londonloves

When Christianity reached Europe they plonked Easter at the same time of year as the Northern European Spring Equinox festival-hence eggs, rabbits and hares all to do with pagan fertility rituals got a bit mixed up with crucifixes, crowns of thorns and Middle Eatern jewish guys rising from the dead-so just to clarify Christian children really shouldn't eat chocolate eggs, but on the plus side they will have eternal life in reward for a life well lived-so swings and round abouts really.....

Sue- Fair enough, will do!-I forget not everyone is reading from a screen the size of a small picture window as mine happens to be- no techno excuse!

andrew-lynch-I think you misunderstood my original post-I agree almost exactly with your post?! The intention behind my post was to get people to contact the big issue and work out if they were real vendors in east dulwich-so yes we could support them. so far the big issue has not replied to me-i was hoping forumites might succeed where i failed. I really don't want to support people who have stolen the big issue-which is the only way to get hold of it unless the big issue sell it to you as a vendor-it may sound far fetched but people do it. I can't put out of my mind the stories a pal of mine (a big issue vendor at the time)used to tell me about him and other vendor's being mugged for their magazines-or having them stolen from hostels.Even worse the tales of kids/women being made to sell them by gangs-just like pirate DVDs or knock off fags-and guess what I don't buy those either!Maybe these things only ever happen in the grim northern cities I used to call home-not in sunny London-and call me soft but I would be the type to give 50p to a tramp-I just really don't want to buy a stolen big issue-regular big issue-yes please!

Crikey-I have to agree with the Daily Hate comments! Huggers-thank god someone on here gets it!(and a couple of others too) I had no idea when I started this thread that most people didn't know what the big issue was about and what "homeless" means-I really would urge people to check out their website. I don't have any problem with what people spend their wages on-pampers,mars bars,fags and mobiles-fine-Guess what I spend a large proportion of my wage on booze and take aways-does that make me a bad person?(and their not even organic!) Big Issue vendors are earning a wage NOT living on charity-they are not allowed to beg for food or cash-and if you meet a vendor that does this pleas report them as they will not be genuine! My issue is are the ones outside somerfield genuine-its looking like the answer is no-but Big Issue haven't replied to my email-I was kinda hoping some forumites might email too?-That way somone else might be able to have that pitch-or if its not a real pitch then a pitch elsewhere in ED- A final thought for the ED crowd-think of the Big Issue as a fairtraid magazine-does that make you any more inclined towards it?;-) I thought we were meant to like small/independant traders in ED!

Spotted some worrying posts on here about the local Big Issue vendors outside Somerfield. I wasn't convinced they were the real deal-(mainly because the Big Issue used to allocate 1 pitch to 1 person and I have seen more than 1 in the same spot-and also they sell whilst smoking and sitting down-but maybe they have changed their rules and this is ok now). I emailed the Big Issue a couple of times to ask how I can check if they are real vendors-I've not had a response. I'm a massive fan of the Big Issue and know personally a couple of people who have sold it and it made a big difference to their lives and it is a wonderful charity that really helps folk. I've supported it since it first started-and I would encourage others to do so-but the people who rip it off or sell illegally make me really sad. I like to be sure I'm buying from real vendors-especially since a mate of mine -who used to sell in Brum told me how often people would steal his copies off him to sell on-or to beg with. Maybe if everyone emailed their concerns we might get a response-I would buy every week from those girls-as soon as I know they're genuine!-and if they're not perhaps the Big Issue could allocate that pitch to someone who deserves it-and we could all support them by popping down their and buying what is afterall-a pretty cheap and good mag?( I would post a link to www.bigissue.com -but either their website is down right now or my computer is on it's way out..!)

It depends what perspective you're coming from-if your babysitter is under 16 then they are still a child and legally the responsibility of their parents so leaving anyone under 16 with children is legally the same as leaving your children "home alone". However there is actually no law on how old a child needs to be to be left "home alone"-its left to common sense.The other perspective is that of when is a child old enough to work which is 13 for most jobs-part time obviously. Legally i think children under 16 cannot work after 7pm at night-and not for more than 4 hours at a time-which technically means most parents in the UK have broken the law on a friday night-so i think its one they "turn a blind eye" to.

