malumbu

I am glad that I don't live in East Dulwich. It is like the Countryside, OK to visit, but not to live in. I did live in Catford briefly, and very close to the Forest Hill borders. There is no need to go out of that area when you have the best pub in SE London, the Blythe Hill Tavern, and one not far off the Catford Bridge Tavern (whops too late, its been closed). Blythe Hill is a lovely view/park, and loads more green space. And the Waterlink way path/cycle path. Which ends up at Lower Syenham so you can visit the person who asked about moving to Syd/Penge. And Wickes. If I am desparate I will use the Rose (if the beer was OK I'd use it more frequently). Otherwise I don't see any point in drinking in East Dulwich now the Crystal Palace Tavern has gone. Oh and if you think I am trolling I can almost spit into East Dulwich from where I live, and whatever I think of some of you, I am allowed to post my views unlike another supposed community website.

Lived in Sydenham for nine years in the 80s and 90s. Since then they destroyed a historic pub (shame on then), lost a knitting/material shop, a nice Indian restaurant and some other odds and sods. Traffic is as bad as ever, Slatters is as popular as ever but will never be the same since they stopped baking their own bread and got rid of the old photos if Mr Slatter with contestants on the Generation Game (Ken was on the last show ever). The Dolphin has been done up, the Golden Lion will helpfully continue trading, and no one has been bludgeoned to death (sick comment, sorry). Crims still live in the private roads, Lower Sydenham quickly becomes Beckenham and the nice bits of Penge, there are some nice cycle tracks, they have a Screwfix, The Penge East sevice is excellent, and the houses on that side decent with some traffic calming. And the Old Bath House. Despite having a Blue Mountain Cafe it is not poncy like East Dulwich, the pubs have not all been turned into Gastros, and not full of yummy mummies. East Dulwich - you know what you are! So go for it. Never liked the Bell Green part though.

Thought it was quite an amusing tale, and I doubt if anyone in the England dressing room was thinking that Woy (there is me being insensitive about people with lisps) was making a racist remark about a black player. Do people still use 'monkey' as an insult? (apart from that throwback caught on camera at Chelski (whoops an insensitive anti-Russian remark)) Adrian was not being racist either, and like him or not he certainly is far more successful than any one posting here. Contrast comments on Have I got News for You the other day ("over here, taking our jobs") which was clearly amusing/tongue in cheek, and of course that's all fine as we understand. I also enjoy a good anti-English stereotype ie we all have crooked teeth, deeply reserved and drink gallons of tea. What I was trying to get out of this thread was an examinatiof our own, and society's casual racism (or unintended/insensitive comments/stereotypes etc.). I've said things in the past that I shudder about now, but were perfectly innocent at the time. Even now I may say "how long have you been over here", rather than more subtly asking about background, purely because I am interested in other cultures etc. Had a great chat with a Romanian cabbie, who is doing is accountacy exams as his were not recognised in the UK, but meanwhle has to drive mini cabs to pay for all of this. He get's fed up when he is considered to be an asylum seeker or low skill economic migrant. And finally apologies for my comment about cockney winkers. You are not all loud mouthed geezers wearing bright clothes, ducking and diving, on the make, unable to support your local football team, and with the inability to pronounce your consonants. Well not all of you. And Adrian and I are not thick Brummies. Well not Brummies anyway. That Birminum to you cockerneys.

Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me SLADE

Do everything you can to keep the tooth. If you lose it then you have a gap (at no extra cost), a bridge (not perfect but you can get one on the state) or an implant if you want to return to full functionality at ???. Cheaper if you go to Hungary but at your risk, although I believe there are private dental practiced based in London but outsource the work abroad and you can get a holiday at the same time. I am a product of the drill and fill times when 99% of dentistry was on the NHS, dentists drove round in flash cars and drilled whether you needed it or not as that coined the money in. Not an urban myth. Oral health and dentistry much better and my brill dentist has saved teeth (under the NHS) that others wouldn't. Always worth getting a second opinion if they want to yank it out.

And you sound like a cockney winker! 15,000 Poles at the England/Poland match "its just like a home match for them" And something about being careful of what he said as he had Polish builders round. Was hoping to open this up to a proper discussion on casual racism, rather than silly/juvenile jibes which can be the nature of this forum. I am just laying the gauntlet down.

