Green Goose

Oliver Kempton Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In addition, we are pledging free school meals for > all Primary School children if Labour takes > control of the council. Interesting idea in the run up to an election but can you provide us with the costings. How much does it put on the rates? If the rates dont go up then what gets sacrificed? It prompts recall of a quote which went something like... ?The problem with socialism is that you very quickly run out of other people?s money?. GG

KidKruger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > GG - foolish comment. Why so, KK given that in a different thread you said..... QUOTE "Art is a luxury. Safety, Health and Welfare are not." UQUOTE GG

Tim, You certainly have my sympathy and I agree you should seek compensation from Southwark Council and publicise Southwark's neglicence as widely as possible. Some of us have been pleading with Southwark to make a major effort to repair the potholes which arose as a result of recent frost damage. Delayed action with frost damage inevitably leads to huge incremental costs later on. One councillor in particular (who shall be nameless) thinks that the council's funds should instead be spent on such projects as installing art work on the wall of the sub station in North Cross Road. Check out the thread.. North Cross Road sub station - art installation GG

ruffers Wrote: > Regarding potholes they'll get done sooner or > later, I'm not losing any sleep over them. Yeah, great. Let's forget preventive maintenance. Let's put it off, OK? Not OK! Road repair costs escalate exponentially when maintenance is compromised.

Piffle. The most effective deterrent is to have the graffiti removed as soon as possible. Within 24 hours. The graffiti 'artists' get totally peed-off it their work is swiftly obliterated. Their time, effort and investment have been totally wasted if it's no longer there for them and their mates to marvel at. That?s when they give up. To reduce the cost to the council, the ones to remove it should be those who have been sentenced to community service. Fixing the pot holes, as suggested, is much better use of our money. I suggest James you have a look at Matham Grove and other streets off LL. The potholes there are developing fast and there's an urgent need to do something. It appears that some councillors have failed to appreciate the need to maintain existing infrastructure - like the roads - hence the road surfaces became vulnerable to frost damage which leads on to pot holes. Instead you want to splash tax money on a totally needless arty farty project that isn?t even art. The sooner you are off the council the better.

Hopefully someone can answer this query about Oyster. Lets say you go to ED station and swipe your Oyster then proceed up tothe platform to catch the train to LB. You wait for the train and then there's an announcement that all trains are cancelled due to the snow. Question is ....if you swipe out, does it effectively cancel the journey and no debit is made on the card? GG

Seems like lots and lots of forumites like myself are missing mail. I have two packages now 4 weeks overdue. If it's bad now, it's going to be a lot worse until after Christmas. I suggest everyone with overdue mail emails Tessa Jowell about it every day until it arrives. GG Current missing post thread - The Administrator

Are you the guys in the red day-glo jackets?

lenk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If he?s not breaking the law, then he?s not > breaking the law. > > I couldn?t give a flying monkey?s about > ?eyesores?. > > Have you ever looked around London? The entire > place is an eyesore. It?s why it?s good. > > If you want bucolic tranquillity with an > uncluttered landscape, I can suggest a few places > you could consider living. He is not breaking the law as it stands today. But moves are underway to get the law changed. As for London, it is not all eyesores but for those who appreciate them, there is plenty of choice. Enjoy.

eater81 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Honestly, let the poor guy have his business. How > anybody can find these vans offensive I do not > know. As for the original poster complaining that > they are an eyesore! There are a thousand > eyesores in East Dulwich alone. This is South > London, eyesore city. Sucker. He's not a poor guy at all. Mr Kilty is a very astute entrepreneur and property developer. Check out Lambeth planning applications and you will see one from him for a 5 storey development on Denmark Hill. To his credit he has identified a very cost-effective method of advertising. One can buy these old vans for around ?50. The road tax and MOT might well come out at around ?200. There is no wear and tear whilst parked, so the following year?s MOT is a virtual formality. So for under ?300 per year he has permanent advertising in prominent locations around South London. All perfectly legal. Nice one. The unprofessional sign writing further strengths the perception that the van is operated by a poor hard-working chap who is struggling to get by. The truth is somewhat different. It is commendable that most people are tolerant and ever willing to let the next guy get affair crack of the whip but sometimes the other guy is not always what some of us might assume. As for the estimated 1000 eyesores in East Dulwich that you mentioned, that may well be right but wouldn?t it be better if we had fewer? As a matter of principle, if we always accept and tolerate every new eyesore that is imposed upon our community then we are all poorer for it. I?ll now put my tin hat back on and await the deluge ;-)

This thread is intended to generate suggestions for ridding E.D. and other parts of South London of the plague of red vans that belong to a certain Mr Terry Kilty. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050948/Exposed-The-man-menace-rusty-red-vans-blighting-suburbia-ads.html Arsom is not acceptable (on ecological grounds) but extra points will be awarded for suggestions that are particularly creative, humorous or off-beat.

