Top products from r/AskUK

I've just recently bought a fresh batch of Ethiopian coffee from the local roaster, a nice man with a stall in the Cambridge Market. For the last few months I've been making coffee with an Aeropress - I can not recommend it enough, it's honestly the best £24 I've ever spent.

It's halfway between a French Press/cafetiere, and an espresso machine in that it uses immersion to bloom and extract the coffee, and pressure to actually get it into your cup.

Edit: my awful spelling

Anyone looking at getting away from instant coffee, or also for a nice gift, this should most certainly top the list.


Edit: Assuming you mean Americano in that you're using espresso and hot water, you'll actually get more caffeine from the drip/filter coffee! :)

Sureflap Microchip Cat Flap https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003EGIM3O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Zrl.zb057N9J0

Hope that works. I got that one when I bought my house because the reviews were great. I have two cats and was able to program it to their microchips so either of them can come and go (even if they lose a collar) but no fuzzy visitors otherwise (was an issue at the old house, where the flap was very basic.) It's been great! It was easy to teach the cats to use it, and easy to see when it needs a fresh battery.

Anything that will take Comply Tips will be a good start, I have a set of Shure 215 with comply tips and they're brilliant at isolation. I've just received a set of cheap VSonics VSD1S that i'm going to see if comply tips will fit on as well.

QC20 are amazing - if you can try some, do. There is a small amount of white noise present, but I've yet to try anything better in ear for NC. They've been around for years and STILL punch in reviews.

However, if you don't want actual sound why not try a few different types of proper earplugs first and see if they do the job for you? Significantly cheaper than new IEMs!
I tried a few types, didn't really get on with the foam type and ended up finding Macks Ear seals the most comfortable for me, I use them on the motorbike.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Macks-Seals-Ear-Plugs-Pair/dp/B000KOMHDO/ref=sr_1_22?qid=1555061285&s=gateway&sr=8-22&srs=1651029031

The Aeropress if you drink coffee. It's £24 on Amazon at the moment but it has been under £20 before. https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Coffee-Tea-Espresso/Aerobie-AeroPress-80R11-Maker/B000GXZ2GS

I don't really understand how it makes such good filter coffee, it's magic or something, but it's really easy to use and makes great super-fast one cup coffee for those who want to use filter or grind their own beans but don't want to run a full coffee maker / make loads of cups / wait around.

95p (+£2.95 shipping) over budget which is fairly considerably on a tenner but for the beauty of this you can't help justify it.

A5 Canvas Phil Mitchelll Wall Clock has been on my wish list for a while.



And before anyone leaves dissapointed

Yes,

Yes Pat Butcher is also available.

If you want a whole book on these kind of differences, I'd recommend Watching the English: by Kate Fox It's a great book which is a easy-to-read explanation of some of the linchpins of English culture, and will help you understand how people act differently in the UK compared to the US (one short thing the book explains in alot more detail: it is never the wrong moment to make a joke about something)

> I do have enough savings for a (small!) second house, though, so I may go that route but haven't quite decided.

Have you considered stocks and bonds? E.g. index funds

Probably comparable returns to property, perhaps better, and you don't have the work of managing it.

EDIT: also, don't you pay stamp duty once you have a second house?

You can stuff £20,000 a year into your ISA and returns are tax free.

Heed Lars Kroijer and read his book or Tim Hale's Smarter Investing.

I'm a poor student who eats a lot of cup noodles. My favourite is anything from the Nong Shim Shin brand. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0054G7HR4. It's a Korean pot noodle, you should be able to find it in any specialty (East) Asian shop. Very nice, very spicy. Perfect for a cold weather. They have several flavours, I think.

For those 'super noodles' type, try Indomie ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG2dLLIZK3Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player). This one comes from Indonesia, and is really nice as well. You can cook following the Maggi style, as suggested in the other post.

And Pot Noodles is terrible. Once you've tasted the East Asian products, you'd never go back to pot noodles.

Class is sort of hard to define over here, because it's more of an innate knowledge of what's high class/low class rather than anything that actually affects your life. It's more about the papers you read, the school you went to, and the way you talk than anything else. Oh, and probably the way you vote. I'd argue that it some sense it's still tied to occupation for the lower classes, but once you get to middle/upper middle the lines are blurred a lot more.

