dave

We used the guys at FSAR a few years ago and they did an excellent job. We went with solid oak - was slightly more expensive than the engineered option, but it was lovely. Happy to provide more info if you want to PM.

Agree entirely with everything Marmora Man says above. To turn this into a he said/she said party political issue is daft. An objective study, maybe a pilot and a cost/benefit analysis (including the impact of the Overground extension via Peckham Rye) would be much better than everything we're seeing at the moment.

Another vote in favour - we moved house last year and inherited an IKEA kitchen in the new place. The snob in me was prepared to be disappointed, but it's actually turned out to be really solid and hard-wearing. Obviously couldn't tell you much about how easy it was to fit etc, but to live with it's been fine. The other upside is that we've been able to get accessories very easily - things like drawer-tidies etc.

Not sure this is true. While nobody is meant to cycle of the pavement, children under 10 are below the age of criminal responsibility. The Met have, however, said that they're unlikely to take action on kids cycling on the pavement - see this story from last year for details.

I had this issue a couple of times when I lived in Deptford, but not so much recently. The rules as currently published by TfL state that a driver with his/her light on must accept any fare which terminates within 12 miles and is in the Greater London area - 20 miles if started at Heathrow. See the TfL website for official guidance. In my experience stating that they're obliged to take you where you want to go, politely and patiently - even before talking about taking the cab number - is enough to convince the driver that they ought to do their job. God knows what they have to deal with in terms of drunk/abusive/threatening passengers from time to time, but there's still no excuse for some of the responses people have noted above when drivers were asked to take people home. There's no reason not to travel to SE London other than the chance they won't get a return fare.

So, let me get this straight: someone organised an Irish festival for the 12th of July - and it all passed off with no rioting whatsoever? Truly we live in a post-Troubles era... Sorry I missed it.

A question for the OP - exactly where were you parked when the damage was inflicted? Was it down near the station? Agree on the speed cushions. Lewisham seem determined to put them in, but don't limit the parking around them, creating the slalom situation. Still, at least it slows *most* people down...

Happens all the time - I had a similar thing when I lived in the borough of Westminster. Car was parked legally in a residents' bay for which a permit was displayed. Parking attendant came along at noon one day and with no notice suspended the bay for half an hour (for an "emergency" which didn't have any further documentation/information) and ticketed my car. Essentially without moving the car became illegally parked. Given the affront to the principle of legitimate expectation which governs a lot of administrative law around council actions, I tried appealing but gave up fairly soon. This happened when I realised that paying the 30 quid to resolve the thing was going to be a better idea than fighting through the council's own appeal/adjudication process, and my conclusion was reinforced when they told me that I'd be liable for costs if the appeal failed. Given the broad support the new mayor appears to have for London's car drivers, I half-expected him to bring an independent parking appeals body into existence. But it appears not.

Harriet said: "it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in." Now, this court of public opinion sounds like a good thing to me - how did the jury of this court find the defendant, one Mr T Blair, when he was accused, with multiple accomplices, of acting in bad faith in taking the UK into a war (or two)? For these wars there appeared to be no mandate or justification - either ahead of time with regard to any resolution/vote in the UN, or through any credible intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, or retrospectively through what was found in Iraq and Afghanistan. And what did the judge of this court of public opinion do when one J Smith, of (occasionally) Nunhead, was found with her fingers in the till of public money? Leaving aside the implications of legislating for one badly-conducted contractual negotiation, this is a very dangerous move for the government to be talking about. The PM appears to have backtracked today, thankfully...

The bike racks I am talking about are on the outside. See here for the sort of thing. I wonder if UK road safety legislation would prevent them from being legal here. Caroyln's update from TfL does paint the driver in a slightly better light - saying that, I still think he ought to have stayed in his safety cage (what's it for, otherwise?) and called the police.

Regardless of how it "started", there are two people here who broke the law, and acted in a way that, in my opinion, civilised society really ought not consider acceptable, much less funny. The cyclist banging on the side of the bus and kicking the doors open - criminal damage, pure and simple. The bus driver punching the cyclist in the face - common assault, and possibly also something for leaving the scene. The bus driver is, I think, fairly being criticised above - primarily because he has a duty of care to his passengers and to other road users which he appears to have abrogated completely. Regardless of the circumstances, and the lead-up, he never had to leave his perspex safety cell - the Met would, I imagine, have been there fairly promptly had he reported the incident and in the meantime, he would have been completely safe. By doing what he did, and striking out at someone who clearly has serious anger management issues, he left himself open to disciplinary action and potentially prosecution. Both acted unacceptably. Who started it is as immaterial as any playground fight. I appreciate that driving a bus in London is not particularly well-paid, and I imagine it's not a wildly satisfying occupation. And while I have my share of stories about being a bus passenger while someone drove in a way which I felt was reckless, or being a cyclist and having a bus pull around me to stop thirty yards later, I've never reached the point where a punch in the head seemed to be the logical next step in conflict resolution and I hope I never will. I'm more a "stop by the side of the road, take a cameraphone pic of the bus and draft a stern letter of complaint which never gets posted but which makes me feel much better" sort of chap. In this case, both were at fault, and I think I would have been scared witless had I been a passenger on the bus. Even in the absence of prosecutions, I also think that it's newsworthy. People shouldn't get away with this sort of thing - the SLP seems as good a means as any to discuss what happened here and make sure it's followed up. The antipathy between cyclists and bus drivers appears to be worsening - I'd like to see some ideas on why, and how to make the situation better - personally I'd like to see bike racks on the front of buses as they have in the US and elsewhere. That might go some way to remove the "them and us" from the situation.

