Applespider

The 4th quarter was amazing. I really thought Fitzgerald had done enough although I did point out that they'd left a lot of time on the clock. Big Ben did a great job of avoiding the sack though throughout the game. If the Cards had managed to bring him down after hitting him at one of various points, the game would have been a different story. But didn't like the Steelers win overall, how any unsportsmanlike penalties did they draw at the end? No class. Had more fun trying to get home at 4am since there were no buses and no cabs. Had thought it might end up being an 8 mile skid in the snow but luckily a friend came through for me who likes driving in snow being from snowy US state originally!

I can hear screaming children in the Horniman so I'm hoping that they're sledging. I may join them later once I've made my snowman!

The lock that we got added to our communal front door is one that is a deadlock but from the inside, you just have to turn a knob around several times. Callows on LL fitted it for us. From the outside, you need the key but from the inside, if you needed to get out in a hurry, it's a few seconds just to turn it. The bad thing is that it doesn't link to the entry lock system so we have to hike downstairs but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I had deadlocks on my interior door and a London bar but they managed to kick through it. I now have two deadlocks which have proper metal faceplates sunk into the wood and a new London bar. In terms of you being home, yes, the lights etc might put them off. But their modus operandi also seems to be to ring the doorbells to see if anyone is home (presumably they'll make something up if someone answers) and if not, they go in.

I was burgled this time last year. They came through communal door (locked but just with Yale) and then bashed through two of the three flat doors before being disturbed. If you do just have a Yale on a communal front door, it's worth seeing if you can get a better one installed that's less easy to jimmy open. It's a horrible feeling to come home and find your door open/not there and stuff gone. Thoughts are with you.

You don't log into to it as such; it's an old Yahoo Groups format. You give them an email address and subscribe to your local area's freecycle group. Then your mailbox gets either a message anytime someone has something to offer or a digest (1-3 time a day depending on how busy the group is) with all the messages since the last digest - although then good stuff has sometimes gone. For that reason alone, it's worth setting up a freecycle address to stop your regular one being swamped. If you have something to get rid off, then you email the group address and that gets sent out. The website keeps an archive of all the posts so that you can go on and have a look but it's not really how it works. I used it to get rid of an old PC that worked but I didn't need. It can take forever to get someone who wants it and actually shows up to get the thing!

Funnily enough it was a strange craving for boiled eggs that led me to a similar conclusion just before Christmas. A chance comment on how I'd had to peel the eggs straight onto the toast led to Santa bringing me a lovely set of egg cups that look like mini espresso cups & saucers. Incidentally, normal espresso cups work quite well so long as you're using large eggs. As for 3.5 minutes, that varies depending on when the water boiled, how many eggs there are and if your eggs started at room or fridge temperature. I have a Magic Egg that you put in the water with the eggs and it figures out for you whether it's soft/medium/hard by changing colour. It is one of the most useful kitchen gadgets that I own.

I have SKY but forked out for NFL Gamepass HD this year. Next year, I might just not bother with SKY and if they're showing a game that I need to see, then I'll go into Bodeans to watch. Gamepass shows all the regular season games live except for whichever 2 are the Sunday night SKY ones (red buton games are still shown)

If a player wants to keep a ball (after a great play/plays) or the team/Hall of Fame want it (like the ball Emmitt Smith broke the rushing record with) then the player will generally jog off the field with it and give it to an equipment guy on the sidelines to tag. There are 20 or 30 footballs available for use in an NFL game - some are only for use on kicks though - so the equipment guy will ensure that the tagged ball doesn't end up back in play. After the game, the coach will sometimes also give a game ball to a player or unit who had a particularly good game so I'm guessing one way or another Fitzgerald will get a game ball! I seem to recall some discussion though about whether the player had to pay for the ball - I think if they give it a fan post-TD, then they have to pay $$ but whether that's a fine from the No Fun League or a bill for the ball, I can't quite remember.

I don't think so and I have a funny feeling that I read somewhere that Ocado drivers aren't even allowed to use a customer's loo so I doubt they'd be allowed to accept a tip. I know my company's drivers would be expected to turn down a tip since delivery is their job. The Ocado guys always offer to lug my groceries up a floor which is much appreciated! I suppose if you get the same driver each time and get to know him, then a Christmas 'thanks' tip might be OK but even that seems to have gone out of fashion these days.

Ooh, let's not turn this nasty; we all have our sporting preferences. I love rugby and American football and can't see any point in football (soccer) or cricket but I wouldn't hijack threads about those to tell people that. The NFL is a complex game and the more you watch it and learn about tactics etc, the more you appreciate the game and the reason for the playclock between downs and timeouts. If you don't understand much of the game, they do seem inherently pointless. When I watch soccer football, I quite often get bored when I see people kicking the ball around midfield with no real purpose that I can see. Football afficianados could probably lecture me on the tactics, ballskills etc that are actually taking place. The Euro-league had a lot of issues that didn't help the fan turnout (although the Claymores at the end were getting more than 10k a game which several weekends was the third biggest sporting crowd in Scotland). It was also a lot of fun for the fans who did go and a great way of getting the knowledge to appreciate the game - the players/coaches were accessible and it really did fire my interest more than Sky ever managed. For Sunday, I fear a Steelers victory (as a Niners' fan, I don't want another team being first to 6 rings) but am rooting for a Cards win. If their O-line can stand up to the Steelers pressure, then I don't think they'll find Warner quite as easy to faze out as they did Flacco. Part of me thinks the Steelers D and Cards O strengths may cancel each other out and the interest may come from which of the less regarded Steelers O and Cards D battlesl to come out on top.

