Nigello

Help! I wish I knew that man from The Guardian G2 who does digested reads: he could trawl through this saga-length thread and boil it down to one sentence.

Hello, I have asked the builder to talk to the architect, with the idea of "pragmatism" (but not corner-cutting) in mind. Any other advice (or an offer to view a conversion) would be welcome via PM or here. Thanks,

.."because it has been given lots of CGS money over the years for 'community' projects." <<< Is this the real/main reason you want to visit the mosque - to find out which rojects it has been spent on? It's not an unreasonable request.

..how much would it be to raise the roof a full 7" (200mm) or so? If anyone has had this dilemma, please let me know - via PM if you like. (I have been told by an architect that the space is low, so the headroom is likely to be very low without raising the whole roof.) This from the architect: From examination of the existing loft space the height from top of ceiling joists to underside of the ridge member is only about 2350mm, to provide an adequate loft extension this height should ideally be a minimum of around 2500mm. This would enable the installation of a new loft floor (including beams), a ceiling height of 2300mm for a bedroom and a rear dormer roof. The planning ? permitted development guidelines require the dormer roof not to exceed the existing ridge height of the roof. If we could obtain planning permission to raise the roof line by about 200mm (this would require a complete new roof) it would help considerably on the height issue, however approval cannot be guaranteed.

I was promised by Virgin X amount of bandwidth and was only getting Y, so I asked to be placed on a tariff that was more realistic (explaining that I did not see the point of paying for the higher amount when I was only getting the minimum amount on the lower tariff). I also got a bit of compo for inconvenience and it only took a phone call.

A garden wall (about 6' high x 15' long) has come down on the Goodrich/Upland corner. The fire brigade is in attendance. The pavement is blocked.

I am not excusing poor or dangerous driving but do want to point out that congestion and works make for impatience and - sometimes - bad habits. It's now pretty normal for buses and other large vehicles to speed up to get through an amber, rather than slowing down. Plenty of vehicles go through on red, thinking that it's OK because they are travelling at slow speeds. Pedestrians crossing willy nilly** - sometimes pushing buggies and carrying children - don't help either. **I have no idea whether this applies to Friday's poor accident victim.

We need a guided bus (Camberwell>>>Elephant/Old Vic>>Peckham). They're relatively cheap but not as glam as undergrounds or trams, so not likely to excite the planners and the councillors.

Does the ticket officer have any thing to do wiht security, cleanliness, health and safety? If so, then his/her absence will be felt.

The ? shops on Rye Lane are great for tins of pulses and other basics, like olive oil, tea bags, instant coffee etc. In the CoOp, search for the non-CoOp versions of chick peas etc because they are about 30p/tin cheaper. Sainsbury's and Tesco have good-value cut flowers (as does CoOp, if you can get beyond the day-glo daisies).

Re tagging: I mentioned to the person taking care of a well-established and generally well-respected shop in SE15 that the council would remove any tagging (because this shop had been vandalised very visibly) but was told - very patronisingly and self-satisfiedly - by that person that s/he actually liked it and that it was a good thing that certain neglected parts of the local young population were able to express themselves given that the wall-art (murals etc.) were by and for the middle class elite. I am not going to name the shop as the person who was "in charge" that day was not the manager and not necessarily speaking for the owner but it was like coming face-to-face with a walking, talking Viz character.

Police van present at the zebra and more police at an address about ten-to-fifteen houses down on the right, going south.

When one section of road users go through a red, it eventually lets other people think that it may be OK for them to do the same. I have aeen plenty of motor vehicles run a red, even coaches and buses and I think that the drivers/riders ma be thinking "well, that's what everyone is doing". A moped at Lambeth North did just that yesterday morning - blatantly ignoring a red, perhaps thinking becaause he was on two-wheels he was somehow "allowed" to break the law - and endganger life.

How about a job in a small cafe, perhaps a privately-owned one? Whenever I go to Rosie's or Blue Brick Cafe etc. the staff (all young) seem to be very jolly and get along together.

I thought you could be fined from 14 for cycling on the pavement? Bottom line - you can't legislate against selfishness so it will always happen.

Siouxsie Sioux at ED Picturehouse, around 7pm, with a (black) umbrella.

This is also allowed on Etherow St, on which a busy primary school is situated, so don't think that using that as a reason for it to be better policed will help, I am afraid.

I got the impression that the M and S that is coming to LL will not be just one of those rail station types, but one where you can actually buy real ingredients. I can't remember the exact corporate nomenclature but I'm sure there are variants of M and S outlets.

Did it have a sign on saying it was free, singalto? I like the idea of freecycling a lot but not people taking stuff from private property without knowing for sure it was up for grabs.

Could someone please just do a very brief, very clear synopsis off all of this? Who wants what and why?!

020 7525 5000 - ring it, report it and request it to be cleared, sign a waiver, and the council will remove it. Businesses are included too (thought why so many of them leave it and allow it to collect more and not clear it is beyond me).

Some cyclists use the pedestrian crossing at Peckham Library and use the corner of pavement to join the "hidden" cycle path. It's badly designed and encourages lawless cycling in an area that's got pretty heavy footfall. Pedestrians: don't jaywalk and be alert. Cyclists: use only the road or designated lanes, not pavements. Fair enough?

If it's too warm just ask them to turn the heating down. It'll save money and help customers so I'm sure Fusion would be happy to oblige......

No more ugly than some vehicles, and a lot less noisy and polluting.

Was it noisy too.......?