On a people-from-The-Wire-turning-up-unexpectedly, and without going into a long story as to how I came to be watching it, City Senator Clay Davis (or at least the actor who plays him) turns up in (the actually-not-half-bad-if-you're-in-the-mood) Disney film Enchanted. I really wanted a good long sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-it from him... Is up there with Stringer Bell in the Jack Davenport/Susannah Harker Channel 4 vampire thing from some years ago - Ultraviolet.

The Highway Code is succinct and clear on this: "You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement." No exceptions - for kids or anyone else. String 'em up, that's what I say. And as for those RLJ's... hanging's too good for them.

I know exactly where you mean and I've often wobbled my way through there worrying. Hope you're ok. As with previous incidents reported here, this makes me think that the only viable option for cycling is busy, well-lit roads. But to make those safe to cycle on we're going to need more than a foot-and-a-half of occasional green tarmac. Driver education and proper bike lanes would be a good start.

Also worth looking at Gourmet Pizza Company at Gabriel's Wharf.

For what it's worth, City Screen do run the Picturehouses, but the Curzon Soho (and the other London Curzon cinemas) are run by another company - Curzon Artificial Eye. Agree that there's a decent market for an arthouse/independent cinema somewhere within easy reach of SE22/SE23. Shame that Wetherspoons have no intention of letting go of the Capitol building anytime soon - it would have been perfect.

A Northern Irish pedant writes... "Team GB" is just marketing nonsense. At the end of the day, being able to put "great" into the name of the team is something most countries don't manage and you can't blame them for trying. However, the team which was sent by the British Olympic Association represents the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with the Crown Dependencies" - for the last bit note Mr Cavendish in the cycling - but I think someone sensibly decided that this was probably a bit of a mouthful - and probably even worse in Mandarin. Have a look at www.olympics.org.uk and see in particular the history of the BOA or press releases with "Notes to Editors" that "Team GB" have been issuing (example here) for the following boilerplate: "The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland..." One of the good things about being born in NI is that people can choose whether they want to represent Ireland or the UK, and while doubtless it's great craic travelling with the Irish team, it would not be entirely cynical to suggest that at least some of the choices made by individuals have been down to the fact that you might be more likely to get into the Ireland team (due to the smaller available pool of athletes available compared to the UK team). Of course, it could all be a conspiracy...

I walked past last night about 10pm and there was a whole family ripping bags open and sorting through the stuff inside, sifting it. To be honest, part of me wanted to say something, but another part thought they looked so desperate that I didn't want to embarrass them any further. Right thing or wrong thing to do?

As someone who switched at home about 7 years ago, and hasn't really looked back, I'd say that it takes a while to decompress and realise that you don't have to worry about the locations of files and things (most of the time) and that in 99% of instances the Mac will just work. Depending on what you want to do, you'll probably find your way. The biggest problem for me was always that I tended to do things quickly and missed my right mouse button - the Mighty Mouse goes some way to rectifying this (as does plugging in pretty much any generic PC mouse), but there's some legacy things that you can still only do using left-click + the Apple key - opening new tabs in Safari works best this way. My tips - install Firefox 3, Adium (if you bother with Instant Messenger) and check whether your employer (if you have one) is part of the Microsoft Home Use programme - with this you might be able to get a legitimate copy of Office for the Mac for about 20 quid. Otherwise you can open office docs in iWork, which is about 50 quid, if I remember correctly. You could use OpenOffice, which is free, but to be honest, I wouldn't bother - it's a lot of hassle and undermines the "just working" principle referred to above...

giggirl Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > dave Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > And the bad (for some balance): > > > Edmond - NT > > His Dark Materials - NT (apart from the bears - > > they were great) > > I loved both of these! Each to their own - I just didn't think Edmond filled the Olivier very well (once again it seemed like the director just had to find a use for the revolving stage gubbins rather than the play wanting/needing it). As for HDM, I made the classic mistake of hoping for/expecting too much and was always bound to be disappointed. I did think it would have made no sense whatsoever to anyone who hadn't read the source books. But then again, I'm probably about 15 years beyond the target audience. Had wondered about mentioning the Donmar's Accidental Death - remember being impressed at the time. An ex used to work at the NT when Rhys Ifans was in rep there and said he was a genuinely lovely bloke - he was surprisingly good (as far as I was concerned) in that production. Also remember a Neil LaBute (The Distance from Here?) at the Almeida which I loved at the time. And am kicking myself for forgetting the Othello from earlier this year - agreed on the lead. And from Complicite - Mnemonic (troubled to see that Simon McBurney is directing All My Sons on Broadway in the autumn - starring Katie Holmes...)