Jeremy, I see you're point- and yes stopping traffic is different to playing football! However both sets of kids were guilty of being terminally thick (perhaps an inappropriate-if unintentional pun considering the number of young people killed on London?s roads each year)-and it's rgutsells bad luck that they got the thick and violent-rather than the thick and thick kids. I don't think I would be brave enough to get out the car-(just in case they were the 1 in a million types to kick the crap out of me )and if after a polite ticking off they got abusive I'd be outta there. I also completely understand the idea of ignoring and keeping your head down. I also get your point of them just looking for a reason to kick off- but then you never know what that reason may be-politely saying excuse me on a bus can meet with a stream of abuse-not just from kids either! (My other half got a tirade of abuse off a middle aged women on the train the other day-for no reason they could see!) I'm going to continue politely standing up for myself-to kids and adults-whilst still giving people the benefit of the doubt.....walking down Barry road last year some kids sat on a wall started giving me lip for no reason-I politely and jokingly told them to leave it out and as i walked up the road heard the asbo boys girlfriend laughing at me and telling her boyfriend to stop being a "tw*t" and annoying people. I really think rgutsell was very unlucky-the vast majority of young people are more likely to be the victim of violence themselves than horrible little thugs.

rgutsell-well done for reporting it-and for confronting them-I have to say that 9 out of ten times when you do-politely bring kids up on their behaviour they respond well-you got the small percentage who behave badly and would benefit even more so from finding outa)their behaviour was rude/dangerous and b) they cannot bully whoever they wish. If people actually spoke to kids behaving in an anti social way then they would realise most of them didn't even realise they were doing anything wrong,and will probably offer a grunted "soz" or stop whatever it is if asked politely. I wound down the window a couple of months back to tell some kids playing football in the road to be careful-I think it's a drivers duty to do this-children don't drive so they have no idea of visability or stopping distances-until they get hit,politely telling them that playing football in the road -next to a bend -in the dark might get them run over was met with grunts-but they did actually pick up the ball and shuffle off.

How about giving the owners of the wheelie bins the benefit of the doubt-perhaps the bin men accidentaly left them in the street?(every day) Personally I would be very grateful to anyone who returned my wheelie bin to my home, if someone had put it in the road ;-) I would be very upset if a forgetful bin man or maybe a pesky yoof put my bins in the road-which is an offence-afterall how embarrassing if people thought I put them there!

Sue-I love moths-except the ones that infest my house! I'm very much the catch a bug and put it out the window type-but once moths started munching through my belongings I now squish/swat on sight-little beggars.....but that's just clothes moths-no other creatures were harmed in the makingof this post...

Pirate 78-What a terrible thing to happen-I hope you recover well, and thanks for putting this on the forum so we all know to keep our wits about us. omniprescient-I agree entirely the blame goes on the men who mugged Pirate 78-mugging and beating someone is the crime, lack of lighting just made it slightly easier for them to commit the crime

david_carnell- I didn't actually say Pugwash shouldn't eat 500cals a day-I just sympathised that it would be very hard indeed-as this would only be normal for a teeny tiny geriatric which i'm going to go out on a limb and say Pugwash is not!-I was agreeing yes you would be exhausted it must be awful. Nevermind the lifestyle change of not being able to go out for big meals, drink alcohol etc which is bad enough-being constantly cream crackered is something I too can relate to for medical reasons and it's no fun.

500 calories a day-I bet you're tired! Crikey-unless you are 120 years old 4 ft tall and about 3 stone in weight then yes 500 calories would be nightmare!(n:b to any 120 year old 4ft tall 3 stone women-500 calories a day is assuming a low level of activity!if you play any sports etc please up your calorie in take-see above;-))

Hey reetpetite-sorry i didn't mean to imply anyone with ladybirds was likely to go on a killing spree-although I used to work for a letting agency on the maintenance/pest problems side of things and you would be amazed how many people squish first and ask later! As for how they get in-they don't get in through the windows-they are just drawn towards the light when they wake up. They could get in anywhere,they're pretty darn small- afterall your house isn't airtight-unless you're EDs answer to Howard Hughes. One way they always got in to my home was in firewood-as log piles are a favourite hibernating spot too.

giggirl-just order 2 starters-and ask one to be served with the mains-if they really small they don't add up to half a main still-and you get to feel like a normal member of society!-I do it all the time restaurants don't seem to mind-i've even just had one starter as a main with maybe a salad/veg on the side-makes it look like more-but isn't really any bigger depending on what you order-and mussels are a good one-they bring you a huge steaming bowl-and of course it only has about a teacup full of meat in!-and pugwash-you could mop up the sauce with a handful of frites-rather than bread!mmmm making myself hungry.....