pay increase is unlikely to mean much in real spending terms. On top of the cost of living help recently announced (and overdue IMO), every household will get £400 given to them by way of credit on their energy accounts, this portion of the 15 Billion assistance is actually being paid by energy companies through a 5 Billion "windfall" tax place on energy companies.

Edit: By the way, i meant to say in my previous post, the example that you gave in your post 23,678 is way out, my youngest daughter works in "IT" and earns considerably more than that

This is where we disagree yet again, while I do agree increasing wages too much can cause inflation, there is also the problem of the ones who create the jobs taking too much off the top so to speak... instead of understanding you have to pay more sometimes to keep civilization from collapsing, and instead of buying the slightly bigger yacht, the job makers will have to settle for a smaller yacht... a true shame that would be I know...

I think the real question is, as a society, how do balance this safely and still allow the free markets to do their thing. It's a tough one to figure out, but imo if that 1-2 quid increase in wages doesn't occur, you may see mass collapse across the board, which will hurt even the top people eventually.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Well, you are advocating therefore a vicious circle for all, why you may ask ................ because firstly, believe it or not, most business owners don't own yachts or even expensive cars, I am an absolute believer that people need a fair wage for a fair days work but you would give an employee a wage increase in the middle of a crisis not seen for a generation (cost of living), so inflation is sky high, employee gets the wage increase, the employer suffers because they in most cases would struggle to pay (I am talking small to medium sized businesses (1 - 200 employees) which make up almost 90% of businesses here).

Those increases make inflation even higher, employee suffers because the wage increases is negated by the rising inflation, the employer suffers because with high inflation customers spend less $$$, then finally the employee suffers when their employer either has to cut staff or goes bust entirely making the employee jobless, then unemployment goes up and recovery is even further delayed ............ that's the way the circle works during times of high inflation, I saw it back in the 70's and 80's and it was not pretty.

Maybe both parties need to work together to get through this and be flexible, then when inflation has stabilised and interest rates have reduced, reward the employee with a significant pay increase, employers are better placed to invest in their staff from a position of fiscal strength, I am not suggesting it's right but many employers will be skint too.

 

[Space Lynx]

Well, you are advocating therefore a vicious circle for all, why you may ask ................ because firstly, believe it or not, most business owners don't own yachts or even expensive cars, I am an absolute believer that people need a fair wage for a fair days work but you would give an employee a wage increase in the middle of a crisis not seen for a generation (cost of living), so inflation is sky high, employee gets the wage increase, the employer suffers because they in most cases would struggle to pay (I am talking small to medium sized businesses (1 - 200 employees) which make up almost 90% of businesses here).

Those increases make inflation even higher, employee suffers because the wage increases is negated by the rising inflation, the employer suffers because with high inflation customers spend less $$$, then finally the employee suffers when their employer either has to cut staff or goes bust entirely making the employee jobless, then unemployment goes up and recovery is even further delayed ............ that's the way the circle works during times of high inflation, I saw it back in the 70's and 80's and it was not pretty.

Maybe both parties need to work together to get through this and be flexible, then when inflation has stabilised and interest rates have reduced, reward the employee with a significant pay increase, employers are better placed to invest in their staff from a position of fiscal strength, I am not suggesting it's right but many employers will be skint too.

I agree with you partially, I have actually met business owners here in the UK (friends of family members) who brag about paying their employees 10 quid an hr, these same people fly first class multiple times a year, own a 60k vehicle, many luxury items, etc. I find it really disgusting personally.

I will admit though they are probably the minority, most small business owners, especially the cafes I like to eat at, seem like common people run by common people. So I get what you are saying and agree with it in those cases. I guess that is just how the world works, some will take advantage, some won't, some can't.

I just find it sad, cause a 40k vehicle, flying business class instead of first class, etc and paying those employees 12 quid or 13 quid an hr vs 10, would increase their quality of life tenfold.

 

[Tatty_Two]

It's called Capitalism, it's a funny thing, most people like it when the economy is strong, it's the opposite when it's not

 

[kurosagi01]

Well been awhile i've posted in here, hope you are all doing well.
I'm now semi-settled in my house after couple weeks of going back and fourth with the builders in getting things semi-right,moving stuff, unpacking and assembling majority of furniture.
Still waiting for the council tax code to be sent to me and a water meter to be installed but other than that, got most of the legal side sorted now.

