the thing is - Дело в том; (idiomatic, colloquial) Used to introduce the main point or issue.
// I'd like to come, but the thing is, I just can't afford it.
// The thing is, my parents like me to be home by 10 o'clock.
// I'm sorry my assignment isn't finished. The thing is, I've had a lot of other work this week.
//
the thing is = The issue is = the problem is
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all along - все это время; all the time; from the beginning.
// Do you think he's been cheating us all along?
// He realized that she'd been right all along.
// I spent over an hour looking for my keys, and they were in my purse all along.
// He has been polite to Paul all along.
// It was something he knew all along.
// That has been my position all along.
nothing better
a) used to say that you really like something or think that something is very good
like/love/enjoy nothing better (than)
// She likes nothing better than a nice long walk along the beach.
// There’s nothing better than beating someone who’s playing well.
b) used to say that a thing or situation is not very good, but is the only thing possible or available
have nothing better to do
// Have you got nothing better to do than sit there playing that silly game?
// I only picked it up because there was nothing better to read.
// Learn to tie it and you will realise there is nothing better.
// For sleeping there is nothing better than cotton.
// I should have remembered: our new management likes nothing better than doing things on the cheap (*).
// With nothing better to do, Billy shuffled in their direction.
// He had nothing better to do.
// The reporters, oddly enough, just happen to be sitting there in the line of fire with nothing better to do.
(*) on the cheap - по недорогой цене, по дешевке; For a low price or at very little cost; inexpensively
spending less money than is needed to do something properly
// A clean environment cannot be had on the cheap.
on the cheap - If someone does or buys something on the cheap, they spend less money than they should because they are more concerned with what it costs than with its quality.
// [informal, disapproval] Most modern housing estates are terrible and inevitably done on the cheap.