Twirly

Thank you e-dealer. And yes, that is incredibly stupid. A little further poking around on the website and it appears that the buses that run up Park Lane normally won't be able to (but can't see if they are diverted, or simply not running to/from Victoria), however, the 38 is running from Victoria up Piccadilly, so I shall be able to get a bus part of the way. I normally walk to Victoria on the way home (I work part time, so leave at lunchtime) so that will be fine, but I don't usually have time in the mornings (or the energy!). Bah humbug :(

One thing that I'm not clear about is timings for travel and how the games will impact. Most people going to work are aiming to get there for between 8.30 and 9.30, hence rush hour. Is this when people will also be trying to get to the starts of events? Are they really starting volleyball in horseguards parade at 9am, for example? (I haven't looked, I have to admit, as I am not in the least bit interested in any sporting activities.) Surely those extra journeys are going to be scattered throughout the day, and not all at rush hour? I wonder what extra percentage of journeys that is over and above what normally take place? 3 million sounds a lot, but is it 10% extra or 100% extra? I've just tried using the TFL journey planner for Monday 6th August, and it made me laugh. I usually take a train to Victoria and then a bus to Park Lane, which goes via Hyde Park Corner. I put departure time from Victoria as 8.45 and asked to travel by bus... it diverted me via Tooting Broadway taking 2 hours for what is normally a 10 minute bus journey or a 25 minute walk! That is totally ludicrous and completely unhelpful. And it makes me wonder if there will be any buses leaving Victoria bus station on that day, but I can't see easily on the website if that is the case, or if they will simply have diversions in place... So I'm still completely in the dark as to how my journey will function on that day.

As I happen to agree with the aims of the petition, I thought I'd also sign it, but check the process at the same time with regard to Ms B's issues. There is indeed a tick box on the petition that allows you to opt out of further communication with the Lib Dems. This is unchecked by default, so Ms B did not register for any communications from the Lib Dems (and neither did I). However, when I received the email to confirm my address, it then took me through to a part of the site which showed my "account" with the LibDems, allowing my to change my password, but nowhere could I see a means of closing the account down, and nowhere in the process was I informed that by signing the petition I would be setting up any form of account with the Lib Dems. This seems rather disingenuous. But, looking at the email I received, it does say: If you did not register at the Southwark Liberal Democrats website, you are receiving this email because someone else entered your details on the site. Please ignore or delete the email and you should not receive further mailings from us. Which sort of suggests that you don't have an account. So I hit the sign out button on "my account", then tried to sign in again - I put my email address in, signed in and received another email which gave me a link to "my account". So clearly the details have been saved and an account set up when I didn't want one, with no obvious option to delete it. I suspect that the LibDems are skating on thin legal ice here, but I'm no expert. And James - since I've not actually subscribed to any newsletters from the LibDems, there is no unsubscribe button on either of the emails I've received. Having said all of that - I realise that Sue posted the poll with the best of intentions, and I'm pleased to have signed it. Shame that any discussion of the closure is being railroaded by the LibDem's slightly odd website.

So sorry to hear this sad news. My condolences to the family.

So sorry to hear about this - hope you and your friend are OK.

I drove along this stretch of road when it was fairly quiet last night (Sunday, around 8pm) and back again shortly after (was collecting a friend from Herne Hill) and thought about the comments on here. One thing that I did notice is that it would be quite difficult to see anyone waiting to cross the road on your left to the hospital when driving west as parked cars obscure your vision (not an excuse of course) - so jutting the pavement out into the road so that drivers can get clear sight of anyone waiting to cross (won't stop those who don't believe in stopping for pedestrians of course). Also, there are three zebra crossings quite close together and drivers seem to see these as optional, so maybe it would be a good idea to replace one of them with lights. Mind you, am not sure that would work either. Twice on Friday I saw people stop at red lights, wait for the person to cross the road and then take off whilst the light was still red (the amber hadn't even appeared), and also notice a lot of people edging over the white lines before the lights change. The real problem is a combination of people being in too much of a hurry and being selfish. Sadly, no amount of traffic quietening measures are going to change human nature.

I went swimming for the first time in a month this morning. The end shower in the ladies is still running cold (I reported it to reception last time I was there, so it's been out of order for at least a month, a door is missing from one of the other showers and the missing bench is still missing. How long does it take to do a "health and safety assessment" on the safety of benches for goodness sakes? And what can be unsafe in the first place? Yes, 2 out of 3 are back, but I still think that's not good enough. My guess since it's been so long now is that it'll never be replaced... Having said that, I did find a shower that had an adequate temperature and the pool was a decent temperature too.

Callie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm glad someone has brought this up at last as I > too have been wondering about the awful state of > the pavements round here & why the council doesn't > do anything about them? Lack of money I would guess...

Sorry to hear about this and hope you're OK. Have you reported it to the police? I know it's a nuisance, but it's probably a good idea to do so.

More years ago than I care to remember, when I was student, a friend from Sheffield and I were wandering around London having just moved here (though I grew up not too far away) and as we dodged the scaffolding/roadworks she said wistfully "It'll be really nice when they finish London..." to which I nearly choked with laughter pointing out that "Project London" has been going on for millennia and it'll never be "finished" in the way she meant. So hopefully quite a few of these projects will be finished in time for the Olympics, but there will still be plenty going on afterwards, and probably less enthusiasm for getting things done since the big deadline won't have been met.

