indiepanda

Well, there's more lighting in my street than there was before and I have to say I am much happier for it when coming home from a late night out. There was one section of the street where it was very dark previously despite it being in front of a row of houses. Admittedly my first floor landing is very bright now, but since my bedroom is on the second floor it doesn't affect my sleep.

Marmora Man Wrote: > Take a guided walk thru' London London Walks Good idea, I've done a few of these - they are fab.

Squirrel was deinitely on the menu last night... not that I was willing to try it. Am sure it would taste fine, but somehow it just doesn't appeal. Had some rather nice chicken instead.

Am still trying to persuade my boyfriend of 6 months to meet my parents. He's clearly scared by the prospect. Probably doesn't help that my dad had told me to tell him that while he was making me happy he would be forever in his debt, but if he ever made me unhappy he'd better be ready to pack his bags and go back home (he's from east europe). On meeting a boyfriend of mine when I was at university my dad took him aside and told him if he didn't learn to stand up to his daughter every once in a while I would never respect him. I was really offended at the time - but with hindsight he had a point, the boyfriend in question was decidedly wet! I don't recall him saying anything embarassing to the other boyfriend of mine he met, but my mum did cut that one down to size when he was bragging about his first class degree compared to my lowly upper second class one by asking (fake) innocently wasn't his degree from a polytechnic. That one I did just laugh about - said boyfriend used to tell me I was stupid on a regular basis and deserved everything he got. Lord knows I was hopeless at defending myself against his regular criticism. Even his mum used to tell me not to put up with his behaviour.

fruitytarts Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > what a sorry bunch you are,i cant believe you > spend your time talking about famous people in > ed,what shallow lifes you must all lead. So if you think talking about famous people in ED is so shallow, why did you look at this thread? What kind of person does it make you to look at something you clearly aren't interested in so you can criticize the people participating in the thread??

I live on Crystal Palace Road near the CPT and me and my boyfriend heard them too - made us jump for sure.

MrBen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > - People met each other, became friends and cut > out the middle man. That sounds like me... especially if you add on when going out with friends met a nice guy who am now living with, hence spending less time on line. > - The suit count started to outweigh the creatives > (always a sign that the next wave is elsewhere - > see hoxton now). Ouch.... suit... guess that's also me! I'd started posting much less before I met my other half - think the days of bigbadwolf put me off, and the general drift of the posters whose views I prefer reading. I use the forum more for "what's on" these days.

My left handed boyfriend eats with the knife in the left hand. But I am left handed and I don't - gather my mum used to set the table with the knife on the left for me when I was a kid, one day she forgot and I didn't notice and picked up and used as it was and it took till I was half way through dinner before she noticed I was eating the right way round.

Narnia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My son's flight was not till 5 in the afternoon > though their site says what you've said Anna.I > don't trust Ryanair so I'm not sure what they are > up to! As for Easyjet HAL that message is exactly > what they posted this morning. Given BA have > announced no flights until at least tomorrow pm I > just wonder why others (Easyjet) haven't done the > same. I was due to fly with Easyjet last Friday and it took them 4 hours from when NATS said there would be no flights when mine was due to take off to actually cancelling it. They only cancelled it 6 hours before it was due to depart.

The Bluetones - most people that remember them (and that isn't many) think they split up ages ago, but they are still going, releasing new material and touring regularly, and they always put on a good show. Perhaps they haven't yet topped their first album, but there are a lot of much less talented bands getting much more attention these days.

Annasfield Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > They sell Floral Gums and that'll do for me. Me too. I developed a taste for them as a child trying to get the most sweets for my 10p (usually stretched to 2 ounces of sweets which isn't many if you get large things like sherbert lemons).