Not quite - kickoff is just after 11.15pm and the halftime show should start 85-100 minutes in - so about 12.45. Should all be over by about 2.30am unless there's lots of drama/injuries or it's still close in the 4th quarter. Think of those 'analysis' breaks as being perfect opportunities to grab more beer or food or nip to the loo without missing any of the game. The breaks don't usually bug me unless I'm actually at a stadium when they seem more noticeable. With friends around to discuss what we think the teams should do next and rip the coaches decisions, it all seems to pass quite quickly. It's only the appallingly bad Coors Light adverts on SKY that make me notice it's yet another break. My American friends wonder why the Brits complain about 30 second timeouts and 3 hour games but will happily watch snooker and cricket which have meal and sleep breaks. :)-D

Horsebox, I'm not American either ;-) I've done the Superbash in my house before with pals and it is fun - not to mention a damn sight more convenient to get to bed post-game rather than having to schlep home from town. Tho since all the pals have to schlep home from here or camp out, they're not always so keen on the idea. We used to go to the Sports Cafe years ago but as the food deteriorated and the beer went up, we migrated to Bodeans/home watching. I think it was the time that the fajitas contained carrots and broccoli that we gave the SC up as a bad idea! Enjoy the game!

Pudding and starter respectively. ;-)

Michael Palaeologus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Make your own, surely? Make? Surely, you mean hunt your own haggis down. Admittedly, I've never spotted a wild haggis in the area. Perhaps we could introduce them to Sydenham Woods as food for the big cats. ;-)

If you can get to a Waitrose, they have MacSweens including the giant 'serves 12' size. I picked mine up yesterday (the regular size!)

It's on BBC if you're only watching half time show. You also get the crap international commentary that assumes you know nothing about the game IIRC. I'm off to Bodeans (Tower Hill rather than the usual Soho) to watch the game (with the halftime show as an added bonus) with lots of beer, ribs and friends.

Dulwich_ Park_ Fairy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does anyone know when people started to get lose > and loose mixed up? No idea but it's one of my biggest bugbears when reading online. Perhaps people have always got them confused but didn't have the opportunity to write them publically until recently? But they're pronounced different so who knows! I'm guilty of hitting teh instead of the occasionally too and I touch type properly for the most part. I'll usually go back and correct it unless I'm in 'stream of consciousness' mode.

Corned beef sandwiches should be served with HP sauce :))

This is what I tend to end up with when at home for lunch Make extra the night before and have a portion at lunch Cheese on oatcakes (with apple on occasion) Couscous with some bits of salmon/chicken/veg Wrap with chicken/bacon and avocado (with a dash of chilli oil) Roll with fish fingers and garlic mayo (sounds horrific, tastes amazing) Soups with bread to dunk (so that you are still 'eating' something) Tuna Melts - toast with tuna, some peppers and then melted cheese on top (you're nearly there on that one!)

Bear in mind that the Co-op only have to sell stores where they already have a major supermarket in the area so since there's not a big Co-op around ED, then it's likely that LL Somerfield wasn't actually up for sale for anyone else to cherry-pick. And if they did want to re-open in the area, it would make more sense to do so into a store that's already a supermarket than having to reconvert old offices even if they do already own them.

Lordship Lane isn't one of the 13 that Waitrose bought :'(

Visiting someone to drop something off and have a quick cuppa who is allergic to dogs? Or isn't allowed pets because of their lease, especially a puppy that may pee from nervousness in new situations? There are all sorts of reasons to leave a dog in a car for 15 minutes or so occasionally which should be OK unless it's particularly hot/cold or for much longer. Sure you wouldn't want to plan to do so but sometimes stuff comes up and it's the only option. Perhaps the guy thought that leaving the puppy in the car for 15 minutes was better than leaving it at home alone for hours? Am amazed the police weren't interested given that there was a witness to it and there must have been damage to the car as well as the dog theft. Nasty crime though for both the distress caused to the dog and the owner. Hope that it doesn't prove widespread

I've done that before. Confused two usernames after a meetup (non-ED) although luckily it wasn't about anything too flirtatious or controversial! Keep thinking that since I use Applespider on a few sites, I should commission a brooch combining an apple and a spider that I could use for meeting up with people as a slightly less conspicuous version of a namebadge! Doesn't help with the real name though

I'm planning on coming dependent on how lazy I feel when I finally make it home and it will be my first forum drinks too.

KalamityKel Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It amazes me that there have been notices on the > ED bus stops for over a month informing passengers > of the route shortening and no one noticed b4? > *sighs* Nope... but then I rarely read the bus stop since I know what buses I want and where they go. Unless it was bright yellow or orange, I probably wouldn't notice it. A few signs on the buses might have been useful though.