Alex K

When I look at menus like the one at the BB and think about the relationship between price and food ("rapport valeur : prix", since the BB is French), I say -- How lucky we are to have Sopers in Nunhead, a short bicycle-ride away, and how lucky I am that my father taught me how to use an oyster knife. Merciful Jesus. ?27 the dozen for oysters? No, don't mind me. I'll be just fine, let me sit here and collect myself. Had a funny turn whilst looking at a menu, that's all.

Surely all the rules that surround eating have one thing at their heart: Make it clear that one thinks that food is unimportant. Take small bites. Eat slowly and delicately, rather than gulch-and-gobble. Use your spoon rather than lifting your soup bowl and drinking from it, and tilt the bowl away from you because that looks less greedy. Put your peas onto the back of your fork, slowing yourself down. Move your utensils to your mouth slowly; don't hurry so that you carelessly clank your cutlery against your teeth. Cut your meat one bite at a time, not all at once as Nurse does for little children. Don't throw yourself onto the contents of your plate. Always leave food on your plate ("for Miss Manners"). Indifference toward food is key. "I can wait to pick up my knife and fork till everyone at table has been served; I am enjoying myself in conversing with my neighbours". Of course when no guests join one one reverts, through indolence, to eating as if one were at trough rather than at table. When entertaining, however, whether in a restaurant or at home, one really should up one's game, and remember that sociability, rather than feeding, is the purpose of the meal. Better luck next time, Louisa.

Writing from "away" -- strong winds? Heavy rain and water-sodden, loose soil? Or just the shove of an unfriendly giant's hand?

James, if they're in breach of planning-permission regulations, go after them. Lawyers of all people should stay inside the law. This sign may be oh-all-right. The next won't be.

"Using his nine lives up"... oh, Tasha. I hope that his timidity works into an acceptance of becoming a house-only cat. They DO live longer. Best of luck to your little fellow.

If you have a fondness for right angles, as in new-build rather than hundred-plus-year-old approximative construction, you might consider heading a few steps further away, into the 1990s St Francis estate -- centred on Abbotswood Road, accessible through Edgar Kail Way (think Sainsbo SuperStore). Whichever way you jump, welcome to the 'hood!

I wish that it were still possible to leave one's homeland behind. Forty years ago, when in a similar situation I rejected the idea of university and moved to Japan -- because it was as far, as different, a place as I could imagine -- contact with "home" was by aerogramme. Blue, thin, folded, and gone. Two weeks later it might reach a parent. International calls were FAR too dear. No internet and, of course, no Skype. I was on my own. It grew me up fast. When I came back after two years I wanted to do uni, and to learn at uni -- my get-drunk-at-uni had been got out of my system long ago. I recommend that the young woman go lose herself in a different culture. She will find herself along the way.

Right -- comment submitted at Southwark Planning. (Not yet up on their website, but acknowledged.) The usual: Breach of covenant, takeover of metropolitan open land, bad idea either way.

**sigh** Fifty years ago every lad in my village carried a knife. We whittled. We competed in knife-throwing -- bet you can't hit that over there! **thwock** Maiming? A bit. I still have a dramatic scar at the base of my left index finger that reminds me of an apple with a core that gave way unexpectedly (ow!) Maiming OTHERS? Killing? No. It's not the knives.

"In it and proud" -- yes, absolutely.

"I am a lover of freedom of destiny". Well, Louisa, how does one manage that -- with destiny being a you-can't-change-it you-can't-evade-it fate? "Freedom of destiny". Even for the EDF, that is extraordinary piffle.

For potential interest, this fanboy approach -- Please excuse me, but I am so rubbish with names and faces -- I have the strongest feeling that I know you; I shouldn't like you to think that I had cut you, and I truly cannot remember who you are and how we met! "Might it have been at your couch, on the television? I've appeared in THE BILL." Oh my heavens... how embarrassing... and what a grand opportunity to thank you for the wonderful work that you've done! I'll never forget your FOURTH DRUNK WOMAN LYING IN GUTTER from that episode in 2003! And so on.

So... HARRY POTTER-ish. The Tea And Cake Shop That Must Not Be Named. Substantial deprecation. But the occasional voice from House Slytherin -- "Never had a problem there, charming in its way".

A school -- and the Green Dale playing fields within a five-minute walk IF the tunnel beneath the railway line is re-opened (and widened, and brightly lit, and CCTV-monitored, and fitted with call-alarm boxes...). The St Francis estate, where I live (Abbotswood Road and its tributaries), would see more walkers and bicyclists if that tunnel were re-opened for students; and why shouldn't it be accessible to the rest of us? Another route to Sainsbury's, to DHFC... Not a bad thing.

milk76 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The club is not unsustainable in it's current > form. This myth is the carefully orchestrated > result of a dozen years of ownership by property > developers, interested in it's long term failure, > as a land banking exercise. > > A car wash was installed, and charged minimal > rent, that used the club's water and power! It > cost the club tens of thousands rather than making > them! > > A gym and courts making a net pittance for the > club. This has received at least three significant > buy out offers from national chains that I have > been told about, including David Lloyd, over the > last ten years. All declined but one can only > imagine the monthly rent they would pay for a > facility of this size in this area. > > Astroturf pitch rented from the council allowed to > run into such disrepair that it can no longer pass > health and safety for juniors events. That revenue > cut off. > > An utter intransigence to switching from a hugely > costly to maintain real turf pitch to 4G. Not to > mention that the turf can only be played on a > handful of hours each week so cannot be rented out > to others during the weekdays. Tens of thousands > out, tens of thousands not coming in. > > I have watched this deliberate enforced decline > ever since I moved close by in 1996 with growing > incredulity. The site may well not be worth the 5 > million that Hadley paid for it as a sports and > educational facility. But it can certainly be a > rather profitable ongoing concern. > > Please do not take at face value spin from a group > that are hunting for an eight or nine figure short > term payday. The simplest answer to a question is likely to be the true one. So much good sense in your post, milk76 -- follow the money, follow the money. Run the club into the ground, sell the land.