 

[Space Lynx]

Well been awhile i've posted in here, hope you are all doing well.
I'm now semi-settled in my house after couple weeks of going back and fourth with the builders in getting things semi-right,moving stuff, unpacking and assembling majority of furniture.
Still waiting for the council tax code to be sent to me and a water meter to be installed but other than that, got most of the legal side sorted now.

Invest in a storage freezer for food, UK has lots and lots of people and not enough land to support all the food required, if collapse ever happens, or top soil begins to fail, food will become skyrocket high. I recommend having a 3 month supply of food in stock at all times. We will see those days within our lifetime I expect. Humans miscalculated population growth due to advances in yield increases and being able to sustain those yields before eroding the nutritional quality.

 

[Tatty_Two]

With 80% of the UK's food consumption being imported I think we have greater food security risks than our topsoil quality TBH, we are already seeing this with Ukraine who is/was one of the worlds biggest wheat producers.

 

[Space Lynx]

So about 5 weeks ago I got a parking ticket in Cornwall with my rental car, the thing is I did pay for parking, I just forgot to display the parking thingy on my dashboard of car. So they were like pay 60 quid within two weeks otherwise you owe 100 quid. So I disputed it, took pictures of my pay and display ticket, etc and just explained the situation, I literally remembered to put it every single place I visited on my dashboard except this single place, I must have got distracted from my partner chatting me up or something, but I did pay and have proof I paid.

So fast forward 5 weeks, I finally got the appeal answer back, and they agreed I have good evidence, and reduced my fee to 20 quid.

I could appeal again, but in all honesty, 20 quid is worth paying to just be done with it all. Absolutely nonsense how the UK does parking though... I prefer the American model of paid parking, you pull in, the machine gives you a ticket, the arm opens, you drive through and park, then when you leave, you insert your ticket into the machine, it tells you how much you owe, and the arm doesn't raise to let you leave until you pay... this 1984 style of parking in England is just nonsense

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I prefer the American model of paid parking, you pull in, the machine gives you a ticket, the arm opens, you drive through and park, then when you leave, you insert your ticket into the machine, it tells you how much you owe, and the arm doesn't raise to let you leave until you pay...

we have them, It just depends where you are - If youre parking at a multi-storey carpark then you'll have these ticketing machines. The one you got nailed by are for roadside parking/private parking or just regular pay and display car parks.

I personally wouldnt have paid them the £20. I mean its nice of them to reduce the fine after you sent them the evidence of your ticket but they still made money off you. They make enough money out of unsuspecting people anyway so its easy for them to swallow the admin fees.

Its the principle of the matter. I wouldnt let them have it, but if they insisted then I would have said - How bout i donate that £20 to a charity and send them the receipt as proof? That way someone other than them gets to benefit from that £20 and you technically still paid the fine. If they still refused then i would have looked at ways to dispute it in court because you did pay but you didnt display and £20 to charity seems reasonable.

With 80% of the UK's food consumption being imported I think we have greater food security risks than our topsoil quality TBH, we are already seeing this with Ukraine who is/was one of the worlds biggest wheat producers.

I think i should do like my ancestors did and turn half my garden into a fish farm and the other half into a small rice field. I dont think we'd be able to grow enough rice to even last one or two days when harvested

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Over the phone interview:

 

[Space Lynx]

Has anyone in the UK seen interesting "steam filled bubbles" I don't know how else to describe it. I saw two bubbles recently fly over our back yard in Devonshire, they held their form for a long time, I observed them closely, but they didn't behave like a bubble physics wise, and after 20-30 seconds when it finally did "burst" it wasn't like any bubble I ever seen before, it was like a mist was inside it, but it didn't behave like the physics of a regular bubble or regular mist. My guess is its some bubble machine toy, but I literally only saw two... very bizarre, never seen anything like it in my life.

It was very similar to this video here, but the bubbles didn't have the exact properties of this from a physics angle either... like when it "burst" the mist was not really mist like it is in the video and the bubble I saw was not exactly like the one in the video either (the one I saw held its form for 20-30 seconds), like it angled and fell down like a water fall in a specific pattern.

If anyone can figure out what the hell I saw it would be much appreciated, never seen anything like it in my life.

