louisiana

seanmlow Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In fairness, all areas have their benefits. How true! Up on the hill, you get the fantastic views, the sailing clouds, the heady hit of oxygen ;-) Down at the bottom, you're a little nearer the shops. But in general, every road is a mixed bag. Even Court Lane - where every house would probably sell for 1.5m+ - has a good end (CL Gardens/Village, vintage) and a naff end (LL, suburban style), or some variability along it's length (Crystal Palace Road?). My own panoramic hill-side view is about to be interrupted by the imminent arrival of a new (low-rise) block of flats in the next road. Ho hum. > > I am currently on ED road - lovely road, but is > bloody noisy and some would be put off by that. > Horses for courses! I was on ED Rd many moons ago (mid-1980s). The fabulous thing there is having a sitting room that is filled with the view of the marvellous plane trees. North side is less noisy... but there used to be a lot of dog-doings on the Green, as I recall. Yes, it's swings and roundabouts.

I'd like to see a general return to good bread. The bread we all had before the 'Chorleywood process' (CBP) arrived. CBP allowed manufacturers to sell us tasteless industial cardboard and air. Real bread is not 'poncey'; it's what everyone bought and ate before 1961.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I know this is a poor service, but at the moment > when they probably do have a big back log, and > they've got xmas coming up, I can understand them > doing this, and getting people to collect their > own parcels. Not saying it's right before my head > gets bitten off, just that I can understand it. > I've had this both before and after the strike, this year. This summer (June), I had a so-called attempted delivery (I work from home and I was in - they just didn't ring or knock), which ended up with the item going back to the vendor. Then when I went to the sorting office to try and collect, the guy on duty at Silvester Rd gave misinformation about item whereabouts. I ended up getting a refund from my credit card company. In the last month, I've had the non-appearance of at least four parcels in four weeks, where I've had to get back to vendors in the end, and most have mailing the same thing out again. I've also had 'those letters'. I more often than not get a van driver dropping a card through the door and then driving away without ringing or knocking. I hear the letterbox go (as the card comes through), run to the door, and shout from the porch and I run down the garden, but by that stage the guy is back in the van and driving off. I've filed formal complaints with RM customer services several times this year (about the above, but I also get a lot of mail for a nearby property, which I'm always on their case about), who apologise and send me books of stamps :-/. They also try to get through to Silvester Rd, but no joy: apparently, they say, this sorting office neither answers the phone (my own experience too) nor reads email from Customer Services. So if Customer Services try to rearrange a delivery with Silvester Rd, their email is just ignored. Oh and one of the posties broke my letterbox. It's a never-ending saga. I'm about to escalate the whole thing.

Remember it well. From a ground-floor flat on Goose Green, it sounded like the roof was going to lift off. We lost electricity and telephone, and looked out in the morning to shoulder-high piles of branches from the plane trees filling the road all along the north side of the Green. There was a guy in the street in his dressing gown who said he was from the Council...

I've paid around four quid for loaves from St John Bread and Wine. But they are enormous and heavy. The size of four small loaves from most other places. Most goes in the freezer as there's too much to eat in one go.

Mr L is against topiary for some bizarre reason, though I think it's fab. He seems to think it's done by lonely men with too much time on their hands who aren't getting enough sex. Or something like that :-S

Basque/Spanish/Irish/Scottish, with all family in Oz, US, Spain and Ireland.

