r/AskABrit

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some honest advice from people who’ve worked delivery or driving jobs in the UK.

Right now I rent a moped and do Uber Eats in London, but after rent, insurance and fuel, it’s costing me around £600 a month. At this point I’m thinking instead of spending that money on renting a bike, I’d rather buy a cheap car for around £2,500 and put that same monthly money into running my own car instead.

One thing though I live around Central London, so I don’t think food delivery in a car is really feasible because of parking, traffic and congestion.

I’m not trying to get rich or make crazy money, I just want something more stable where I can realistically make around £1,500–£1,700 net a month while actually owning the vehicle I’m using instead of constantly paying rental costs.

For people who’ve done this before, what would you do in my position? Does switching from a rented moped to a cheap car make sense financially, and what kind of work would you recommend getting into with a car in London/UK?

EDIT: FOR PEOPLE ADVISING TO BUY A MOPED I WANT TO OWN A CAR SO I CAN USE IT FOR PERSONAL USE AND MAKE A LIVING OUT OF IT TOO.
MOPEDS COME WITH ALOT OF PROBLEMS LIKE HARSH WEATHER RAIN AND PHYSICALLY TIRING TO RIDE 8-9 HRS PER DAY.

As someone from Poland, I’m curious about how people actually living in the UK see the current situation there.

Online especially on social media.

I constantly see claims that the UK is becoming unsafe because of immigration: rising crime, assaults, theft, people feeling unsafe in cities, etc.

Some people describe it like the country is collapsing, while others say it’s mostly exaggerated political propaganda.

So I wanted to ask actual Brits or people living in the UK: How does it really look in everyday life?

Is the situation genuinely getting worse in terms of safety and social issues, or is the internet amplifying isolated cases and pushing fear-based narratives? I’m asking in good faith and I’m genuinely interested in honest perspectives from people who live there.

My wife drinks tea daily and uses a plastic electric tea kettle. She read that microplastics leach from the kettle when heating and wants to find something that isn't a health hazard. What do the Brits use as a kettle?

EDIT: Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I never imagined I would get so many. Apologies to those who took exception to me referring to it as a "tea kettle".

I was thinking about this earlier today, then I saw the subreddit about meeting celebrities… how very coincidental!

Anyway, I’m interested to find out what interactions anyone has had with celebrities now they’re more ‘accessible’ to converse with on social media rather than actually meeting with them face-to-face?

I had a conversation late one night on Twitter (before weird space Karen and his kitchen sink took it over) about the legalisation of marijuana between Danny John-Jules and Peter Hitchens, and the best argument PH could come up with for not legalising it was that “it was illegal for a reason” or something non-answery like that. I thought it was very odd for someone clearly so literate to just be dismissive of one side of the whole debate.

Also, speaking of weird space Karen, my wife’s sisters boyfriend had an interaction with him which essentially ended up with him owing a signed dollar because he’d accused that cave rescue guy of being a paedophile a few years back. Said signed dollar still hasn’t materialised.

i was carrying a tall item and was stopped. she noticed me being nervous and asked me about what i’m doing, where i worked. i made up working in a coffee place and she went thorough about where the coffee shop is. i lied and said costa. i feel so stupid lying, can she somehow find out that i don’t work at a costa? what would happen if she found out later i don’t work at a coffee place? i feel so stupid

I’m currently on a train and one one side of me is a guy having a very loud business conversation in English holding the phone at arms length.

Not to be outdone, a woman sitting on the other side of me initiates a call and starts loudly talking in Dutch, again with phone at arms length

They are now competing with each other for volume

When did this become normal and acceptable behavior on UK trains?

Hi everyone, I’ve been living in London for almost 2 years now and I’ve realised I really want to understand the UK more deeply beyond just daily life and surface-level stuff.

I’d love recommendations for beginner-friendly books, documentaries, essays, podcasts, YouTube channels, or even topics to explore around British politics, philosophy, humanities, psychology, history, class culture, identity, media, social issues etc. Basically anything that helps explain British society and how people here think/history that shaped it.

I’m still quite new to all of this so I’d appreciate anything beginner-friendly or foundational as a starting point. I’m genuinely curious and would love to learn more.

Feel free to comment or DM me recommendations too. Thank you :)

Past 4 appointments, i’ve been seen by a PA - how can I ensure it’s with a doctor?

GP staff have said there’s no more slots with a doctor, or that they don’t know who it is going to be with, and I end up with a PA who aren’t very good - they just seem inexperienced.

Any tips? Thanks

I met Gordon Ramsay once at Heathrow. Someone asked him for a photo while he was clearly stressed and he still stopped and did it. Then immediately told the guy “make it quick, my gate’s closing”. I think he favoured me over the guy he took the photo with considering when he was leaving he gave me a small nod with a smile. Honestly came across much nicer than I expected

It's 31C in southern Ontario (Canada) right now and feels like 35C. (In my childhood we would have been happy if it hit 17C mid-May.)

