when did life get so complex

Witzend....I only use one on my new washer...the fast one.

I love a Gransnet post that makes me laugh out loud because it’s so true! Then how do you decide which tea or coffee to buy to go with the biscuits .... don’t get me started on that one!

Agree. Nothing is straightforward. Internet shopping is often very frustrating. You see an item. You add it to your basket. You proceed to pay. But first you have to register! You proceed only to be told you are already registered as presumably you have shopped there previously - possibly years previously. So you can't remember your password. So you request change of password. If you are lucky an email comes through at first attempt. You make several attempts to change password, only to be told it's not strong enough. Your next attempt tells you to add a number or a symbol. Finally success, and you can complete your purchase. This is, of course, assuming that your Broadband doesn't drop out just as you are about to pay. By this time, after tearing my hair out, i am wishing i'd just popped to the shops. We are told not to use the same password each time, but how are we supposed to remember password for each site? But couldn't believe my eyes when in WHSmiths recently amongst the diaries spotted books with 'internet passwords' printed boldly on the cover. So basically if you are burgled you are gifting the robbers your whole internet life.

Bluebelle The world will be as complex as we humans chose to make it. When did self control fly out of the window?

And the coffee shop chains! Latte, cappuccino, flat white, americano .... small, regular, large (size of a washing up bowl with 2 handles!) ... any syrup (nooo!) ... and what about sugar,white,brown, sweetener? In our take out? Loyalty card? Blooming heck you’re ready for a coffee by the time it comes!!

I don't know how to do a link but I highly recommend a YouTube clip of a group of ladies who call themselves Fascinating Aida singing about cheap flights. It is priceless. Do make sure you listen to the very end. (They are not Irish so it is clear the song is about Ryanair)

Those flying with Ryanair please note you now have to pay to take a bag on board unless you pay for priority booking. They changed their rules this month and apparently it is causing chaos.
Check the Ryanair website for details.

BlueBelle
That got a belly laugh from me.
Sooo many options nowadays.

I once dunked a biscuit while sitting on a river bank with friends and the biscuit fell in the tea. I spooned it out and intended lobbing it in the river but my aim has never been good and it went straight into a friend's ear. He panicked and I felt awful but couldn't let him know what had happened for laughing.

I totally agree with petunia about the complexities of modern life and I'm sure it is one of the main contributing factors to the increase in mental illness.
Re Palm Oil. Yes it is in most sweet and dried biscuits but "all butter" biscuits such as shortbreads are, in my experience, free from this pernicious ingredient. I have also found some of M&S biscuits have no palm oil. I should imagine that Iceland's are a safe bet but I haven't yet shopped there.
Of course toiletries and cosmetics are full of the stuff and I'm beginning to address those as well but it's one step at a time.
I am a great believer in consumer power to push a change of attitude. We are all responsible for the future health of this planet and ordinary folk must lead the charge when governments and companies shirk their responsibilities.
Now where to find an eco alternative to the usual Christmas Crackers?!

Washer/drier, I mostly use same wash programme & either tumble dry/no tumble dry, why are there so many different programmes, I don't vary the temperature either

Ditto microwave, high or defrost I did use more when I had a combi

Smart phone, why can't I do the simplest things in the way I want not the way the phone dictates

Passwords for everything on laptop but passcodes for smart phone my brain is going to explode

Light bulbs what a nightmare, screw in or bayonet? selecting the one that is the right wattage means standing in front of a display, do I want 25w/40w/60w & what is that 630 Lumens is 42w

I'm only 62 but I long for the "good old days" of just eating what you wanted without checking all the labels, traffic light system, oh dear that's got lots of red, can't eat that but I will because I fancy it .Too much choice it's all so confusing I think I'll go & lie down in a dark room

There's a funny piece by Giles Coren in today's Times about the complexities of modern TVs and remotes - needing more than one remote and having to faff with so many buttons when he just wants to watch the cricket.

I swear it's because presumably (mostly) blokes who design these things, and a lot of blokes (not Giles C obviously) just love complicated gadgets.

