Siduhe

London Bridge looks to be open - not mentioned here and trains look to be running on the Live Departures albeit with delays: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/today.html

It's an interesting one. I help moderate a fairly active board on an entirely different kind of forum (and under a different username). Much like this board, I would guess, we've had to move from a very light touch/self-moderating approach to a much more rules-based one in the last couple of years. I'm not sure if it's as a result of the subject matter of that board becoming much more popular and less niche, uptake in using the internet as an information and sharing resource or just a general breakdown of manners and netiquette (more likely a result of all of the above), but we've found the only thing that works is to apply the rules consistently and without deviation. The flame wars are actually fairly easy to deal with (and we have our own version of the Register's Flame of the Week award for whichever mod gets a particularly outstanding post or PM in response to moderation). Much more difficult are the businesses who threaten legal action against the board administrators whenever anything critical is posted, sometimes with total justification but often not. There was a situation last year (not on the board I am involved with) where an admin edited a post rather than removed it entirely so the flame element was removed but a basic criticism remained, despite various legal letters from the organisation referenced. Their response was to go to the ISP directly and threaten legal action, so the entire board was taken down for over three weeks. Hardly a proportionate response, but very effective.

Ah, but if you go UTF8, then quids (????) becomes ���� or at least does in my browser.... Swings and roundabouts, I guess. I would just be tempted to stick with default and ignore the circumflex

Wouldn't worry about it - it's to do with the text encoding on the advert being served up and how this web site displays it. I'm at the absolute limit of my [limited] knowledge on the subject, but pretty sure there's nothing wrong with your system.

When exactly do you see "£"? Using an RSS feed or entering text into a box or something else? It's a text encoding issue and is probably an issue with the site you're browsing rather than a general problem. Pretty specialist though.

It's the old arcade on Lordship Lane. There's a link to their website on the first page: www.boho-bar.com

thebeard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > It would appear the planning permission was poorly > drafted. > Most probably down to planning department > incompetence. > > I remember looking at the docs at the time of the first planning permission - if I recall correctly, the owner argued quite persuasively that he couldn't afford to restore the concrete house until the new property had been constructed and sold. He set out a schedule of works that he would do in the meantime to secure the concrete building, but it later transpired that he hadn't actually done all of these (despite saying that he had). That could have been picked up more quickly for sure, but I understand why the Council did what they did with the original planning permission.

gerritsmith Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > According to planning requirements, off street > parking spaces is a requirement when more than two > flats are built in one building. > > There is something dodgy about planning for those > flats. I've seen this in guidance notes issued by planning authorities before (not Southwark) - but only as guidance, not an absolute requirement - and if I recall correctly, it only applies to conversions, not new builds.

Make that three for the dubstep tent, maybe with a bit low key breakstep to mix things up?

Keef, that's the bit that threw me too. Although I might replace Jeremy Clarkson of your example with, say, Melanie Phillips...

DaveR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's not whether the opinion of bloggers/amateur > critics are valid but whether they should be > accorded any more weight than any other > individual > Ah, well that I very much agree with - a customer is a customer - apologies to TJ if this was what was meant - I just didn't quite get it. Although a customer who regularly eats out in similar restaurants may have more to say by way of comparison with other establishments, than someone who only eats out once in a blue moon.

TJ Wrote: > I can only assume foodstories does not have such resources and is therefore unable to claim a valid point. I'm not sure I have understood this correctly, but are you saying that her opinion as a paying customer is invalid because she doesn't get paid to post up her comments on her blog? In which case, why do we all bother asking for and responding to recommendations on this forum for anything whether it be food, shops or local services? It's the same thing isn't it? I really hope I have misunderstood what you are trying to say, and apologies if so. Foodstories never claimed to be a professional critic and I don't understand why her views as a paying customer should be somehow discounted because of that. I'm very much with lozzyloz that there are some good food bloggers out there and I enjoy reading their reviews, in much the same way there are people on this forum whose opinions and knowledge I have come to respect over the time I've posted here. This thread has truly entered the realms of the bizarre. [Edited for spelling]

DaveR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I like the Palmerston. I've never had a bad meal > there, always thought it was pretty good value, > and always had adequate service, although I > wouldn't say that's their strongest suit. I'm not > keen on the Herne - I like their aspirations but > imo they are not organised enough to deliver. I > also like Franklins, although again I wouldn't say > their service is great, and on occasions I've not > found many menu dishes that really appealed - > that's just my taste, I guess. > > However, what I really @#$%& hate is when someone > comes on here and slags of anybody who disagrees > with them, in a sneery and childish way, and > simultaneously tries to elevate their own > subjective judgment into received wisdom. Thirded.

James Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Shameless plug for your blog? I don't quite get this. East Dulwich local posts comments about ED restaurant and invites further comments from other local people for balance and/or confirmation. Not sure how this is different from what lots of other folk do, without getting shot down in flames like this. For myself, I've always found the Palmerston to be pricey but the meals have been amazing and worth it IMHO. I haven't been there for a while though, so standards may have changed.

I have a better SLP headline, but sadly is not really suitable for the forum...

Astroturfing for your own business is one thing - yes it's "illegal" but lots of people do it on this forum and others like it with varying degrees of success. As others have said, it's pretty easy to spot even if you can't prove it and you can form your own view about whether that's a business you want to deal with. What strikes me as really unnecessary is to slag off the Bishop and the EDT in that way. I haven't worked in a bar or pub for years (and things have probably changed) but I would guess it's a small enough world that it will almost certainly come round to bite the Vale on the backside. Or maybe they are far enough away that they don't ever need to borrow change and/or pipes/equipment/glasses, discuss security and crime in the area, share information about troublesome customers etc...

Any excuse - my favourite SLP headline ever:

http://londonbarjobs.blogspot.com/2009/05/bar-supervisor-cocktail-barman-and.html

snorky Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > To be honest, its was more of an exploration into > how obsessed some parents are becoming with regard > to schools in the area - unhealthily so IMHO > > At what point did going to the lcoal school, cease > to be a priority and going to the best local > school take over ? All good points IMHO. A massive part of the problem is the actual policy - i.e. that all parents should have a choice about where to send their children to school. If you accept that some schools are better and some worse, then people will always want to do the best for their children and "choose" the perceived better schools and some of those people will end up being disappointed. If the perception of choice/right to choose didn't exist, then you might see a better distribution of both pupils and resources across all local schools. However, not much that those within the system can do, save for try and make the best of it [by which I do not mean renting extra houses etc], and I can understand why people affected want to discuss and share their experiences.

Going back to your original post, snorky - I'm a bit confused. It seems to be ok for us to discuss the issues you're raising about lack of school places for local children and the hoops that some parents are willing to jump through to get a good education for their children, but not ok (vis "disturbing") for parents to do the same on the Family Room board? I may have missed the thread that triggered your original post, but a quick review suggests most people are raising the same concerns that you are - and they have the added interest of actually having children who are going through the process. For myself, I'm in the "don't hate the player, hate the game" camp, but the problems aren't limited to ED or even Southwark, and it's a real issue for families in the area. Can't help but wonder if new "non-offensive" snorky may have been replaced by new "just seeing if you can get a rise out of one particular sector of the board" snorky?

Not for hotels, but some good restaurant recommendations on these threads. Last time we went we did a walking tour of the Marais district and it was good fun. If you go, definitely try Falafel Alley (if you like Falafel that is) and try some of the chocolate shops - Jacques Genin's shop is amazing to look at and the chocolate isn't half bad too...http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/12/jacques_genin_opens_in_paris.html http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,188683,195627 http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,128080,129839

See also "snerk" or "snerky" - meaning somewhere between a sneer and a smirk. Also used as a verb and/or adverb for reasons which I don't quite follow...

Do you mean this project? Involves restoring the pond, putting in an education centre, wild play area and improving the animal enclosures. From what I remember of the consultation, the aim is to do more year-round activities in the gardens. http://www.horniman.ac.uk/evolution/project.html

Don't suppose the cat has a small white patch on his chest? Doesn't sound like it's the same cat from your description, but thought I would mention. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,260100,260100#msg-260100

As others have said, I think it's great for someone in Barry's position to come on here and engage/seek feedback in this way. To add my 0.02, I use Peckham Rye station regularly. There have been a lot of improvements recently in terms of smartening up the station (painting, redoing the stairs, fixing the broken announcement speakers). I also find the ticket office opening hours a bit random - one thing that happens regularly and drives me nuts is in the early rush house (8am ish) when both windows are open in the ticket office with queues at both, but then one window is closed by a member of staff for no apparent reason and despite the queues. Presumably this is for staff breaks (?) but the timing seems insane to me. To balance this out, I should say that I think the attitude of the staff in the ticket office at Peckham Rye is great - I always get a cheerful and friendly "good morning madam", they look you in the eye, listen to what you want and you never see them on the phone or chatting amongst themselves whilst serving customers (a sharp contrast with Blackfriars which is the other ticket office I use). One thing I would like to know is how/where the ticket barriers are going to be installed in the station - the staircase up to the platforms is pretty steep and gets jammed up easily, so I'm hoping it's going to be well after the staircase, as you go up to the actual platforms. I was coming home a couple of weeks ago and they were doing a ticket check at the top of the main stairs (having closed off one side). The press of people was so much that I basically got pushed down the first few stairs. No harm done but I wouldn't fancy that every day.