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Happy Birthday DJKQ, hope you have a great day!! Btw, that injury looks painful...but you should be ok, 21yr olds ususally recover from such things quicker than the rest of us :D

Last night my partner and I were waiting for a bus in Brixton. One came but it had all of it's internal lights out and no passengers, although it wasn't displaying an out of serivce sign. The driver pulled up at the stop, opened the doors and asked us where we wanted to go. When I told him Lordship Lane, he replied enthusiastically: "C'mon let's do it!" and gestured for us to get on. So we did. Being a bit tipsy I didn't really think too much about it. The lights remained off and we flew past all the stops without stopping until we reached Lordship Lane. Whole journey took less than 10 mins. In the cold sober light of today I'm wondering what on earth that was all about! Can bus drivers just decide they wont take any passengers if they can't be bothered??? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful he picked us up, but it did seem rather unfair, not to mention surreal.

DJKillaQueen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just had a leaflet drop through my door from > 'Tree of Hope'. It has a valid charity Reg no. on > it that I could check and it is a bona fide > charity, along with a bona fide address, website > etc and information on what they raise as spend as > a not for profit organisation. Took me less than a > minute to find out who they are and what they do. > > At the bottom of the leaflet it says: > > 'People operate illegally in this area. DO NOT > donate if your leaflet has no contact address, > telphone no. and registered charity no.' > > Seems like good advice. I actually emailed The Tree of Hope because I thought the flyer looked a bit DIY (the logos were badly pixellated), no bags were provided, and the web address provided for SOS Clothes Ltd (who are collecting the clothes on behalf of the charity) didn't check out. But a contact at the Charity confirmed this is a legitimate collection. Good job as we've donated clothes to them!

If anyone would like to complain using RM's online form (it took me ages to find the URL and helpfully, it's NOT the one provided by their telephone customer services) here is the link: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump3?catId=400144&mediaId=15400382

Seems we're not the only ones to have noticed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11419324

While I was out today the postie 'delivered' a book from Amazon to my doorstep. Since it rained most of the afternoon, I came home to find my new book soggy and warped from the rain. I've complained about my local post service before through RM's online form but received no response whatsoever. Seems pretty pointless to me if no action is going to be taken.

Ha, I just saw you already posted on the footie thread...I'm always late to the party, sorry!

Hi sfreitas, If you like football, you could check out the ladies football kickabout on Sunday at the Rye, it's posted in the What's On section: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?6,470578 DJKillaQueen from the forum organises it all, so you should either respond to the thread above or pm her for the details. I don't go myself but my better half does and I know she absolutely loves it - I have met a few of the girls and they're all lovely people. As a side note, I found it very hard when we first moved to London - it can be very alienating and lonely at times, but it's a completely different place once you get a network of friends. Good luck, hope you find something that interests you!

The Minkey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Popped in to see my elderly house-bound neighbour > this morning. I was genuinely touched by that post, good on you - not enough people are so thoughtful, including myself.

DulwichMoan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You Don't Pay Road Tax, But You All Think You > Deserve Your Own Cycle Lane? You Like Too Go > Through Red Lights, But If We Motorist Hit You Its > Our Fault? I Think Cyclist's Are The Biggest > Accident On Our Roads. I actually think insurance for cyclists is a good idea, which is why myself and my partner are both insured. I've NEVER damaged anyone's car though, but I did once get offered to claim on an East London bus company's insurance when I got into an accident that was the bus driver's fault. Anyway, that's beside the point - the 'Road Tax' for cyclists is a nonsense because if you pay income tax and council tax you already pay for the upkeep of the roads, see James Barber's post for more details. Road tax (VED) doesn't even get spent on local roads so it's a bit like saying smokers and alcoholics should get priority NHS treatment because they pay more tax on the booze and the fags....completely illogical. If people don't know where their taxes go, that's their problem I'm not paying for their ignorance. Also, since vehicle excise duty is now worked out through emissions, even if it were compulsory for cyclists to be tax disc holders they would be in band A which applies to all vehicles with CO2 emissions less than 100 g/km so they would have to pay, exactly ?0. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, not a waste of money at all!!

We've always had to pay for the vets to dispose of our dead cats. We actually buried the first one that died ourselves, but won't do that again. Wouldn't put it in the bin either though!

The posts suggesting how to lock/secure your bike will be useful if you get a new one, but if you want to retrieve your stolen bike, I'd second Pearson's advice. Get up to Brick Lane, (even this weekend might not be too late) and definitely check Gumtree and even Ebay. It might be worth letting the police know as well - they do have a load of stolen bikes they have to auction off every now and then because no-one claims them. If you have proof the bike is yours then you can legally get it back if you do come across it - the police will seize it from the new owner. Unfortunate if some poor soul has bought it, but then everyone knows Gumtree/Brick Lane bikes are stolen. Would be good to post a picture on here of the bike if you have one (or even a stock one of the same make/model), so we can keep an eye out for it. Might be worth posting on local cycling forums as well. I know a few bikes have been found by members from another forum who've spotted a stolen bike and slapped a lock on it until it can be retrieved by the rightful owner.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Man I wish I could be sure the "not right for the > area" type posts were windups or not - because if > they genuinely believe that I would soooo go to > town FWIW mine was in what I took as the spirit of the OP - I was poking fun at the snobs. But I'm starting to doubt whether the OP was a wind-up after all!