Too much choice now. Even choosing a natural yoghurt isnt simple if they haven't got the one I prefer - checking fat sugar and making sure its bio.
And the toothpaste I use for sensitive teeth has about six variations. What's that all about??

And lightbulbs are a nightmare. I always keep the receipt because as sure as night follows day I will have got screw instead of push, broad base instead of narrow, clear not opaque.............

And yes I dunk. I often have cold milk and dunk rich tea.

This is a lovely, for fun, thread, (at the moment).
Re the light bulbs. I decided to take down the bedroom ones, and the shades, give them a clean and replace. DH fetched the stepladder, with safety handhold (H&S) and climbed up. He took so long to unscrew one bulb, that I did it myself.
Climb onto bed, wobble a bit, I can’t reach the bulbs from the stepladder, and decided to leave shades in situ and just wipe. Replaced bulbs, one now doesn’t work. Go downstairs and fetch a new one, from my stash of old type ones, climb back onto bed, wobble a lot, and before replacing it, try turning it a bit more. Hurray, we have light. Take replacement bulb back to it’s hiding place.
By the way, the switch is a dimmer, can you get new LED dimmer bulbs?

Don't get me started about buying train tickets days before you need to travel to get them cheaper, when going to my daughter in folkestone we have to buy train tickets on line as you can't get cheaper in advance tickets from station kiosk any more, if you just turn up on the day and get the train it cost £20 more. Ridiculous. And annoying.

Petunia, your post about MandS knickers really made me smile. I was in there the other day buying those very items and you are so right about the different sorts on offer. There where 3 other ladies of a certain age like myself and we had a great chat about our confusion over what should be a simple job. I eventually found the ones I wanted and came away determined to only order on line in future which works ok as long as they don’t discontinue that design then I will have to start all over again. Thanks for making me smile on a dull wet Saturday morning.

Urmstongran, re washing tablets. When I take the Aldi ones out of the box I see that they look identical, even the plastic packaging, so maybe there is no actual difference between bio and non- bio, whites and stain-lifter?

Simplest - and healthiest - is not to eat biscuits!

grannyqueenie you have a bus where you live? They’ve gone the way of the dinosaur here!

I agree with you petunia in that too much choice (cue - first world problems, I know) is stressful. What about buying products just to clean the laundry?
A whole aisle of choices! Way too many....
Bio or non bio? Whites or coloureds? Powder, gel capsules or tablets? With our without a fabric softener?
*sigh

I was (trying) to book tickets on Eurostar to Paris and onwards this week and comparing train times/cost/length of journey. I did this several times as I had to agree times with my sister.

Each time I came back to the sites, the available trains and prices had shifted a bit. I think it is called dynamic pricing. Personally I prefer fixed pricing, so that I know where I am what kind of ticket I have and which trains I can and cannot travel on.

In the end I just booked and then told DS and hoped they would be fit in with her trains between home and London.

Ah the days of proper light bulbs when the only choice you had to make was the wattage, and whether to have clear or pearl.

I'm currently boycotting any food product with palm oil in and it's SO HARD because it's everywhere. I don't care if it's 'sustainable' - I don't want to eat the stuff full stop. It's been gradually snuck into our food by manufacturers because it's cheap, and it has to be transported miles across the planet when we can grow perfectly good oil here.

I assume it's been around in toiletries for years (Palmolive Soap?) but all this forest destruction has only started happening since we started eating it. It makes me sad.

Lightbulbs... groan, sigh... no hope there either!

Tell me about it! No sooner do I get the times of our local buses either in my head or on a bit of pair in my purse.... then it all changes! The other we spotted a random new numbered bus at our bus station in town, what was a 33a is apparently now a 34 (sounds like that other modern conundrum bra choices!) later the same day my old boy was checking on the internet for times .. you’ve guessed it, bus 34 doesn’t exist.. yet!!!

And don't get me on which modern lightbulbs work with dimmer switches, and which balance properly with Anglepoise lamps. I voted Remain, but escape from European light bulb specifications would justify Leave in itself.