BrandNewGuy

Makes me suspect that everything will be pricy - like those shoe shops that only have four pairs of shoes on display, and you realise that those four pairs have to pay all the rent, rates, utilities and wages...

pinecone Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pretty bad that someone should > wind up hurt and out of pocket because of some > ones reckless arrogant stupidity, and cowardly > behaviour to run off, and not just man up and > offer to pay what he could. Indeed, and if you have their details, there's nothing to stop you suing them for the damage regardless of your insurance.

In terms of cultural aspects, Alan Tyler does a fine song called "Middle Saxon Town" about his childhood in Harrow. Lots of local colour. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/browse/alan-tyler/songs/1979670 His long-time band The Rockingbirds are playing at The Lexington tomorrow - should be good.

KWinberry Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Ashbourne/ Lordship Lane corner is a bit of a > hotspot for unusual activity, with HSBC and > Barclays on both corners. I heard it said that local kids used to refer to Ashbourne Grove as 'the river', ie it ran between two banks.

Maybe they gave up and went to this branch instead: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27375488

East Dulwich's swifts have definitely returned. I just heard some 'screaming' as they raced through the air. They're always a welcome harbinger of summer - and a week earlier than last year.

According to the excellent Transpotine blog, the Last Orders pub scene was filmed in the Larkhall Tavern in Clapham. http://transpont.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/bob-hoskins-rip-by-river.html

Richy86 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ED's population is getting younger and more > affluent. Until interest rates go up, then they'll age rather quickly.

tomdhu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There seems to be a whole lot more chaffinches > around this year, or is it just me? Having not > seen one in our garden in almost 20 years, we see > 2 in one day! > Tom Yes, I've seen and heard more than ever. Before a couple of years ago, you'd only really see them in the woods or occasionally the park. The goldfinches have made a comeback too, as have the sparrows. It must have been a good (mild) winter for the small songbirds.

Chocky Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Ooh I've not seen any black bees, but I just had > my first sighting of a swift for 2014! I don't > recall seeing one in April before. Wow! I thought I might have heard one this morning, but it is very early. It might be a bird that's still on migration further north rather than one of 'our' local ones. Just checked and my first sighting in ED last year was May 15th.

Turn-ups

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Don't forget, these > people find the village dull cos it's the sort of > place they've grown up in. > > Louisa. I was born in a city (Birmingham) and have lived in cities ever since and never in a 'rich' area. Dulwich Village is packed with dull rich people. And I don't care for hipster Peckham either.

Louisa Wrote: > People generally wind me up by suggesting things > which are obviously false. Yes indeed - like claiming that Dulwich Village has "a large number of privately owned non-chain businesses including restaurants", as if that were a contrast with East Dulwich. You then included a (chain) pub and cafes in order to back up your claim. If you allow cafes and other places that 'serve food' to count as restaurants, then East Dulwich has a higher proportion of independent v chain eateries than Dulwich Village does.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > and a large number of > > > privately owned non-chain businesses > > Like EastDulwich > > > > > including restaurants. > > Pizza Express? Cafe Rouge? > > GBK? Cafe Nero? White stuff? I didn't say anything about East Dulwich's chains. You said that Dulwich Village has "a large number of privately owned non-chain businesses including restaurants" and I pointed out that two of the three (?) restaurants in Dulwich Village are chains.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > and a large number of > privately owned non-chain businesses Like EastDulwich > including restaurants. Pizza Express? Cafe Rouge? And 'working class' London has wide buggies and coffee shops too, which makes things confusing for a cardboard cutout class warrior.

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I actually don't mind people from the > village being middle class, they do it with > refinement and sophistication (and let's face it > they have money) Hmmm, I see Dulwich Village as insufferably dull, with crap places to eat and little sign of refinement or sophistication. There are some attractive houses on Dulwich Village itself, but the surrounding roads are packed with respectable but dull villas. Maybe we're wearing differently tinted glasses.

I took a very spring-like walk down Green Dale just now. In addition to all the different bright greens of the trees coming into leaf - poplar, oak, ash, birch, sycamore, willow and elder - there was a host of birds, visible or audible - starling, house sparrow, dunnock, blue tit, great tit, robin, wren, blackbird, mistle thrush, chaffinch, goldfinch, feral pigeon, wood pigeon, carrion crow, magpie, green woodpecker and greater spotted woodpecker. Not bad for a ten-minute stroll. We?re very lucky to live where we do.

But is the tomato animal, vegetable or mineral? In that sense it's vegetable.

A quote from the report linked to above: "... their use in enclosed public places could normalise smoking behaviour." Huh? Why only in enclosed spaces? If it's a public health drive, surely the location is irrelevant. Indeed, kids or 'vulnerable' young people are more likely to see people using e-cigs out on the street rather than in pubs and clubs. It reinforces the suspicion at the time of indoor smoking ban that it was less to do with the health of staff and other customers and more to do with taking a moral stand. I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong, but at the time ministers and others stressed that it was a direct health measure. What next? Making obese people eat their pies away from where young people might see tham enjoying their fatty treats? It would be good if people stopped smoking. And it would be good if few or no young people took it up. But the tut-tutting nannying of measures like this is irritating. FWIW I gave up smoking ten years ago but respect the right of others to smoke as long they don't directly affect those who don't want to breathe their smoke.

steveo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What about chicken? Folk song collector Cecil Sharp met people who believed this to be true when he visited the Appalachians a hundred years ago: "His missionary zeal also took him on several self-financed trips to the US, where he found another rich harvest of English songs imported by settlers. One can only conjecture about the discomfort and indignity that Sharp, an asthmatic vegan, suffered in his quest, tramping up muddy tracks in the Appalachian mountains, where one community tried to convince him chicken was a vegetable." http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/16/cecil-sharp-morris-men

StraferJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ( should be noted that the buyer denied he got the > wrong bridge... But c'mon) Indeed - and many tourists still call Tower Bridge "London Bridge" in my experience. Check "London Bridge" on Google images - 10 of the first 16 photos are of Tower Bridge.

StraferJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > yeah I like those places > > I mean, I know they are transparent branding > excercises but they are also places where I can > drink something half decent Me too - after all, you're usually stopping off for a swift one, so the mark-up's not a problem. If you spend all evening in a station bar you've got problems of a different sort ;-)

Or possibly one of those "Beer House" craft beer ones like at Charing Cross and Waterloo. Big mark-ups ;-)

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Two platforms have opened and two others have > closed. Why would you expect the problems to have > got better all of a sudden? Perhaps I should have titles the thread "... new platforms, worse problems". The huge delays on Monday were worse than the previous normal run of delays.

Here's a list of works http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/key-dates