*Bob*

If you've been a regular patron of Le Moulin over the many years, no doubt the frontage and interior are (in your own mind) as fresh as the day they were last updated (in 1973). But it's not unreasonable for someone who doesn't know the place to think "if the owners don't care about what's on the outside, I don't think I'll take my chances with what's on the inside".

On the upside.. you do get 'under-pelmet lighting'.

Ahh... the magic of a well-staffed & well-stocked DIY/hardware store - great stuff. You walk out of there feeling like a KING.. 'I can do it! I can accomplish anything!' Oops... just drilled through a hot water pipe.

What could you be suggesting, Snorks? Herb and tree bark preparations round the front.. a secret opium den round the back?

Yes please! Let's do away with half of these piss-poor Indian restaurants and get a bit of variety..

That's right, Ben. If YOU buy this flat, you could be laying-out your OWN three red vases in a wanky fashion, and enjoying the full benefits of a '5-amp circuit to bedrooms and living area'. Where do I sign?!

(Quote from website) "So what's it to be? An early start in Canary Wharf, or a late night in the West End?" urgh

Bugger. My commiserations.

Any joy, Sean?

Is there an age limit for the Weeing On A Shop Floor Test? I'm 34.

Only been to Le Chardon once. Service was indeed bad. Starters were all but finished by the time the wine arrived, despite asking a number of times. Similar number of requests and wait for the bill too. Food was.. 'ok'... Maybe they were having an off day.

Alan Dale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- If you want to talk parking he is THE man. I know I've just been (rightfully) chided on another thread for mockery, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud at this. (Sorry everyone)

HA HA

I do confess to a certain level of sarcasm - it's a fair cop, guv. I'm quite nice, really, (once you see past all the bitching, cynicism, mocking and general unpleasantness)

I'm not taking the piss, Capt.. I was just yoke-ing (oh dear - sorry) Well maybe not joking exactly. Just making the point that citing the Bulger case was a tad off the mark for the situation we're discussing here - and smacked a little of the paedophile-lurking-behind-every-bush tabloidism that (personally) really cheeses me off. Of course some parents wouldn't be happy to leave their nipper unattended in such a situation, but that doesn't mean those that do are 'asking for it' or being bad parents!

capt_birdseye Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does anybody remember a boy called James Bulger, > whose mother left him outside a shop while she > quickly nipped in to buy something? A cracking bit of Daily Mail-esque scaremongering, Capt! Yes, of course I do remember that. It was in 1990 - a full 17 years ago. Come on.. We're not talking about leaving a (walking) toddler outside a shop in a busy shopping centre, we're talking about leaving a pram outside the EDD in full view through the window. D-Mum.. no-one has ever, ever, 'plonked a baby in my pram'.. how strange.

TillieTrotter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Tis true Capt, they are obviously not parents Sometimes, when I pop into a small glass-fronted shop for one minute (leaving Junior in clear view outside), I do worry that he might spontaneously combust, learn to undo a harness and (learn to) run away very quickly, or fall foul of the hordes of lightning-fast babynappers who prowl Lordship Lane every day... But generally, he seems to be ok.

I don't fancy the chess, but: Richard Weekes "II"?.. I'm intrigued..?!

The River Cafe cookbooks really cheese me off. "Once you've hand-rolled and filled your raviolis with the reduced coulis of fresh Sicilian artichokes, simply grate off 4 slices of wild truffle and bake in a clay oven for 20 minutes". Hence the appearance of the River Cafe Cookbook Easy after the first two. Nigel Slater books are v good.

Jeez, Redrouge! You're only 20. Isn't that a little too young to already be envious of someone else having a more expensive pair of trousers than you?!

Real beer! Mmmmm. That would make a pleasant change to the usual. Why is London so devoid of a decent pint of BEER, on the whole? (I can feel a Northern Beer Rant swelling-up inside me.. I must resist.. RESIST!)

I'm not sure how a shop can 'look snobbish' from the outside. Surely you can only find that out by actually going in? - unless overpriced = snobbish, simply as a matter of course. Yes, it is expensive in there, but even if you buy your ham in wafer-thin form from Iceland, I'm sure most people would agree it's a good-looking shop-front?

I've never had cause to raise an eyebrow at the service in there, though I haven't been in on Saturdays, during 'rush hour'. It's a nice shop because it *is* piled high with stuff, but it's true that if you put up a display that can be reached by the public you should make allowances for it being knocked over by accident. Especially in an area so heavily populated by people with young children. Why people insist on wheeling their prams in there when it's busy, I don't know. It's not as as you can't keep an eye on them - there's an eight 12-foot pane of glass in front of the shop.

Perhaps turn the concrete house into a retirement home? That way we could keep all the miserable old gits well clear of all those 'annoying young couples', constantly irritating everyone with their unreasonable desire to find somewhere to live.

Ha Ha.. I've just seen a face in the crowd who I recognise.