KidKruger

"Btw, Southern has just been fined ?13.4M" So in reality it's just money-shiffling isn't it ? Didn't Southern get ?20M last year from Govt (despite posting profits ) ? So Southern is still quids up. I think DL's suggested solution is one of the most viable.

The joke is that there's nowhere to go with this complaint. Nowhere that will make any difference. How self-entitled are we to expect a regular and reliable train service in exchange for our season ticket ?!

Power back now - neighbours too.

Surely drug dealers have to maintain cash in hand, they be asking for trouble otherwise. So it's obvious not all trades can get into VAT, invoices, receipts etc.

Yeah I heard 'Whateley Rd area affected, back around 1100-1130'. Sooner the better tho !

Two houses in my block currently have no power (perhaps for an hour or so so far). Anyone else / know of reason locally ?

It's a disgrace. Animals would not be treated this way for fear of contravention of some regulation. So, are trains regular again (several per hour) now or only hourly ?

As a fallback, perhaps stock-up with beers / wine and get some easily heatable/prepared snacks.

Listen for the high-pitched sound coming from the sky.... Oh ..

Nope. Always keep an eye open for my neighbours and their stuff and know them all by name / to chat with. If I have a tradesman round and neighbours don't know about it I'll always get a call from one or two them checking all is OK. Be a shame to leave ED. ETA (after reading Louisa's cross-post): this includes neighbours who've been on my block and houses opposite from 85yrs, 55yrs, 27yrs, 13yrs, 7yrs, and just a few months.

Happened to a cat I had years ago when a neighbour who kept feeding him refused to when I asked her to stop. She said the cat spent more time at her place so it was now her cat ! She lived next door and spoilt it rotten. I wasn't going to get in to a 'treats war' with her, so let it be and cat came back of its own accord. When neighbour asked me to stop letting cat in my house I said, "soends more time at my house now, so MY cat". Catnip played a part if I'm honest, I grew kilos of the stuff.

Leave a note on the bike for owner.

At a guess (and I am speculating here), I'd venture that Sue happened to be in Walthamstow anyway. The arduous trip to Walthambloodystow is not merited by their local branch of Manzes alone, no matter how much one is a fan of the pie and the mash.

That block is some kind of halfway house / re-integration facility I think. I doubt anyone in charity hostel / halfway facility is making as much through begging as the amount fiddled by some MPs via expenses and they probably need the money more too. What they spend it on is their business.

If fence has been there like 10yrs then I think a straight replacement will be OK - Council will know that contesting it will be fruitless. I think. Do you know / can you evidence (incl. letter from previous owner ?).

Actually RH, if it's Sonny Rollins, then it'd be more than OK to blast it out at any time of day ! It's in the public interest to be exposed to Sonny Rollins and his ilk (I'd add Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan), no matter the hour.

I'm pretty sure as long as you don't raise over council's advised limit you could build it out of brick.

"Of course some here would not be seen dead in a place like this. " Hands up anybody who would not be seen in a pie and mash shop because you think it's beneath you (Foxy, be sure to count the responses - or will you say no responses means everyone's scared to admit it ??!!). "If it was on the lane and ?15.99 for Pie and Mash they would not be able to get enough. " I'm sorry, but that is total bollox !! Louisa, shame on you for even pretending to agree with that !! You two. I don't know...

Here you go: https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/yorkshire-cafe-serving-600-full-english-breakfasts-week-just-1-142304757.html "even the homeless can get fed for next to nothing" - there you are, no 'locals being excluded by gentrification'.

Sounds good J&B !! Might see you tomorrow (though I'm not headinhg over until 1300 !).

Tuckshop - that's the 'beauty' of internet forums though isn't it, posters can just drop an anonymous 'accusation bomb' and sit back and admire their work, with no-one to answer to.

Indian veggie food can be healthy, if not too much oil/salt and fresh ingredients. But that is not what DF ate. So it's a distraction to mention it when someone has pointed out that a plate of cheap meat is unhealthy - completely unrelated in fact. The Indian restaurants around here, cook the same menu, as they do for most areas around the UK in fact. They are not health-food operations, eat it every day for a month and see what state you're in. Indian restaurants work to tight margins and to imply they use prime (or even mid-range!) meat is surely fantasy. It would be money (from the restaurants' perspective) misspent because most customers would not recognise the difference / don't expect it in a curry. I'm actually amazed that a plate of meat can be sold, cooked, for less that ?10. I don't think Indian restaurants around ED get a hard time, per se, on the EDF. What I have seen though, is posters (very much including myself) rolling their eyes when another 'same old' Indian restaurant opens, selling the predictable bastardisations of easy-to-get-anywhere-else 'Indian' dishes (and I'm happy to be called 'pretentious' for it, as I have been, if that's what one has to endure for pointing out basic facts about the Indian restaurants around here). It's not being stuck-up, it is being genuinely interested in food. Personally I believe the healthiest Indian food is at home, where you can control the content yourself. There is a sense that anything in favour of new food outlets / different restaurants is slammed-down on the EDF, almost in a Kim Jong Il style, with no real basis in fact. I, for one, am not a quiche or tart fan, but I find it both intruiging and exciting for the area that someone has not only thought of it but had the balls to make it happen, and I wish them all the best - whether their quiches are ?8.75 or ?85.75! I may never go there, but hope many others will, and that they enjoy it and the business sustains, why would anyone wish anything else for what must be genuine hard-fought efforts ? We need to be realistic, I don't think any 'English' restaurants, selling meat and two veg for ?2.99, are going to be opening any time soon. ED is now a fairly well-to-do area whether we like it or not, what comes with that is interesting openings on the high street (whether it's too one's own particular taste or not). Let's embrace the privilege of having previously unavailable options. And soon I'll be sharing news of my non-GM, wholewheat, opening "The MoMo Shack"...

"Have you considered cycling? (ducks, covers head...)" It's a one-off and currently I don't have a bike that's servicable for this short-notice appt. However longer-term, if there was some business to do there eventually, I probably wouldn't cycle because (apart from not having the bottle to cycle across London - driving is dangerous enough !) there'd be no provision for storing clothes and wet towels/showers (ducks, covers head...).

"I would walk to PR station and get the train to St Pancras" Oh yeah, that's the train I meant !