civilservant

maxxi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes but the good citizens of ED seem to be forever > popping them out like trainers from a Korean > sweatshop - and popping them straight onto > scooters designed to cause widespread > knee-scrapage and handlebar-to-groin injury as > they whiz along LL. Agree I don't quite understand the ED urge to continue procreating beyond the hallowed norm of 2.4 kids So, anyway, when can we expect ED to return to being a non-smug sleepy 'burb content with the shopping facilities offered by its local Coop and Iceland? Say for the sake of argument that there are three sprogs in the typical incoming family described by Mr Ben. Assume that they are spaced a sensible 3 years apart, and they grow out of scooters at around 5 years old. Then, it only takes about 11 years for said family to reach the end of its scooter-usage phase. That takes us to 2022. Family decides to move to Surrey/Kent/France when middle kid is 10-ish, following oldest kid's horrendous experience of Charter/Harris Carpet Academy/Kingsdale - that adds another couple of years to the timeline. So, probably not before 2024...

If the problem is truly one of people with buggies and small children cluttering up Lordship Lane, all this will pass. Children only occupy a small proportion of one's adult life, unless one goes in for large families or second/third families. Children add life to the area, and ensure that things stay local. As people age, their needs inevitably reduce and in line with the lifecycle of localities, LL will probably return to being a sleepy and run-down nowhere without any kind of public life except that provided out of hours by pubs and young single flatters. And that is arguably worse than squads of yummy mummies with their feelings of entitlement. I'd be careful what I wish for.

sorry, maxxi - should have known you'd know that - molto respecto to old-time efficiency!

yes, Townley Green, but eye still not firmly on the ball how does Animals/House/Rising/Sun fit with Eight/Days/ Week/ Beatles? Days - the Kinks

back on track!:)) astral weeks - Van the Man

The Honeysuckle and the Bee - Fitz and Penn yes, I too Googled (the songwriters) My excuse? Shock at seeing FJD describe ABBA as "some old 70's soul band"

Bit of confusion here, Maxxi - guys are relics of anti-Catholic sentiment and are burnt on Bonfire Night, presumably as a 17th century update of some pagan end-of-summer ritual. Hallowe'en occurs on the night of 31 October but is probably a Christianised survival of a similar pagan end-of-summer beano. 1 Nov and 2 Nov are All Saints Day and All Souls Day respectively - both major days in the Catholic calendar. All Saints Day is also known as All Hallows Day. Hallowe'en is a secularized/Scottish/Proddy/Yankee-fied (take your pick) version of the "eve of All Hallows Day", when ghosts and ghouls and witches are supposed to roam free. Trick or treating is an American updating of old Scottish Hallowe'en customs. It is effectively a kind of blackmail i.e. if you don't treat me, I'll 'trick' you by soaping up your windows or letting down your tyres or some other wickedness. Treats don't have to be restricted to sweets of course, they could also be cash, but fortunately tots these days are amateurs.

If you've got a pumpkin outside, a small witch and I will come knocking on your door on Monday 31 Oct evening hoping for a treat. We haven't got a trick option sorted, though - ideas welcome!

fab selection! I envy him!

OP's idea is not so strange. It's already in use for trains via Denmark Hill, where a lot of people get on/off. Some trains are non-stop to Victoria, while others stop at a number of stations in between. I think they also use different routes, as the non-stop ones seem to take appreciably less time to get in (as well as not needing the stopping time at stations).

Yes, but it's far from the best - the Luggage is a beguiling invention but the wizard Rincewind is not and Pratchett only gives him very minor walk-on parts in some later books. If you want to hook someone on Pratchett, better start them on a later book

bet you've never been on the District Line to Wimbledon when Chelsea are at home. Now that's lairy...

Sad to say, I've read my way through the Pratchett Discworld oeuvre since stumbling on The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic a long long time ago. IMO the ones that feature Sam Vimes' vain attempts to keep order in Ankh Morpork are the best (not so keen on the witchy ones). So any of Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch or Thud!. And since I'm in confessional mode here, I'll add that I reread Feet of Clay as soon as I'd finished it. PS I've seen Pratchett described, by a broadsheet reviewer no less, as 'silliness with A-levels'. Though that's probably not such huge praise anymore.

I second first mate - I hope all are re-united, and soon

but has she got '999' (or is that '666') in her microchip?

http://www.strawson.freeuk.com/dalek/2daleks.jpg ED-ers, er... no, CGF-ers, wake up to the new blue bins (edited to reduce local levels of threat)

http://web.orange.co.uk/images/ice/music/francis_rossi_8477dca232c31cebeee2138c7e19e01e.jpg

'sown on' like this, you mean http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k4MD-wATVjc/S6oRijx1ExI/AAAAAAAAAC8/FT2qQ4VlgNY/s400/ashtyn+1.jpg

northlondoner, i think you are being very unfair to Marnie I've looked at her photos and she looks just like any other yorkie I've seen - very sweet and completely incapable of invoking bad karma on her detractors. Maybe she's the Foxy Knoxy of Yorkies... who knows!

all the pretty little horses - Anon (American traditional)

the jean genie - bowie

what Sue said but... if she's just an innocent cart-wheeling airhead, she's just spent four years of her life in jail if she's a lying manipulative murderer, she has spent four years in jail after all The real question for me is - will all of this lead to improvements in the way the Italian judicial system works? I for one am not holding my breath

holding out for a hero - bonnie tyler

I am trying to feel sorry for that cat, but it's not working. I've seen too many cats visiting our garden to attack and kill young squirrels. It was completely gratuitous killing - they didn't even eat them. Fortunately the wretched cats seem to have stopped coming and our squirrels and birds are back. Foxes I can live with, and they deter rats, as The Minkey helpfully points out. (Now if only my dog agreed with me!)

wannabe - spice girls