malumbu

No S... Sherlock! Cardiovascular benefits also outweigh health impacts of air pollution for a number of hours. Not so clever if you are cycling all day cycle couriers.... It's great being smug.

Bit lost here. Not sure why rocks are being thrown at Farron. I'm perfectly comfortable with same sex relationships but it's taken a long time to totally get to this point (always tolerent I hasten to add since my late teens). I've moved with (and generally ahead) of society. But society is not there yet. Yet we are in a world where no major footballer is comfortable coming out. I expect that there is greater homophobia in the Tory office (hardly traditional values) and similarly their backers in the black and red top media. Faith flag and country and all that stuff. Have some dirt on one senior, who reminds me of Alan B'stard. The world is bad enough without having to look for dirt on people who are generally pushing the right way.

But what really worries me is where the streets have no name, the streets have no name It makes me want to hide, or take shelter

Depends how you define safe. They are quite often damaged and can be slippy when wet or frozen. Doggy doo is also unpleasant and can cause slips and disease. Occasionally things fall out of aircraft or you can be atacked by wild animals. Garden Walls have been known to collapse. Also sink holes. Generally I feel safe.

Because we have domesticated them and most of the attributes that we like are associated with puppies. Therefore unlike Wolves, who quietly creep up on their prey, dogs bark with puppy like excitement. There's some truth behind that.

Wow. Good stuff. There was me thinking that the Clash penned this. I've pompously been happily correcting people for years on many a cover version so now the other way round. By complete fluke I just found out that you can get the embed code by right clicking on the Youtube vid Here's one that always cheers me up

Well the title may be going South but it's official, the best places to watch football are the Midlands and North. Don't take my word for it https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ranked-matchday-experience-all-92-english-league-stadiums?page=0%2C9 (disclaimer, this is a mild bit of banter, not an insult, although I'll still probably get a kicking)

He's a silly sausage. That's not an attempt to make light on a serious issue. But what has really peed me off is the opportunism from the PM. Well how about an apology for the Tories who thought Hitler a good thing in the 1930s? I'm not sure of the authenticity of this article https://gwydionwilliams.com/44-fascism-and-world-war-2/how-the-tory-party-aided-hitlers-rise/

Lived in an Irish area during the 'troubles' and where there were provo pubs where there were collections for 'the cause' and when I moved here there was still an attitude as expressed in the first Stiff Little Fingers album "Paddy spud thick, thinks with his dick" - or words to that effect. Never want to return to these days. We've moved on. Some good posts.

Dunno what the fuss is about. The fine sounded pretty lenient. It was your/my choice to have kids. The cost of hols outside term time was part of the equation. There are always cheap options - the Sun offers them (and this is not a disparaging comment) The bigger picture is phasing/spreading out hols to reduce demand but there again those without kids would miss out on cheaper hols. Alternatively pay for your education and have your hols in early July before the state schools break up

Not sure why I lumped Uber in with this thread, probably because I was thinking of Airbnb, and they share the same business model in not owning the vehicles/properties they trade. Not sure why there is a resistance to share - I've always bummed things of others and expect others to do similar. If we give a little financial incentive then why not? Had some hippy friends who did the 'Lets' system for trading time eg I cook for you and you do my financial records. 'Big Society' had some great proposals including building on 'time banks'. One example is whilst you are young and fit you bank community activities and get that time returned when you are older, a sort of pension. BS was mocked and quietly dropped. I should have referred to the lift sharing schemes - we car pooled when I first worked and before I ditched the car for a bike. It was perfectly natural yet now there is much disdain for sharing space. And finally I thought economics meant the efficient use of resources. Sharing must b e part of this

I've used Uber. I understand that there are some issues about employment and the gig economy but at the same time I've been at a bus stop on the Strand which is half full of black cabs looking for a client, whilst being some of the most polluting vehicles on the road so no sympathy there. I was dead excited by Airbnb but in a matter of months I've seen this change from people letting out some spare space in their accomodation to being dominated by buy to lets. I've just found an ad on the EDF for someone 'sharing' out their car on Easycar.com and asked them for their views on their experience. Like most our car sits outside not being used for 95% of the time taking up space. what do we reckon to the sharing economy boys and girls?

Small Heath is great Lozells Boordsley green Sparkbook Deritend Winson Green Areas to avoid - Solihull, Edbaston, Harbourne, Moseley. You may feel too at home. It's Britain's biggest city. Not any easy question. Just go onto Tripadvisor

----------------------------------- > ----- > > We could also support a united Ireland. > > this has now become a mainstream possibility: see > the reviews in the FT today. Dublin has (after a > taboo of 15 years or so) begun to talk about it > explicitly. It may be this or a wall (hard brexit > would demand one). > > should we not now try to support a united London? > The M25 is not a bad sketch for a wall. London outer boroughs would be outside of this but we could have an extenstion to Brighton, in the way that East Berlin was connected to West Germany. The outer Boroughs would be happy - Bromley would be in Kent again, Dagenham in Essex, and Middlesex be more that a postal address.

keano77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The posturing is shaping up for an ugly fight with > the EU handing Spain a veto on Gibraltar. > > I suggest we use some of the ?58.7 Billion we pay > the EU each second to fund the separatist > Catalans, Basques and Breton nationalists to sow > discord. That'll learn 'em We could also support a united Ireland. Brittany is one of the poorest regions in a major economies in Europe and does very well out of the EU. Why would they want to leave? You wouldn't expect Cornwall and Wales to do similar would you now? Anyway there are already communites just counting down the days before they leave in at least two of those regions - the British expats. At least Gibraltar new which side their bread was buttered.

