louisiana

We're going to be repeating our local (Somerset/Dorset) cycle trip in the days before/after this year's Somerset festivals (Sunrise, Glastonbury). Does anybody have any recommendations for must-visit places or wonderful country lanes/villages/pubs? (especially Dorset, which we haven't been to much yet).

giggirl Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lineup sucks The line-up is due to be announced 1 May, so still more than three weeks away. But who gives a ff about the line-up at a festival? That's not why most of us go.

Oh and I should have also said about Bestival: if you like good cakes, track down the WI tent and then go early, go often. The great cakes run out all too soon. And also on the food front, the Sea Cow were there the year we went: in fact we followed their van down to the ferry by road. Really saved our bacon on the food front - though as I know they've had problems on maintaining quality through being spread thinly, I'm not sure if they are going to continue with the festival circuit. And on music, my favourite space at Bestival - day and night - was the Blue Pavilion. Has Bestival changed its 'no Thursday camping policy'? It seemed a really strange decision given the long distances travelled by many to reach the IoW (including ferry trip for practically everyone): there were clearly people turning up on Friday early doors who had been driving all night.

Tessa should have got down wiv da kidz and donned a stab-proof hoodie http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article25265.ece

mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hurrah, found them > http://www.beerintheevening.com/user_comments.shtm > l?username=snorky Ho ho ho I'm afraid we have to plead guilty to parking an aged jag outside The Gowlett whilst wolfing down pizzas, though the jag is of the incorrect vintage for your purposes Snorky.

So far we have tickets for Sunrise (May), Glasto, and Glade (July) and then we'll be going to a small private festival too in late July. Which still leaves August and September...maybe Electric Picnic. We've been to Bestival:it's a great little festival, but I'm not fond of its more commercial aspects e.g. the constant searches for drink of any kind when moving between the camping and stage areas (to force you to buy).Also came across some quite crazy security people there (as in security people demolishing some other people's tents (with the people inside), just for the hell of it. I think some people made formal complaints. On the Thursday night we had to get a friend to sneak us into band camping area as no public camping allowed though plenty of people around. Also I don't know if they've sorted the public access route from the car park, but it was pretty dreadful the year we went (06):a really steep descent (and ascent on the way back), extemely bad when wet (and you're laden with stuff). There were several broken limbs that year from what I heard on site. Otherwise great fun!

Scruffy Mummy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I used to work ages ago as a library assistant and > we did initally take donations but as was pointed > out above, they took up an inordiante amount of > space and we never had the time required to go > through them, look them up on the catologue, label > them, enter them in on the computer, etc. etc. > Plus there was always the problem of books that > were in poor condition or old textbooks that were > so out-of-date they weren't accurate. Over the last twenty-five years I've always noticed that the IT/computer shelves of local libraries are always incredibly out of date. Generally by at least 10 years. Many people would be willing to donate such books (l could restock Dulwich Library with a wide range of books on everything from human-computer interaction (generally only in uni libraries) to Windows apps (current versions) to... Subject matter is fast-changing and the books are expensive (mostly over ?25, many over ?35/40), making donations worthwhile I would have thought. Though I've been a library member all my life, I so rarely use them now, as they rarely have books I want to look at. The most recent example was when I tried Dulwich Library for *anything* about running voluntary organisations/NGO's (a *huge* proportion of the population is involved in not-for-profits/NGO's/third sector orgs). They initially had two not very good, extremely old books, and within months both books were mysteriously 'withdrawn' and not replaced with anything. Library staff were at a loss to explain why this had happened, or why they had nothing at all on running third sector organisations. I gave up. And then we > were lumbered with getting rid of these books > which often took up about 40% of the donations. > So we had to stop taking donations in the end > > Seriously, it would be better to lobby the Council > to increase the book budget than encourage > donations of books to local libraries. Oxfam has > several charity bookstores in London selling > donated books.

So the librarian doesn't know how to spell Chekhov. You just can't get the staff these days. But a more forgiving search tool would produce results that are 'near' the search term...

