*Bob*

You can't have a piss in the turbine hall either, or busk, or build a fire, or have a water fight, or do any other number of things. But people seem to have accepted that that's not what it's for, so it's not really a big problem.

You never know with these things though do you? The 'Millennium Wheel' hardly got a warm reception during design, construction and opening - and yet there it still is - one of the most popular attractions in London. Sometimes you don't see it until after it's been sucked. I'm ambivalent on the bridge itself, but if you take the general 'why?' argument to its logical conclusion - what other things are also superfluous to basic human requirements like shelter, heat and food? What else don't we 'need'? Well.. that would be 'most other things'. In which case, we shouldn't bother doing anything extraneous while other things need doing more. Half of historic London that most people who live here and get to enjoy was built at a time when most of the population were washing in mud and eating their own faeces.

I confess! I like fancy joggers. I never jog. Lord have mercy upon my soul.

You mean politically, Mick?

brill

It's our homegrown British criminals I fee sorry for - these foreign criminals are coming over here and doing crimes that could easily be done by local lads, but these days our boys can't get a look-in. I'm voting out.

I'm still in my dressing gown

The new faces added since inception haven't really added anything - they're obviously very wary of adding anyone who will make it 'less real' - so they're erred on the side of caution but unfortunately they've just ended-up with bland. The two sisters are bland. The Welsh couple are bland. There were another few young dudes in a houseshare (now dropped I think) who were also bland. It's going to be difficult.

Retirement sounds great.

That's great for Nunhead - where I don't live. Here are some other places where I also don't live. Staines. Streatham. Vauxhall. Teddington. Catford. I could go on.

Dom n Steph have ambition beyond their amiable pantomime upper-crust drunk performance. Whether it'll come to anything is another matter. The rest of them are happy with their ?20/week or whatever it is - and minor celebrity status. Now the show's a bona fide hit it's going to be hard to recruit new blood without the sniff of wannabe about any newcomers.

I was talking about you, actually! (Though Foxy's 'prawn incident' is of course - quite rightly - now the stuff of legend) It?s funny how - depending on your predetermined opinion - successful shops that have managed to stay in business for a long time either must a) be doing something right b) have customers who are all idiots Delete as applicable, I guess. Whatever fits your world view.

Completely Jeremy. There's should be no plaice for that sort of thing.

A local employer with ten years of a having a shopful of customers who makes a concerted effort to employ young local people of both sexes fairly equally. Yup, that's definitely got to be uppermost on the list of places to kick. I could be rude about the fishmonger and the butcher in Nunhead based on a personal experience or two - but I choose not carp on about it every time their name is mentioned, like a stalker with a grudge. If other people are happy, I wish 'em the best.

That is true (the 10db / double or half in perceived also) and it might make a difference if the approach altitudes when the planes hit SE22 were uniform, only they aren't. There's a wide variation in altitudes on any given day - sometimes it's 3000ft (!) difference between lowest and highest. There's been an argument to bring the planes in at a steeper angle (so they stay higher for longer) for some time but AFAIK most of the studies have shown the practical effect on perceived noise would only be minimal.

I agree there are many factors that affect how loud the noise seems - and a lot of them you can't do anything about. But if you can accept that your brain IS capable of filtering noise down when it wants to (or when it's decided it isn't there - even when it is) - this is the most positive step you can make towards feeling better about it and not driving yourself around the twist about the whole thing. It'll serve you better than joining Hacan and getting angry about it ever will. I don't know about altitudes / approaches on cloudy days - but the noise differential for 1000 feet either way or whatever as heard on the ground - is actually fairly minimal.

They do bother me Mike (as I'm sure I've said before), I'd rather not have them - I'm possibly more aware of them than most because I sit in a room recording with microphones most days and I'm home here in ED all the time. I'm not immune and I'm not some crazy who 'can't hear them'. My point was: we have a period of relative quiet when the wind is easterley and there are no Heathrow arrivals - everyone enjoys it. So much so, that some people manage to go on enjoying it for four days 'after' the Heathrow planes have actually resumed. Basically, they didn't notice.

Ignorance is bliss, Jez. I don't think you can claim that on Peaky Blinders. Everyone knows their shit!

Narcos is really good. The American guy is a bit of a wet lettuce and somewhat superfluous to the drama but you can largely ignore him - the Colombian characters are great. Apparently their accents are shit though - and annoy Colombians!

I can't be doing with bad accents. Ruins it every time. I make a special exception for Don Cheadle - naturally - who has a special place in my heart.

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Peaky Blinders is excellent if you haven't seen > that. The accents are a disgrace. Unwatchable.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I love them all :) Including the vicar? Even god must be 50/50.

House of Cards is a bit smug. "Hey, check out our super-clever script.."

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am in your boat *Bob*....stuck with Blind Dates > and Gogglebox; although that undercover police > squad thing (name gone) I really enjoyed against > expectations. First Dates there - (I assume). Though I am enjoying the idea of you watching Blind Date repeats. It sounds like we're living parallel lives. May the god of quality serialised drama bless us both soon and make everything better.

On Netflix, I mean - in case that wasn't obvious.