What...no 99p store!? Typical of East Dulwich to price them out!

panda boy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sigh, hopefully this thread is a wind up... Ya reckon? The Wetherspoon's bashing was borderline, but Iceland's pushing it too far, definitely a wind-up.

Christ, just be thankful there isn't a 99p store....yet!

Hmmm, our household rubbish was not collected this week so I'm guessing we're in the pilot too. Weirdly though, we have had no additional containers (caddies/bins/bags/boxes) of any description. Mind you, a month or so before I even heard of the pilot I requested a brown bin for garden waste which was never delivered. Seems like a good scheme in theory and the lack of extra containers has not actually caused any problems yet, so reserving judgement.

intexasatthe moment Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As far as I know this stretch of Bellenden does > not yet have a bike contra flow . > But there were /are planning notices on the > lamposts indicating that permission is being > sought to introduce a contraflow . Excellent, this will explain it then.

Ok, these stats are from a 2005 report for the London Road Safety Unit (TfL) which recorded red light violations at twelve ASL sites in London and two non ASL sites (the 'control' sites). Of all the cyclists that passed through the light-controlled junctions, on average 17% violated red lights. There is no comparable figure (or I can't find it) for other traffic - I just wanted to point out that it's not as many as people think! However, of *all* the traffic violations that were made by *all* road users, cyclists made up 51% of offenders at the ASL sites and 40% at the control sites - averaging out at 48.8% of all the vehicles violating red lights at all sites. OTHER road users (either car, goods vehicle, bus/coach drivers or motorcyclists) made up the rest - yes OVER HALF of offenders. This is bundling all 'other road users' together, but even if we just take cycles vs cars, cars made up the majority violaters at 5 of the 12 sites (admittedly not as much as cyclists who were the majority at the other 7). Versus *all* road users, cyclists made up the majority of offenders at only half of the sites. Also the authors pointed out: "Across the ASL sites generally, the main violation offenders were cars, (including taxis) (34%) and bicycles (51%). Cyclists essentially have more opportunity to violate as more can proceed through the junction at any one time. The high percentage of red light violations by cyclists may partially be a result of the composition of traffic. " Tried to attach report but the file is too large, can be downloaded here: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tfl.gov.uk%2Fassets%2Fdownloads%2FBehaviour-at-cycle-advanced-stop-lines.pdf&rct=j&q=Behaviour-at-cycle-advanced-stop-lines%5B1%5D.pdf&ei=DiK2TPjxK4-T4gba8MSgDQ&usg=AFQjCNFxOMp5KgsCxThLtG4sVfRdmnxjjA&sig2=XtLuc0WJ6fOH8rX9bhZs1w&cad=rja

DJKillaQueen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yet again a therad asking a simple question about > a local road turns into a cyclist bashing thread. Exactly. And the real question people should be asking is how many cyclists kill (or endanger the lives of) others in comparison to other road users (yes I also have stats for this before anyone asks). But no-one cares about that as much as having a moan about jumping red lights.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Do you have any stats for that - or is it just > your perception? Of course I have stats for it. I'll dig them out later.

SCSB79 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I disagree and I am a cyclist....The amount of cyclists running red lights...is quite ridiculous. But not actually any more than any other road user, it's just public perception. The City Police all but admitted this when they were queried about why they have so many 'sting' operations giving out fixed penalty notices to cyclists.

ratty Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Like cyclists follow the rules of the road anyway! Cyclists follow the rules of the road as much as any other type of road user. What an unnecessarily confrontational response. Pickle - I was thinking that it had changed recently becauset the bike logos have only just been painted. I'd like to know if anyone had a definitive answer as I do not currently use it as a cut-through, but would like to?

Just wondering if this stretch of Bellenden Rd... http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Holly+Grove&daddr=Bellenden+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FQBdEQMdAeP-_w%3BFaJjEQMdbOP-_w&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=16&sll=51.469141,-0.07272&sspn=0.006376,0.01929&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=51.470852,-0.07228&spn=0.003188,0.009645&z=17 ...is not one-way for cycles? I often see cyclists riding the 'wrong' way up this street but I always assumed it was one way for all vehicles. Recently though (last couple of days or so) new cycle logos have been painted along the road (in the oncoming direction). I can't imagine the council have painted the bike logos upside down, but no "Ecxept Cycles" signs have gone up under the "No Entry" signs like you'd normally expect so it seemed a bit ambiguous. When on my bike, I go around this stretch of the road via the one-way system but I'll definitely use this shortcut if the no-entry doesn't apply to cycles! Does anyone know, or know how to find out?

Pearson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Quite frankly i avoid Rye Lane completely as it's > just too dangerous. Traffic/Pedestrians and road > surface. > I usually reach ED via Bellenden Rd or round the > one way system/back lanes up to the Rye. That's what I do - I used to go down Rye Lane prior to the 'improvements' but it's just not worth the effort now. A 'privelege'...how insulting and not to mention wrong - what a joke!