Marmora Man

As promised in earlier threads I'll be selling poppies on LL this week. From 5.00pm this evening to catch homeward commuters, and again on Thursday, Friday and Sat am. Please give generously to the tall bald bloke with a box of poppies. Thanks

I'd add "Pretty Traditional" - polite & helpful, the FLower Shop almost next door (am a regular customer for roses for Mrs MM)as very friendly, together with Cheese Shop, the Barbers on Northcross Road, Moxons (always happy to recommend cooking methods), LL Carpet Shop - occasionally weird but as we've given them 3 years of busines they are good to us. Si Mangia (bit off LL / ED) very friendly - just home after impromptu supper - bill came with three free Limoncello liqueurs as is / are The Bishop & Herne Tavern, Green & Blue. All in all have never had a bad experience on LL. In general I enjoy shopping local and talk to shopkeeper - most talk back happily

I've obviouly been bloody lucky because I've never had a "worst job". Difficult jobs, challenging jobs, jobs where the salary didn't match the workload but every single job from initial paper round, thru' potato delivery, shop assistant (I was the only one with good enough mental arithmetic to calculate floor areas for fitted carpets), to junior officer in RN, to senior officer RN, to NHS manager, healthcare manager, "consultant (aka out of work) and general manager have been, mostly, fun and rewarding - certainly not boring or unrewarding.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Exactly right! I'm all for supporting ex service > men, and I usually year a poppy. However, as far > as I'm concerned, the first duty of care falls > firmly at the feet of the services themselves, and > the ministry of defence. Keef, The problem is that this government (and to a lesser extent previous governments) has underfunded the services. It is the Exchequer that decides service pay and conditions not military top brass, it is the Exchequer that determines how much can be spent on equipment. The Legion's campaign is all about generating public pressure on government to do better by the service people thay have asked so much of. On a different note - I'd agree that arguing that today's society should recogise the sacrifice "made for us today" is too simplistic - but they might recognise that a sacrifice was made. Like others on this thread I have a military background and knowledge but my "war" was a Cold War with few bullets flying. It has been very different since the first Iraq / Kuwait war in 1991.

I'm pleased to see this thread resurrected. The topic is important to me and the more the idea can be brought to the fore that our service people have suffered and are suffering and are, as a result, deserving of our support. Jointly our Armed Forces have seen more action in the last 10 years than the previous 50. In last 5 years well over 300 dead and probably 10 times that wounded, many severely. Regardless of political persuasion these individuals deserve our respect and attention. They are not the Government's problem - just because we pay taxes does not mean we should pass by on the other side. Poppy Day is about remembrance and support - it does not glorify war, on the contrary it brings home the stark cost of war.

I've always found them helpful and polite. Certainly so when I had frgotten the code for my desired printer cartridge hey went ou of their way to help me identify which one I needed.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/18/ > ethicalliving.ethicalliving > > :'( > :'( > :'( What a fatuous article. Everything we do requires energy - energy use creates a carbon footprint / emissions. Someone else this weekend was recommending we eat up all our food as wasted food decomposes and creates methane gas - another contributor to climate change. Worrying about the impact on the climate of a glass of whisky, wine or beer is just going too bloody far.

Zenoria was, apparently, a femae name used by Victorians - which may explain why the street / raod is called Zenoria but not its origin. Can't find it in the Bible - a popular Vistorian source of names.

Marriage has many pains but celibacy has few pleasures. Dr Johnson

An entire fox hunt across the back of a sailor with the fox disappearing into the crack of his arse.

I'm just a manager - trying to ensure the business I manage makes money for shareholders and enuf to pay me.

dc Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You can't use parliamentary allowances for any > form of hospitality. But you can use up to ?10,000 a year (new allowance) to "communicate" with your constituents. HAve you not noticed the new glossies we're getting thru' the letter box extolling MPs performance? Creates an inbuilt bias for sitting MP - who should be relying upon their performance, not their PR machine and expenses, to be re-elected.

Looks like a clear case for investing in nuclear power to me - improves the lanscape too by getting rid of insightly windmills.

Horniman is always good. My 8 year old great nephew (not a Londoner) has been up this weekend and enjoyed wandering around Borough Market, along the Thames to Tobacco Wharf, HMS Belfast and then the other direction past Golden Hinde, to London Eye - lots of buskers, jugglers etc. He also went on the Duck Tour (the only thing my neice actaully paid for) which he thought was cool.

Annasfield Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was always lead to believe that Scouse stew is > where the term Scouse/r came from. The Scouse/R name did originate with the dish but the dish itself has a longer history. Lobscouse is / was a sailors dish. Alternate layers of potato and mutton cooked very slowly in stock over a long period. Originaly a Scandinavian dish (and still popular in Norway) it became a Liverpool dish when Liverpool was a great sea port.

Gales Ales of Hampshire used to make a great Pale Ale, still fermenting in the bottle which had a cork closure. Not sure if it's still available.

Denmark was amazingly friendly - with Copenhagen being the best part. USA, particualrly S. Carolina and southwards was briliant - was invited to Thanksgiving, with 8 friends just because we were visiting over that weekend.

