SimonM

>>and it makes me wonder why on earth Waitrose dont just setup store on DKH instead. At least thats genuine quality for >>higher prices! :D

To me, all fish and chip shops lost their je ne sais quoi when they abandoned good old beef dripping and began using oil instead. Now oil may be fine for greasing your bike or car, or making your hair shiny, but cooking chips in it is just so wrong. And mushy peas should be made by soaking a sack of dried peas in a bucket overnight with them white tablet things. And there should be large jars of pickled onions and eggs, and bottles of Tizer & Dandelion & Burdock. I am a dinosaur of course...>:D<

>>However Sainsburys are a smaller operation and are struggling against the might of Tesco and Asda. Knowing that they have no real point of difference they have rebranded themselves as the middle-class supermarket.<< Sainsbury's have always been the "middle class" grocers, compared to the people like Tesco and Fine Fare (anyone remember them?), long before the term "rebranding" became used outside episodes of "Rawhide". Later as the smaller shops became economcially unviable they had to move to larger sites and become the (sort of) "middle class" supermarket instead. Now this latter position is occupied by Waitrose/Ocado. And they always had a reputation for quality - in the old days you could go into the shop and ask a guy in a white coat behind the cheese counter for 5 ounces of cheddar and he'd cut you the exact-sized piece - none of this "is 8 ounces ok sir?" nonsense. Obviosuly times have changed but remnants of these days do I think still linger on in the modern stores. They've never been pile-it-high-and-sell-it-cheap merchants as both Tesco and ASDA were in the beginning. As for quality now well...I always prefer either the Farmers' Market (only once a month locally) or Pretty's for most fruit and veg, but the fact remains Sainsbury's do offer more variety and the quality tends to be more constant. The Dog Kennel Hill branch though is certainly something of a flagship branch, and far superior as regards choice to either the Forest Hill or Upper Norwood branches (the latter once a Morrisons and before that a Safeway)

>>Their product range is for young people. << According to their website their market is "affluent 25-40 year olds".....

>>I was composing this paragraph in my head on the way back only to find that Charlie Brooker has only pre-empted me in today's Guardian.<< So you too were accompanied by a piece of ex-BB blonde totty? :))

>>This myth that Sainsbury's is somehow posher is a triumph of branding over reality<< Disagree - do Morrisons do Illy coffee beans or jars of Bearnaise sauce these days then? - inless you're talking about staples like tinned tomatoes or washing powder...

>>Welcome to the forum Mr Sainsbury's! I am counting down the hours until ... Starbucks re-opens!<< I was there on Wednesday just before it closed - and it looks like the Starbucks will be somewhat bigger than the one there before. As for the Forest Hill branch,this doubled in size not so long agobe but is still obviously not in the same league as the Dog Kennel Hill one.

Saw my first "G-Wiz" - http://tinyurl.com/36bcy9 - on Lordship Lane yesterday...

Agreed about Celia Hammond - we got our last two from there. Be warned though you will first have to be "inspected" by 1 of their reps. to confirm any cat(s) will be suitably homed with you! And if you do get one get it microchipped - worth every penny >:D<

I miss the "Savarin" greasy spoon, and also Place Bakeries, which had two or three branches between Goose Green and the Grove Tavern and seemed to be staffed by an inexhaustible supply of helpful old ladies...

>>This made me wonder where the early 21st Century perception of the heart of East Dulwich now lies.<< Northcross Road, on the pavement by Pretty Traditional, somewhere between the pineapples and the English strawberries. Except most Fridays when it drifts a little towards the English Cheese Van... Surely everyone knows this? :))

I recall when they kept a couple of tethered sheep in the garden to keep the grass down :))

>>Do you think Monmouth would look at ED? I think they're too big.<< "Au Ciel" in the Village sells ir

This is old news, brought again to the fore by digruntled West Ham fans in the media. The premier league would not dare penalise Sheffield United for, what is after all a long established practice, after letting Man Utd off for the same "transgression" :))

>>I think we should hunt down and shoot and kill Jim Davidson as an act of political correctness or is that PC gone mad?:D

>>In teh case of waiters and restaurant staff, tipping is not only customary but is factored in to the staff wages - so no, you're not already paying for the service :D

Everyone expected a points deduction (including West Ham): precedent strongly indicated a points deduction would be imposed (see Middlesbrough a few years back). The fact that a points deduction was the normal sanction was emphasised inadvertently by the Commission itself when it saw fit to add an excruciatingly long and unconvincing list of reasons to its "judgement" as ro why a points deduction had not been imposed. I think really the rules and regulations were quite clear until the Commission totally bollixed things up

Sheffield United, Charlton, Wigan & Fulham all made it clear from the start they would not let this matter rest - long before any of them were confirmed as relegated/not relegated. So it can hardly be classed as "sour grapes". I have yet to see any premier league club come out in vocal support for the scandalously lenient "punishment" the so-called "independent commission" handed out to West Ham. And yes, of course a manager can put out any side he wants, and any other manager whose team is adversely affected by (real or imagined) sharp practice is free to comment on it.

>>No easy 6 points next season if they are not around.....<< Wigan, Fulham, Derby, Birmingham, Bolton...:))

>>I did lose sympathy when Warnock basically said he hoped Liverpool would lose the champs league, I just thought that >>was a bit nasty.:D< . It seems poetic justice to me that Liverpool, having disrespected the Premier league, should fail to win the Champions League.

>>Oh, and I'd like to add that I hope Shef U rot in the Championship and never come up again.<< Well If West Ham *do* get to avoid justice and remain in the Premiership next season I hope they finish rock bottom Pleasantly surprised to see that Liverpool have supported us (i.e., Sheffiled United) at the Arbitration hearing, but I don't think many United fans expect to be reinstated. I am just glad they are putting up a fight. West Ham are clearly rattled by this possiblity though

>>and are going to do sit down pie and mash from autumn:D

>>No they haven't. I think it is very poor of them if you ask me, but it will not stop me from filling up my aluminium cup on the very first morning they open<< It cannot be long now can it? I thought it was due this month sometime?

Also a *very* few too on Underhill Road. (There used to be more but they fell victim to property developers...)

"Ay oop!" - general Yorkshire "Nahh den!" Yorkshire but Sheffield especially, for example: first chap "Nahdann!! ahdagoin?", second fellow "aright, ah dahhhh?" (translation on request if required)