KidKruger

Had a couple of beers on way home from town on NY eve, on the bus down from Shoreditch there was an African guy sat behind me who (afer someone walked passed him and inadvertently barged him) kept shouting "Al Queda !" (sp.) while clutching his holdall during his verbal exchange with the other gentleman. The implication clearly being that he would 'detonate' if the other guy didn't shut up. After a few mins of this I was getting a bit p!ssed off with his free use of this term and given it's implications and his ferocity of delivery I told him to STFU. People sat nearby weren't sure whether to be scared of him or humour him. It was a challenge he did not expect and he calmed down a bit. He muttered something about having been in Detroit over the Xmas period and various other flavours of BS followed. When we got to London Bridge I pulled him off the bus and let him go when the doors closed and the bus had moved away. I told him to think before he utters this stuff because he could get in to serious trouble. I took this guy as just being a fool who had bad taste when venting his frustrations and left him stood there. Thinking about it, if he'd pulled this act in, say, Washington, he could well have found himself receiving a sound thrashing or worse. If you can get imprisoned in the US for joking about bombs when you're having your baggage checked at the airport then presumably he could have been in big trouble !! I wonder what he would he would have experienced here in UK if I had called the police ?

monochrome

negative

I seem to agree with SteveT's quote, however I then find myself remembering I was born abroad, have a name from there, moved here aged two and call myself British.

elevated

Happy to help out DJing on vinyl / CD as have kit, my fave era, love all styles from then ! Disco, punk, new wave, synth, jazz funk etc.

I've been getting a weekly 1 and 2 zone travelcard renewal on Oyster for i think a couple of years. I don't think ED station has facilities for the oystercard refresh though, so you'll have to get it somewhere else like LB station or a tube stn.

Old Time music will finally have it's revival, or, put more accurately, it's vival.

This year i will be the new improved, more time efficient and less wasteful KK, utilising every spare nanosecond and growing learning moving forward in super-fast lightening flash astral hero compressed time sequence.

Drugs

shave

There is a hostel for immigrants at the top end (South end) of Barry Road, just to the left of Christchurch, in part of the original buildings. I've donated food there before but not for a couple of years. They seemed glad for the food then.

melting

132 ... is the smallest number which is the sum of all of the 2-digit numbers that can be formed with its digits. AND in that year... Roman Empire -The Temple of Olympian Zeus (Athens) is completed using Cossutius' design. -The messianic, charismatic Jewish leader Simon bar Kokhba starts a war of liberation for Judea (Bar Kokhba revolt) against the Romans, which is eventually crushed (in 135) by emperor Hadrian. Rabbi Akiva is supportive of the rebellion. -The legion X Fretensis must evacuate Jerusalem, returning to Caesarea. The Jews enter the city and re-establish their system of sacrifices. They strike coins to celebrate their independence, which would last for only 30 months. The legion XXII Deiotariana, which advanced from Egypt, is completely destroyed. -Construction begins on the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome (ANother Hadrian mention), today known as Castel Sant'Angelo. Asia Change of era name from Yongjian (7th year) to Yangjia of the Chinese Han Dynasty. Arts and sciences Chinese scientist Zhang Heng invents the first seismometer for determining the exact cardinal direction of earthquakes hundreds of miles away; the device employs a series of complex gears around a central swinging pendulum. Births Cai Yong, Chinese calligrapher and musician (d. 192) Han Huandi, emperor of the Han Dynasty (d. 168) Tao Qian, governor of Xuzhou (d. 194) Deaths Sun Cheng

HB - well it may have been Russians .... I am not Sting (yet).

Good points katie1997. I have no issue with the difference between the cultures and am not tryigto overtly compare the per se, and I understand the historic reasons for why things are how they are now in UK/West. But looking at the general use of alcohol in our culture, especially after many months away where it's use was minimal in my experience, we seemed like a sad lost people. After a few pints I was fine though.

Reminds me of an Evening Standard seller's billboard i saw in the City about 15 years back which simply read 'Earth doomed', of course I dashed home to watch the news and see how long I had left, on the way home I wrote a song about it just in case I'd have no time to write it after watching the news. Then I played the song at the 12 Bar a couple of weeks later !

Exclaim !

Is the series over or is there another episode(s) due ?

PR - I am hoping in my OP I am making clear that I mean generally our society in the UK / West as contrasted against what I witnesed on the subcontinent. It would be futile for me to suggest there are no exceptions as you have pointed out there are always some. No I am not saying Frank Skinner's represent anything wider than his own opinion and I don't really care what he says however his views align in some respects with mine (though I am not advocating any change on health grounds !).

Fractionater - interesting read. I have no agenda either way TBH, I just had pangs of sadness when I reflected on our drinking habits and how ingrained they are into our culture. The interesting point Frank Skinner raises, although it's an obvious extension of my original question, is that we drink to 'loosen-up' the social dynamic. But the obvious follow-on question from that is do we really live in such a hard and harsh external environment that we have to insulate ourselves from it when socialising ? And if we do, does that not reflect badly on social behaviours in our society ?

This was brought home to me most significantly when I was at a huge festival in India a few years ago (Pushkar camel fair, Rajasthan, in the desert), 100,000+ folks having a great time and very little alcohol in sight. Dancing and singing and good humour everywhere. This was not a festival for bands/music it was for camel and livestock trading over 4-5 days, nevertheless at other big gatherings elsewhere in India I saw the same thing, people happy just to be out and about and mixing with new people. It's so common to see people (here in UK at least) necking as much as they can as soon as they can seemingly to remove themselves from their sober state, be it at home, in bars or festivals, whatever. Don't you think it's a litle sad ? I am not shy of a few pints myself so I am NOT being holier than thou !! ..just realised this is posted in the wrong section of EDF, apologies up and down for that.

James there may be a veggie option for you soon... I think the lady who runs the Blue Brick cafe is applying for an evening licence and she mentioned it will be about veggie food (either mainly or wholly). You may want to enquire with her as to her exact intentions.

The term 'reasonable force' is vague and seems like 1/2 a sentence. I mean 'reasonable force' for what ? to do what ? 'reasonable force' to let the intruder know you exist ? 'reasonable force' to show the intruder that if you have to you can hit them and you will ? 'reasonable force' to stun them long enough to allow you time to call the police ? Can you serioulsy imagine a tangle with a criminal where you decide to hit them half as hard as you think you can just to be sure you're not accused of being 'unreasonable' ? Surely when you strike an intruder or someone you are apprehending you initially hit as hard as you can unless you're an experienced streefighting kinda guy who knows exactly what move will do what and what level of exertion to apply.

It's crazy. You've just been tied-up and threatened with knives, you chase the guys once you've escaped your bonds and take something to counter the knives which you doubt they have by now deposited in the knife-amnesty skip so that you don't get hurt. When these guys picked up their cricket bat and a pole as weapons they were still acting in self defense because if they apprehended the burglar(a) they knew they were armed but perhaps they did not know they would serioulsy hurt anyone however they knew they needed something to keep the knife-holders at bay. It turns out the thief took a hiding, after 50+ offences (how many unconvicted offences ?) he finally got caught, not just caught but caught by someone he'd just tied up and whose family he'd threatened to kill. yeah let's alter the laws because the 2 brothers are getting a hard time of this.