louisiana

Proj London Health Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Large Honking Horn for the handlebars! > > This can be purchased at Evans and shops alike. > The horn with a button is placed on the handlebar, > then a bottle with a tube (connecting to the > handlebar horn) is place in a bottle holder. > There is a special valve on the bottle that allows > you to pump it up, more air in the bottle the > bigger........Honk! > > Good Luck. Gosh, that comes across as some kind of device for men of a certain age with, ahem, dysfunction :-S I'll check out the cycles stores, but my credo these days is ABE: Anywhere But Evans (after they shafted me over two wheels' worth of spokes on a not-cheap bike).

Which reminds me, I have a small oak-ling (9 inches) starting in my fruit bed. I obviously need to transplant it (2 metres from the house, 9 inches from a wall) but I'm just wondering what is the best place...

AJM, thanks for that info. Ridgely, as someone who has one Irish parent (who lives in Ireland), I feel compelled to reply on this. And all I can say is no. The Irish govt. decided to spend humungous amounts of money bailing out its banks, which are still looking decidedly ropey. I'm not at all convinced that we should be footing the consequent bills (as opposed to helping completely blameless people in further-flung locations who have much more basic needs). I saw the frenzy of consumption in Dublin at its height, and it was not pretty. I have no wish to underwrite that. There are more deserving causes.

Smartwater, from the police.

I have one of these kits. Does a little sticker in the window deter anyone at night/in the dark who can't even read the sticker. Hmmm. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Lentils and bacon. There is no better food.

As a cyclist, I'm interested in how other cyclists deal with daft cylists. Last Saturday morning, I gave a cylist a complete mouthful as he was trying to cross my path (Crystal Palace Rd crossing ED Rd) when he must have been going through a red light (eastbound along ED Rd). I think I mentioned the word 'tosser' in my shout at him (40s male, well dressed...). Obviously, most of the time it's daft motorists... but I'd like to address the problem of cyclists who give other cyclists - like me - a bad name. On a related note, I'm wondering whether to get one of those traditional large honking horns for the handlebars (I have a tiddly bell).

Pearson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just burn some ole' furniture borrowed off the > neighbors. > Nice'n toasty :) > > (Ikea stuff burns a bit too quick though) My grandmother (smallholder) once burnt collasping-pile-o-shite rabbit hutches belonging to her landlord. Who was not best pleased when she eventually found out. I burn all kinds of wood in my (smokeless zone approved) stove. Toasty. Far more environment-friendly than coal or similar. Avoid MDF and other composites (Ikea-ware) - they are full of glue and other noxious things: bad for you, bad for the environment. But you must get your chimney swept before you burn anything.

Re-reading Moonfleet: what a great idea! I salute you. I'm not prepared to tackle the yew experiment, however. The new generation of jays seem to be bolder, hopping around outside the kitchen window this week, digging around in the soil. What are they looking for? Can I help?

I've done work in companies where certain unauthorised individuals have tried repeatedly to gain access to the premises i.e. getting past security. These firms take images from the reception CCTV and post them in staff areas e.g. the kitchens. The idea being that everyone should keep their eyes peeled for those individuals. It can be handy to know what they look like in case they get past security and you encounter them in the building. In the case of the shop, it would seem to be useful for *staff* to have handy access to images of suspect individuals. It is staff that will be watching and on the lookout, and who will need to take action if the individual is encountered. I'm not sure though that showing such images to the public, on the other hand, achieves much. (After all, shoppers are going to be looking at things, not at the faces of other shoppers.) I suppose there's an outside chance that some member of the public will ID the individual concerned... Maybe the main effect is to put off other shoplifters. A small anecdote: I often buy wine from a well-known local wine shop. I'm there maybe once a week, but I'm not a big spender and have only very occasionally had mixed cases delivered home for special occasions, so I'd imagine they don't know me well even though I've been a customer since it opened. One day, a little tired and frazzled, as I was standing at the till end of the counter and paying for my (two or three?) wines and packing my wines into my own bag on the counter, I accidentally picked up another bottle that was standing right next to my own bottles on the counter. I think it might have been a bottle of champagne or prosecco (that sort of bottle, and I do sometimes buy prosecco). Not sure why it was there - maybe a bottle belonging to another customer who was waiting to pay? Anyway, I had not paid for that bottle, yet I was in the process of putting it in my bag. I was in automatic mode, just moving the bottles towards my bag, with my brain on autopilot. I caught myself in the act - 'this is prosecco, you haven't bought prosecco' was what I think was being processed by my brain - and returned the bottle to the counter before it hit my bag, and made a joke of it to the person who was serving me. Very embarrassing. Thinking about it, I'm sure someone could have thought I was actually intending to half-inch the bottle (they don't know me well), and could provide a segment of CCTV, or provide some stills, that showed me swiping an identifiable bottle from the counter that it could be proved I had not paid for (by going through till receipts and what I had paid for). Would the complete CCTV show that I returned the bottle to the counter of my own free will, having suddenly realised what I was doing? I'm not sure that CCTV demonstrates thought processes very well, especially if there is video only and no audio. This is obviously very different from someone going through racks or shelves or whatever and putting things in their bag or wherever without going to the till. But I'm just saying that CCTV may not always tell the whole story very clearly, especially if there is no sound. That's why you'd probably want the police to take a look at any footage before using it, as they will be aware of the pitfalls. PS I am still a good customer of this shop. But this event of a year or more ago does stick in my brain.

DJKQ is correct: all the best people are a little unhinged. Life would be somewhat more uninteresting if everyone followed the herd and never stepped out of line.

Thanks for the recommendation, Brendan! Will give it a try. :)

There may be no Winter Service Plan yet James, but late last night our road was gritted.

Do you think Cameron might be persuaded to supply us with free Islay malt to improve our general level of happiness?

Talisker was my first malt love, and Highland Park is excellent too. MM, have you done the Islay pilgrimage? Cycling between all the distilleries and topping up here and there could be another happy experience.

As a previous patient at one of the ones that comes out at =43, currently about to leave one that scores =27, I can't say I'm surprised.

Islay is the home of the best distilleries. Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Caol Ila.

I don't think the council ever sweeps leaves or clears snow in this road (though we do get the gritter lorries when appropriate). Even our pavements are looking more than a little ropey after endless utilities digging over the last quarter century filled with random tarmac. I'm in favour of people clearing their own leaves and snow. Are we going to be issued with a community broom for each street? :) Many flat-dwellers don't have the heavy-duty outdoor variety.

And to what extent do you think the UK complies wht that?

Goodrich? Get a 197 all the way to East Croydon station where you hop onto the Brighton train. Once you've faffed at Forest Hill station with tickets and changing platforms there, and then W>E Croydon again, you're no faster going by train than by bus. And if the 197 is the first Forest Hill-bound bus that comes along, all the better.

Hi James You often refer to wards further north in the borough (not related to East Dulwich)...but never (ever?) to College ward right here in East Dulwich. I live in SE22 (East Dulwich). I live in College ward. Some of the burglaries that have happened have been in roads 1 minute walk from my front door. Lordship Lane Estate is in College ward. Dawson's Heights is in College ward. Our shopping area is Lordship Lane etc. etc. Could you please put College ward on your radar when you are talking about 'neighbouring' wards to your own? We are East Dulwich too. Ta

re taper's post: Did they? Sigh. The world has a lot of twits in it. Let's just ignore the twits. Or we'll be descending to their level.

Agreed, this should always be reported.

Well large packs of dried chick peas are a lot cheaper! :) And I soak overnight and then cook in a pressure cooker. So not much effort really.