Applespider

Sakwhita - use the instructions above and email the info address to get a survey number. Eileen - a one day survey when few people know the risk to the service. That's one way of ensuring being able to report a low level of interest I guess! I've asked for my number and will fill it in asap!

Amazing at Glastonbury... may have to revisit the decision to forgive my pal for screwing up the Hyde Park tickets ;-) The steam coming off the man was crazy. The River was fabulous - one of my favourites...

Damn... you can only fill it in online if you have a card with a survey number. I'll keep my eyes open for them over the next few days though when on the trains. I tend to jump on the fast trains for the most part especially since Southeastern started having a few extra ones stop between 8 and 9 and later in the evenings.

I'd like to go but things got in a muddle on the ticket front and didn't get any :( So if anyone knows of a spare one at a sensible price ;-)

EDKiwi - if you end up on a bus that changes its destination, ask the driver to give you a transfer ticket that you show the next bus to come along so don't have to use your pre-pay again. Saw a 176 driver handing them out on Saturday when he was told to stop at the Plough unexpectedly.

I've found the Shock Absorber Level IV croptop style bra to be the best at reducing boobage bounceage - nothing eliminates it when you get up to the higher letters in the alphabet. But I can do aerobics and I've run a half marathon without fear of giving myself or others black eyes when I'm wearing one of those despite being substantially bigger than a D cup. It's got a racer style back (with 4 hooks - 2 top and 2 bottom) so you do feel quite secure in it.

Never knew about the silk arrangement which is good to know. I was standing by the information booth at London Bridge one a few weeks ago when a businessman came up and said he'd had his wallet nicked which had his season ticket in it and all his cash and was wondering how to get home. I bought him a single ticket for ?7 back to his home and asked him to pay it forward sometime. I've had kids try to play the map trick while picking pockets too while in Regent St. Luckily a pal had eagle eyes and caught them at it.

Today was particularly bad. I get on around Wood Vale where there's usually not a problem but nothing came between 8am and 8.15 this morning and then the 176 was already packed and didn't stop again after the Harvester unless it was letting people off. If enough people email TFL with examples of where it's been particularly bad, then they can instigate a route review that checks on frequency and passenger loads. Last year I was told they'd done one in August 08 so one wasn't due again. But that's when the buses are usually at their quietest so probably didn't really reflect the rest of the year.

Suddenly I'm really glad that I hopped on a train to Peckham Rye from Victoria rather than waiting for the 185

Oooh, I've had that problem with trying to recycle cardboard boxes even when flattened. Drives me spare! Still at least we have a free bulky waste collection - others have to pay for it.

Will have to go down and take a look. I remember suggesting them to various people (including those doing up the Horniman Triangle) as being potentially fun after seeing them while in Macau last year.

At Denmark Hill station when a train is going through without stopping, the tannoy system announces that this train is not for customer use. This annoys me since there usually are passengers/customers on the train who are using it; it's just not stopping. Why can't they announce that the train isn't scheduled to stop at this station?

I had a London bar and they still kicked through my door last year. Make sure that your mortice locks have a proper metal chamber sunk into the wood rather than just a metal faceplate. And you should use the mortice lock every time you leave the house since some insurance policies won't pay out if it was only on a Yale lock as one of my neighbours found out the hard way.

Yikes. Glad you are OK... and hope they didn't run round the corner and do mine! :-$

Seem to remember reading something last year to the effect that Earth Hour could cause more problems than it resolved from an energy point of view because of some issues with how the National Grid projects demand etc.

I agree with you to a certain extent as regards the majority of weight machines in the gym which do nothing for functional use of the muscles and I'm not keen on mindless cardio staring at crap on the TV - I'd rather run round Dulwich Park in the fresh air. But, I do still go to a gym several times a week especially in winter when it's dark and the weather is chilly. It's mainly for the studio classes that they run, which can be fun and sociable, and free weights.

I have blue tits (fnar fnar) living in the space behind my boiler. They've moved in for a few weeks each year for the past 5 years since I replaced my boiler and left the space.

I've been into Mrs Robinson to browse quite a few times and have made a few purchases although they are pricier than RRP on some of their kitchenware stuff etc. When I've been browsing and for most purchases, I've never really noticed the staff. They didn't go out their way to be charming and helpful but equally, I couldn't say they did anything wrong either. I suspect for the 99% of transactions that are simple payments and pack it into a bag, they're pretty standard. On a couple of occasions though, I found errors in how things were priced or labels that made the price seem ambiguous on whether it was for single items or a pair, and then, the staff were pretty damned rude and unhelpful. After the second case of this, I stopped going back. As spark67 says, perhaps just a little more training on how to deal with the non-standard transactions/queries and perhaps a little empowerment on allowing some goodwill allowance would go a long way.

I'm partial to a little Bitter & Twisted from the Harviestoun brewery. Bottled beer wise, it's Schlosser Alt from Germany and Anchor Steam or Liberty Ale from San Francisco (which incidentally runs an amazing brewery tour if you're in the area)

They had cars driving around much of last summer/autumn with large cameras strapped to the top - seriously.

Always find the 176 is more likely to change its destination than the 185 - in both directions. I'm obviously also lucky since I've had very few bad experiences on the buses around here

Michael Palaeologus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Others have followed something of a pattern, they > have met people via the internet with little > success, but then met somebody in the usual face > to face way and found a partner, maybe the > experience of internet dating made them more open > and positive about meeting new people? Good point and I think it's very true. Sometimes even the 'thrill' of getting some dates or knowing someone is interested can make you a lot more confident and more open to seeing the possibilities outside. Not to mention getting in all that flirting practice ;-)

I think it's relatively normal these days but I'm not sure how successful it really is. I know a couple of people who have ended up in long-term relationships but it an be hit and miss although I did meet one of my boyfriends after failing to find the bar in which I supposed to be meeting one of my online dates. I know more couples who met in parks than met online. It's a great way of getting to meet a lot of people who, in theory, are interested in meeting other people too. But it does engender a 'plenty more fish in the sea' attitude so you can end up with serial daters and the feeling that if the first date wasn't perfect, then there's no point in giving the person a second chance even to get in touch. Even if you do hit it off on your date, then you have all these issues about whether the person is still online looking or whether they stop looking for other dates - and since their activities are usually visible, it can get messy. Lastly, in dating, there has to be some spark of attraction to the person - and the spark, or lack thereof, isn't always evident until the first meeting.

Aw.... I have fond memories of that song too. Thanks for finding that link!

I know they can be useful Sue but sometimes I find them just set a little overly loud so that every time it tells me that it's a 185 bound for Victoria, it knocks me out of my book that I'm engrossed in. You do get used to them but I'd love a little more volume control. On the funny side, since they are so new on the 185, I do think some of the drivers are taking the opportunity to try all the messages out. I was reminded many times last night to be sure my belongings were with me at all times and to report anything suspicious to the driver.