Nigello

I don't think you'd need to have more buses, just use the ones we have differently, namely by designating a few of them as express. Perhaps for every five normal 176s, there could be an X176 which is express only to and from certain points. I'm not wedded to anything that makes it worse for the commuter, be it cyclist, pedestrian, driver or bus passenger, but I do think people with clipboards and logarithms might be able to help.

I rarely have to take the bus in the rush hour at morning, given the shift work that I do, but when I do have to do a "normal" shift I wouldn't want to add an extra hour to my ten-hour shifts (and another on the way back) and neither would anyone else. I don't believe that regulating the buses more effectively in rush hours would mean a slowing down of the service: limited-stop buses could really help a sizeable portion of passengers. I'm a great believer in finding a way around things in a practical way (such as altering one's time of travel, walking to earlier stops) but it's not right that bus users should have to put up with excessive overcrowding.

Tripe

According to Uswitch I can save a pretty penny on my energy bills if I change from providers. What's the experience of using Uswitch (or similar companies)? Does anyone have feedback on first:utility (apart from critiquing the naff ":")?

I've contacted (according to TfL) the right person to highlight the problem of overcrowding of the 176/185 from Dulwich Library (and therefore further down LL) in the morning. I got an encouragingly engaged reply, which asked me for further details, so I'll keep you posted.

Only You - Yazoo

Great, but where was he from?

Beetroot juice - cut with ten percent apple juice (all organic) - is surprisingly tasty and good for you. A bit of that, some yoghurt, a handful of spinach and a teaspoon of pure coocao powder is a really easy way of getting going in the morning. Three eggs, some milk, a small bunch of spring onions and a handful of mushrooms is a very simple but tasty getting two a day. Agree with gg that we are overfed and undernourished, and would add that fetishising and demonising certain foods/drinks is not healthy, in any way.

Vales

Stevie 1 - Lane Lover 0

You're Beautiful - James Blunt

Blase (you don't have to use the e as an accented one, but might be a fun challenge to do so!)

-- moved topic --

Bus passengers who refuse to sit down even when seats are available and instead stand in the aisle or at the door, preventing other, more reasonable passengers, to move down or get off. Is it a recent phenomenon? I never used to see so many seat-refuseniks.

According to @chaseKevin on Twitter, an air ambulance has landed near to Peckham Rye station. There's a suggestion it involved an incident on a bus, but this hasn't been sourced. RT by @peckhampeculiar (and me).

There's a clip of her on Razzamatazz, much-missed ITV pop show for kids. She was warm, humble, interested in the kids and really inspiring. This was an (ITV) children's pop show! Can you think of any of the tat produced now allowing an artist of her calibre to do a seven-minute show-and-tell?

Gorse

Niche

Wobby paving flags on Goodrich, opposite the school and near to 101, next to the cherry tree. I will report but if James sees this, please note.

I gave up added sugar for Lent one year, and it was pretty hard. No cakes, biccies, chocolate etc, but also no crisps, condiments, some pasta/pizza sauces etc. There's a lot of hidden sugar. The upside was that when I did eat something sweet again it tasted almost off-puttingly so, which meant I've ended up eating fewer cakes etc since then.

My friend got giardia in Edinburgh and felt ropey for weeks, even after the anti-parasite medicine. To avoid, eat yoghurt, and wash your hands thoroughly and frequently (and even then you might still get stomach bugs and other nasties).

I think it's a shame that most of them that I see are not using their main design feature because of a lack of conductor. I'd love to know what the designer (Thomas Heatherwick) thinks of this, especially given the fanfare and the price.

I think most houses in the area are OK, some are lovely to behold, and a few are eyesores. I'd prefer it if people did the bare minimum to keep their front gardens/exteriors neat and tidy - trimming the hedge or blinding yukka takes hardly any time but judging from the overgrown bushes of SE22 you'd think it was advanced lumberjackery. Think "lack of time" is a misnomer. "Can't be bothered" is usually nearer the mark. It's all about choices, folks!

I'd second the Yakult advice, but it's far cheaper to buy generic tablets containing the same stuff and eat yoghurt. Cider vinegar in small amounts can help. Could it be a parasite, like giardia? If it is, only a doctor will be able to tell you, after which a course of tablets would be prescribed.

Option B includes a plan for a widened pavement to be shared with a cycle lane, so please vote for option A. Cyclists rarely stick to the lanes from what I've seen on the one on New Kent Road and elsewhere - and it makes for unnecessary confusion. Otherwise, it looks like a good plan, even if bus passengers will have to walk from the Tube station to get to their stops.