No great surprise. Oh well, better safe than sorry I guess :-(

Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, IP - > especially since you're going to one of my > favourite places in the world. > > Announcement I posted was from BA via our > corporate travel agent. I also checked the > website of the company I was flying with from City > Airport (Cityjet) and they confirmed all of their > flights planned for tomorrow have been cancelled. Easyjet haven't officially cancelled our flights yet, but it's only a matter of time - NATS have said nothing happening in UK other than limited service in Scotland and NI up till 1pm tomorrow at earliest :-(

Moos Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Latest announcement at work: > > A volcanic eruption in Iceland has created an ash > cloud that is currently travelling in an easterly > direction. As a result, restrictions by UK > National Air Traffic (NATS) are in place. > ?All short haul services departing from or > arriving into LHR or LGW up to 1000 UK time will > be cancelled Ah, where did you hear this? The air traffic control web site has only confirmed no flights up till 7am tomorrow and Gatwick's says 8 am. Rather expecting I won't be making my trip to Lake Como tomorrow :-( Is due to go 7.15 am - and am guessing it'd be lucky for the plane to be at Gatwick ready for us even if they were willing to let it take it off late.

don't think I will make this one unfortunately.

Well, the parcel my sister sent me came just now, so hopefully they are catching up a bit. No sign of the amazon CD, but that was only posted this week

My sister posted my birthday present to me, and I know it was something she had taken the time to make, so I really hope it hasn't been completely lost. Only posted just over a week ago so I guess there's plenty of time yet. Waiting on a CD from Amazon that would ordinarily have arrived mid week too. Oh well, guess it gives me a good reason to lay off the internet shopping for a while... though Amazon may struggle without me... (not only do I order books, CDs, DVDs but also homeware and even shoes)

I went to one in Dusseldorf a couple of years ago, to be honest I was a bit underwhelmed. There were a lot of stalls, but if you knocked out the food ones and the Christmas decorations, there wasn't a whole lot left, and Dusseldorf wasn't the most charming of places either.

HAL9000 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > One proposed (albeit simplistic) solution is to > carry out two calculations based on the same sales > turnover: but one using the actual cost figures of > a Type B pub while the other uses figures > commensurate with a Type A pub. Any difference in > the result would be evidence of inequality. > Furthermore, the difference can be equalised by > iterating with a variable Profit to Rent Ratio > until both A and B?type Landlord?s profits are the > same. The resulting difference in the Ratios for A > and B-type pubs would also serve to quantify the > inequality. Isn't the thing to work out what the average cost of beer is to each pub and express the cost of beer in a type B pub as a percentage of the cost of beer in a type A pub. Then should be able to turn into a formulae that shows for a given level of sales turnover and other costs, the profit as a % of sales turnover will be X% lower in a type B pub?

matthew123 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Very surprised Martina Hingis got booted off as > from what I saw tonight she was one of the best > contestants. No way was Oxo woman or Big Joe as > good as Hingis. I think the show has lost some > credibility with that result... although not being > a regular viewer maybe this is part of the game. Some people have always voted for who they like as an individual not who is the best dancer - e.g. John Sargeant and Kate Garroway were both utterly hopeless but stayed in for way longer than they deserved because the audience kept voting for them. Equally some have got knocked out early despite being good dancers - I can recall Gabby Logan getting kocked out way before her husband even though she was clearly the better dancer, but I don't think her competitive nature went down well with the audience. Seems to me guys being competitive is considered to be acceptable but girls who show too much ambition get shown the door - better to bang on about loving the dance and "the journey" if you are a girl. The boxer should definitely have gone last night, dreadful posture. And yes, Lynda Bellingham's dancing left much to be desired, but at least she showed a little more personality than Joe. Aleesha wasn't quite as bad a judge as I was expecting (has to be said my expectations were v low), but no way should Arlene have been booted off to make way for her. Arlene's got way more experience, and although she was prone to going gooey eyed over the best looking guys, and could be a bit bitchy, she was generally the judge whose views I respected the most.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Southend and Brighton are nearest in terms of > journey time - both about an hour from main > stations. Sufficiently different to offer choice > as well Southend itself doesn't have much of a beach - narrow strip but not much more and not that sandy. There's a small sandy area down at Leigh-on-sea - and a couple of nice pubs too - well, nicer than anything you'll find in Southend by the sea front anyway. Think it's a bit more sandy down at Shoeburyness than Southend, though there isn't anything else much there in terms of facilities. Not sure how good the water quality is these days - when I was a teenager they built a sewage pipe taking the sewage out into the estuary and the water quality often didn't meet EU minimum standards, put me right off swimming there when I reas the detail (we studied it for a geography project at school). But then, it is a long while since I was a teenager, they may have cleaned up their act since then.

