A mum struggling to pay bills was left shocked by her son’s ‘livid’ response when she asked him to contribute towards their living costs.
The mum asked her son, who earns between £800-900 a month, to help her by contributing £80 per month out of his earnings. But she said he went ‘completely f***ing livid’ when she made the request.
Her son is currently saving up to attend university, but his mum is about to lose out on £60 in child benefits and said she is finding things ‘really really tough’ at the moment amidst the rising costs of living.
She took to Mumsnet and posted about her experience on the thread Am I Being Unreasonable? (AIBU?), to see what others had to say about her situation and if she is right to ask her son to pay some money towards costs while he is living with her.
Anna Shvets / Pexels
Her post was titled ‘AIBU asking my 18-year-old for board?’ In it she wrote: “He earns 8-900 pounds a month and I’ve suggested he gives me £80 a [month]. Would make up for the £60 I will lose from child benefit. He’s at college and due to go to university in September he’s saved around £2,000 for this already.
“He is absolutely and completely f***ing livid about this situation. Things are really, really tough for us at the moment if that makes any difference. Vote away, vipers.” Her post was met with a variety of opinions and responses from other users, who were keen to share their thoughts on the matter.
One person put: “He’s done well to save but he knows he’ll need it for uni. It’s not his fault you lose benefits you came to rely on. Don’t punish him for it.”
Another said: “He’s earning a decent wage so paying board is the right thing to do. Me and DB [dear brother] both had to pay £40 per week back in 2000/2001. DM [dear mother] said if we didn’t like it we could move out and see how we liked paying rent and bills. We paid the board.”
Bank of England / Flickr
A third Mumsnet user commented: “It wouldn’t even occur to me to charge him TBH”, while another said: “He has very few other outgoings. £80 / month will not put him in the poorhouse or damage his uni savings, but it might help him to understand that life costs money.”
Another Mumsnet user sarcastically added: “Welcome to the real world little boy. Oh no, actually in the real world you’d be sleeping rough or paying £200 per week.”
And someone else said: “It’s not ideal because it would be good if he could save the majority towards uni but the fact is he’s an adult and he’s earning a wage and the family is struggling. It’s not as if you’re asking him for a massive amount. I think it’s [fair] enough if you’re in a difficult position.”
The majority of Mumsnet users said the mum was not being unreasonable to ask her son to pay. Thoughts?
Blackpool has been ranked among the worst of 20 seaside towns in Britain, by The Telegraph.
The Telegraph looked at how well 20 classic seaside resorts have adapted to changing times and ‘studied how they have adapted – or not – over the past three decades’. Among those ranked as the worst in Britain were the North West’s coastal towns of Blackpool, receiving a pitiful 22 out of 100, Morecambe (24 out of 100), and Southport (28 out of 100).
The news outlet wrote: ”Big seaside cities, like Blackpool and Brighton, have always had pockets of money as well as misery…” Looking at factors such as housing and high streets, renovations and conservation, as well as the cultural clout that so often accompanies gentrification, the publication ranked Rhyl as the worst resort with a meagre five out of 100.
It was also bad news for the North East as South Shields came in near the bottom of the barrel scoring just 11 out of 100. Scarborough was rated just 39 out of 100 — perhaps its sweeping sandy beaches, rugged castle ruins and museums didn’t quite cut it?
David Dixon / Geograph
But there was better news for two South West towns, with St Ives in Cornwall rated number one (98/100), while nearby Lyme Regis came in fourth, with 85/100.
Here’s the list of Britain’s 20 best and worst towns, according to The Telegraph.
From the brand Butler’s Farmhouse Cheeses, these epic alternative Easter eggs come in two flavours: cheddar and blue cheese — sounds pungent!
Sold in a box to look exactly like their chocolatey Easter egg counterparts, you won’t feel odd opting for a cheesy seasonal delight rather than the accepted chocolate kind.
Displayed in the box, it looks as though you’ll have an awkward fully-round egg-shaped block of the creamy stuff, making it hard to slice. You actually get half an egg, so the back of it is flat and ready to be sliced lay down on a cheeseboard.
Weighing 120g, the Easter egg halves are made with the very best Butlers cheeses — their traditional Farmhouse Cheddar and their gold award-winning blue cheese, Blacksticks Blue.
Butlers
At first glance they may look solid, but the cheeses have been blended to make a softer cheese consistency, so they’re easy to chop a chunk out of. The website says: “We’ve done it again and made something truly egg-cellent, the combination of award winning Farmhouse British Cheese and an Easter egg.
“Delicious and versatile, this half egg will make a sensational centrepiece for your cheeseboard, a gift for the cheese lover, or simply spread on a hot cross bun!
“Perfect for a savoury and cheesy gift this Easter and the perfect surprise for your children’s Easter egg hunt, or on the Easter Sunday cheeseboard. Available on their own, or as a letterbox gift complete with crackers and chutney!”
Butlers
You can purchase Butlers Cheeseter eggs online at Amazon where the cheddar and the blue cheese versions cost £9.99 each, and can be delivered straight to your door.
The cheesy eggs also come in letterbox style packages accompanied with a chutney and crackers to complete your cheeseboard.
Cheese Easter eggs have actually been about for a little while now, but they’re still few and far between in supermarkets. Marks and Spencer had ‘Cheester’ covered a couple of years back when it sold some from Barber’s Farmhouse Cheddar. They came in an actual egg box and the eggs were filled with a ‘yolk’ of 18-month matured Red Leicester — innovative or what?!
If you or someone you know is a cheese lover, you know what to get them this Easter…a big cheesy egg.
Stargazers are in for a spectacular treat later this month as five planets of the solar system will be visible from Earth as part of a rare celestial event.
On March 28th, Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars and Venus are expected to appear to line up together in a small section of the sky shortly after sunset. While it’s not unusual to see two or three planets aligned, to see five is more uncommon — it happened last year, as well as in both 2020 and 2016 prior to that.
Two of the brighter planets — Mercury and Jupiter — will be noticeable near the horizon, while Venus is expected to shine higher in the sky. Although a pair of binoculars may be needed to be able to see Uranus, Mars should be visible to the naked eye, in the alignment near to the first quarter of the moon.
Last year, stargazers in the northern hemisphere had the amazing opportunity to gaze at Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all at once.
Star Walk.space
To easily identify the planets this month, the educational astronomy app Star Walk recommends using the app Sky Tonight — which can be pointed at the night sky to give a live display of what is going on.
The planets are expected to be aligned in a 50-degree sky sector, which means that they will appear closer together from Earth in a small area above. This visual phenomenon differs from an astronomical alignment, which refers to when planets come together simultaneously on the same side of the sun.
Beth Biller, of the University of Edinburgh, told The MailOnline that some planets would be much easier to see than others, saying: “Venus and Jupiter are both very bright and easy to pick out and you may have already seen them close together over the past few weeks.
Eddie Yip / Flickr
“Mars is a bit fainter, but still easily observed with the naked eye. Mercury starts getting tricky — you need to be at a dark site with a clear view of the horizon if you want to see Mercury. Uranus is the faintest and hardest to see – you’ll need binoculars or a telescope to see Uranus.”
Skywatchers don’t need to worry if they miss out on the spectacle, as Star Walk said a number of other planetary alignments will take place this year. Less than a month later Mercury, Uranus, Venus and Mars are expected to align once again in a 35-degree sky sector.
Then on April 24th, a 40-degree sector will take place seeing Mars, Venus, Uranus and Mercury gathering together — with even more planetary alignments happening throughout the summer.