malumbu

What a great weekend. All our local SE London boys won. Who of course you should be supporting. And even though I hate Man U and Newcastle, they won as well. Getting exciting at the bottom. Oh, and of course with a number of our libraries closing in SE London, the London Overground gives us an easy opportunity to visit a library in Islington.

Thanks for all the posts. You will see that I did contact the number of the seller, but was told that the bike had "been sold" and "was his brothers". The cops told me that the crims never actually own the bikes, but are always selling them for "a mate or relative". To answer some of the points: I am not a vigilante but I would like to give some grief to the thief - and alternatively someone out there may find that I was wrong! I would clearly stay within the law, but if I draw your attention to some ads on Gumtree then there is of course nothing stopping you from calling and passing the number onto your mates to do similar. There is a Met Police Cycle Task Force who do sting operations, I hope I have provided them with enough information, even if I don't get my bike back, to do something: www.londoncyclist.co.uk/news/spending-the-day-with-the-cycle-task-force-of-the-met-police/ www.met.police.uk/transport/cycle_security.html The crims use pay as you go mobiles and no doubt change them very often. Difficult to trace people through Gumtree. My evdidence is circumstantial, but it is highly likely that this was my bike. More views please!

Last night my 'mid-range' push bike was stolen on Northumberland Avenue. The thief cropped through an armoured chain to get at it. After 3 1/2 years and 15000 miles I was upset to say the least. Around half an hour later on gumtree an ad went up for my bike, a rather general description but it is quite a unique model. On searching the mobile number on google I found four more adds for mid range racers. All rather 'general' and all using 'brochure' rather than real pictures. I have informed the police and hoped (and still hope) for a sting operation. In frustration I called the number only to get an evasive response, that it was his brother's bike and it had been sold. All this fits in with the information from London Cycle Campaign about Gumtree and what the police told me. Compare with e-bay and for the same type of bike on sale there is heaps of information and numerous pictures of the cycle indicating that for my type of model these are genuine ads. Anyway, pending futher police investigations I will quite happily share the mobile of the person on gumtree on this forum, in the hope that 100s of people would then call or text to ask about the bike. That would p them off, and also indicate that they had been rumbled. Yes it is futile, yes they will change their number, but it will get back at them for a while. The ad was in the public domain so their are no issues of privacy. And I would not suggest any texts would start up with 'dear bike thief'. Views please! Sadly I am not Facebook savvy enough to use this as a means for a campaign.

Someone got out of the bed the wrong side. Why don't people flush public toilets? Whoops gone off thread. PS this really is (seriously) a welcoming forum.

That tickled me!

Journey times this week into work - Monday 30 minutes, Tuesday 35 minutes, Wednesday 40 minutes, Thursday two hours, Friday 40 minutes. Guess which day I took the bus in? And I was grateful that unlike the trains at least they were running. And thanks to the twot in the metal box who came up behind me tonight and hooted as I turned right off Forest Hill Road. Yes I really appreciated you doing that whilst I was carefully manoevering over icy roads.

Clearly they had (or had the threat of) Polonium-210 in their water. What an apposite posting

See the SE23 Exile thread for the start of this discussion. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,379657

SE23 exile makes a good point. But he also, inadvertently, demonstrates the weakness of this site. To start with the subject matter. I similarly used to post on SE23 but gave up due to the draconian controls. Posts being delayed, amended, or just not put on at all. Threads being moved to the 4 O'clock in the morning slot, where no one will ever read them. New threads being started from an existing discussion by the webmaster, and killing a conversation dead. The forum appears to be run as a personal Fiefdom by someone who does not understand (or have any) sense of humour or fun. And is not open to any challenge either via the site or by personal communication. This is therefore not a community thread The has led to a turgid and unimaginative site, obsessed by train times and house prices, and dominated by a few individuals with too much time on their hands. Most of the creativity of a few years ago appears to have gone. I guess from my knowledge exile you may be Baboonery, Bigbadwoolf or Toffee Jim. Now this forum is in deed much more exciting. But too often you go off track into banal and/or juvenille discussions totally off thread. Witness this above as you go quickly off thread. Censorship (as with SE23.com) is out of order, but I don't know why you lot act so childish at times (queue a new thread). And from the disrespect to women there seem to be a lot of Liam Gallagher disciples out there. Perhaps the Sydehham Town Forum has got the right balacne between moderation and free speach.

