malumbu

Cheers @Dogkennelhillbilly Fascinating edition of More of Less on Radio 4 on the oft quoted figure of 3/4 million empty homes in the UK. That is a snap shot on one day on properties excluded from council tax including the owner dying, being renovated, moved house and the like. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002phn6 Right, off to talk more stats on the transport threads. PS Victoria got some stats very wrong on Newsnight on Venezuelan oil exports which the US/Venezuelan hawk/spokesperson did not contradict.

I said that cyclists should behave responsibly. What on earth are you hoping to achieve with your 100s of posts across many threads, mainly started by you, with huge amounts of repetition? I've long lost the will to engage unless there is something that needs particular challenging. But others do that better than me.

Did an errand on Saturday night in Streatham. I've rarely seen so much sheet ice on Palace Road, a cycle route going up past Highfield park (rather than coming across very occasional patches of black ice). At least it was obvious. I walked the worst bits. Maybe Lambeth don't routinely grit that road. I always managed on the Surrey canal path Peckham library to Burgess Park. Not done Greendale in very cold weather.

I'm happy with 20mph as a driver, cyclist and pedestrian. I rarely cycle or driver beyond Clapham junction and on the odd occasion I do drive my journeys are usually constrained by the amount of traffic and signals. Life's too short to spend much more time on some of the anti cyclist stuff here and on numerous other threads. I've got a chest infection so used the 185 yesterday and today rather than pedal, All journeys were great, even at school closing time today.

What do you actually want? We all want cyclists to be responsible. But you must be spending days per year on this pet subject. There maybe half a dozen who either agree with you that cyclists are public enemy Number 1 or are prepared to spend time arguing otherwise. When is a time to move on?

New Year, same old complaints. But drawing from the CC article: The [friends of the park] group told White that residents had reported a “particular problem with delivery riders” However, a council spokesperson has told road.cc that Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were only being issued "as a last resort for dangerous speeding and unauthorised cycling." [not sure what they mean by unauthorised cyclng] A separate but related issue concerns electric motorbikes that are often misidentified as e-bikes. E-bikes are also subject to illegal modification that increases the motor's speed beyond legal limits. The topic of speeding cyclists has also been the subject of misinformation. Last year, the Daily Telegraph were found to have breached the Editors' Code of the the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) after running a headline titled "52mph in a 20mph zone - Lycra lout cyclists are creating death traps all over Britain" Just weird that people in this area are so bothered about a park that is not local.

Seizing power in Venezuela took me back to the book and series A very British Coup. From memory it finishes with an American backed coup to remove a left wing and popular leader. Note the Corbyn type fictional character (Channel 4 adaptation below) shares little with (ex?) President Nicolas Maduro Where next? Nigeria, Iran?

Luckily there are mysterious people around like me that can advise on DIY and are house trained. A bit late for Xmas but here is a wonderful book originating over 50 years ago that for many was like a bible: But for others: Think LETs is a members scheme that no doubt has controls, but something I am not involved in.

Disappointed with all this negativity. I do occasional favours for mates or neighbours, I sometimes charge a modest amount. I know my capabilities, and those accepting my help understand too. They may at times repay the favour. To date I have not stolen anything, set anything alight or molested anyone. Everything I do is within the relevant regulations eg I would move a plug socket hut not rewire the house. It's what people have done no doubt for 1000s of years. I do not compete with builders. My usual response eg following requests on the street Whatsapp is to advise that much of jobs should be a simple DIY. I'm surprised how many house holders have so little experience, more so as the millennials move in. The Lets scheme is highly regulated. Meanwhile some of us may let a casual worker into our home, perhaps cash in hand, without checking their credentials. There is still a considerable black market out there. What I do is so little time, I'm not depriving professionals of serious business. A contact who asked me to repaint her buy to let was told a clear no.

Black ice isn't always that obvious. I hope you checked that the riders were OK.

I've never seen anyone time trailing around here. Chap I knew did it in the 00s and they would use main roads out of London early in the morning. Urban environments are not suitable as far as I am aware.

Gosh, that is a blast from the past. Friends in York were into this, he was an accountant and had things like decorating done in exchange. Not sure if it was equivalent in terms of hours, and I recall HMRC being interested as it was a way of tax avoidance. A link for a London wide scheme but have no idea of its popularity: https://www.londonwide.letslink.org/members/index.php

Post much better this Xmas. Sue posted about whether they send Xmas cards; how good the post is, is relevant. Think I will continue to stay off Instagram!

Two subjects here. Xmas cards, We receive and send less of them. One reason is that the cost of postage - although interestingly not as much as I thought say compared to 10 years ago (a little more than inflation). Fun fact when inflation was double digits in the 70s cost of postage almost doubled in one year. Postage is not a good indication of general inflation fluctuating a fair bit. The huge rise in international postage that for a 20g Christmas card to Europe (no longer a 20g price, now have to do up to 100g), or a cheapskate 10g card to the 'States (again have to go up to the 100g price) , both around a quid in 2015, and now has more than doubled in real terms. Cards exchanged with the US last year were arriving in the New Year. Funnily enough they came much quicker this year. So all my cards abroad were by email this year. The other reason we send less cards is that it was once a good opportunity to keep in touch with news. I still personalise many cards with a news and for some a letter, and am a bit grumpy when I get a single line back, Or worse a round robin about their perfect lives and families. But most of us now communicate I expect primarily by WhatApp, email, FB etc. No need for lightweight airmail envelope and paper in one. The other subject is the mail as a whole. Privitisation appears to have done it no favours and the opening up of competition with restrictions on competing for parcel post with the new entrants. Clearly unless you do special delivery there is a good chance that first class will not be delivered in a day as was expected in the past. Should we have kept a public owned service subsidised by the tax payer? You could also question how much lead on innovation was lost following the hiving off of the national telecommunications and mail network.

Just a bit of humour in the continued posting by some that cyclists are public enemy number 1. Tiresome. If you go back to my short post I've already acknowledged kids on bikes (and as you say other two wheels) all over the place. And that it doesn't bother me. Rather them doing that than running around the Horniman museum whilst mum or dad is looking at their socials. And go back to my post and you've put this thread to bed as far as I am concerned.