KidKruger

Thanks, so far. I'm well used to living in country, just haven't worked with oil previously. I have asked for bills but there's probably never going to be anything definitive from a vendor regarding no. of refills pa. and accurate burn costs. If it was a plumbed-in service you could check the last couple of years quarterly bills obviously. I'm going to speak with next door and see what they say and also ask where nearest gas is - as a couple of years a I turned a place onto gas for the first time and if you dig your own trench it can be affordable. But currently it's looking like we'd need to 'retreat into the East wing' for the winter !

What RRR said. I am actually thinking of ditching London because I don't want to live anywhere else in London and living here is increasingly and inconsistently difficult to get into City which is what I positioned myself here for originally (when there were at most 10-15 people on the platform for my morning train to LB). If you can work from home indefinitely then no problem obviously. The Govt have created this situation, they don't care and everyone is kidding themselves that things will improve. A weak and pointless contract was agreed and no-one's accountable, you couldn't invent it. "East Dulwich is not Shangri La" Shangri La is not in London anyway, but as far as London goes I'd say ED IS in many ways (for me, at least) Shangri La.

Ahaa - maybe this is where the ?7.50 hotdogs reside !

i think they're fine - I believe water gets involved anyway in the recycling process. I'm sure the clever peeps on here can be more definitive though.

I'm looking at a house with oil fired central heating (via a fecking big Aga) and with gas not being an option it's either wood/coal or oil (which is already set-up and operational). Anyone got first hand on this ? All advice appreciated. Over time I'd look at underground heat exchangers / solar etc., but that's way later.

Oh sod being literal, let's just say what we want even though we don't know what we mean, let's retract whatever we say or parts of it or twist them to mean something else in a chameleo-speak kinda way, people can interpret it another way however they want and we'll all have a cracking LSD stylee conversation ! Pass me the Kool-Aid maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnn........

I think Joan who now runs the DogFather stall, would be upset to read those comments intended to give a poor impression of the quality of her dedicated work and the efforts to exagerate the costs of her offering.

I think ?7.50 is the absolute top end - if there even is anything being sold at the hotdog stand for that price. If you haven't eaten there you're not qualified to say 'just' what the hotdogs 'only' are. I understand the dogs are beef and come from NY, the fillings etc are more than your watered-down ketchup and they are indeed very tasty. If your only experience of hotdogs is a pissed-up experience in the car park of a cheap nightclub, or a burger van at a boot sale, then I can empathise with your tainted and misguided impression of what's being sold in NC Rd. We go there as a treat every few weeks and it's consistently good. Anyway let's do the Xoco thing, because I'm getting de ja vue from this repeat conversation.

Perhaps look at the the houses with obvious works currebtly going on near that junction and see if they had such deliveries that morning and who by. I don't see why a large lorry would be off the beaten track like that for a reason. I bet with an hour of pacing around you can build a map of all such sites. A polite enquiry as to whether there's tradesmen on site who know how to fix plasterboarding and have they done it on that job (and when) - as if you were a potential customer / client - may help. They presumably won't be aware of the collision so won't have anything to hide in that respect. Follow-on with who do you get plasterboard from (which merchants), when was last time you used them. There's a good chance you can nail this. Once you know the supplier you can check who was delivering to that site that morning.

I think 'pretentious' is an over-used term, oft used to describe things people are frightened to try, scared of accepting into their world, or afraid their dated status quo vision of 'how things should be' will be compromised. As opposed to the dictionary meaning of the word (which, surely, we should all try to adhere to - at least remotely, or where will we be then ?). Same as the way some people describe art or poetry as 'pretentious', they don't get it / it's not for them - so it's easier to call it 'that' name because that neatly puts all those people who DO like it into the 'wrong' category. I think that pretty much sums it up. Pat on the back for me there, I think.

Same here, food poisoning from restaurants / sit-down-inside places, but never street stalls !

No, not in my experience - at least not in foreign (South Asian / Far Eastern) countries as per your example photo. From what I've seen, street food is most common in hot countries - which is why it's outside. Usually the vendor has same plot/location, day in day out, so they become a fixture of the neighbourhood. They live or die by the quality of their offering. If there are too many of the same offering, that will dilute their sales. They build a reputation based on how good their food is, not how cheap it is. So I think the fundamental PRINCIPLE of street food is quality, consistency and desirability as a dish (in some cases that may mean filling a traditional slot in the local market, in others something slightly original).

Presumably Dishroom isn't Bangladeshi-run then !

No sorry Sue, I'll be selling abstract art. May not sit sweetly with the slightly-chipped 1970s cream-coloured colander and 'Captain' dining chair which 'needs work' to bring up to full robust usage !

That's the Persian shop though isn't it Man ?

No, we need another predictable, 'safe' fake Indian restaurant run by Bangladeshis. Just calling it an Indian restaurant is as preposterous as calling a restaurant a 'Chinese' restaurant. Perhaps we need a 'European' restaurant instead ?

Cheers for these tips, I'll make a point of trying them with my Indian posse. I was literally thinking of just showing them Western food places, but being they're almost all veggie the choices (from their perspective) are really poor. If they ate meat I'd take them to places like Simpsons on the Strand, so they could try something a bit traditional. South Asians have certainly nailed veggie cuisine (as you expect they'd have to), which is a hard act to follow.

I've been thinking of a stall too - so what's the damage ? 35 ? Can you hire a stall ? (ie. the actual stand/shelter)

Yeah I'd like to swap some shit up.

The mind boggles why someone would think they have any say whatsoever regarding who another person has as a partner. Let alone the right to also get 'offended'. I'm convinced that these angry outbursts betray a dormant gay-side which, due to their own prejudices, makes them feel ashamed and causes them to hate themselves and lash out like this.

Hmmmm.... Foxy. A couple of days ago you hauled someone up for casually mentioning '7 curry houses' on Lordship Lane, where you pointed out it was 5 - a discrepancy of 2. Yes two. One, two - two ! NOW you casually disregard 2 BILLION of the population with a stroke of the keyboard ?! Your error was AT LEAST a billion times as bad, by magnitude. That's a propa error. This simply can't go on.

That's right PR, Thames seemed OK. To be honest though, going forward I think I'm taking these guys to non-'Indian' restaurants. There are plenty other cuisines for them to try and Bangladeshis don't cook to the Indians' (that I know) standard.

What Jah said. Clockworkorange - lol !

That logic would dictate that those people being mugged and beaten for their possessions in the neighbourhood late at night are also lazy and irresponsible. If they know the criminals are out there, then they obviously don't care about their lives/safety, their partners feelings, nor their childrens feeling (because they may be killed or maimed, leaving dependents). Right ? If you don't completely re-organise your day-to-day routine around criminals then you are just asking for it. Right ? Some of the comments above have knocked the twat-o-meter right off the scale !

Oh, OK. Ouch, that must cost a business.