This is becoming a two-man thread Mr H. Describe your cycling gear and bike so I can give you a cheery wave. I make most of what I say up, but as I am so good at observing and sucking in info I am generally right. Very kind of you not to berate me. So...... from my take traffic now backs up much further from the E&C up to Bricklayers Arms. I found the original design with one set of lights on the roundabout fine, and you could then go straight through down towards the war museum. I expect that the new design equals out flow with the traffic coming from Camberwell direction. Yet the stats on the old design show it was exceptionally dangerous. So what do I know? TfL in answering an FOI request considered Cycle Super Highways to be neutral in terms of emissions and air quality, ie some reduction in traffic was offset by some increased congestion. But patronage has slipped slightly, possible due to increased congestion (there is a watershed in terms of extra journey time by bus where some may say sod it I'll use my car. And as for the right turn into Vaux Bridge, I'd just move to the right, into the ASL and turn as usual. The bike trainers pointed out the weaknesses in the design including less confident cyclists and also that the Danish system means less overall dwell time for vehicles. The most tempting red light to jump in the morning is the bottom of Rye Lane, as you sit there for a minute with hardly a pedestrian or other road user in sight. That is not good planning.

keano77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pubs are for boozing not eating. However, like > Brexit, it's too late to stop it. If you > light-weights must have food then bring back > scampi-in-the-basket and the cockle man turning up > at last orders. You've stolen my words. M&B made iffy beer for proper men in the 70s although the mild was world class. GK are doing a Watneys 30 years on, buying breweries, shutting them down and making poo beer. They are the antichrist Dunno anything about Laines as being near any of their pubs makes me come over all queer. Youngs made great beer. Then they stopped. They've fcked up so many pubs that I loved. The only good thing about the Forest Hill Tavern is that it is not the Woodlouse. Not sure about Fullers. They still brew in London but like GK have closed breweries. Antic seem to be getting a good balance. I was invited to the launch of the Sylvan Post about 10 years ago - I thought it was a bit weird but after seeing the architectural vandalism and some odd industrial chic of the Forest Hill Tavern it now seems rather sedate. You'll have to go out of Borough. The Blythe Hill Tavern is so good that it doesn't have to sell food, although Con will let you bring in takeaway. The Dartmouth Arms and the Dolphin are owned by the same person and are decent (not cheap). Then there is our own pub (the Ivy). And if you want to go into Borough, actually go to Borough as the Royal Oak ticks most of the boxes. Amd.. wait for it... they make their own food, ie it is home made not home coooked

I'm resorting to the Archers as my main source of views and information. They were two to one anxious/excited in last nights episode and this is from a rural farming community. Probably the only part of the BBC that has been honest!

rendelharris Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not to argue malumbu, but because you obviously > know your onions, what's your objection to a NKR > cycle lane? I personally am more than happy with > the excellent well surfaced bus lane there at > present, but I can see why nervous/slow riders > might benefit from an improvement to the pavement > track currently in place. Sorry I've slipped up in not getting back earlier. I've also noted that I gave my longest ever posting on this thread without people insinuating that I was a tosser. Genuine thanks! So - this is all very relevant and I attending an interestng conference on Friday with some of the transport movers and shakers in London, and yesterday observed bikeability training. I've never had any cycle training, but yesterday reflected on the value from some hard core motorbike training in the early 80s (this should have been built on - big mistakes made then with regards to changing the motorbike test rather than prompting some excellent voluntary schemes). Back to the subject (a) much better if you move cyclists to quiet routes rather than sharing trunk roads (b) where we do share busy roads, schemes that increase congestion don't benefit anyone and can increase conflict © if we are to use main roads, then we have do have interventions that make it so damn inconvenient for private motorists that many will shift modes, or perhaps start sharing their journeys (d) Our whole urban traffic management is poo and we need to look to other nations, in particular Denmark, who design things better. The latter was observing the right turn from the embankment, onto Vauxhall Bridge, yesterday, and how awful this is for cyclists. The Danish system is far more efficient for all road users. The above is not suggesting I have a monopoly on wisdom, rather these are my views on debating with others, reading on sites such as this, and personal reflections.

It was a lovely afternoon. The turn up was good. It was sort of an antithesis to some of my earlier protests - Gulf War, Poll tax, anti-apartite in the lack of venom. This was like minded people, frustrated, but without anything we could really do about the situation. Don't knock it. Shame on the BBC for not giving it greater coverage.