Crikey, I'm only 250m from SE21. Perhaps I could lead a flank attack on Court Lane south-west via Fireman's Alley, and thence into their rear gardens from the park.

char1ie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why would anybody bank in person? You have to > queue. You waste time. You can't do your banking > whenever you want as you have to go to the bank > when it is open. And you have to deal with surly > miserable staff. Who are miserable because they > work in a bank. Not always. HSBC ED staff don't tend to be too bad. > > Online and phone banking is instant, 24 hour, > based at home and at your convenience. Again though, some are better than others. FirstDirect is excellent and HSBC is appalling. Strange, as it's all part of the same group of companies. > > > If someone steals money from a bank they are > stealing from the bank, not from you. Not quite. Check out the evidence submitted by FIPR to a current Hunt Review on the Financial Ombudsman Service. http://www.fipr.org/ You'll find - banks are trying to pretend to individual customers that various kinds of card cloning are not going on - the FOS is not conducting proper investigations into bank customer complaints, tending to take at face value bank claims that the bank customer is liable, without looking at such things as primary ATM logs - the FOS adjudicators don't seem to understand what the bank systems are reporting, and the limitations of that information - bank customers are being walloped for - in the cases used with permission by FIPR to illustrate - several thousand pounds apiece The FIPR submission was co-written by Ross Anderson, who quite literally wrote the book about security software engineering, so he knows what he's talking about.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Actually, I have thought of one difference about > those shops (or their owners)....but I doubt it's > behind the Telegraph's selection I think you're right Sean. A little odd that they mention Morrison's in Peckham(!), and a bakery that has no premises yet, but not the best cheese shop for miles around and the glory that is SMBS.

I had huge problems with them when renting out. They put in a tenant who - was a serial non-payer and absconder - she had around half a dozen local authorities and all the utility companies after her, and no doubt private landlords too - a nutcase; she used to phone up when the light bulb went, threaten the neighbour with a hammer - had a son who was a criminal Everything caught up with her (and me) at my flat. What a saga. Theft, bailiffs, a hit and run (by the son). She hadn't been checked out at all. If you ever get a short dark Brazilian woman, who wears dark glasses even when it's dark, and who has studied psychoanalysis at Kings/the Maudesley, don't give her your flat!

Saw No Country For Old Men. Much as I liked Fargo (and also loved Blood Simple when it came out), I've not been so fond of some other Coen productions, and this one was no exception. I don't find my-gun-is-bigger-than-yours simplistic Terminator-style antics a worthwhile way to spend an evening.

mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "With the exception of Madrid - I agree 100%" > Not to take the discussion too far afield, but > like any place depends where. Majadahonda or > Pozuelo and you're in amongst the nicest, > wealthiest and safest areas in Europe frankly. > But the number of people I know who've been > robbed, mugged etc in Madrid outweighs London by a > country mile, well half mile maybe. Same in Barcelona. The police once showed me the 'bag and purse mountain' in Sant Pere, the queues of robbed people outside the Raval police station stretched dozens long the whole morning every day, and it was perfectly easy to see a couple of dozen dippers, cardboard-wielders and other similar types in just an hour, by looking around as you walked. Gangs of pick-pockets regularly worked El Corte Ingles at Catalunya and other larger stores without let or hindrance. I saw them. I also chased various robbers in various parts of the city centre on behalf of those robbed, to little avail. I was mugged three times in two years (once threatened with a knife), and I was a working journalist with my eyes about me and well aware of the tricks and dangers, and fully informed by police (who I did some interviews with) of local tactics. Cars were regularly being literally 'hijacked' on motorways in NE Spain, by the so-called Peruvian gangs. (And then there was the time I unfortunately got caught between a gunman and four police officers running at me and pointing handguns, as I put out my garbage one day.) ED is quite, quite safe by comparison. I believe the recent rise in mobile-youth-related issues may be linked to the free travel that all these kids now have. They can now roam around town on public transport for nothing. (In my youth, free travel was restricted to the school route, and anything else you paid half price.) I understand Ken L realises this is now a problem, hence the call to have a system that ID's child-route-time etc. But this of course would not solve the problem of them doing something when they got to their destination. Like ED.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > the seacow Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I cannot deny that over the summer, the > festivals took over our lives and the restaurant> > took a back seat. Keef, I will have to pull you up > on the selling of awful half cold food to stoners. > The food is always piping hot and I think we do a > good job. > > That bit was more of a joke about festival food in > general. We were at Bestival two years ago, and the SC stall was our saviour over the entire weekend. And we even followed the SC van driving down to Bestival, which was fun. Can't say I'm such a frequent visitor locally, as there are many eating options and I'm often out of town, but I would like to see it get back on track. The things that makes a good eatery is reliability. It's got to be good, always.

I think there's been a general decline in training everywhere (not just shops). Firms just don't seem keen to spend money on 'expensive' training for their constantly churning staff (and staff are constantly coming and going in such poorly paid jobs with no training and no prospects). I see it in other contexts, through work. A vicious circle. If they've taken no notice on several occasions, I'd get onto the Council.

There's a similar active road sign scheme in the Basque country (operating for the last 15 years), which I've never seen here: there's a speed limit lighted grid display (to remind the punters), together with - further along the road - a stop traffic light that is only activated where a driver drives over the speed limit. You drive under the limit because you don't want to trigger the stop light. The people behind you feel likewise. It's really effective, in a Pavlovian way.

