The most shocking thing you've read on Mumsnet..

[PricklyPear1234]

Just that really.. (Kind of lighthearted/maybe not!)

The dodgy landlord who was going to steal their tenant’s unprotected deposit because of ‘weed residue on the sink’ 😂 despite the fact they had no idea of a brown sticky substance was in fact drugs, and weed residue is NOT a thing, the OP was apparently shaking and crying about it. The thread was bonkers - OP was unable to see they’d broken the law not protecting the deposit and also refused to accept it maybe wasn’t drugs. She thought the local drugs unit was gonna raid the house 🤣

Oh god yes!!

He still posts all over MN and i absolutely rage when I see his name.

@AngryBirdsNoMore, it wasn't just an anti-war sentiment, which I could understand. There just seemed to be an underlying contempt of the U.K. generally. I wondered what she'd say if Russia, after over-running Ukraine, would move west and eventually set sights on London.

The many, many threads where people worry about stuff I'd never even thought about (& couldn't have come up with if given "Anxiety List" as homework). Huge amounts of their lives are consumed by worry & disgust about how they or others lead their lives. Not the dangerous stuff (like DV or neglect or the ch**king discussion - all of which are seriously shocking) but stuff like (as mentioned on this thread) personal hygiene, sell by dates, sleeping naked, opening the door to strangers or unexpected visitors (I love people to just drop by) plus loo brushes, shoes in the house, body hair (to keep it or not), number of showers or clothing changes per day, animals and worrying what total strangers think about them.

It's taught me that a) the world is a considerably stranger place than I assumed and that b) I'm very lucky that my mind / psyche is a calm one.

Finally how often maternity / breastfeeding advice services are repeateding mantras & advice that's been out of date for years - as someone who uses nipple shields to feed DD1 for over a year (due to inverted nipples) posting to tell new mums that using them will not dry up your supply (& that they have changed a lot since the original thick 1970's ones - I've seen my mum's) so give it a go has prob been my most regular contribution.

Penis Beaker still wins for me though

Sorry but how boring would life be if we took it from on and only discussed serious topics like child abuse. Nothing wrong with people talking about hygiene, food, clothes, animals and other things.

@Karrak Biscuitandbandages' threads have stayed with me over the years too.

Her illness seemed so shockingly sudden and her account of what she was going through was harrowing but also incredible, it felt a privilege to be alongside her via the internet.

I remember she was literally out one day with her family- she had 3 children including her baby daughter - then suddenly she was in intensive care having investigations and then the diagnosis. To begin with, her baby was with her but when treatment started, they had to be separated. I'll never forget her post giving her baby her final breastfeed.

There were quite a few threads in total as we followed Biscuits on her brave journey and for a time, things looked hopeful. She had a stem cell transplant which offered her a chance. She was so positive and warm, and so appreciative of other people's concern for her. Then that awful silence when her posts abruptly stopped and then some while later, confirmation from a friend that she had passed.

I still wonder how her lovely family are.

Im late to this but the one not long ago where a mumsnetters cat ended up going into a newly bought house, and getting stuck in there. they hadn’t moved in yet so the mumsnetter posted food into the letterbox and through the vents of the house to entice the cat out, it peed every where too and then when the new neighbours moved in, she didn’t want to pay them for damages. Eye opening!

It is interesting that there is such a wide range in hygiene from those who wear daily changed knickers pyjamas /and those who let their cats and dogs 🤮 sleep I their beds.

@GreenwichOrTwicks I hardly think letting your pet sleep on your bed is the absolute opposite end of the scale to washing your pyjamas daily! How about those who've admitted to wearing pants inside out or who don't change their sheets for months on end! I allow my cats to sleep with me and they are incredibly clean animals, can assure you my house is not unhygienic!

😁This is precisely what I mean -opposite ends of the scale to wearing clean pyjamas daily and scuzzily allowing animals with very much unwashed fur/bums in bed 😂

@GreenwichOrTwicks you've never met a cat then 🙄 guarantee they're a million times cleaner than a toddler with a snotty nose and dirty nappy but it's ok for them to sleep in the bed...

I kind of do know that letting my cat sleep on the bed is not very clean and likewise I know one of my cats will get up on the work surface and sit in the sink, even though I try to make sure she doesn’t. But when you have a cat you understand they’re not really very trainable - and they do wash themselves a lot so they don’t trail dirt and smell like some dogs do.

I just always clean the kitchen surfaces before using them, have washable bedspreads etc.

We have evolved to live alongside animals and it strengthens your immune system if you grow up with cats and dogs. The benefits they bring are very good for human health, so probably outweigh the risk from germs.

Considering as a population we're no longer dying in large numbers of hygiene related diseases, plus the fact that very few women are smelly (though a not insignificant number of men are), I take the view that most of the discussions around cleanliness are really a bit silly. But as long as they're lighthearted what's the harm?

Totally agree! Give me a feline any day! ❤❤❤

It’s a very emotional topic and I wish the health campaigns actually addressed the real reasons women decline.

So do I. For some women it really isn't just a case of 'pop your knicks off, couple of minutes' mild discomfort and Bob's your uncle'. I'm one of them and I abhor the way some women on here turn on others who opt to decline smears. Heaven forbid they should try to understand why.

Might I ask that you tell me more?

I find them a bit painful but not enough to decline, and no friends have ever mentioned more severe issues. So I am genuinely keen to know and understand more.

Might I ask that you tell me more?
I find them a bit painful but not enough to decline, and no friends have ever mentioned more severe issues. So I am genuinely keen to know and understand more.

No problem. I have vaginismus, which I think is partly down to past difficulties with smears, but I also have an unusually narrow vagina (it can actually make penetration difficult during sex tbh) and have been told I have a tilted uterus into the bargain. Plus I never had children, and am now post-menopause and not sexually active, none of which helps. Impatient nurses haven't helped in the past either: I have not-so-fond memories of one barking 'I can't do anything if you won't relax! ' which funnily enough didn't help me to comply.

I do attend smears but I dread them. The only painless one I've ever had is when a doctor did it, with some sort of brush I think, but speculums are a problem.

I’m in my mid 60’s and it was the norm to see bits of towels and terry nappies hanging on washing lines as not everyone could afford sanitary towels.

none of the woman who used this method were filthy animals.

Just ignore the numpties.

Your intimate life is none of our business thank you.

Late entry fresh today. To be honest, trans activism is right up there. There’s a thread titled “This never happens” and you think you can’t be shocked anymore, then along comes something like this:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4971620-uk-former-leader-in-gender-diversity-organization-pleads-guilty-to-live-streaming-castrations-distributing-images-of-child-child-abse

I'm in exactly the same circumstances as you hon, apart from the fact I'm 54! I absolutely feel your pain, it's a horrible experience and like you say, some nurses don't help... "If the speculum can be inserted in every other woman, it should also go in you"!!! Not the case at all... And with all that going on, it's impossible to relax, which again, doesn't help... They really need to start tackling this issue... 🤗🤗🤗

Sorry to hear you have the same issues! I do think clinicians' approaches to these issues make a huge difference.

Edited to say yes I agree there should be more concern about why women decline.

But why is it so emotional? I can never understand why people care so much about other womens' bodies. It doesn't affect them unless it's a relative and they are scared of losing them.

People seem to genuinely believe that if you don't have smear tests you will get cancer like the lack of one causes the other. It doesn't work like that!

Yes, that was such a heartwarming thread. She called her foster child Ladybird, I think.

You're calling 'drug dependant baby' same old, same old?!