The Twitter sphere seems to be getting excited by a throw away remark by my good friend (well he got me a Guinness once). Here was my response to the world beyond EDF: Umhh, there are a lot of Poles in Britain and a lot of Polish builders. The comment was not funny, but a throw away one which made no inference to the quality of Polish builders nor the number of Poles living in Britain. Of course we have a special relationship stemming from Pogroms (Jews being persecuted in central and Eastern Europe in the early 20th century) and World War II. As opposed to the US where 'Polak' jokes were common until perhaps relatively recently. I get far more stereotypical and potentially racist remarks from supposedly successful and intelligent (but sadly ignorant) people in the burbs. My favourite one is - Oh, SE London, we had to move out of there to a blue borough when 'they' moved in ("they" in a hushed tone). ---------------------------------- [end of my post to the rest of the world] Chiles just needs to say whoops, that was stupid of me, do a nice apology and here is a ?10k donation to the Polish war memorial. That coke sniffing property tycoon on Final Score had to eat humble pie last week after saying something that could have been slightly derogatory against women/women's football. I am sure that he is not a misogynist. I am of course being tongue in cheek about Mr Fowler's recreational drug interests. What I meant to add to the posing above was that things can only get better as my good friends D:ream once sang.

Sorry that I haven't posted for a long time. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahehehehehehehohohoteeheeteeheeguffawhahaha Well done special agent Moyes. Going down with the Mackams, going down with the Mackams...

Motorist's behaviour getting better and cyclists getting worse?? My totally unscientific views based on observation and experiences is the opposite. But firstly the vast majority of both are fine (I have more problems with pedestrians now...) And I am just as angry at a cyclist texting on the move as a motorist. I think it is engrained in our culture that we have a right to go as fast as we can when driving, with many of us not bothering to read the road and anticipate. WTF are you accelerating towards stationary traffic? And do any of you motorists really know how to go over a speedbump? Back off the accelerator before, and accelerate slightly when going over it. Don't use the brake (as I almost cycle into yet another car braking harshly going down undehill road. Perhaps I am just more aware of the accelerating motorist than I was in the past, and at least this gives me a little more warning that they are less likely to give me space. In our boxes we just seem to be more insulated that those on two wheels (and I also rode motorbikes for years). I think much of the hysteria is simply because there are just simply far more cyclists (sadly some are the nutters that people go on about). Going back to my motorbiking days, there is an intersting training parallel. I'd cycled since a kid and had a car license for a few years, so why did I need motorcycle training? In the good old days there was non-compulsory local authority courses, run by local motorcycle groups and properly accredited (think it was RAC/ACU). That was before successive administrations buggered up the motorbike test - what I did was the better and more cost effective. The course helped me appreciate positioning, reducing my vulnerability and even the importance of the old fashioned hand signal, as that makes you look over your shoulder. Something never forgotten now the cycle is my main form of transport. Investment in this sort of thing for young, and not so young cyclists, may not be a bad thing. Oh and I also liked going into a HGV cab - wow! So back to my source, a few accidents, far too many near misses, most not my fault, some my fault, close shaves with bikes when a pedestrian (one my fault, and one I had a go at the cylist as he was coming through on the inside at speed by a station), my own near misses with pedestrians as a cyclist, and sad to say some near misses as a driver with cyclists as well (again sometime my own fault, which is really sobering). There's also lots about poor design of London streets for cyclists, but others have picked this up already.

Titch juicy, it is not common sense it is having to anticipate drivers not seeing you and/or doing daft things and constant awareness of what is around you. Something that after 30 years of road use I am now resonably good at, to the extent that I can usually predict sudden lane changing etc. But even then I still get caught out, if for whatever reason I am thinking about something else. Car does a u-turn and it takes me an extra half a second to yell and have to swerve out of the way. Totally the driver's fault yet because I was not expecting it I could have been the one knocked to the ground. Should all cyclists be expected to be as good as me? That's nothing to do with common sense (the latter is not doing daft things like trying to go through on the inside whilst vehicles are turning). So what I have noticed more and more is essentially so many drivers (and this may apply to some cyclists as well, and certainly more and more pedestrians) are not carrying out the most essential thing when on the road (and also on the pavement). Mirror (or look behind you), signal (tell people what you are doing), manoever. So bloody simple. But no, manoeuvre (suddenly) and perhaps signal whilst you are doing it, and don't bother looking. Oh there is my turnin, swerve. Oh I must check my phone, sudden stop. And just for some balance, who was the arse who cycled all the way up the Forest Hill Road pavement from outside the pharmacist to the cemetery this evening? Pavement narrows at the top to hardly the width for a single pedestrian let alone space for someone to cycle through past a couple of walkers. And the white van on its mobile. And the traffic doing 45mph going down the hil. Think I will just give up.....