Annasfield Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Blimey - this is all rather heated. I have been > following this thread all afternoon and I must say > that I think that certain people?s attitudes to > dogs are despicable! I often walk a friend's dogs > and trust me, if they were simply to run past > someone and then were kicked I would have no > issued in reporting that person to the police. > > I agree that dogs should be kept under control, > but keeping them on a lead in a park? Perhaps > people who are that worried should stay at home, > wrap themselves in cotton wool and never eat hot > food ? just incase they scald themselves! > > If you?re ?attacked? by a dog or a person, you > have every right to defend yourself and I see no > problem in doing that. I think you should define > attack Alan Dale ? does this include brushing past > your legs? > While dog shit is an issue (I stepped into yet another animal turd at the weekend, which made it's way into the kitchen before I realised - urgh!!- and I'm now Dulwich Park, as opposed to having a daily hike across the turd-drenched Goose Green - argh!), threatening and actual behaviour is the real problem. I am a full-grown 47-year-old adult, but am absolutely terrified of many medium-large dogs. Why? Because of vicious dog attacks I have experienced. For example, one attack resulted in me getting my right hand sewn up in A&E one afternoon, and having to take a range of unpleasant drugs and attend a variety of clinics. Luckily, while the dog went though my hand near the wrist, it had not severed the important pipework in my hand/arm that I needed to pursue my profession (writing). Just as well: I don't imagine the dog would have paid me compensation for less of earnings. A more serious attack took place not a million miles from here, and resulted in me losing a sizable segment of my lower leg, following multiple emergency operations by a senior surgeon at St Thomas's hospital (several weeks in hospital, forced to move back home by hospital to receive daily care from my family for 6 months, 6 months of daily salt baths, 9 months on crutches etc.) It took around a year for 80% of the area to grow back, but I still have, nearly thirty years later, a massive and highly visible scar on show to the world every time I wear a skirt, and no there was no plastic surgery on offer, or any compensation, and the whole area is still very thin and papery discoloured scar tissue. I'm lucky - timely last-minute surgery meant I didn't lose my whole leg, which was a distinct possibility at one point (Tommys was crap to begin with, but then the senior people got involved and saved the day); the dogs didn't bite my face; and I wasn't a young child, where the same injuries might have resulted in death. Both attacks were completely unprovoked, and carried out by mongrels, not the so-called dangerous breeds. One of those dogs had attacked some 13/14 people before me (according to police estimates at the time), including children and adults, often with serious consequences (hospitalisation). It went on to attack several others. While that particular dog was eventually put down (finally seriously attacking the police officer and RSPCA officer who went in search of it), the woman owner continued to own (but not control) other similar dogs, and cared little about the damage they did 24/7. There was, at that time and to my knowledge, nothing to prevent such a person from owing more dogs. All dog owners claim to be responsible (just like all car drivers claim to be above average/good drivers), but responsibility is in the eye of the beholder. It's shocking to see a dog owner laugh when their dog rips through your clothes and takes a large piece of flesh from your body. I wouldn't believe it had I not seen it with my own eyes. But on this and other occasions (including recently on LL), I have seen dogs used by owners (or owners' children?) as a threatening weapon. Dog owners seem to think it's really funny that people are afraid of their dog(s). They enjoy it when their dogs behave threateningly towards other people. What is that about? If a large dog runs towards me and jumps up, or lunges towards my face, mouth open (snarling or barking or otherwise), I absolutely freeze. I am completely filled with terror. The experience is worse than just about anything I have known (and I've been in ground bombing in war zones and worse, hey). If I were not filled with such terror, I'd kill the animal, instantly. So next time you're walking your dog...

ex tee cee Making Plans For Nigel

Tom Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For large unwwanted items, like piles of cardboard > boxes, fridges, in-laws, etc just call the > council, they will quote you a day when they will > collect, the eve before put it all out by the bins > and hey presto - its all gone.... > You lot are a bunch of numpties sometimes. > Do you normally have to ask how to wipe your arses > too? I've actually done that a few times. Yes, they will take bin bags of stuff, or specific large items such as old fridges, up to 15 per time. But no, they won't take stuff that looks like paper/cardboard. Different department, apparently. Or old plastic commercial bakery trays that people have dumped it your garden ("that would be against the regulations"). Or metal lamp-stands that have similarly appeared next to your front gate out of the blue (nothing resembling a metal pole permitted). I have had a 3-foot x 8inch rotten log sitting outside my garden wall that's been there for a year, as the garden recycling people say its diameter is too large (though it fits in their paper sacks with ease), while the large item people say its recyclable garden waste. Not exactly the kind of thing you can put on the rack of your cycle, or put under your arm, to take to any recycling depot. I don't have a car, and I'm not sure that recycling systems should rely on people having cars. A lot of this wouldn't be necessary for me to remove if people didn't fly-tip on their neighbours. It just wouldn't occur to me to dump my rubbish over someone else's garden wall, in their garden, or on the footpath next to their bins. And don't get me started me on dumped motorcycles...(yes, there's one lying out there right now). Maybe they just get frustrated at trying to get rid of certain types of items (I've been *gifted* with what look like several large and heavy sash window metal weights recently, as well as the front part of an iron grate), and just pass the problem on.

It would help if they collected regularly. Our collection day is a Monday, and then they don't collect: 2 bank holidays last month, one the one before. Occasionally they turn up later in the week (when you've given up hope and have taken all the boxes and bags back in), usually they don't. A cursory look down the street on a Monday morning reveals far fewer boxes and bags out than a year ago, and I think a lot of people are just not sure any more if it's all going to get picked up.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Is anyone else beginning to worry about the > weather for Glastonbury? Of course! But it's too early! But I'm still obsessing!