I cannot take such hot weather so soon so I'm keeping cool indoors with the AC on lol.

Would you please share something you like about (cooler) springs in the UK? It can be anything...favourite spring flower, bird sighting, outdoor activity, park to visit, festival,....

I'm partial to lilacs and bluebells and chickadees, but I hardly see chickadees anymore. The aggressive red-winged blackbird has taken over in my city! :(

I get that it’s probably meant to be iconic or whatever, but at some point it starts looking less like a community page and more like the reduced section at Tesco. Surely a sub called r/aksabrit could come up with something that actually represents the people in it instead of a tin that’s spent the last 20 years surviving student kitchens and power cuts. A new profile picture would genuinely make the sub look a lot better and less like it was created during a lunch break.

Asking out of curiosity, and because it’s come up in conversation with some people, I know here. In any case, hope all is good and that it’s a good summer.

We’ve had several shredders that have just broken, and burned stuff before but there has to be an easier, cheaper, more environmentally friendly way of getting rid of mail with personal information in them.

I have actively gone and put all the settings in banks etc. to request no paper statements etc. but there seems there are exceptions where they will send letters or things that aren’t standard now and again. These add up over time and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with them.

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I'll try and explain my situation as best as a can to get the best answers.

I'm due to finish college in about 2 weeks, and I've been trying so hard to find a salon to work in

( I'm about to finish my level 3 in hairdressing) on an employed basis to build a clientelle before going self-employed, but I've had absolutely no luck at all. I think I've rang/enquired about 15 hairdressers that I could realistically get to ( I can't drive) and they're either not hiring or they are self employed only, so you pay the owner a set amount of money for a chair each day and you are 100% responsible for your own income, equipment, products, clients, etc.

A girl in my course who finished a few weeks ago is self employed ( like how I described chair renting) and said that she isn't liking how she only gets paid when she has a client, and because like me, she's straight out of college, so she's not got a clientelle and relies heavily on walk ins, so income is generally low and unpredictable.

I'm currently waiting on a full-time job interview at mcdonalds ( I've been applying to full-time starter jobs like fast food and retail in case I don't get a salon) but I'm not sure if I should take it ( if I get the job of course) or if I should just make the leap and go self employed.

If I did go self-employed, I think i would start off part-time and think of some sort of side hussle, maybe? Or if I did some mobile appointments, I would taxi it?

I just don't know if it would be a good idea I mean as I've said, I don't have a client base, I can't drive, so I would have to spend on taxis if I offerd mobile appointments, and income would be extremely unpredictable.

I did do an extra course alongside college about starting a business/being self-employed, but again a lot of these guest speakers who were businesses owners were employed beforehand so had time to build a client base, so I just don't know if its a good idea.

Let me know what you all think/what you believe is best that I do.

I've only come across ticks twice in my life, once in Namibia and the other time when my dad bought a puppy from a farm. I live in South Wales, spend a lot of time walking my dogs in the countryside, in long grass meadows, woodlands and hills often near farmland but not usually on farmland due to the dogs. I've had a few nasty bites in my time, but couldn't say if they were from ticks. I know to look for the bullseye.

I have become increasingly more paranoid about ticks and their potential to pass on illness like lymes disease, it started when I was pregnant last year I was anxious that I wouldn't be able to take the treatment due to the pregnancy and now I still worry that it could end my breast feeding journey or that the baby might be bitten. Especially as my one dog, due to epilepsy can no longer have the flea treatment that prevents ticks, I'm scared she will get them and bring them home.

I usually wear hiking boots and long leggings or trousers on my walks, but on very hot days have been known to wear shorts. We are planning a family picnic in a long grass meadow where I walk my dogs regularly which is next to a woodland. I'm beginning to worry that sitting there for so long increases the chance of tick bites. I've read that some parts of the UK it's really bad.

So, UK, has anyone had an infection/disease from tick bites? If so how were you? Was it easy to treat? Also are there any people who regularly come across ticks and have been fine. I'd love to hear your experiences.

Thanks.

I have a dream to teach Americans about British culture, and I think a good way to teach it is to find the similarities behind an American thing and a British thing.

All you have to do, is say a famous Brit and a famous American, and state why the two are similar.

I'll start:

Phillip Schofield = Ellen DeGeneres

• Both their main shows (This Morning/Ellen) focused on an overly positive attitude.
• Both their respective shows had a majorly Facebook mum audience.
• Both are gay.
• Both ended up to be horrible people behind the scenes.

I’m so curious how many times is “normal” to get a takeaway or any form of food made for you.
Do you have a weekly family take away night? Do you get McDonald’s or similar whenever you’re on a long drive? Do you actively limit yourself on how many takeaways you’re allowed to have or just order something when you fancy it?
I feel like I get takeaway soo often and feel guilty for it but then I think, is it that bad?

Edit: also wondering if it varies depending on if you’re single / a couple / a family ?