Badminton is declining sadly as a competitive/participant sport in the UK and we need some more teams (mixed (3/3), composite (4 men, 2 ladies) and mens 4s (all these are doubles) PM me if you are interested in entering. Standard is mixed/medium and this is quite nice if you are a new club. You'd need a home ground, and unless an established club may just play friendlies (against proper teams) which would be nice to test the water. The league at one stage spread from Surrey Quays, to Eltham, Streatham and beyond Croydon. This is a watershed year so advice on how to keep it going appreciated.

Sounds odd to me (the original problem that is) My traditional 25 year old indirect system suddenly started blowing hot water into the header tank that overflowed (my dodgy diy) into the main cold water tank. Loads of iron oxide crud and brown cold water for yonks. I spent hours going through it and then a plumber (who didn't charge, bless him) with neither of us working it out. After the crap blew out of the central heating circuit, the rads filled with air. It was time for the system to be replaced but never understood why this happened and Googled for solutions to no success. Maybe a poltegeist. I also had a primatic system yonks ago where air got into the system, rusted the radiators, hydrogen built up pressure, and then blew water into the header tank, which overflowed onto the ceiling. It only ever seemed to happen at night. And brown cold water as well. Almost as fun as sharing stories about the cars that I used to drive.

BBC Gardening included a piece about summer pruning. I'll try to pdf it if I get my act together.

Why thank you! Was in Berlin yesterday - a strange paradox, great public transport, better cycling infrastructure but boy to the Germans love their cars!

Widespread killing of people sounds like there is natural born killer on a bike going round wiping people out. Now if you want to talking about widespread killing then there are around 29,000 early deaths each year in the UK due to poor air quality, mainly due to emissions from diesel vehicles. That is of course a rather simplistic statistic, but still sobering. Now a western soicety needs the motor vehicle, but does not need to use it to the exent that we do, nor drive it the way we do. So next time you see someone sitting in their diesel car or van, parked on their phone for several minutes with the engine idling, not only are they adding unecessarily to global warming, they are also killing you. There is your real mass murderer. Oh read all this in the 'Mayor's air quality strategy' of the Commitee on the medical effects of air pollution, in case think I am making this up!

Quite the opposite. We need new laws to control pedestian behaviour. They should all be fitting with indicators and brake lights and a mirror, so that they can check before manoeuvering eg to stop to check a text or to do an instant video thingy. Those who do not obbey the simple rule should risk being fined for dangerous pedestrianising, or pedestrianising without due care and attention. Those who insist on totally flouting the laws, eg by not bothering to look at all because they are staring at a screen, should be made to wear a flashing warning light,or better still a person with a red flag walking in front of them. Damn, I've just seen PR's post, which made this point far more succinctly. Another thing is the myth that cyclists are busy killing pedestrians on the street. DfT collate cyclist/pedestrian injuries but not whether the pedestrian was on the street or crossing the road. Sadly a number of pedstrians die each year from cars mouting the pavement. Therefore most bikes are in collision with pedestrians because the latter are having to walk on the road to avoid cars that mount the pavement. Simple.

Loking forward to Xmas as the nights will start getting longer again. Alternatively I will be almost four months closer to death (if I make it by then, I sense there is a contract on me from at least one person on this website)

Its not car tax it is Vehicle Excise Duty. This is not a tax to pay for roads it is a general tax (as are most if not all the HMRC raise). I pay for roads in both my general tax (that provide grants to local authorities and the roads central government is responsible for, the latter generally not cyclist friendly) and my Council tax which pays for Lewisham Roads. Oh dear I can't use your potholed roads in Southwark. So you may as well say - "ah you are on benefits, you can't use any of our local and national services as you don't pay for them". Ever the one with an interesting story, I stopped at Lambeth Bridge roundabout, as a taxi was coming through. Was suprised that a yellow truck with a trailer went straight through and that the cab didn't toot it. I thought right I'll have you on the bus lane over the bridge, but the truck was hammering it through. So we get to the lights and I thought "I'll have you here" And as we took off for the first time I heard "warning this vehicle is turning left". Thought "wow - that is the latest advancement in warnings to cyclist not to cut through on the inside". Shame it didsn't say "warning, driven by an aggressive arsehole". If you have seen my other posts, I usually add balance by saying most drivers, of all vehicles, ages, ethnicities, sexual preference, gender and those that work for LL Carpets or Hamptons International are pretty reasonable