i can't believe I forgot to record it last night. Thank goodness for iplayer!

JBARBER Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi indiepanda, > Signalising a junction costs around ?50,000 and > currently has to be done by Transport for London > who have a 2 year waiting list unless they decide > it is urgent. Also, huge number of hoops to jump > through. Is that a "we won't look into it because it's too much like hard work" or "we might but it won't yield instant results"? > Placing 20mph speed signs on roads does reduce > speed on their own. Total cost per street roughly > ?500->?1000 per street taking into account all the > legal hurdles, traffic counter, signs, etc. They > also gives the opportunity to enforce where > necessary. Happy coincidence is that drivers who > break such speed limits on residential streets are > disproportionately dodgy in some other way from > the no insurance, no MoT, driving without a > licence onwards up through crimes I suspect you > would consider serious. Oh, I'd certainly like to see the uninsured etc clamped down on. But you do need to have people out there using the speed guns to catch them - and I am not sure if the opportunity cost of what they are then not going to do otherwise because they are spending the time out with the speed guns is worth it. As for reducing the general speed - it seemed to me your letter was saying there isn't much of a speed issue anyway - would the quoted 1-3mph reduction your letter suggests it would make to introduce 20mph limits really reduce the number and severity of accidents by that much? Or is the motivation more about getting to these people who are also breaking other motoring laws - and what proportion of speeders do they usually account for? I guess I am struggling to believe with the sheer number of people that get caught by speed cameras that such a high proportion of the population are really driving without a licence or unisured etc. > Now for the contentious possibility....some > residents would like to be trained and borrow the > Police speed camera and note speeds and number > plates for the Police to send warning letters. > Do you think we should do this in East Dulwich? > would you want to volunteer to help? Do I think residents should be using the speed cameras. Hmmm, so what are they doing - standing out on the street with these cameras? Risking one of the more criminal (i.e. also uninsured /driving without licence etc) speeders attacking them if they get spotted using it? Does a "warning letter" actually bother one of the more criminal types or is it only beng caught by the police who have the power to fine / given points etc? Not enough information to say whether I think residents should be given the chance to get involved. Would this resident get involved? Er no. If I had the energy for voluntary work on top of my job there are other things I would rather do with my time.

Hmmm, one the other hand... there are a few slightly better known ones - Primal Scream first winners, still going, ditto Portishead, Franz Ferdinand, Artic Monkeys. And though they've split Pulp and Suede were pretty well known in their day. Anyway, it's not really about highlighting the most commercially successful record of the year, those get a more obvious reward.

Hello. I've just received the letter on road speeds in East Dulwich which seem to be proposing 20mph limits will be introduced and enforced using speed guns rather than cameras. Now frankly I find with all the parked cars it's rarely safe to drive over that anyway so it's no skin off my nose if you introduce a limit, but from my perspective what scares me about roads round here isn't the speed but the poor visibility turning out onto main roads, especially Barry Road. Seems like parking is allowed far too close to corners and it's really hard to see what is coming at some intersections (Silvester and Barry Road in particular) If there's money to be spent I'd far rather it was spent on putting a few traffic lights on intersections instead of just having pedestrian crossings. Speed policed by speed guns as is suggested in the letter seems like a way of distracting local police from dealing with more serious crime anyway. If it's going to work as a deterrant there's got to be a fair chance of getting caught, which sounds like it would take some manpower. I rarely see police on the beat as it is.