Applespider Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The low turnout is utterly depressing. It's not > even 100 years since suffragettes were dying over > their future daughters' right to vote. Would they > (and those who campaigned for universal suffrage > alongside them) have fought so hard if they'd > known that the majority of those they fought for > 'couldn't be bothered' or 'forgot'. People are > still dying across the world to get the right to > vote. Makes me so angry when people don't! (6) Too true! I always think of all the people in other parts of the world today who would love the chance to vote in an election and actually get to chose their leaders - including those who are fighting and dying for the right to do so. If you neglect your rights, it's only a matter of time before someone decides to take them away from you... What gets me too about the way our elections are run is how open to abuse the system is. All you have to do is turn up, give your name and address and that's it - no ID checks or anything. You don't even have to present your polling card! Anyone could turn up and vote on someone else's behalf, with or without their permission, all you need to do is consult the electoral register to get the names and addresses (as it's a public document) and off you go. And then there was the somewhat disorganised set up locally. There was one woman in front of me when I went to cast my vote, but it still took 5 minutes to get my papers, and even then I was given the wrong ones. Voted for mayor, turned over the next slip only to find the same list of names and realised that I'd got two slips of the same colour... cue even more confusion trying to sort it out. How difficult can it be? Someone else I know had problems too, had to give their name and address about 5 or 6 times before they were found on the list. I wonder if this was just our local polling station, or if it was replicated across the country?

Really interesting, and I am full of admiration for you for doing this - not sure I could do it myself. Will be following your progress on Twitter :)

MrTwirly and I popped over there this afternoon, thought we were going to miss it as we didn't get there till 4.30, but it was still open (and the sun came out!) and the sign said it was open till 5. It's a lovely spot. I shall be interested to see it develop even further. Particularly impressed by the dragonfly bench, beautiful. One thing, with the gates open, any dogs not the leash are free to wander in. Probably a bit late now, but gates that you have to open or close to get in might have been a better idea to keep free-range pooches out.

Had a lovely swim this morning, as the rain seemed to have put people off so it was very quiet. However, the staff confused me by reversing the direction of the lanes... I got into the pool and started to swim, only to find someone coming towards me, going (to me) the wrong way around the lane... she waved me over, I noticed someone behind her and surmised that they'd changed the direction. When I got back up the other end I saw the lane sign, but I'd had my back to it when I climbed in, and I'm as blind as a bat without my glasses/contacts. Just as well I didn't start out with back stroke, or there would have been a crash! I think it actually worked better, as when you're in the slow lane, you're not going to swim up the steps or bump your head on the post by the steps as you're swimming away from them on that side of the lane. Although if the staff are going to randomly rearrange the pool of a morning a little notice on the changing room door would be helpful, particularly for those of us who are ocularly challenged... I noticed that one of the doors has come off the shower in the ladies. Whereas on Friday I was woken up with a freezing cold shower after my swim (which I reported on the way out, and as the door was closed this morning I assume that the shower had been fixed and it was in use). We are still a bench down though - two have been replaced, the third still looks a right old mess.

Excellent - thank you for the update.

boosboss Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The garden will be open from 8.30 till 4.30 from > tomorrow. Signage will be erected soon. > Unfortunately, the agreement for unlocking/locking > the garden starts tomorrow. (The delay, an > oversight in planning. Just a small hiccup.) So will those be the regular opening hours every day, including weekends?

I've just come back from the park, went specifically to look around the new garden - but it was all locked up! There's no signs about opening hours, can anyone tell me what's going on? Was really disappointed not to be able to wander around at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon.

Thank you Bellerophon - have always wondered what that place was, it always looked so suspicious with those reflective windows!

Interesting, as I'm with t-mobile and haven't had any problems at all in ED. I do lose signal when on the train into town in certain spots, but they are always the same ones so it doesn't bother me (and that's internet mostly). Husband is on Vodafone, and although he's OK in London, whenever we go out of a big city he loses signal (which being a geek and needing a lifeline to the internet all the time is a big problem!). We can be in the middle of nowhere and I'll have 4 bars and he'll have none. I'm sticking with t-mobile, and if they did the phone he wants, he'd move to them.

I queried the benches in the changing rooms with the centre and have had a reply saying that they've been restored - can anyone confirm? Can't get to the pool till the end of the week myself.

Do you still have a receipt for the trousers? If so, I would try writing a letter, enclosing a copy of the receipt with a request for what you think is reasonable (allowing for the time you've had the trousers). Whether you have any further redress in a legal sense I don't know, but am sure others on here will be in a better position to advise.

I think I can be counted as a crafty type... I knit, sew, crochet, have had a go at candle making and am currently making jewellery with a view to selling it at a pop up shop (I love making it and buying the materials, but there is only so much jewellery one woman can wear/give away as presents!). I cannot just sit and do nothing - watching TV, I have to have my hands occupied :)

Came back from a weekend away last night to find that there had been a power cut - router was knocked out and a couple of things were flashing. However, this hasn't been the first one. We've had a series of small powercuts over the last couple of weeks. Usually just for a second or two, just long enough to knock the router out and reset the things that flash when they come back on again (luckily), though it is annoying. Has anyone else been experiencing this? Am in Oakhurst Grove. Am beginning to think I should start monitoring them and report the problem (which probably means that they will stop of course!).

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Seeing the weather forecast on this site today for the Easter weekend. Friday mostly sunny, Saturday mostly cloudy, Sunday - "sprinkles". Will they be chocolate flavoured since it's Easter Sunday do you think? :)