Tonight was well baked potato's (crunchy skins with i=oil & salt) with cheese & sour cream topping + salad. Last night - spaghetti puttanesca - olives, capers, garlic, toms & parsley with pasta, tomorrow poached salmon & pots & veg. We like to plan the week in Marmora!

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Frisco - if only I were that tall and skinny! > > tis a pet peeve of mine. I am up at 6am every day > and often don't get back til late evening but (and > I stress how often I have in the past had ready > meals with the guilty scars to show for it) just > like there is a forum rule.. Never The Vale.... > Never The Ready Meal > > (Never is a changeable concept.... I work next to > a Waitrose and tried their premium premium chili > recently... but it was, frankly, dogshite.... and > nearly a fiver's worth of dogshite at that. Some > mince - a quid - plus ingredients lying about at > home - 45 mins tops. If you don't have 45 mins for > food then there is more wrong with life than M&S > not being nearby) > > > oooh I do rant on this topic don't I? Sean, You have my full support, even when a bachelor and arriving home late I always cooked my meal (take aways don't copunt as ready meals). I still take the lead in cooking stakes 20 years later. A baked potato and topping - 60 mins max (during most of whgich you can be doing other things), salad, pasta and home made sauce - 30 mins tops. Special meal, good steak, oven baked chips (slice large baking potato into 8 pieces, rub cooking (olive) oil all over, sprinkle with salt & pepper and bake 25 mins), mushrooms and a tomato - 30 mins again. Grilled mackerel from Moxon's with boiled pots and veg, sausage & mash, vegetable crumble, shepherd's pie with leek & cheese topping, I cannot think of any ready meal that tastes better or costs less than something made at home. Even the "ready steady cook" problem of peering into the fridge and cupboard to conjure up a meal from remnants is more fun, more relaxing and more nutritious than the best waitrose can offer. Lay the table, add a glass of wine - relaxation and conversation is guaranteed.

I first became involved in politics when a girlfriend asked me to help her campaign for Simon Hughes in '83. Simon Hughes wasn't merely a beneficiary of the homophobic politicking - almost the entire Liberal party of the area were involved. The campaign was perhaops one of the first to be run on personality rather than political argument. The experience helped me learn to dislike the Liberals / Lib Dems as opportunistic hypocrites and see other organised political parties as much the same. It pushed me toward my libertarian / individual knows best view of politics. Didn't stick with the girlfriend either. The Lib Dems have been for some while an irrelevance in politics - despite their current numbers in parliament. There was a time when their less extreme ideas swayed political thinking - but that's not been the case for some while. They'll never die out but they may return to being a genuine "third party" with < 10 MPs as they were through most of the 70's & 80's.

hi

Buzzard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > During a thousand years of foregoing sporting or > military success against England, the buggers have > developed a sensational cellar and kitchen As long as we can visit - we get best of both worlds

Buzzard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well said. > > The frogs wouldn't put up with this kind of > rubbish. Aaahh but the Frogs have had to put up with rubbish results at rugby!

PeckhamRose Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Why is it best not to say anything about the > strike though. I'd be interested in reading > people's views who have something to say against > it as well as for it. Views: 1. Post Office staff and management, at least as portrayed by media, remain old fashioned, overmanned and inward looking. 2. The strike and its conduct - was reminscent of 70's style confrontations. 3. Management appears to believe that robust management and confrontation is best. 4. Rather than trying to protect old ways of doing things (union) or incremental change (management)the PO (staff and management) should be looking at its assets and seeing how to use them to best advantage and come up with a shared / agreed strategy for change. 5. Assets: * Nationwide network * Large workforce * Brand / reputation (slightly tarnished) * Physical estate presence (all those post offices) * probably a lot more 6. Options - some ideas: * Give post offices Internet cafe facilities and online payment facilities - improves viability of existing sites. Improves revenues * Franchise the PO Brand to non national providers (ie: not Tesco / Sainsbury) providing certain minimum standards are met (EG PO services - stamps, payments, parcel collection / delivery etc) for at least 8 hours a day 6 days a week then any shop may deliver them (it would boost footfall in village shops, local corner shops) Why not have PO servies in a pub, library, as a mobile service on a van, in a hospital / GP clinic? Improves revenues * Reduce daily deliveries of "letter mail" to home addresses 3 times a week (do you really need your bank statement / postcard, letter, birthday card that urgently? Reduces costs[/i] * Concentrate on "Business Services" - parcels and documents - akin to a courier service with several tiers (within 24 hrs, within 48 hrs, within the week) on 24/7 basis. Premium service - improves revenues What do others think?

reggie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > marmora man > Is a little tree equal to a big old tree...I think > not.This is my point...do we want to live in an > area where all the trees are small because large > trees are equal to little saplings? Imagine > Dulwich Village by Pizza Express without those > fantastic big chestnuts or is it all the same to > you? No - my point is that trees live, grow and die. We should recognise that they will be cut down / fall down when aged and plant new trees in recompense. If this is done every year, or so, there will always be a great range of trees of all ages and maturity. Just like families - constantly growing and renewing themselves - once I was young, one day I'll die - but by then there will be other youngsters to replace me. PS: I agree with Frisco - trees don't feel pain. I'll eat almost anything be it fish, fowl, animal or vegetable. White asparagus, fois gras, young carrots, tender lamb - all part of life's rich pageant.