Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Londoners 'fuming' about outrageous amount they're paying for one surprising thing

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Description

During the cleaning, it was difficult to win the famous “silverfish.” These objects represent the wet and dry areas of our house, and for that reason they stand out especially in the bathroom or near the bookcase.

Silverfish are small, silvery insects that move very quickly, are harmless, and reproduce easily. We then throw them away, because we can still get rid of these insects.

The first tip is to apply some lavender oil to your favorite silverfish from this article. The scent of lavender will envelop the silverfish.

For the complete cooking steps, please go to the next page or open the button (>) and don’t forget to SHARE with your Facebook friends.

You can also place lavender sachets in every corner of the house. To make the aroma even stronger, add a few drops of essential oil. I'll take a day to look at more of these boring things.

Another very effective trick is to prepare a suitable trap for silverfish. I poured some oatmeal into a bowl, which I could not loosen with tape. The starch from the oat flakes attracts the insects, which get stuck and thus enter the bar, but are useless because they fly up onto the glass.

If you see a silverfish nest, simply pour some rubbing alcohol on it to remove it.

If the silverfish have been soaked in wet water, add a little bicarbonate, if possible, to a bath of mature butter to absorb some of the moisture.

 

 

For the complete cooking steps, please go to the next page or open the button (>) and don’t forget to SHARE with your Facebook friends.


Londoners have been commiserating over the outrageous amount they’re paying for one thing in the capital. Travel, rent and food costs have all shot up in price over the last few years but there is one thing that seems to be so shockingly expensive that people can’t stop talking about it.

Gone are the days when you used to be able to go to the pub with a fiver and come back with change. But now you may even only just about scrape coming back with change from a tenner at some London drinking spots.

One poster on Reddit said that they paid a staggering £9 for a pint when out in central London. They said: “I work in the City and nearly fell over when charged nine pounds for a pint recently. Also £24 for a large G&T.

"I don’t even spend £24 on bottles of wine at home. A more senior colleague probably on more than twice my salary was also aghast at a £9 pint.”

'Deep down, I was fuming'

Group of happy friends drinking and toasting beer at brewery bar restaurant
One poster on Reddit said that they paid a staggering £9 for a pint when out in central London

Another poster had a similar experience: “I spent £8.40 on a pint. To the untrained eye, I was a normal person happy to pay that. But deep down, I was fuming and having a major panic. I think everyone’s feeling the same.”

Why is the cost of a pint so high in London?

Rising rents, staffing costs, duty and business rates have all been ingredients in the recipe for the £9 pint in London. Zubin Sethna, Professor of Entrepreneurial Marketing & Consumer Behaviour at Regent's University London, said: “It's almost like saying a pint of Soho is carrying the weight of London's property market on its shoulders.

"The median market rate for rent is so high nationally, living wage and London living wage have also gone up. In hospitality they have to match these rates or loose staff - the money has to come from somewhere. My heart goes out to the publicans because many people don’t think about the full costs."

Changing drinking and working habits are also affecting London's night-time economy. Young people are drinking at home to avoid high costs, while lunch time office pub trips are less frequent with the increase in home working, says Professor Sethna.

Other drinking models, like doing so at home, are likely to become more popular as the price of a pint continues to rise - leading to a two-tier drinking culture of those who can afford to drink out and those who can't, he added.

How can I get a cheap pint?

Luckily, there are plenty of ways of finding cheaper ways to drink in the capital. Cheapest Pints is an interactive map which shows all of the spots in the city where you can grab a drink for a decent price.

Cheapestpint states: "Explore the cheapest pint prices across pubs in London and the UK. See their locations and other amenities like beer gardens, live music and live sport. Contribute your own pint prices too. This website relies on fellow pint drinkers (or anyone!) to contribute pint prices. Please be as accurate as possible, the more contributions we get, the more helpful we are!"

Got a story? Please get in touch at katherine.gray@reachplc.com

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Monday, July 28, 2025

I took my wife to UK's 'doggy paradise' - but our pets had a better time than me

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I took my wife to UK's 'doggy paradise' - but our pets had a better time than me

I managed to completely mess up my wife's birthday celebrations this week, but I'll come to that in a moment. About a month before her big day, I asked if she fancied a little escape. She opted for Rye in East Sussex, wanting something different from last year's trip to Margate, lovingly dubbed Shoreditch-on-Sea thanks to its hip cafés and buzzing art scene.

This time around, we brought my mother's dogs along: Lola, the elderly pointer, and Wilf, the rather rotund chihuahua. My wife is absolutely mad about dogs, and after trawling through the collective knowledge of AI-generated blog summaries online, we discovered that Rye and neighbouring Camber Sands are hailed as dog-friendly destinations. The journey from St Pancras via Ashford International takes just over an hour, making it a tolerable trek for the pups in the July heat.

