Keef

Just ask "Dimebag" Darrell!!! :(

Okay Loz, forget children, make it some middle aged bloke, or a woman in her 20s, or an elderly gentleman. My point remains exactly the same! The thing I was thinking of is all those "last sightings" of such or such 15 year old girl last seen at a train station on Tuesday afternoon. What if we could follow exactly where she went after the train station? Again, I'm not strongly in favour of these cameras, but it angers me that people are immediately against them because they feel their liberty is somehow being threatened by the big bad state, and unwilling to even consider how they might be useful. David Carnell earlier said he could put up with them on a main road, and I see what he means... But to be honest, you are so much more likely to be attacked or something when you turn off of the main road on to a quiet back street! Likewise, it is unlikely that a "petty" criminal will decide to get up to no good on a well lit busy road.

Tony, no I wouldn't suggest that was a good idea, but extreames are always useful for scare mongering don't you think?

I would have thought the DDA will make them legally bound to take in to account people in wheelchairs. Sydenham has 2 "walk through" barriers, and one electronic gate for disabled / prams.

Having given this a bit more thought, I have realised that I really don't care about the cameras, and that I'm basically with PGC, Steve and Co. Depressing as it may be, I believe that we are all just little worker ants with very little power, making the world tick on for the big people. We try and read, and we rage against the machine, and we drink and we go on holiday, but at the end of the day we are back at work on Monday, making the wheels turn, and earning the money to go on holiday and drink... We then have kids, and they go on to live the same lives we're living, and really and truly, it could be a lot bloody worse! Maybe one day I'll be in Room 101 screaming, and regretting ever having typed this, but I doubt it really. I imagine I'll carry on going about my business, having quite a bit of fun. Breaking a few laws here and there, and the CCTV's really won't make a blind bit of difference to me whatsoever. Naive perhaps, or perhaps realistic... Time shall tell. Anyway, that's my philosophy for the day.

Sydenham had teething problems in the first couple of weeks, I think to do with the programming of the barriers, and the bottle necking effect. However, people seem used to them now, and traffic seems to flow quite nicely through them. Basically, people who have big problems with barriers going up tend to be people who are not buying tickets.

I am not so stupid that I am suggesting they are the same thing. My point was, that when some bloke came on here and basically said that he thought some road sign telling him he shouldn't turn a certain way (or some such nonsense) could be ignored, as he felt that he was a responsible and safe enough driver, and he didn't need to go along with it. Sean (quite rightly) pointed out to him that he was being a prick and that the road signs/laws are there for safety. Now I know(!!!!!) that laws are different, and the danger that can be caused by ignoring them is very real, but if we accept that the CCTVs are there for people's safety (and again, I know you will point out that they make no real difference and blah blah blah), then people will feel more secure about them, and just because other people are so much the wiser, don't these "timid" people deserve the peace of mind afforded to them by the presence of the cameras? Perhaps I picked a bad example, I was on a bus using my mobile, and it was the first thing that sprung to mind. Like I say, I don't really care either way about this, but Sean's Why should MY life be effected because some soft fool wants some peace of mind, attitude just wound me right up! There are bad things about these cameras, but people get far too caught up in crying out about a nanny state. For me, if a child (for example) went missing, and was traced by CCTV, then they'd have paid for themselves.

Sean, asking if your life should be effected by other's timidity, is like that bloke asking why he should bother obeying the laws of the road because he doesn't really think that HE needs to! I don't feel that strongly either way on this, but you are a bright bloke, and I am wondering where the hell your last post came from to be quite honest!

Surely if It's a long dimly lit road, the council's money would be better spent on improved street lighting.

There are 2 formats. The international game uses a normal sized ball with a rattle in it, and it's bowled underarm (although some of them are feckin fast!!!). The domestic game in the UK uses a larger ball (biiger than a cricket ball but smaller than a football), also with rattles in it, this is bowled overarm like normal cricket. The new England captain Matthew Dean scored a century in his debut as captain (against the West Indies) about a week before KP did it.

Fair enough then :)

Madworld you do tend to jump down people's throats without really reading what they were trying to say. I don't keep company with arseholes either, but that doesn not change the fact that lots of people won't really give the paralympics the time of day, and lots of people will laugh at the term spaz or cripple. That's the world we live in, like it or not! For my part I do lots of work with blind sports charities, and sit next to the England Blind cricket team manager every day at work. Sorry if I sound defensive here, but I feel like you're suggesting myself and Simon are on the same page as the drunk Aussie bloke.

For my part (i.e. "Exactly right! People take the piss."), I wasn't making any comment about the parenting in this case, or parenting full stop. I do however agree with Cassius that people do use Au Pairs as cheap child care. Then again, as Asset says, this may not have been an au pair.

I love this forum, someone dares to say something about a parent / child in a pub, and straight away it's challenged! He even said it was only a minor gripe, and why shouldn't he say it. There was no suggestion that the kids shouldn't be in the pub or anything like that, he just commented, quite rightly, that parents should watch what the kids are doing. Surely no one would disagree with that would they? That was Mrs Keef's only minor issue with the Woodman, I had lovely home made gravy on my lamb, but her lentil roast thing had veggie bisto on it. Still very nice she said, but thought I'd mention it just in case I risk a major veggie uprising when someone goes there and doesn't get home made stock! ;-)

Exactly!!!

What a total arse, be sure to complain!

That's really crappy luck for your first day! Hope it's all resolved and you get going tomorrow!

Photos Andrew??? I seem to remember you letting me use your camera (brave brave man), I was so drunk I dread to think what sort of photo I managed to take!

Obviously people don't want to hear that sort of thing MW74, but sadly he was just voicing what a lot of people are probably thinking.

Yesterday Mrs Keef and I ended up in The Woodman on Kirkdale. It was done up sometime around last xmas, and we'd been meaning to give it a try. Anyway, decided that we'd go for a roast, and were very impressed! Think the menu changes slightly every week, but yesterday there was a choice of lamb, chicken, beef, pork, or a veggie lentil roast. I had lamb, and there was lots of it! Came with a Yorkshire pud, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and very nice gravy! all this for ?9.95, which is pretty good compared to a lot of places (Palmerston I'm looking at you!). Mrs Keef had the veggie option, and really enjoyed it! Portions were good, was struggling by the last few fork fulls, and pudding wasn't an option (although they had a fine selection for those with healthier appetites). Big thumbs up.

What Sean said.

Exactly right! People take the piss.

Nob jockey is a great phrase, I use it all the time. Not in this case though. I am wondering why people are casting doubt on the original story, why would anyone make that up, seriously?

Did I turn up last night?

Or a 343 (I think, used to be a P3 back in my school days). This one takes the left fork (past the Rye Hotel) and stops the nunhead side of the Rye. It's not far up the road from there.