Are those the kind of dinner parties you have? Time for a change of scenery! ;-)

Caron Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I loved your post Luddite > > > abut arent you glad you dont live in peckham > like me where there > > are at my last count 23 halal butchers , ten > fish shops six pound > > shops , and ten or more very cheap clothes shops > > > Ah, but at least they're independent! > > I do take everyone's point about clone > high-streets and would hate LL to become one, but > would really like there to be more useful > facilities. I ended up in the chain Sainsbury's > to get the preserved lemons I was after a few > weeks back, after the independent SMB Foods and > the lovely Turkish place on Forest Hill Road > failed to deliver. Both have a place and > dismissing a shop just because it's a chain seems > a bit of a broad sweep. Just as when SMBS can deliver fresh oyster mushrooms and Rock's ginger cordial when the chains cannot... > > While I'm on my soap box, aren't Winkworth, Acorn, > Bushells, Ludlow Thompson and Haarts chains? > Isn't Budgen's a chain? I'm glad of it when I > want something last minute at 10:00 at night when > the independents are tucked up in bed. > > Steps off soapbox. They are indeed. How often do you need to go into an estate agent? (consults diary: 1986 in ED, 1987 in Forest Hill, 1997 in another country, 2003 in another country) My local independents that deliver what I want, every day of the year, at all hours, are the ones that matter: Red Apple (newsagent, open at crack of dawn or before, even on a Sunday) and Val's (grocer's), which is open for more hours than is human.

Curious. There are at least two properties in my very short road that have changed hands in the last 12-18 months that are not listed there. Given that virtually nobody in this road moves, ever (so each sale is, well, the talk of the road), that's a fairly major omission.

SimonM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To be quite fair to Forest Hill it does not have a > McDonalds and hasn't for some time: Ha, just shows how much I notice.... nor does it > have a Gourmet Burger Kitchen. :)) It has the > major disadvantage of the South Circular ploughing > through part of its main shopping drag True, but the traffic round to ED Grove from LL on a Saturday is not much less. - but > Dartmouth Road is not entirely devoid of character > I think. You're right. I used to live along there myself (Courtside), until '92. There are a few good shops up there, but I was mainly referring to the main drag around London Rd.

Maybe the shop owner does (high value items, low customer numbers in total, Saturday is peak buying time, each sale is important and means a half day or day's work on site in addition to the sale item). I kind of felt sorry for them: I went back later, but others didn't. (And maybe the people trying to buy stuff from him too also don't care to make important decisions in such an atmosphere.) The whole thing was just so ironic: buggy-pushers 'having a domestic' pointing the finger ('how rude!') at those shrinking from their raucous extended battle. I find it perplexing that people are so unable to understand their own impact on their environment. That they should feel so self-righteous, pointing the finger at others when they are causing mayhem themselves. It's just bizarre.

I shan't name - shop - names, to avoid embarrassment, but the following took place in a shop near the police station recently: Shop with little interior manoeuvre space, lots of big items: Mr and Mrs with kids and pram come in; debate buying (small) item. For around 20 minutes. Loudly. Their children shriek and squeal. Other customers cannot speak to shop owner, who is monopolised by Mr and Mrs. Mr and Mrs try to shift buggy around shop (no space), hitting customers with buggy. Customers come but all go, as Mr and Mrs ague about.... everything. The last remaining customer, apart from Mr and Mrs, says quietly "Sorry, ...." and that they will come back at a quieter time. When said customer went back, according to shop owner, Mr and Mrs had then set about that exiting customer, berating them: "How rude!". Then, according to the shop owner, Mr and Mrs had proceeded to expand on their row, full-blown style. In the words of shop owner, "They had a domestic right in the middle of my shop! Why don't they go out in the street to do it? Why do it in the middle of my shop?" It's damaging his business, driving his customers away, as he says. I'm kind of getting tired of people thinking they carry their front room around with them were ever they go: cinemas, shops...

I think right now the balance is right. There are plenty of chains already on LL. Some have closed (Halifax, the off license whose name I can't recall that went into receivership). Forest Hill has plenty of the chains LL itself doesn't (WH Smith, Boots, Sainsbury's, McDonald's etc.), but by comparison it's soulless for shopping. If I go into any of those FH chains (and I rarely do - about once a year, on my way to the station), their lack of care, lack of interest, is so apparent, compared with the local shop-keepers we have on LL.

Visited for the first time yesterday. It's looking promising. Can't wait for the new stalls to open. And oysters very welcome. That's a USP that justifies a small detour.