Edit: My partner just confirmed she also saw the bubble and that the surface of the bubble was thicker than normal and also thicker than the ones in the video... it so bizarre... I think I saw two of them, but she says there was only one. When we went outside to look where it came from, literally everyone had their doors closed, etc... honestly a bit spooked by it.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Has anyone in the UK seen interesting "steam filled bubbles" I don't know how else to describe it. I saw two bubbles recently fly over our back yard in Devonshire, they held their form for a long time, I observed them closely, but they didn't behave like a bubble physics wise, and after 20-30 seconds when it finally did "burst" it wasn't like any bubble I ever seen before, it was like a mist was inside it, but it didn't behave like the physics of a regular bubble or regular mist. My guess is its some bubble machine toy, but I literally only saw two... very bizarre, never seen anything like it in my life.

It was very similar to this video here, but the bubbles didn't have the exact properties of this from a physics angle either... like when it "burst" the mist was not really mist like it is in the video and the bubble I saw was not exactly like the one in the video either (the one I saw held its form for 20-30 seconds), like it angled and fell down like a water fall in a specific pattern.

If anyone can figure out what the hell I saw it would be much appreciated, never seen anything like it in my life.

Edit: My partner just confirmed she also saw the bubble and that the surface of the bubble was thicker than normal and also thicker than the ones in the video... it so bizarre... I think I saw two of them, but she says there was only one. When we went outside to look where it came from, literally everyone had their doors closed, etc... honestly a bit spooked by it.

Down my end we regularly have these random vans that drive around dispensing bubbles. One of them could have driven past you.

 

[Space Lynx]

Down my end we regularly have these random vans that drive around dispensing bubbles. One of them could have driven past you.

That's creepy as fuck. lol

This was no regular bubble though, no big deal, just was very odd and random. Also we have bats flying around here in Devonshire, and it didn't help that after the bubble there was a bat flying around in our backyard, which just creeped me out even more, because there are no bats where I come from lol

 

[dorsetknob]

Beware of the Bubble no 6

 

[Space Lynx]

I'm babysitting dogs in England this week for a friend of a friend, having dogs in England is so much fun!!! No leashes for these particular ones since they are well trained, and going to park is very fun with them... definitely never get this experience back home...

The longer I live here the more I realize America is a shit hole really


Only main issue I have with England, why do so many fucking cars here have black smoke coming out of the tailpipe? Are they just dumb as fuck and using the wrong petrol/diesel? Or are UK cars just different than American? I never saw black smoke out of cars back home... it stinks and I am pretty sure it will give cancer lol

 

[the54thvoid]

The longer I live here the more I realize America is a shit hole really

As you are an American, I'll extend the freedom to say that but I would suggest that's a very unfair statement about the country. In your opinion, parts of the US are shitholes, or the state of certain things is that way, but the USA is an exceptional expanse of nature and geology. Yeah, people can often ruin it but don't let that colour your vision so poorly.

The UK is no different but I'd never call it a shithole.

 

[Space Lynx]

As you are an American, I'll extend the freedom to say that but I would suggest that's a very unfair statement about the country. In your opinion, parts of the US are shitholes, or the state of certain things is that way, but the USA is an exceptional expanse of nature and geology. Yeah, people can often ruin it but don't let that colour your vision so poorly.

The UK is no different but I'd never call it a shithole.

When I was 17 and throwing up for three weeks from salmonella poisoning because my parents didn't want to fork up the money for doctors and meds, and crying myself to sleep every night thinking I was dying from cancer or some shit... when diagnosed with sleep apnea and told I needed a CPAP to breathe at night on 3 different occasions over a 8 year period, but a "second" doctor intervened and said my scores were mild enough I didn't need the machine... when my medicine I take that allows me to swallow food costs $800 without insurance, my full time job private insurance didn't cover it at all, and I had to use Good RX to bring my monthly cost down to $130ish a month, and in UK it would only cost me 9 quid...

I could go on and on... but yeah, America is a shit hole. I could have let me black lab run free on nature walks here, instead he had to be leashed in USA cause of idiots, his purity of enjoyment diminished because of no dog parks where I lived, where as in England all the nature space is dog space

I understand what you are saying, I just am disillusioned of America from my personal suffering and observations of those around me... I don't want to go back home. I'd do anything to stay here in England forever. Sadly it's not that easy so I have to go home. imo you need a foundation of basic fundamentals for a society to flourish, UK has that, USA does not.

 

[Tatty_Two]

It may only cost you £9.35 in the UK with a prescription (free to me and everyone once you get to age 60 and younger with certain health conditions) it still gets paid in National Insurance and Income tax which ranges from 20 - 50% in most instances dependant on earnings.