Wasn't even searching for this. It seemed to come for me via a very circuitous route. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgt2uc-EMdg

Is there an echo? I spoke to my friends in Lordship Lane Carpets, and then Hamptons International, but they were not much help. So.... Expedia have moved from central London. So dear readers, here is a tip, write a complaint letter. Don't do it on line, or phone up the call centre, write. Following this they kindly phoned (I was now a priority case) when I was out but didn't leave a message. Ditto with an e-mail. So I visited the HQ which is now a plush office at the Angel. They eventually explained that they were only an admin office and that my complaint was being handled in Las Vagas as I was now a priority. I even had a nice chat to the Navada office. Expedia told me that they hated social networks giving out their direct line for London as they then got inudated. I explained that a complaining customer was a discerning customer, (OK not always true) and that good customer service paid great dividends through word of mouth. I hope Michael O'leary is reading this. Anyway, back to my quest. They eventually phone me back at home. And take half an hour going through the options. They only had one option, which was to put us up in a hotel in Mykonos overnight (three times the price of the island we were going to). At Expedia's cost I hasten to add. Why that took half an hour I'll never know. So result. Then I get an e-mail a couple of days before we depart saying that the second hotel has cancelled our reservation and to ring a free phone number in America. This time in Texas. I try to explain in a controlled manor our predicament. There is what seeems to be a 30 second silence, until I realise that is the pace they talk at in Texas. Enventually I find that this is an admin error from Expedia. So, rather than my hols sorted out at a touch of a button, this took hours. Lesson is book a flight early with Easyjet, then go to the Lonley Planet and to check on accommodation and book that independently as well. As I have done for most hols in the last 15 years. And if I had done this early would have saved me a grand.

Fine bit of debate on this thread. I'd bring back hanging for everyone. I wrote to the Sun. The took my advice - they brought it back National costume was all-over-black There were corpses in the avenues and cul-de-sacs Piled up neatly in six-man stacks Hanging from the traffic lights and specially made racks They'd hang you for incontinence and fiddling your tax Failure to hang yourself justified the axe A deedely dee, a deedely dum Looks like they brought back hangin' for everyone

No no no. Keep them out. And out of bus lanes. Bally daft. From a cyclist and motorcyclist of 30 years plus. I have as much hassle from motorbikes as from white vans, taxis, young drivers and buses. Not a lot but I do moan about it when it happens. Motorcyclists = proper motorbikes who are generally OK Those who want to become taxi drivers doing the knowledge who can be a pain And annoying people on scooters, due to their manoeuvrability but their lack of awareness of road position.

The Herne, Clock House and Rye Hotel are all wonk. The FHT, aka Rose, aka The Royal Oak, make some attempt to be a real pub, with locals, a pub quiz that is not a clone of all the other ones doing the rounds and some live music. True the beer is a disaster but then again if there are only a few of us who drink it. And lots of things they do don't seem to work. But it is not the Herne, Clock House or Rye, so you can go in and sit down and have a drink without feeling a lepper because you are not eating.

Brought some poo into the house today on my shoes, so not happy. Thought I'd start a thread, but assumed that this would be something that had been aired before. Well knock me down with a feather, what perfect timing! We use a cat scarer with a laser light and a wailing sound. I then notice a fox in a neighbour's garden who shows a slight bit of interest. Cat's repsond quite slowly but eventually walk away. Obvious problem is that you have to be there. I fancied an air rifle, which I would use against the rats with long furry tails, but they cost quite a lot, and I'd probably get prosecuted for animal cruelty. We've thought about lion poo for some time, particularly knowing people from ZSL. But hey presto, search it on Google, and plenty of hits, ignore Amazon coz they are scumbags (IMO) and try somewhere like http://www.primrose.co.uk/silent-roar-cat-repellent-05kg-p-791.html?cPath=24_312&source=googleads&gclid=CPPGyoy_irkCFeXMtAodhBEAlA

Apparently they like dried semen. I jest not, although I did read this in the New Scientist over twenty years ago. How fasicinating.