A really good book to read that might help you get a better idea of how we work would be Kate Fox's Watching The English.

Ear-plugs - they're so important if you go to live concerts.

You only get one set of ears, which will never heal, so for the love of christ, protect them

Here's a rough guide of safe exposure times

Keep your eye on this Xiaomi one - there are regularly offer codes to bring it down to £30 and it's very good quality. Best feature is that you can connect wirelessly from your phone to download videos, so no faffing around with the SD card!

Edit: in fact there's a lightning deal coming up at 6:30pm tonight of this, which will probably bring it down to the £30 mark.

I've got a Yi Dashcam, for forty quid you really can't go wrong. You'll need a micro SD if you don't already have one laying around.

This won't solve the issue of your car being vandalised - it only works when the engine is on. However, there is a pretty good in-home security cam from the same manufacturer. Pointing this out the window at the car should be more than sufficient, it has motion detection which reliably works through a window.

These are the kind I use when I'm playing on stage, mostly because they were cheap and work well enough. Custom ones can be good but make sure they're properly designed for concerts/gigging. Normal earplugs will make the concert sound muddy and shite.

If you are really keen on driving in the UK think about spending £2.40 on a copy of DVSA Official 2015 Highway Code.

It is what all drivers should of read to pass their driving test in the UK. It will tell you how to handle roundabouts :)

> Just put whatever money into the FTSE 250 tracker ISA with the lowest fees you can find. A lot of High Street Banks will offer these.

Tracking just the FTSE 250 is a bit risky to be honest. It's way to exposed to the UK which is definitely putting all your eggs in one basket. Particularly if you live here, get paid in pounds, are invested in our property market etc. You want something that's a bit closer to representing the world market. As someone else said Vanguard Lifestrategy 60 or 80 would be good.

My main recommendation would be to read this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-Investing-Simpler-Decisions-Financial/dp/0273785370/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478026876&sr=8-1&keywords=smarter+investing

If you're literally just going to a concert getting a moulded pair is probably a bit of a pricey way to do it.

What you need really is attenuating earplugs, you can pick a reasonable pair up for about £20. I run sound systems at raves, which often means getting a bit more up close and personal with a sound system blasting sound than most, and I use the alpine music safe ones, I don't have moulded ones due to the cost, and the fact I know I'll lose them.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-MusicSafe-Filter-Plugs-Musicians/dp/B000VO8PR0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505211413&sr=8-1&keywords=attenuating+earplugs

My friend has the elacin moulded attenuating ear plugs, which he says are great, but I think they were nearly £200.

Fun fact: Places with live music are supposed to provide foam ear plugs behind the bar on request (I think its even a legal requirement), very few actually do.

The problem with foam/wax ones is that they're really designed to muffle sound so you can't hear it at all, this will make a concert sound rubbish, particularly if its a band....... its not so bad for rave events, because a lot of what people feel there is from the sound, but also the bass pressure from subs, but this doesn't really apply to band music so much. An attenuating earplug will reduce sound, but won't cut anywhere near as much of the sound frequencies out as a foam or wax earplug will.

Buy The Curry Secret and make them yourself. They will taste just like a restaurant and so much better than a ready meal.

I bought a Y! dashcam a year or so ago. Thankfully the only use I've had for it was showing my friends the video of me hitting a deer earlier today (thankfully no damage to car and deer ran off). I've reviewed videos and to me it seems like it would be good enough to get a number plate if needed.

I bought this one here.

I have this one, it's a sureflap one and is a little more expensive, but it detects the cats microchip so no need for a collar attachment. It's very good. Bought a cheaper one which let any old cat in and had lots of issues of other cats coming in. In fact one day I had it set to in only and left the hallway doors shut and got woken up to a random cat trapped running full speed into the cat flap trying to escape.

Humane traps are very effective. Our cat brings in mice all the time. We use this one.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pest-Stop-PSTTB-Trip-Trap-Boxed/dp/B000LXWQBW?ref_=ast_bbp_dp

2. Detergent is detergent. The extras are packaging, including which stores it's stocked in, and perfume.
   
   
3. Staples is your best option, although branches tend to be in retail parks. For town centres, look for Rymans and, perhaps, WH Smith.
   
