What's your cautionary tale?

[BrightInMyNorthernSky]

Having just got through the most stressful week ever due to a nightmare situation of my own making, I thought I would share a previous and current cautionary tale.

1. Always remember to change the address on your V5 and not just your license. I didn't. DH got caught speeding twice on the same day on the same stretch of road (33 in a 30) in my car. Both fines went to old address. Didn't answer them, obvs. The whole sorry mess played out without me being aware and by the time it all caught up with me it was had been banned from driving for six months and fined £2k - five months earlier! So had been driving while banned for five months!!!

Totally with you on this one - my MIL had looked after her other grandkids extensively - gets to ours and no, “they are a handful and you can afford professional care”. Also pays off SIL debts, we don’t have debts (other than mortgage) but it’s not the point - unequal treatment and it causes a lot of resentment (particularly as she expects us to take her out for meals but not the others!)

If you choose to treat your child's whooping cough by applying a poultice of raw garlic bound to their feet overnight, please don't!
The garlic will burn their delicate skin leaving them in extreme pain & unable to walk for about 2 weeks.
I was said child. I was 5 at the time, I'm now 45. My mum thinks it's a funny story, I do not!

Never click on or use any service advertised through google sponsored links.

Never speak up at work when you're under tasked, no matter how polite or how helpful or honest you think you are being, they will pile a whole load of sh*t work onto you and/or resent you for implying they're poor managers and you will never come back from it.

Never mistake a sparkler for a joss stick....

Never omit from your car insurance applications your points, no matter how honest your mistake, no matter how honest you have been on all previous applications, your insurance will be canceled and you will be charged extra for the rest of time on every insurance policy you take out.

Never go on a holiday with P&O cruises unless your idea of a holiday is akin to 2 weeks roaming around an international airport.

Haven't had time to read all the thread so apologies if this one has already been mentioned.

Do not, under any circumstances, keep the plastic sheeting on the stairs that removal companies put in to protect your new stair carpet. We didn't remove ours after moving in. I went to bed exhausted but needed to get up in the night for a glass of water ...... and promptly slid down 75% of the stairs nearly dislocating something. Had some pretty bruises to remember our first day in the new house by.

I can’t believe anyone would actually try to do this. It’s a contract.

Threats of legal action as regard giving notice rarely come to much

Don't go on a diet (especially a very restrictive crash diet) if you tend to be the cuddlier side. You will lose weight quickly when you're young, but keeping it off will be a life sentence and once you get to menopause age, it might bite you on your (ever increasing) bum.
Don't think that the controlling, possessive bloke will suddenly become more secure once you're married.
Don't fart if you you've got diarrhoea!

We had a boy when he fell, landed so hard on his back that his heart had to be restarted/put back in rhythm 3 times. No one believes that either, true though.

Very wise words!

Absolutely hate that shitting advert.

My car insurers didn’t renew my policy, I got pulled over by the police, who said I didn’t have insurance, I even argued back saying of course I have insurance!
i searched for my paperwork found previous years, on it it said in four different areas, that I didn’t need to do anything as I’d be automatically insured.
I cried my eyes out realising I’d been driving for four months with my kids in the car and no bloody insurance. Had 6 points, plus towage fees etc

As a man who had a joint account with his wife (we are now separated, albeit very amicably) what about cases where you are the higher earner, but the other person is looking after small children and thus not earning?

As far as I was concerned, it was very much our money not my money, and we both had cards linked to the account, and thus we had the same spending power and the same spending opportunity. Obviously it helped that we were on the same page with finances, but I would have hated to be in a situation where it was like she had to ask me for money every time she needed something.

Do not marry a man years older than yourself. If you do, chances are, you will spend your last decade of comparative good health and the freedom associated with it, as their carer. Unless he is Rupert Murdoch, in which case there will be staff to do the hard work.

I should have said 'a man or woman' shouldn't I ?

Define “years older”?

Moisturise your neck before it ever vaguely occurs to you that it’s required. Otherwise one morning you’ll wake up and it’s too late 😫

People don’t like to hear your ill even close family or friends. Keep it to yourself unless you want people to disappear.

Yes, I second this

It is apparently a common experience of people with a whole mix of illnesses.

My friend did the same thing with her dc and it was devastating. Their results were awful and the stigma of failure stayed with them into the A levels and took all my friend’s effort to help raise their confidence.

And also if you are caring for the ill individual. Life is brutal.

Eurgh. If only I saw this comment 9 years ago 😩😩😩

Interesting point thank you for this. I’m finding my therapist is very protective of me.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
A long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists
Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
Than my own meandering experience, I will dispense this advice now
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back
At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now
How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked
You are not as fat as you imagine
Don't worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying
Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing Bubble gum
The real troubles in your life
Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday
Do one thing every day that scares you
Saying, don't be reckless with other people's hearts
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours
Floss
Don't waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind
The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
Stretch
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life
The most interesting people I know
Didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't
Get plenty of calcium
Be kind to your knees
You'll miss them when they're gone
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken'
On your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much
Or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can
Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room
Read the directions even if you don't follow them
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
But a precious few, who should hold on
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
For as the older you get
The more you need the people you knew when you were young
Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard
Live in northern California once but leave before it makes you soft
Travel
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don't expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Don't mess too much with your hair
Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
And recycling it for more than it's worth
But trust me on the sunscreen

Realise that most charismatic woman in the room working her charm on everyone for 5 minutes and then running them down behind their backs as she moves on to the next target might not be best mate material.

🤯Jesus!