u/KEW95

I’m so glad I stumbled across it on iPlayer. I’ve just finished season one and, whilst I’d love the seasons to be longer than six episodes, I think it moved at the right pace. I also think “tell the truth to solve the crime, only for the crime not to be directly linked to said truth” was a decent twist, whilst airing out the main deception.

I’d like the detectives to contribute more to the murder solving, but I’m chalking it up to them learning from his way of thinking, for their future cases.

I think the actors are all perfect in their roles and David Mitchell is hilarious. John is very relatable 😅

I see a lot of romance/romcom/fantasy/romantasy books doing well, but I’ve yet to hear of any decent books with plus-size protagonists, especially ones who are in a relationship or get in one during the story. You get the “curvy woman” descriptions, but it’s typically only “boobs and bum”, rather than them being plus-size and someone is interested in them. Ideally not a “bully to boyfriend” trope, but my options feel too limited to rule it out.

I’m hoping you know of some books with plus-size women as the protagonists and/or love interests, maybe a book with a plus-size male love interest (they seem to be equally hard to find). Bonus points if there’s good diversity representation in there but, again, it feels like I can’t be too picky on that front.

There are just so many romance/romcom/fantasy/etc. stories out there with the stereotypically societally attractive main characters and it would be nice to know if any exist where plus-size characters get to be the desired/popular/happy ones, beyond being the “funny fat friend”. It doesn’t have to focus on the relationship either; it can be a book about something else and the relationship is just an addition to the storytelling.

I haven’t read the following, but I’ve seen a lot about them and I’m hoping there are books along the lines of Off Campus, Heated Rivalry, Bridgerton, etc. with fat folks in the starring roles? I’m not fussed if they’re spicy; I sometimes skip those bits anyway, and queer characters/relationships are cool too. I just want to feel a little seen in literature, as the couples/protagonists always seem to be slim/stereotypically beautiful, or are nerdy and have a “glow up” before someone is interested in them.

Thank you in advance :)

Packing has felt really overwhelming because we’ve been messed about countless times through this process and it felt very pie in the sky for months. This will be the first time I’ve moved since childhood and having both chronic pain and mental illnesses is not helping. Do you have any tips and tricks that have helped you, especially if you were ill/disabled when moving and didn’t really have support? We aren’t moving locally, so we can’t afford to leave behind anything important.

Also, how did you pack loose items in comparatively big boxes? With breakables/valuables, you can bubblewrap or stuff/wrap with paper to protect them, but what do you do for things like notebooks, paper, pens, clothes, shoes, animals’ bits and bobs, etc.? I’d appreciate any advice/suggestions. Bonus thanks for folks who have extra tips for keeping it low energy and well organised, to prevent added stress when unpacking over time.

Casual, but I’d appreciate genuine answers.

Society tells us what we should look like, what we should aim for, how much we should earn, how we should behave, how to feel about any illnesses/disabilities we have, what people look for in a partner (often not particularly accurate/nuanced), what we should spend our money on, how to “fix” what is “wrong” with us, etc. Then you have traditional and social media pressuring women about their bodies and groups trying to push women’s roles/life goals back 50+ years, and you have movements led by (usually misogynistic) men telling other men that women want them to be rich, tall and very muscular or men will be bitter and single forever, and so on. Each putting unnecessary pressure on people to meet an often unattainable or unsubstantiated standard and making them feel less confident, which can impact their dating successes.

So, fellow Brits, what would you like to tell folks not to worry so much about when dating? Ideally, something you don’t care as much about (in a partner) as outside influences suggest “you” do/will? Obviously, not everyone feels insecure about these things, so these are just about those who do :)

For example, if you date men, what do you wish they’d feel less insecure about? If you date women, what do you wish they’d feel less insecure about? What do you wish wasn’t treated as a necessity/major bonus to be seen as desirable by a potential partner?

My initial thought: I would like men to feel less anxious about how much/little they earn. If you’re doing a good job at work, have shown commitment and maybe have plans for your future career or how you’ll afford some financial security, I don’t personally worry much about what they currently earn. This is particularly applicable for students who are studying as an adult and therefore are working part-time or just a “for now” job to pay the bills. Generally speaking, with how the world is now, money is a joint effort and both people provide for the family unit, so having a higher income than most people is not remotely a requirement or expectation.

Just seen the film. It was very Inception-like and it was okay, but something is really bugging me.

If an anagram is a key part of your plot, surely you’d triple check the anagram is correct, right?

SPOILER!!!!

Lev Dellrayne is apparently Deer Valley Lane

Except it isn’t. It’s missing an extra a. It’s also missing an extra e. Lev Dellrayne is 12 letters, Deer Valley Lane is 14. There’s no explanation in the film or online, from what I’ve seen. It’s just stated as fact that the name is actually an anagram of the location, not a partial anagram or a reminder/clue.

I enjoy anagrams, so I thought Lev Dellrayne sounded like it was supposed to be one, but I couldn’t make it match what the film later said it was, so it’s annoying me 😅

ETA: Comments say it will be the abbreviation “Ln” for Lane, which explains the missing letters, though it is written as “Lane” in the film (hence my confusion). Abbreviations in anagrams aren’t very common, unless clearly stated as something to consider when solving them, so it hadn’t crossed my mind when written as “Lane” instead of “Ln” on the guy’s notebook. Thanks, Folks :)

I’m not talking about specific parties or politicians, just the goals on the left compared to the right (in any country that has a split like that).

Genuinely: why is it seen as bad to want things that are objectively good for humanity? Why is it viewed by many as something to mock/disparage? Why is being “woke” to the suffering and struggling of everyone (regardless of identity) considered weak/negative? How can people on the right, who believe they are decent/moral people, justify not supporting things that are compassionate and objectively good for humanity?

If the far end of one side (again, not parties or politicians, which all have flaws and are hardly trustworthy) is about improving the lives of everyone by securing more equal rights - and humane treatment if you do have legal trouble - while the far end of the other is about restricting the rights and freedoms of people you don’t like, don’t understand, don’t agree with or who don’t follow your beliefs, how can anyone honestly believe the left is bad/pathetic and the right is good/moral? I want to understand how someone can rationalise that, when it seems impossible to genuinely believe the things in the title are actually bad to want/support/vote for.

I have a personal rule never to put my animals up for over 5,000cc because I know how hard I worked to get the number of Conservation Credits I have, while still getting animals with good genetics to release/trade, and want to offer others affordable ones too. Even my albino animals (West African Lions are my most frequent ones) with all four genetics markers over 80% will be under that limit.

Do animals up for trade at 10,000cc really sell often enough that it seems worth it to repeatedly list them at that until they sell? I get it if it’s a rare, perfect quality animal, but it’s usually animals you can get for <7,000cc that frequently get traded.