   
4. No idea. Ask a doctor. It may be that one or more of those are not available "over the counter", i.e. without prescription, here.
   
   
5. http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867
   
   
6. Depends, both on whether it's a chain or an independent place, and on what you're ordering.
   
   If it's a chain, then tell them what you need, and let them figure out what they can do without their bosses being arseholes.
   
   If it's independent, then tell them what you're after, and see what happens!

English Breakfast with milk is the most traditional choice. You might like Earl Grey (no milk, ever) too. Once you try those two, just get a selection (e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Tea-Shop-Assorted-Fairtrade/dp/B0081ZHTTG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462128713&sr=8-2&keywords=tea+selection) and try them all!

I have heard good things about Watching the English.

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0340818867/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-nLCCbATQEJ9B might be worth be worth.

This is a bit like the Bryson suggestion for UK history.

Some guys at work have muck masters, a proper heel, neoprene so you've got some comfort

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000WGD3XI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1466424068&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=muckmasters&dpPl=1&dpID=41biyRdvapL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

>https://www.amazon.co.uk/Macks-Seals-Ear-Plugs-Pair/dp/B000KOMHDO/ref=sr\_1\_22?qid=1555061285&s=gateway&sr=8-22&srs=1651029031

thanks for the response, my concern with these are their price as I tried the foam ones and they did nothing for me.

​

Also i think im lost with all these terms haha, I think my issue is people talking and the sound of buses. Can get quite noisy and im not sure i can concentrate even with white sound

Yeah, a bit weird. Amazon sells them too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Tea-Shop-Assorted-Fairtrade/dp/B0081ZHTTG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_grocery_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1RSK7B9WG7EJQM74D7QD

There’s some modern day remakes of the famous 5 books. One of them is “5 escape Brexit island”. Got it for my birthday this year, it’s cracking

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-Brexit-Island-Blyton-Grown/dp/1786486989

Edit: also found 5 on Brexit island -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Brexit-Island-Blyton-Grown/dp/178648384X/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2/258-8260587-0823620?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HMYGTKAJ5TFM0Z3P7YAK

The only dictionary you will ever need is Roger's Profanisaurus

The Official DVSA Highway Code https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0115533427/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_toKRCb9MTTK1V

You can also Google highway code and look it up online.

Roger's Profanisaurus

You can get these in most supermarkets and some smaller shops now, as a spicy Pot Noodle alternative.

I bought two of these Yi Dash cams. One for the front and one for the rear. https://www.amazon.co.uk/YI-1080P60-Dashboard-G-Sensor-Recording-grey/dp/B01CXDP69G

Extras I had to buy were memory cards and a 5m extension USB cable

You could give this a go. While you won't exactly split your sides the irreverent tone makes it much more readable than, say, Simon Schama.

saw this the other day

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Brexit-Island-Blyton-Grown/dp/178648384X

http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-Silex-K2070Y-Electric-Kettle/dp/B00023XCWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368723305&sr=8-1&keywords=kettle is about $14

Yeah you get plastic '1 way' traps which are humane. You do need to release them a couple miles away to stop them returning and being more annoying. Something like this will do the trick if you use decent bait

In that case, try some of these. I'm not a shill for Etymotic, I promise! I use these for gigs and F1 races, when the cars used to be really loud. I find that I get a "rattle" when the noise is too much. These fix that problem by knocking the signal down 20dB fairly evenly across the spectrum. Click the "Tech Specs" tab.

I would argue "The curry secret" shows British cooking, including such classics as Tikka Masala, and Rogan Josh.

Now I get that these might not fit into the "traditional British" category for some people, but not everyone wants a Sunday roast or toad in the hole.

Shocked you need to even ask this question.
Obviously you need to buy this

Lion shit works - you can buy the pellets online
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Roar-Lion-Manure-Repellant/dp/B0002B7OT2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374432174&sr=8-1&keywords=lion+dung

Lion crap. no seriously, theres some pheromones in it or something that if a cat smells it it will NOPE outta there. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Roar-Lion-Manure-Repellant/dp/B0002B7OT2