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!!!

You win!!!! 🏆

@MisterMagnolia brilliant

I take mine at night after reading up about it. It absorbs better apparently, and as its before bed you've usually not eaten or drank anything too close to bed time, so no faffing about waiting to be able to take it or waiting for that precious morning brew because you took your tablet first!

@MisterMagnolia · 03/06/2024 23:48

When swimming in the same lane as your husband and you decide to tickle his bollocks as he swims past you, make sure that he's not switched lanes and that someone else hasn't joined your lane instead!

😂

But they wern't your GCSEs were they?

Make a note of where you've parked your car in a massive field at a busy County Show (near the oak tree/alongside the fencing/which field if there's an overflow park etc) so you don't spend half an hour striding along the rows trying to work out where the heck your car is. Have done this numerous times, we never learn!

I thought it was general knowledge that the majority of MNers have the sense of humour of a gnat! Often thought how boring their homes must be, no humour, everything cold and sanitised, every word forensically dissected in case it contains a perceived offence.

You have a good point. I'm less surprised by the po-faced comments than I am at the number of people so desperate to post "I don't get it" that they don't read the thread and see it's been explained 50 times. Are they so proud of their humour failure?!

ElizabethanAgain · Today 09:30

I lost a load of groceries this way. Put the groceries in the boot, and when I came back after returning the shopping trolley the car was gone.

Ouch!

Don't make the mistake of assuming the railway station in a small town will be located near a bus stop, (or even that it will be located in the town). And having made that mistake don't assume you can easily get a taxi because the internet lists several local firms and the only one that answers picked up another passenger for a long journey while you were looking for a bus stop....

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. 😞

I considered cancelling my horse's insurance last year and just saving the monthly cost instead. Fortunately I didn't get round to it as he broke his leg in July and the total veterinary bills exceeded £5k! I would have struggled to afford that without insurance and even if I'd have saved my monthly payments in an account for this purpose, it wouldn't have covered even a quarter of it.

Thank you!

Similarly with car parks in an unfamiliar location: on a first visit to Warwick Castle we spent a pleasant afternoon there, then, once tired and just wanting to get home, spent a very frustrating hour going between 3 different multistorey car parks as we couldn't remember a)which one and b) which floor!

As someone said up thread, never go to a second location with a criminal with or without a weapon on the pretext of I won’t hurt you if you stay quiet - they are a criminal, you cannot believe them.

Scream, run, fight, bite-
not to get taken

obviously not happened to me but something to tell youngsters not to obey orders if scared.

Yep, I was always told this

Tell them whatever they’re going to do they can do it in front of everyone

Always take a photo from the parking point and every time you change direction. Otherwise download Waze and register your location. Easy.

When you are walking in an unfamiliar place, turn round every so often to see what the path or road looks like from the other direction. This is the way you will be facing on your way back.

Don’t do cartwheels in a skirt without your knickers on 🫢.

If I remember (not usually) I get my WhatThreeWords location and take a screenshot of it, so I can follow it back to the car when I am invariably lost in a huge, or unfamiliar, car park 😀

I always take various photos of surrounding area (or street name / floor number ) when parking somewhere unfamiliar now.

Totally agree with the "take photos of your parking location" ones.

I had to go to my nearest city for a medical appointment, no parking there so just on-street parking locally. Of course it was much busier than I'd expected (being a country bumpkin and not used to Big City Parking) so I was driving round and round loads of streets until I found a space, all the while getting more and more stressed about potentially being late.

Eventually found a space, had my appointment, came out, and could I remember where I'd parked? No I could not. It was winter time so it was getting dark and I was really cold, ended up flagging down a taxi and he drove me around all the streets until we spotted my car! What an embarrassment.

Epipens are just an adrenaline shot, not a magic medicine that cures anaphylaxis. It can sometimes buy you 15 mins in which to get an ambulance. If anyone saw the scene in Peter Rabbit where they threw blackberries at him knowing he was allergic and Peter took his epipen and was all better?—irresponsible!!

Epipens sometimes misfire. Sometimes you need more than one.

Severe allergies are becoming more prevalent as this faulty immune response is now being passed down in dna.

I change all my batteries on July 1st. Smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and catflap. Then I don't get woken at 2am when they need changing. PS why is always 2am?

My spare front/alley/back door keys are in a key safe hidden inside my gas meter box It's a smart meter so no one goes in there

To make you spend more money on a new one after you take a hammer to the fucking thing.