The good (sorry - I didn't manage to keep it down to 10): Le Costume - Young Vic 2003/4? A Number - Royal Court 2002 La Casa Azul - Lyric Hammersmith 2002? Fallout - Royal Court 2003 Disco Pigs - Edinburgh Festival, 2002? Antony and Cleopatra - RSC 2006 The York Realist - Royal Court 2002 The Duchess of Malfi - NT 2004? Twelfth Night (or was it Much Ado?) - Crucible, 2001 Frost/Nixon - Donmar 2006 Rock'n'Roll - Royal Court/West End 2006 Hitchcock Blonde - Royal Court 2003? And the bad (for some balance): Piano/Forte - Royal Court Resurrection Blues - Old Vic Cyrano de Bergerac - NT (Stephen Rea, I think) The Alchemist - NT (though I could be wrong on this one because everyone else seemed to think it was great) Edmond - NT His Dark Materials - NT (apart from the bears - they were great)

Tricky. Today's top ten would probably be (in no particular order) Jaws Chinatown Bonnie & Clyde All or Nothing (can't believe that was 6 years ago...) Vertigo Three Colours: Blue Short Cuts (or maybe Magnolia) City of God Reservoir Dogs All About My Mother The Long Good Friday Keeping it down to 10 is a nightmare tho - tomorrow I might be trying to fit in GoodFellas or The Godfather (certainly the lack of Francis Ford Coppolla & Martin Scorcese is not indicative of my tastes generally), Blade Runner, Singin' In The Rain, West Side Story, The African Queen, Odd Man Out, His Girl Friday, Rear Window, Ace in the Hole, The Sweet Smell of Success, The Searchers, Dirty Harry, Toy Story 2, True Grit, Blazing Saddles, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Right Stuff, High Noon, Winchester '73, M*A*S*H, Alien, Aliens (for completely different reasons), Ferris Bueller, Grosse Pointe Blank, The Departed (remake better than the original?), Die Hard, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, LA Confidential, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Days of Heaven, Annie Hall, Manhattan, The Life of Brian, Rope, either version of The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Breakfast Club, True Romance or maybe Pulp Fiction in place of RD, First Blood, The Rules of the Game, Stormy Monday (I can make a case for this), Double Indemnity, The Spy Who Loved Me, Harry He's Here to Help, Nine Queens, It's A Wonderful Life, North by Northwest, Blue Thunder, WarGames, Shallow Grave, Memento, Rashomon (though it depends what way you look at it), Ronin, Point Break, Bullitt, The Towering Inferno, The Great Escape, A Bout De Souffle (or Breathless, the remake), Cool Hand Luke, Touch of Evil, Manhunter, or a few others that will probably occur to me on the train home. Really fancy watching a film now...

I'm better off. But I was finishing university in May 1997 and entering the world of work. With 10 years' working experience and after good health, working steadily, a couple of moves (including the big one to come to London in 2000), I'm more experienced, more senior and better paid. My earnings have more than kept pace with the increasing tax burden in terms of direct taxation changes, National Insurance and the various less transparent forms of taxation most of us are subject to. Since I chose to buy a house later than I might have, and my earnings weren't going up in line with house prices, I probably got less than I would have (and for more money). While I don't blame the government for this, since I chose not to buy earlier, I do feel that part of the problem now for a lot of people is that nothing was done to slow down house price rises earlier by the people stewarding the economy - house price inflation seems to be cherished as no other sort of inflation is. Several of my friends are GP's and thanks to the government's cack-handed negotiation of new NHS contracts, they're considerably better off, while working less unsociable hours. Would I be able to say I was better off (to take a few examples) if I was becoming a student now or if I had a child who wanted to go to university and needed my support? Or if I was disabled and dependent on support from the government? I tend to think not. And regardless of the absolute truth, this is the central failure and for me the key disappointment of this government - they've reduced the chances of upward social mobility through education free at the point of consumption and failed to set an example by coming across as willing providing a safety net (rather than a stick) for the weakest in society.

mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If I was a gippo I'd probably be most offended by > Brad Pitt's accent in Snatch. > Mind you if I was a passionate film goer I'd just > be offended by Snatch. Kerbala ain't done his mojo > no favours has it. Funny enough (and I am not a fan of that film or Guy Ritchie's work) I thought Brad Pitt's accent was a very good approximation of the sort of accent you hear among the traveller community in Ireland (shame his Belfast accent in The Devil's Own was so poor...) Shame that Snatch generally seems to have given rise to the use of "pikey", though - I'd certainly never heard it before.

brothers