This thread has lost me. But I think that this is very relevant as we seem to be lurching to the right, rewriting history and about to embark on something very damaging. So I lived in an Irish area during the 'troubles' and briefly worked in an Irish pub at that time. I remember when we went from "no blacks no Irish" in the mid 1980s to the "this is great, what a craic" (surely not due just to Van Morrison and Shane MacGowan on thier own?) I've enjoyed my various visits both South and North of the (Irish) border And relating to my thread on English footy fans, the English Nationalism thread and this current one - I remember 20 odd years ago being at a match at the end of the season and chants of "no surrender to the IRA" and I thought WTF do you know about Irish politics and would you really fight for your cause? That's not an endorsement of terrorism, just my frustration at mass ignorance and my worry of a pernicious future. Can someone cheer me up please?

Didn't go to see England in 2006. Stayed with a lovely divorcee through a rent a room out scheme by the German authorities. Top marks. Couldn't score tickets for the Argentina/Serbia match at Gelsenkirchen, and sadly neither the Czech Republic vs Ghana in Cologne, but what a lovely setting for a stadium in a park. And talking about great stadia did get tickets for the Switzerland Togo game, which was poor but a brilliant stadium (Westfalenstadion). The atmosphere in Cologne was great, with sets of fans sitting in opposite pavement cafes singing without one drop of lager being thrown. You could feel an edge coming as England fans arrived, the ones I spoke to were pleasantly surprised at the friendly welcome and that the German people did not meet any of the stereotypes they expected. I am just telling it as I saw it. Has the atmosphere got worse? It feels that way after 1996 and 1998 but go back to the wonderful summer of 1990 and it was kicking off in many towns across the country. So is what happened in Dormund just what you see on most provincial towns on a Friday night, and in the popular European beach resorts? I would like to think that we could do better than this. Mates who went to Euro 16 wsw tge Ireland Sweden match which was the opposite, with both sets of fans being so nice that they missed the rivalry and the atmosphere that this created. I wouldn't usually use the Sun as a source but if half if this is true it's rather sad https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3156302/england-fans-let-themselves-and-the-nation-down-against-germany-in-dortmund/ And as for booing our own national anthem, certainly happened in the cup fnals in the early 70s when we were a bunch of lefties always on strike. It may have been a few whistles rather than boos but it wasn't sung as a chant as now. Anyway the English nationalism thread proably covers my points.

Hmmm Even Radio 5 Live seems to be more interested in this. Caught a tail end of an article about fans throwing beer at the opposition as well as the mindless stuff about World Wars. I was born less than two decades after the end of the war, we played war games at play time, watched war movies, nobody wanted to be a German guard when we played escape from Colditz and we read comic books where the good old Tommy always one ("take that Fritz"). So why do people often 20 years younger that me have this supremecy complex? We are not a very good master race. Anyway do tell me I am wrong, this is all about learning and debate rather than my monologue.

Ah the barmy army. I went to Bangalore in 2002 and expected a load of obnoxious twots, with clearly too much money and very high opinions of themselves. As this was not Australia or the West Indies it was hard core. Around 200 England fans there, some the types I've referred to above, others at the high end corporate, but a fair few who had travelled for days on the Indian railways, some even from the earlier Bangladesh tour, sleeping in dorms or on floors on a shoestring. Respect. I bumped into one at Kandy in Sri Lanka a couple of years later which was a bit strange ("wasn't I shouting to you across the stands, and finding out that you knew people I went to school with?"). Didn't get the same attachment with the footy fans in Manaus.

We've only got three songs, we've only got three songs, we've only got three songs. I've avoided watching England live. When both in Brazil and in France I was worried that things would conspire against me, particularly the perfect storm of Brexit and England making the quarters in Paris. I'd have been happy with the latter in retrospect. In Manaus I was at the tail end of the English invasion arriving after the defeat to Italy. Educated people, my age, telling me who they were going to give the yanks a kicking (American's were arriving for the Portugal match), presumably for only having one song, and how they threatened the locals as Brazilians had supported Italy in the previous match. In the square some younger fans were shocked when I stood up and booed the UK national anthem - even when I explained (a) it is not the English national anthem (b) I am an atheist © I am a republican (actually not that bothered about the royal family as long as they are just round for ceremonial stuff and get proper jobs and pay bedroom and second house tax (d) we all booed the national anthem at matches in the 70s. I was also struck by a mate who saw England Wales in a few years ago at Wembley, with fans 'baaing' at the Welsh (something to do with sheep) and as he says that Bloody Sheffield Wednesday brass band. I know they are not all like that. Pictures from France when it all kicked off in Marseille shows there were a lot of 'normal' people, dads and lads etc. But it was a pleasure being in Paris with 10,000 Icelanders. I saw some peed up Brits in the Irish bar singing Ingerland Ingerland, and one guy being arested on the station on the way back for taunting the French security (what a bunt). Hmmm, stereotypical? And it got on my preverbials listening to some of the friendly last night with the chanting. Here is mine. "You are a very successful country with much greater productivity and a better work life balance, but actually we are very similar let's have a nice beer together, la la la". Haven't quite got that right yet, and need a tune. I was also in Cologne in 2006 and the party atmosphere took a dive as English fans arrived. Am I being unfair??