Our initial stop was Paws n Claws, a pet shop with a sideline in British wildlife funeral services. "It's all quite macabre," I commented to the shopkeeper, gazing at a container of furry deer limbs whilst attempting to protect my wife from spotting the rabbit ears, as per Kent Live.

The dogs, though, were absolutely mesmerised. We left clutching a dehydrated duck neck and a tin of Lily's Fish and Chip flavoured dog food (a mixture of chicken, herring, potato, and peas - probably a winner in some Eastern European nation and bound to appear on a Dalston small plates menu for £27 shortly).

Dog Lola enjoying the beach
Lola enjoying the beach

Rye is a compact town that can be explored in just 10 minutes, allowing us to leisurely stroll through its streets multiple times, eyeing the delightful boutiques and pondering whether the 'dog-friendly' tags were worth the risk of a territorial incident. The hilly landscape and charming cobblestone streets of Rye certainly work up a hunger, leading us to our first pit stop at the Mermaid Street Cafe.

The crab sandwich, priced just under £10, was money well spent, with its soft multigrain bread packed with a generous portion of juicy crabmeat. The rum and raisin ice cream was also a hit. Having refuelled, we set off towards Camber Sands, following a footpath lined with lush brambles and patches of mugwort. At least two of us found ourselves frequently stopping to soak in the fragrances and views.

Early into our walk, I noticed a sheep with a rather daunting look behind a tall metal fence that seemed to have been lifted straight from a 1950s research facility. As we approached the beach, the farmland slowly transitioned into a more natural setting, with sandy brushlands bustling with energetic rabbits. The sight of these animals reminded us of their less fortunate counterparts in pet shops, but we decided not to dwell on it.

Just a stone's throw from the beach entrance, before the only child safety warning sign I've ever seen, I bought a pound of cherries and a punnet of strawberries from a chap under a marquee by the roadside. He assured me they were freshly picked that very morning. Both the cherries and strawberries were juicy and sweet, making supermarket offerings seem rather dull in comparison.

Locally grown cherries from a road-side stand were a highlight of the trip
Locally grown cherries from a road-side stand were a highlight of the trip

Sadly, our cherries were the first casualty of our mini break. Distracted by the sight of the inviting sea, I rushed towards it, forgetting to protect our cherries from the notorious British seagulls. It was during an impromptu yoga pose that I spotted the birds ravaging our lunch through my own legs. By the time I sprinted back, the culprits had scarpered, leaving behind only a solitary paper bag.

Left without any fruit and feeling a bit peckish, we decided to give Frankie's At The Beach a go, a burger joint boasting a 4.8-star rating on Google. Despite its unassuming appearance, this place surpassed our expectations with its juicy, sauce-drenched burgers. Beef sandwiched between two buns. Venison sourced straight from a local farm. What's not to love? We gave the chips a miss only because the portion size seemed so generous that you'd need a bucket and spade to tackle them.

On our way back to Rye, we stopped off at The Owl for a peaceful pint before checking into The River Haven Hotel. Given the significant amount of time it takes to travel anywhere with a dog, particularly if you let them lead and sniff everything along the way, we arrived at the hotel too late for a pub dinner or to grab fish and chips from the highly-rated Marino's Fish Bar.

Despite having enjoyed a McDonald's breakfast, crab sandwich, and a double-deer burger, I found myself drawn to Jempson's, a family-run supermarket chain that has been a staple in Sussex since 1935. Although it collaborates with Morrisons, the prices for its speciality items were more comparable to Marks and Spencer.

Nonetheless, I left with a delightful selection of fresh bread, cheese, and cider, fully embracing Rye's unique medieval charm. I reckon our dogs thoroughly enjoyed their first - and probably last - hotel experience. After hours of playing on the beach, they flopped onto a blanket in the corner of the room, allowing us to rediscover the pleasure of having multiple TV channels. The next morning, I took them to the car park to evaluate the effect of their unusual diet of duck neck and herring compared to their usual leftovers of pasta and kibble, but all seemed fine.

The day coincided with my wife's actual birthday, so we relished the complimentary breakfast (eggs royale), followed by another leisurely walk around town to build up an appetite for some genuine seafood. We spent a few unhurried hours wandering about, stopping to observe bees buzzing around lavender bushes and allowing the dogs to sip holy water from a bowl outside the rectory.