*Bob* Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > You can have as many blue boxes and paper bags as > you like. Of course. But your bags go missing one week, you call up to ask for two replacements and get the third degree, you wait up to four weeks for replacements, then they only deliver one replacement so you go through the whole thing again... And by that stage you have accumulated *a lot* of paper (or I have). Where do you put it? After a number of bag losses and waits for replacements, I now have an entire full-sized chest outside my front door stuffed to the gunnels with paper that I'm trying to get rid of. More than a cubic metre I reckon. As others have said, they won't take it away unless it's in a blue bag. And if you're away on a Monday (I'm frequently away on business) and leave the bags and boxes *out* and are unable to run outside to recover them immediately, the whole thing starts from square one again (bag goes missing). I don't know for sure what happens to all these blue bags that go missing, but I suspect it's a little like socks :-S, or like number plates. With number plates, now people can't get them made, they nick them from other cars (number plate theft has rocketed). With bags and boxes, people don't bother getting them from the council, they take them from other people in their street. I believe my rogue neighbour has never, ever put a blue bag out since the scheme started, but is using all the bags he picks up for household storage (judging by the state his garden gets into, he's OCD - he only ever clears when the council pays him a visit threatening commercial third party clearance after all the neighbours write complaint letters). There's now talk of marking both number plates and council waste containers with RFID technology...

Anybody got their Glasto tickets yet?

I have had to get around 7 replacement bags over the last couple of years, and have always had a battle royal to maintain my two bags ("but why do you need two??"). Bin men generally leave them either in the roadway, or some way down the road, when they could as easily drop them into the garden. I've been on to the council a few times about this. They take the point, but seemingly are powerless to do much. I also have a major problem with a neighbour dumping stuff into my bins. His unsocial visitors just chuck anything in there (mainly cans and bottles) and he dumps entire bags of stuff. I scrawled all over my containers in large print permanent marker. I moved my bins. But it makes no difference. I wouldn't mind (there's plenty of room - I barely use 10% of the bin space) but what they dump is often recyclable and then I get the blame (warning stickers on bins). If he doesn't buck up, I'm getting onto his freeholder.

Cupcake Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Louisiana - I am rather tempted by the windsock as > we are regular campers. The bean is rather > appealing. We take a blow-up mattress always and > then use whatever comes to hand for a pillow. We > take pillows and duvet when camping which is > lovely but not for festivals especially as this > year we are going by coach. The best of all is a > camper van! Mr L has swung round 180 degrees on this one: last year it was no camper, no way; this year it's camper is the best solution. So I'm living in hope that we'll be acquiring a camper in the not too distant future...

Ah yes, the windsock is the major 'things' thing. Thought it would be a bit of fun, as well as being a way of finding the damned tent. And it was the chili that swung it. The pillows are more 'we are always carting around our house pillows to festivals (heavy/big to carry)' or 'we never get a good night's sleep owing to no pillows' (cycle camping, with clothes stuffed under head), and trying to resolve that once and for all, so that we have useful camping gear that is small and light and bike-friendly - important when you do a fair amount of camping throughout the year. The tent in a 2-man (mini!), so we're going pretty minimal otherwise.

Sean, Cupcake, Mark Have just acquired a 'Hot Chili' windsock which will go rather well with the bright orange Marmot tent. Has anyone tried the Therm-a-rest compressible pillows?

I was going to suggest Sheekey too (I'm a fish nut), but it is a little on the formal side...One can't imagine anything more raucous than a hushed tone in there. But the food is fab :)

louisiana Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > St John Food & Wine in Spitalfields (less likely > to be booked up than St John in Smithfield, and > less stuffy too) Argh, St John Bread & Wine! Having a senior moment there....:-S

Yup, we're going. We were down on Worthy Farm on 26 May, checking out how they were doing. Fence was mostly up, Pyramid half-built, lots of workers on site, and the locals looking forward to it...

St John Food & Wine in Spitalfields (less likely to be booked up than St John in Smithfield, and less stuffy too)

dulwichmum Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But James darling, > > Isn't there a dreadful IV drug problem in > Edinburgh? > > Isn't it famed for it's "shooting galleries"? > > Doesn't it rain a huge amount? It rains in Glasgow, it blows in Edinburgh. Horrific property prices, though.

My mum did that once (forgot the way the traffic went in the UK) and got knocked down in Fort William.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Surely no one could think a Waitrose would be > bad?!?!?!?!? Even the Iceland massive would like > Waitrose, you can't not like Waitrose, they do > good red pepper humous! :-S As an Ocado junkie who shopped at various Waitrose branches for decades... I'd certainly welcome, but don't see it happening (the store is too small for them). I too shop local, but I won't be lugging boxes of washing powder and rolls of toilet paper up the hill to the Upper East Side anytime soon.