I love you HonaloochieB Jeremy, I am certainly not inviting you to my birthday party. Why doesn't anyone understand my reference to the SS? Subtle but surely someone must get it.

Clearly I should not have gone off at a tangent, I don't think anyone got my point about SS but I don't want to spell this out further. I thought there was another thread about a web site where they censor the sort of discussion we are having. So back to the point (a) I was grumpy (b) I did not directly criticise the promoter © I've enjoyed the debate (d) I was interested in other's views on gigs they had got into/or hadn't got into (or other events) Here's some more starters for ten, clearly giving my age away. Went to Brum Odeon to get a Judy Priest ticket for a mate. They said horah that is the last ticket sold. Went to see the Cramps at The Hammersmith Palais, long queue for those with tickets, short one for those without, and they were down to single figures of tickets left when I got in (after coming down by train from Oxford). Went to try to get into see Billy Bragg at the Blackheath Halls on Spec. We asked if they could sell us a couple of tickets. No we can't said the door staff but we can give you them (they had no way of selling them on the night). Went to the ticket office on the day Everton vs Newcastle first match of the 05/06 season with Shearer returning. Long since sold out but they sold my brother in law and I tickets for the kids enclosure. Went to Luton vs a mighty team in the Championship. No tickets were sold on the night, following the riot by our local friedns from Bemondsey there sometime in the late 80s. Went back half an hour into the match and the ticket office apologised for having to stick to the rules, and then sold us a couple of tickets. And if dear reader, you are still following this. Went to the Golden Lion in Sydenham on Saturday to see the Prisonaires with Deptford's finest - Bobby Valentino. Smashing night, and we reminisced about the Golden Age of Deptford - Fabulous Poodles, Squeeze, Dire Straigths, Mark Perry and ATV. See: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNDEjFQ7w8 a stonking song, some awful camera work and visual effects and now you understand why dads dance this way (the dads were of course teens and early 20s in the video). I can't discuss this sort of thing on some other 'community' web sites as it would be taken off for being too progressive, or not having anything to do with house prices in it.

I came home in winter one year to see a lady, maybe 30, walking up my steps. I did not recognise her and asked who she wanted. She gave the name of someone who did not live at my house. Now what I should have done was say yes, I'll just get her and see what the response with. She then seemed to vapourise. I reported it to whoever (crime cascade, community police) and was told that a small group was doing the rounds casing joints. One break in in 20 odd years, and this, but not a lot else. I hope the rest of you are similarly crime free

Just popped over to try and watch the second set of the Askew Sisters, upstairs at the Mag to find it was sold out. Asked politely if she could squeeze me in. No we are sold out. Is there a fire limit. No we are sold out. Is anyone counting. Yes I am and it would be unfair on the others who couldn't get in. Are they here watching then? I've been in similar situations before, and quite often the venue will be prepared to sell me a ticket. Even sometimes at big venues finding the odd spare ticket. No doubt most will view this as a good thing that they have stuck to their guns etc. Personally I was a bit peeved and it will put me off going their in future. Now if I had been let in I wouldn't be posting how I managed to flout the system, but I would be 100% positive about the organiser. I hasten to add I was not at all confrontational. Fortunately unlike other web sites to the South I can post knowing I'll get a fair debate without any unecessary censorship. It was the SS who did this in Nazi Germany (excuse my poke at our local webfascist)

And to try to prove a point I was really wanted to ask a couple of West African colleagues. But they must get fed up of me as half my conversations seem to be along these lines. so I didn't. But bingo, tonight in Brixton cycyles I met a senior parking attendant, on his bike on the way home. Nigerian, or Ghanian. He thought the sketch was hilarious and it set him off! So there, discussion over.

Just your middle class sensitivities

No, no and no

A friend of mine had two bad experiences, first time in Swindon with a water pipe 24 years ago (not a bong they hasten to add), A Fripp and Eno record cover came to life and then they had to walk up and down the Old town unitl the effects wore off. Then in Manali in Himcachel Predesh in India (I haven't checked the spelling) with a chillum. This time they knew what the effect was and that it would wear off. The other 1000 times nothing like this. It is really hard writing in the third person.