KidKruger

I'd suggest TCVM did NOT "fulfill the negative expectations of his newfound neighbours" because they didn't expect him to hold a party, their comments/expectations were all about his avoidance of taxes, not being entitled to have a nice car while living in a van and fear of him using their bins (FFS!). Anyway TCVM, I still got a nice curry if you want it mate. It'll take a day to defrost and you'll need some rice. Also, Ruby Shoes = ED's very own Alf Garnett !

Missus, Firstly it's not 'PC' just to believe that people shouldn't be judged the second they turn-up. More like basic human courtesy. Secondly, there's nothing to be careful about in my saying don't be so presumptious - there's a big gulf between slagging off a complete stranger for not having the 'lifestyle' you choose and calling someone a bigot (stranger or not) who has demonstrated a classic case of, ermm, bigotry... "A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs." KK

No-one has backtracked that I can see. Some people slagged-off people in a van suspecting them of x, y and z. Then people in the van ended up doing a, b and c instead and the insulters said told you so. The 'liberals' had initially suggested not being presumptuous, they did not suggest that van people can do anything they want to whomever they want, when events turned unreasonable the 'liberals' did not support their activity. Be accurate and admit bigotry. You foresaw nothing.

Up at a hotel in huddersfield years ago on a wedding party I agreed with my cousin to 're-spell' the name of the hotel in the huge white-painted boulders that spelled out the hotel name 'Hilton' on a muddy bank in front of the hotel on a busy roundabout. My cousin was so drunk I left him by the dancefloor at 3am and went out front, wrapped plastic bags around my feet and renamed the place 'Hotel HELL'. Couldn't stop grinning as I walked back past the reception desk (having unclad my still shiny shoes, as my alibi). Next morning my little party piece went down a treat with the rellies as i dragged them before breakfast across to the other side of the roundabout junction for a private 'viewing', certainly helped the breakfast joviality. Admittedly, it wasn't jam jars, but same sentiment, right ?

This is really dissapointing if blue van tribe have been keeping people awake and peeing openly outside. It doesn't justify the vitriol comments made earlier on this thread because they were not substantiated when made and in some ways still aren't - the guy hasn't been exposed as a 'fake' yet, he may actually pay taxes and he may have (probably has) a good reason to be living in a van. However I feel for those close by and it's clear that some calm and firm approach is now required to close this matter. There was a poster much earlier in the thread who suggested who to contact in respect of noise, sanitation, fumes etc. It sounds like the early hours of this morning were an ideal time to contact the police if the desired outcome was to have the occupants' misdemeanours brought to account. It may turn out that last night at a 'location' is when they party...

Well, no-one was in to take my curry. The cheek of it !! They're porbably at the Red Fort dining on haute cuisine curry...

Darn it, I'm gonna give 'em a knock later and give 'em a couple of bags of my frozen curry. If they're veggies then rubyshoes can have it.

rubyshoes your last outburst I'll put down to fatigue or something, to give you benefit of the doubt !! there's no infingement on 'fairness & justice' just because the 'hippie' doesn't walk down the road that you lay. having a go at people for not agreeing with you is a serious rattle-out-of-the-pram disorder, no-one is obliged to go along with your running-down of your new neighbour. You can get help for that, though not down your street. I would suggest quite strongly that the posters who contend your view do have 'lives' and 'jobs' in spades - it's sad that you think those who would contend you must be from low-earning / non-working lifestyles, I think that in itself demonstrates your reliance on stereotypes from heaven knows where (Daily Mail ?). You need to crash-off those chains of short-sightedness and find out about the world where there are loads of really nice people who (amazing I know) are not carbon copies of yourself and your really advanced and self-satisfied lifestyle. How is blue van man living a 'fake existence' ? If he blatantly gets out of his van into nis Beamer, what exactly is he faking ? If I was a Rodwell Road resident I may think oh dear there's a fascist living in my road !! It must have been dissapointing not to get the support you were looking for in bringing-up the subject of the "Rodwell Road undesirables invasion", but if you think about it that may be because there are other viewpoints and realities just as (or more, in this case) valid as yours. I know, hard one to grasp ain't it.

Drove past there earlier which is my mobile version of curtain-twitching. One thing that van needs is a couple of blocks to stand the kerbside wheels on, must be a pain for them living in the wagon at an angle like that, maybe someone could help them - sort of a 'moving in' present.