Unfortunately, due to my oversight and embarrassment, the highly-rated Fish Market Seafood Bar I had planned as a birthday surprise was closed. We opted for a pub lunch instead. We tried nearly every seafood dish available, including the oysters, and the accommodating barman even rustled up a Bloody Mary despite it not being on the menu. The food was delicious, with the oysters being particularly enjoyable.

Mermaid Street Cafe does good coffee, baked treats, and crab sandwiches
Mermaid Street Cafe was a nice spot for a bite to eat

The sun was shining brightly, elderly ladies were lamenting the lack of doubles coverage at Wimbledon, my wife was happy, and so were the dogs. If you had asked me then, I would have proclaimed Rye as the best place on earth, just make sure to visit when it's not overrun with tourists.

However, as we travelled back to London, where we planned to spend the evening at a comedy night in Angel, I began to feel strange. I usually experience a certain level of disdain upon returning to London, but this was different. This peculiar feeling intensified the moment I stepped off the Tube at Arnos Grove to drop the dogs off at my mum's.

I'm nearly certain it was a rogue oyster, but out of respect for the pub and the oyster farm, I'll entertain the idea that it might have been the slice of brie I left out overnight. Regardless of who's to blame, nothing has made me more aware of my own mortality. Even the dogs shied away from me.

Waves of nausea, cold sweats, and violent retching reduced me to a pitiful, writhing mess. Commuters getting off the train on a Tuesday afternoon could easily have mistaken it for a Saturday night. The kind station staff even asked if I needed an ambulance. I had been poisoned, and according to a quick Google search on my phone, there was no antidote.

After two bouts of severe discomfort, and with the dogs safely back home while I lay miserably outside the station, my wife arranged for a taxi to take us home, bypassing what would normally be a simple Tube journey. Shaking and subdued, I slumped into the backseat, my pale, shocked face hidden beneath a hoodie and sunglasses. I found some humour in watching my usually assertive wife awkwardly try to mislead the driver about our reasons for this highly unusual trip.

The car's air conditioning was a relief, but upon leaving the vehicle, our neighbour's begonias suffered the brunt of my ongoing discomfort. I ended up spending the rest of my wife's birthday confined to bed, nursing a cold Coca-Cola, too ill even to watch Puss in Boots, and clutching onto my most essential muscles. Rye is splendid, particularly when accompanied by dogs, but I found out that oysters can be a risky pick.

They might be seen as an aphrodisiac, but their effects were far from appealing. They only succeeded in creating terrible memories and nothing else. For the time being, the mere thought of them incites dread.

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Sunday, July 27, 2025

The forgotten EastEnders star who was paid thousands for repeats years after episodes aired

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The forgotten EastEnders star who was paid thousands for repeats years after episodes aired

EastEnders has been a staple on British telly for over four decades. The soap has seen a constant stream of actors come and go, with some going on to enjoy massive Hollywood careers, while others have become permanent fixtures, having been on the show almost since its inception.

The biggest stars on the show are rumoured to pocket a six-figure salary. Before his shock exit from the soap in 2022, Danny Dyer (Mick Carter) was rumoured to be one of the highest earners, reportedly taking home between £200,000-£249,000 annually.

In 2006, some EastEnders salaries were leaked, including Steve McFadden's (Phil Mitchell), who was reported to be earning a salary of £360,000. It's no surprise that two of the show's biggest stars earn hefty salaries, but what about the lesser-known actors?

Ian Beale and Craig EastEnders screengrab
Rory Jennings played the troubled Craig

Rory Jennings, who portrayed Craig Dixon in 2007, once disclosed his own salary on The Fellas podcast. Rory's character Craig appeared on the show for a total of 15 episodes. He first turned up in Albert Square for an interview with Ian Beale to work at Beale's Plaice, but it quickly became apparent that Craig was a troubled lad and grooms Ian's daughter Lucy.

During his time on the show, he attacked Patrick Trueman, which eventually led to his arrest for attempted murder and his exit from the Square. Speaking on The Fellas podcast, Craig was questioned about his earnings from the soap.

He revealed: "It worked out I was on a £1000 per episode, but remember this was way back in the day so you had the Sunday repeat, do you remember the Sunday repeat?"

He added: "You had the omnibus on Sunday, so they would do, basically for people who were hungover, I think from 12pm until 3pm they'd do all the EastEnders through the week on a Sunday repeat. And you'd get 80 per cent of your fee again."

Rory continued: "So you'd get a grand an episode and then 80 per cent of that for the Sunday. So in theory you could be in four episodes a week, which would be £4000 and then you'd get 80 per cent per episode." The presenter replied: "That's like six grand a week".

These days, the former actor makes a living as a football pundit, with a YouTube following of over 300,000.

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