I was looking at a potential new job until it occurred to me to ask about dealing with "on-call" support.

As I work in tech, there is usually an expectation that some level of support is handled off hours in case systems go down. However this position didn't have any compensation for making yourself available and generally only 15 mins from a phone or computer to support the systems. The best they could offer was "time in-lieu" if you get called, which is basically saying they'll let you work your contracted maximum hours despite it being unsociable hours.

Fuck that.

After seeing elsewhere someone commenting that they would refuse to on-call if there was also a "return to office", because if they had to go to the office to work, then how could they possibly support it from home, it made me wonder what other things should I remember to enquire about when interviewing and asking the hiring company?

I'm replacing the light at my front door, and I dont seem to be able to find what I want.

My current light is solar powered, light and motion sensitive so it only comes on at night and dims when there is no movement. However during winter there isn't enough light during the day to charge it so that it lasts longer than a couple of hours.

I would like to replace it with a mains powered one, but keeping the only on at night, and dims when there is no movement so that it illuminates the house number. Everything I see appears to only have one or the other (unless they actually have both but the listing details are terrible), does anyone know the terminology I need to use?

Edit: the move must be to another location within the UK.

White or brown toast?

Toasted or not?

Anything else I should know about cucumber sandwiches?

We are currently in a silly situation when dealing with refillable products for home, and I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas.

If I wanted shower gel (for example), all the refillable locations require a bottle with the capacity printed on it, and for it to be empty. And basically I don't want to wait until my shower gel is out completely before getting any more, so I would want an intermediate container however I cannot find a 1l bottle that has the capacity embossed on it so that I can take it to the refill station, and bring it home. I really don't want to buy another small plastic bottle with the capacity on a paper label that does one refill of the gel, and would have to be replaced when the label comes off.

Hi folks,

I've been living in London for about 3 years now but didn't own much so never bothered to get contents insurance. As I'm steadily acrruing things I thought it'd be worth getting some sort of cover. I looked around on some price comparison sites and also reviews here and there. I'm getting anywhere from £60 to £500, although LV offering £250 is quite appealing and I've heard lots of good reviews. How much are you folks paying for contents insurance? What has your experience been with your providers and making claims? Any insight would be nice.

Coming from another country, I always wonder why the two utility companies I have here in the UK, Thames Water and Octopus Energy, would calculate an amount that they think I should pay monthly, instead of just charge whatever I used last month. To me, the latter way makes much more sense and is the standard practice in the countries I lived before.

The amount they calculated seems to generate either a huge credit balance, or a huge underestimation. Thames Water changed my monthly bill from £29 to £7, and then to £17 over the course of a year and a half. Octopus Energy built up more than £200 of a credit balance (not sure if it's a result of the UK government energy gift credit last winter), then set a minimal amount of £61 monthly. They say the purpose is to make sure that the credit balance would be always be more than £100. Okay...but why? If I want to save money, I'd go to a bank.

I could see that it might make sense if the measurement is not as easy or accurate, but come on, it's the 21st century and the meter shows me my energy usage by the hour, surely they can calculate the exact amount rather than pull a random number out of nowhere?

Ok so I left Britain more than 15 years ago and have been living in Norway, blissfully unaware of what's been happening. I recently went back to visit family, where I notice that my dad's had a bit of a swing to the right, politically speaking. At some point he put on gbnews.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?

How popular is this blatant propaganda?