BrandNewGuy

On a bracing pre-dawn walk around Peckham Rye Common and Park, it was good to hear the usual thrushes, robins, great tits, sparrows, woodpeckers and wrens calling and singing ? but also a chaffinch. Not an uncommon bird in the country as a whole, but not often seen around these parts.

Adders are vipers, and vice versa :)

Very exciting - yes, buzzards have occasionally been seen, particularly around Sydenham Hill and Dulwich Woods. Not breeding yet, AFAIK.

First thing this morning I counted approx 1200 black-headed gulls on Peckham Rye Common. Very impressive flocks at this time of year. They lose their brown/black heads over winter to be replaced by a small black dot behind the eye ? though strangely a tiny number of them keep their summer plumage.

Half Moon Bay and Princeton-by-the-Sea just south of San Francisco are worth stopping off at. Beautiful bay, some great restaurants and walks along the shore. Spent many happy hours in the Old Princeton Landing bar and the brilliant no-frills fish restaurant Barbara's Fishtrap. I'd also recommend Santa Cruz for a stop ? hippyish arty vibe with some interesting galleries etc.

rahrahrah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > That messaging from the council is so confused. Really? If you have a food/garden waste collection, leave it out for the binmen. If you don't have a food/garden waste collection, email [email protected] stating your name and full address to request a Christmas tree collection - then leave your Christmas tree for collection outside your property at ground floor level in a place that does not cause an obstruction to pedestrians or vehicles.

Not just the increase in footfall, but the huge increase in dog ownership: "London has seen the biggest regional spike in UK dog ownership with an increase of 84 per cent in 2020." https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/london-sees-a-sharp-rise-in-pandemic-puppies/ Had to smile when I spoke to a local young couple before Xmas who said that they were becoming vegan ? and that they'd just got a dog. So, probably increasing their household meat intake then...

In truth, to my knowledge they haven't put out any information ? I had to go and find it. In previous years the info has been included on the Xmas/New Year collections leaflet, which I didn't receive this time around.

Spartacus, I think it means that if you don't have a garden waste subscription, you can still get it picked up for free as long as you email them with your details... otherwise it won't get picked up.

After last year's uncertainty about the council's policy for collecting Christmas trees, I checked the council website and this is what it says (cached, at any rate - the page itself was unreachable): Please recycle your real Christmas tree once you're finished with it. Simply remove all decorations including any pot or stand and do one of the following: if you have a food and garden waste collection, real Christmas trees can be collected as part of your garden waste subscription collection - simply leave it by your bin on collection day, please note that trees over 6 foot long should be cut in half if you do not receive a food or garden waste collection, email [email protected] stating your name and full address to request a real Christmas collection - then leave your Christmas tree for collection outside your property at ground floor level in a place that does not cause an obstruction to pedestrians or vehicles, please note that trees over 6 foot long should be cut in half if you live on an estate or in a block of flats, leave your real Christmas tree by the bin areas or bulky waste collection areas, please make sure your tree is easily accessible and not behind a locked gate or in a bin store alternatively book a permit and bring you real Christmas trees and plastic Christmas trees to the Reuse and Recycling centre on Devon Street (off old Kent Road) https://www.southwark.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling/christmas-tree-recycling Not sure how widely this has been publicised - most people seem to be just leaving them next to their bins as in previous years.

Very poor or non-existent O2 signal at the Rye end of Barry Road.

And here he is in his far better role as the Green Cross Man ? putting a daft kid right on North Cross Road way back in 1976

I fear TfL's financial meltdown means no improvement in public transport for years to come. Possibly the opposite... Yet again, the sorts of public investments that should have happened during the 'good times' didn't happen.

Any news this time around? The website hasn't been updated yet...

malumbu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 2. If there had been no Falklands War there would > be no Thatcher in 1983 and we would have had the > experiment of the third way (the SDP) Interesting list of 'what ifs' but this is one of those truisms that turns out not to be true. A few years ago I looked through detailed polling and voting info from Ipsos MORI for 1981-83 and here's the summary: 1. Labour were not miles ahead in the polls before the Falklands War broke out in April '82. In early '81, at the depths of the recession, they were at least 10% ahead in the polls, but by Dec '81-Feb '82 (two months before the War started), the lead was down to between 0 and 3% and their average poll rating was 31% - barely 3% more than their eventual showing in the '83 general election and less than the 33-36% they were polling from October '82 to Feb '83. 2. The 'Falklands factor' theory ignores the huge impact of the SDP / Alliance on the years from '81 to '83. Between November '81 and the outbreak of the war, the combined Alliance polling was between 30 and 44%, but after this honeymoon period it was the Tories who benefited from a decline in Alliance support rather than Labour. There's no evidence that this had anything to do with Falklands. 3. The economy (in GDP terms) was picking up from the depth of the '80-'81 recession and by early '83 was showing strong growth. Despite their best intentions, many people vote with their wallets and Thatcher benefited from this in '83. 4. Labour did not put up a credible platform for voters outside their core constituencies, without which they couldn't hope to win power. Now back to the pandemic...

Just saw him turning from Peckham Rye into Barry Road, blasting out "Freebird". I flipped him the devil's horns sign but I don't think he saw me.

Cineworld (including Picturehouse cinemas) have announced that they're to close all their cinemas till next year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54407213

0/10

Yes, it's between the Upland Road junction and the Rye.

Big drama on Barry Road just now... I was quietly sipping my coffee when I heard a parakeet squawk ? and a louder squawk than usual. All of a sudden, the parakeet came hurtling towards my back window, closely pursued by a sparrowhawk. The hawk must have realised it was going too fast to stop in time and wheeled away at the last second, but the parakeet banged straight into the window. I feared the worst, but it was only briefly stunned. After a minute or two it woke up, shook its feathers, squawked angrily at me ("It wasn't my fault, mate!") and flew off. A lucky escape.

That was over a year ago. WhatsApp now has full end-to-end encryption and is as safe as any other app as long as you accept normal updates, as you would with any app.

Shrieker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > True, but then Lordship Lane has 5 or 6 hugely > overpriced, swanky food led pubs practically > beside each other. The kind of pubs where people > sit and nurse 1 drink (sometimes alcohol free) and > talk about their next skiing holiday or business > trip to Dubai. We need more affordable pubs were > the common man can sit around, supping multiple > well priced pints, and talk about the football and > racing. Like all pubs used to be before everywhere > was gentrified. 0/10

Siduhe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It started off as 9/10 but the final para brought > it back to a middling 6/10 effort in my view. > Room for improvement. Actually, you're right. A little bit of grade inflation from me. Should have applied the A-level algorithm....

9/10