Things that sound nice but actually aren't

[WeeAgnes]

I'm putting forward Fruit teas.
Some of the combinations sound so promising and positively delicious.

In reality, they taste what I imagine drinking pot pourri to be like.

The 'we're making sure everyone gets a break' our company bosses laud the forced 2 weeks Xmas closure as being.

In reality it's so we use almost half our annual leave, so we can't take huge chunks during the year. We also don't get a break as it's far too expensive to go away at Xmas (summer here) and all the family Xmas/visits/NY family stuff eats most of it.

Try the M&S one, it is sublime

I live in Aus, have my whole life. I agree 100%. It's far too hot.

We used to go over Christmas. Out for a swim at 5am, inside by 10am, back out swimming at 4pm. I remember trying to eat breakfast on our balcony at 6am and it was so hot I hod to go back inside!!

We go in September.

Celery. I mean, it looks all green, crisp and fresh, right? And yet the reality is crunchy rancid water with bits of hair in it.

And never mind fruit teas, just tea. Boiled bitter leaves - it’s self-loathing in a mug with a whack of tannin to make things even worse.

Meals out. One meal costs more than a week's groceries for me and I'm nearly always disappointed.

Baked crisps, which are sold as healthier options now. Walkers do them.

DH seems to like them but I think they just taste like cardboard, with an attempt at flavouring. Total shite. Nothing could rescue them.

😆😆😆

Spending Christmas with relatives you rarely see.

Normally, something will spoil it. Someone is ill and spreads it around, a much-missed child is going through a bratty phase or the Christmas dinner gets burnt.

Either that, or you're reminded exactly why you don't see these relatives very often.

Camping. It's huge here & I envy people like my DB family who love it as it makes remote places accessible & affordable, camping on the beach etc. amazing experiences. Although I think he's over it now as well & only does it where necessary.

But I hate it. So much stuff to set up, take down, clean, uncomfortable beds, mozzies, port a potties or long drops, shower tents. If it rains you've got to go home early & unpack everything again to dry. Too much work! I just want to take a bag & go.

OMG I'm not weird...
Fruit teas - always thought I was the only person who didn't like them (so much so that I bought loads of different ones hoping to find one I liked... didn't!)
Spa days - hate them. Happy for a massage but just get bored sat in a wet cozzy in a bathrobe wearing stupid slippers. The last one I went to (invited by a friend), I took my knitting. Again, I thought everyone likes them.

I also have to agree about camping. It can promise so much, but my god it's shit.

Driving for hours to your destination only to have to build your accommodation? No thanks. And that accommodation would be an uncomfortable and flimsy canvas dome.

The beach. Everything about it is horrific. Everything. Sand. Why is sand?

We travelled from Vancouver to Toronto on a sleeper train - The Canadian. Bits of it were beautiful but it was SO uncomfortable. At one point we had an unscheduled stop in a tiny little First Nations town - the unfettered joy of being able to walk uphill and breath fresh air is a wonderful memory. And I will never forget the barely restrained passive aggression of our train 'hostess' Megan. She was a complete cow.

Avocado whether thats guac or however its prepared, tastes like nothing to me.

Christmas... it feels like capatalist hell these days!

Salted caramel anything, overdone and sicly.

Airfryers, if you have an oven just use that I don't get it!

Sorry went on a bit of a rant... I could go on 🤣 sooo many things I don't see the hype for atm.

I used to travel on the London to Edinburgh sleeper for work occasionally. I hated it. Toilet at the end of the corridor, which felt really scary in the middle of the night. I could never sleep.

We actually went on the Orient Express sleeper once. A prize in a big raffle! It was just as uncomfortable and again the toilet was at the end of the corridor.

Agree on spa days. I've never been so bored in my life!

"Shopping" days. As in, going for a mooch around a shopping outlet for clothes/shoes/home accessories. I find it so bloody boring. Give me an antique shop or a vintage shop and I'm happy, but the bright shiny shopping centres are my idea of hell.

Party food from M&S. I've never bought it but been fed it, and think it's horrible. Either too plain or too salty, and somehow all tastes the same.

Costa coffee/Starbucks. Overpriced milk and sugar and the coffee (what you get of it) always tastes burnt and nasty.

Air fryers. I don't see the point in them. The hype will die down in a few years and they'll be gathering dust along with the courgette spirallisers!

Yes, macarons just taste of sugar.

In fact,so many desserts, even the fancy ones, just taste of pure sugar and not the flavouring at all.

I'm going to tentatively add most broadway musicals don't live up to the hype and are actually a bit silly (sorry if you love them!)

Fruit teas (again)
Mince pies - I love them, but can't digest them. The heartburn is record-breaking.
Thai curries - always look like they've been eaten once already. 🤢

On the subject of hot tubs, my boss decided to try out a new spa which opened in our town and was relaxing in the hot tub in her bikini. Then a creepy business associate of hers appeared in his swimming trunks, greeted her and got in too. They made polite small talk and my boss wondered why on earth she was paying to sit in a bath with a bloke she disliked.

Beach days. Xmas markets. Disney land etc. pumpkin picking or any other kind of picking and foraging.

faff and fuss only looks good on pictures.

Christmas . Sea swimming in winter . Parties .

😂

With you on Thai curries. They all look and smell like cat puke.

Log/'real' fires. One side of you gets singed, the other remains freezing. And your hair and clothes end up stinking of smoke and your eyes get sore.

Eating anywhere but at an indoor table with proper cutlery and crockery.

And double whammy: barbeques. All the disadvantages of a log fire, all the problems of eating outside with no table or cutlery. And, to add insult to injury, meat that is burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. Every. Single. Time. With the added fun of wondering if I'm going to die of salmonella infection from the raw chicken and this is how I spent my last hour on earth.

Outdoor theatre. I like the theatre. I like, broadly speaking, the outdoors. But being forced to sit in one place while the heavens open is not really much fun.