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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what you should know but don't

154 replies

Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:07

I have a thread (embarrassingly) atm about the the fact that I have no clue about my own boiler and heating system. Please could I ask you to make me feel slightly less inept as a parent to be and an adult by asking what you do not or did not know that you should ? I'm talking things like one of my friends knew nothing about council tax when we first moved out of our parents homes 🙈

OP posts:
WhiteDust · 20/04/2019 19:12

Times tables.
Where different countries are on a map.

Bunnybigears · 20/04/2019 19:13

Despite going to a CofE primary school and doing RE at Secondary School I have no idea about Easter. Why does it change dates every year? Which day is when Jesus was crucified? Which day is when he rose from the dead? When are you supposed to do the Easter eggs? Why does it cause queues out of the chippy door on Good Friday?

WhiteDust · 20/04/2019 19:14

Actually. The list is endless.

jgjgjgjgjg · 20/04/2019 19:14

That cruise control only controls the speed of a car. It does not take over steering the car. Luckily I found out before trying it out in our brand new car...

Original poster
Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:15

Just thought when reading those that this thread could actually just highlight to me all the other things I don't know 😂😂🙄🙈 I have a very good job and am professionally responsible I just clearly have no life skills! I work in the medical field and I hope to god none of my patients ever find out about this 🤦🏻‍♀️🙈

OP posts:
EllebellyBeeblebrox · 20/04/2019 19:17

Ditto my boiler and heating system. Fucking mystery to me. I also don't understand daylight saving time, cruise control on the car or local politics.

IncognitaIgnorama · 20/04/2019 19:17

Pensions. Just can't get my head around how they work - just seems like a pyramid scheme. Am officially a fully functioning adult, too Grin

Original poster
Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:18

@Bunnybigears my very Irish grandmother would clout me but I also am not certain of this...I know we always had fish and chips on good Friday as we were not allowed to eat meat (although my sister always got a battered sausage!). I think that might be because that's the day Jesus died but I've no idea what the link is!!

OP posts:
Sizeofalentil · 20/04/2019 19:18

I do almost all the cooking, but I can't turn on the oven.

It's a secondhand one and all the numbers have worn off. I can never remember which turn of the dial is grill.

I've drawn them back on, but dh keeps wiping them off! I think he wants to keep me helpless Wink

Luckily, I mainly use the hob and slow cooker. So we don't starve

Original poster
Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:18

@IncognitaIgnorama whenever pensions are discussed at work I tend to suddenly have something very important to do.....

OP posts:
EllebellyBeeblebrox · 20/04/2019 19:19

Also counties in the UK. Would be my absolute worst topic in a pub quiz. And embarasssingly and stereotypically I really don't understand the offside rule.

Original poster
Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:19

@Sizeofalentil haha!! Ah if only I couldn't turn the oven on i might be thinner...although just eat is to blame too....

OP posts:
bridgetreilly · 20/04/2019 19:22

Another one who doesn't really understand pensions. I know I've paid some into several, but I just hope that the money will magically start to come back to me when I retire...

In general, though, the list of stuff I feel I should know but don't has dramatically reduced since the invention of Google and YouTube.

Puffinhead · 20/04/2019 19:22

My car Blush I have no clue about cars - tyres, oil and water etc. (I can fill it with petrol though.) Every now and then I think about going on a basic car maintenance course type thing but the thought of it bores me rigid. Luckily DP knows what he’s doing but I’d still rather not be reliant on him.

Original poster
Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:24

@bridgetreilly god I google everything. I have told dh to delete my internet history when I die not because of porn etc but because I'd be mortified if people knew the things I've had to look up over the years!

OP posts:
EllebellyBeeblebrox · 20/04/2019 19:25

Ooh taxes/national insurance. When trying to do work out if my lease car was a "benefit in kind" and what this would mean to how much tax I paid I could have cried.

zeezee33 · 20/04/2019 19:25

@Donotunderstandmyhouse

It's not a specific good Friday thing, it's a every Friday thing, Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat, only fish on Fridays, quite why I'm not exactly sure lol.

Too many other things to list that I don't know about, it's actually incredibly shocking. Road tax confuses the hell out of me, but I've never learned to drive so that's probably a big part of why. I've known about council tax since I was young but only until very recently did I find out absolutely everything it covered like the fire services etc. I thought it was literally bin collection only

checkingforballoons · 20/04/2019 19:26

How planes stay up in the air and how massive heavy ships don’t sink. I’ve had both explained to me numerous times but it still doesn’t make sense!

Original poster
Donotunderstandmyhouse · 20/04/2019 19:26

@zeezee33 ha that's even worse! My grandmother would disown me 😂😂😂😂

OP posts:
WheelyCote · 20/04/2019 19:26

Countries on a map
That taking all skirting board and architrave off in a house was a bloody stupid idea!

WheelyCote · 20/04/2019 19:31

Pensions...
Isnt it just bankers playimg with money and invedtimg. If they loose...well i dont know lol

Dont have a clue

Ineedaweeinpeace · 20/04/2019 19:32

How the internet or generally any digital stuff works.

zeezee33 · 20/04/2019 19:32

I didn't know that private healthcare was available here in the UKuntil I was about 16 lol and I thought every country had the NHS or a version of it until around the same age and I had no idea you had to pay deposits or admin fees etc until I moved into a place of my own at 18

HBStowe · 20/04/2019 19:33

How to change a tyre

Mosaic123 · 20/04/2019 19:34

Grammar, tenses and parts of speech. I get verbs, but after that I have little idea which words fit into which categories.

I have an English A level. My onky excuse is that we were not taught this at school in the 1960s and 1970s.