Invite them round for dinner in your expensive house (after videoing all your posessions for insurance purposes), they may cook you a lovely lentil curry and brown rice, provide a reiki massage and chant for good spirits in your summer house.

rubyshoes, it's a bit like saying people why pay unemployed people dole money, if we do they'll all go on the dole and then what a mess we'll all be in. It just doesn't happen does it ? You're not doing it. You may not need another neighbour, but you've got one haven't you. make the most of it, be friendly not hostile they may be nice. Surely you have plenty of boxed-in predictable types on amazing Rodwell Rd already ?

he may move on after a few days. he 'may' do a lot of things but at the moment it's just someone living cheaper than you do so, excercising an option that you also have open to you, but have decided against ! There could be a whole story there - why not introduce yourself as one of the neighbours and bring them some bin liners. I lived for 2 months in my VW combi in Glasgow while working and looking for a flat (I needed to save-up the deposit) and thankfully no-one hassled me apart from the odd copper who was fine when I explained. There could be a whole story with theblue van - why not introduce yourself as one of the neighbours and bring them some bin liners...

after effects of the bumps you got on your birthday ?

Didn't go to post office in the end as couldn't get docs by 1930. So drove all night just got back actually. 20 mins kip before heading back. sorted. Proper Guaranteed Delivery By Hand.

Thanks. I checked with Mount Pleasant, it's 7.30pm. Sorted.

I vaguely remember hearing years ago that there's a special post office in London that if you go by a certain time you will be effectively catching last post as if you had posted it locally at your postbox in your own postcode. I want to post something last thing which will get at destination in UK tomorrow morning - any ideas ? I won't have the doc in my possession until mid-evening. Thanks, KK.

When I chucked a brick through a window of house near the woods where we used to live, the man caught me and gave me a hiding in front of my mates, then he took me to my house and told my Dad what I'd done and what he'd done, then watched my Dad give me a hiding. then I had the money extracted for 12 weeks out of my paper round wages by my Dad who told the newsagent owner. Also no pocket money and no pop for the 12 weeks. When I'd saved-up the money to pay for the repair the owner had done I gave it to my Dad. A few days later he gave me the whole sum back and said don't be so stupid next time.

Sorry I meant like, bacon, eggs, omelettes stirfry, as opposed to deep frying.

OK I will try keepingthe fat to save the old bloke having to shovel it out of the sewer. How long does it keep for in a fridge and is it healthy to fry stuff in compared to olive oil ?

Vodaphobe is pants from dulwich village to south circular and also around Wallington.

i pour it down the drain with my used up washing-up water. is that bad ?

In the Post Office it may have been the Mother or maybe a friend of the family or child minder (perhaps not of the 'registered' kind though !). I would have said something to the woman I'm afraid, even if itmeant recieving abuse or a threat. The child deserves to know other people around don't think it's OK and the hitter deserves a reminder of the same and that they're abusing their position as an adult. Hitting of a child in public adds to their humiliation. Tracy Chapman wrote a song abouthearing a woman being beaten next door, night after night, week after week, doing nothing then seeing the ambulance come to take away the broken body. I always think of that scenario because as someone above said it's sort of a shared responsibility, we have no right to do nothing then complain when the worst happens.

It's a sweet shop not a health food shop. Your teeth will rot and you'll get fat. You'll feint from too much liquorice also, at least I do.

david carnell, the same is not true here. the flood was not man made (unless you're saying man creates the flood every 2000 years). floods eventually dry-up, and take a lot less than a quarter of a million years to do so. nuclear disasters don't give us a chance to clean-up and move-on, their output perpetuates almost indefinitely, but we do get a chance to mourn the dead, and the disfigured, and the genetically flawed and sterilised, generation after generation. i'm not anti nuclear per se but I am amazed how, given the extremely dire consequences of failures, nuclear facilities and their purported safety are given the rose-tinted treatment when it comes to considering long-term viability.

Marmora man I am no expert but I think Chernobyl accounted for many deaths that would contribute to top the 5000 figure you quoted, especially if you consider the consequences for descendents of those who have already died/are dying now/will get symptoms related to Chernobyl. The impact on health locally (near Kiev I think) has been massive and it'll be decades before accurate statistics can be obtained. But be certain that the stats will not report increased longevity and reduction in cancers and abnormalities !! It's a fair point that currently that, based on death toll directly attributable to the tsunami versus nuclear problem, tsunami wins hands-down. But from a media perspective the tsunami is done and now it's a clear-up and body counting exercise. The nuclear problem is a live news item and to be seen to NOT cover it would be negligent, both in terms of standard news coverage practice (if there'd been no tsunami, should the media not report on nuclear issue ?) but also in tracking an unfolding international disaster. This is not a Japanese issue, it's a global one, it's consequences may yet impact all of us. It will not be the last either. Consequences of this disaster and Chernobyl and the ones yet to occur last around 250,000 years each from what I understand. What scares me is 5,000 years ago the Egyptians built pyramids and we've slowly pieced together their history to form a picture of who they were and what they did. Nuclear material can take 250,000 years to become safe® to humans and we really expect that we'll hide spent fuel rods underground or in restricted access military facilities and keep telling our descendents/successors for 250 Centuries not to go down that mine/into that warehouse. I don't think so.