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > Many many people have gone through the same > process.. Just recently I had a heated argument > with someone who wouldn't have it that there was > more than one > It's very much on topic as the red vans are effectively flyposters on wheels. The person responsible has at least 5 vans. He was exposed in http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050948/Exposed-The-man-menace-rusty-red-vans-blighting-suburbia-ads.html Southwark can't do anything about it as the vans are taxed and MOT'd. He only ever mioves them to get the MOT once a year.

Had a walk through Dulwich Village on the way to the post office this morning and found that someone had blitzed the place with adverts for a "Garage Sale". There was about 15 posters along a distance of about 300m and they were attached to trees, lamposts and bus shelters. Surprisingly, the one place without a poster was the community notice board outside St Barnabas Parish Hall! I take a dim view of flyposting and feel it should be not be tolerated as it creates a negative impression and degrades the community, leading on to other problems like littering and grafitti. I'd be interested to learn how others feel about it.

Someone must have mentioned to him how badly he came across because, in the afternoon, he squirmed his way up the camera again and came out with somethng reasonably coherent that his PR man/scriptwriter had obviously written for him. Yes, a complete and utter prat.

sillywoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You're making a lot of inaccurate assumptions > about me GG. Pray tell what were these inaccurate assumptons? I asked a question about you helping out with car boot fairs.

jason cox Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The staff member who thought it was okay to make a > joke about it afterwards was so off the mark. Making a joke under these circumstances is a positive human reaction that serves a very useful purpose. As a student of psychology, I would refer you to an extract from "The Psychology of Humor" by Rod A. Martin. Here is the link http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ieAcp2Z_zkIC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=joking+after+tension+stress&source=bl&ots=cueGVnDbSJ&sig=Mu9gZcjlnDhoT9h9sh4zchoiFyI&hl=en&ei=33TUSZ_NHsaNjAfF5az9Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6 Seems to me therefor that the member of staff should be commended for his/her action with regard to the joke. That said, why don't you tell us what the joke was. We all really would like to know and it may just make us all feel less stressful over this rather sad event.

sillywoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As a family of 6 > members of that local community we, like Asset, > have yet to see any benefit fro their existence. > I suppose that logic might apply to you and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. RNLI is a charity and I would guess you have not yet seen any benefit from its existence. > > BTW I was told that the brilliant boot sales were > simply a means to raise money for the > redevelopment of the playing fields and cricket > pavilion. Every credit then to Alleyns for being self-reliant and organising car boot sales to raise funds develop facilities. Would you rather they went running to the state for funds? There's nothing to stop state schools from doing something similar. Is that something you might consider organising or helping out with?

Spirit or Jason, Let's have a clear description of this nasty man then we can all give him a wide berth.

flipbrit Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was a staff in Barclays before, disagreement > between people, yes, but being pushed away > by anyone is no good, make a formal complaint and > make sure to demand compensation flipbrit, Demand compensation from whom? The bank? Surely not. The incident only happened on HSBC's premises. The OP was not attacked or threatened by any member of the bank's staff. If anyone is attacked by another bank customer then there will be CCTV footage which will have recorded every little detail. The assailant could be readily identified from the footage and the deposit paperwork. The OP might consider going to the police who will then requisition the CCTV footage, do all the interviews and press charges if necessary. If the man gets charged and convicted then the court can decide about damages. Some anarchists might well see the banks as filthy tools of the capitalism system but in this case it HSBC is not guilty of any crime. Hence damages against the bank is totally fanciful. This whole compensation culture thing seems to be all pervasive now. Great little earner though for those compensation lawyers.

Spirit, I think I may have come across this nasty guy before and might be able to assist. Can you give a clearer description eg Age? Height? Slim, normal or heavy build? Length and colour of hair? Wearing spectacles or not? Discernable accent? Type of clothing worn? Smelling of alcohol?

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kuntama Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this > event I witnessed today. > I'd just wandered into a pub opposite the > postoffice on Lordship Lane. A lady with her two > little children came in and asked if there were > any unreserved tables. Kuntama, It all seems a bit contrived IMO. Are you sure the so called 'lady' wasn't yourself? Looking at your posts on other forums (eg HPC) you have 2 young daughters, No? The place is mobbed from Fiday thro' Sunday. Why hadn;t you booked in advance? Which planet do you come from?

telboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I agre on the drink and drugs. So far as drink is > concerned blame central government. They allowed > the free for all on liquor licensed premises and > made the situation worse by bringing in 24 hour > drinking. Hence we have so many problems in our > town centres. It's just one consequence of the many legislative changes that have been brought in during the last 5 yerars. It's similar to the rash of lap-dancing venues that are now cropping up on high streets everywhere - caused by the change in licensing. I blame it all on corruption within the houses of Commons/Lords- where they take cash for introducing/amending legislation. The one that really typifies it is the new powers that water companies have to force people to have meters fitted. Once they are widely installed you can bet the water charges will sky rocket. There are several other examples I couldn't believe it when Labour introduced the Gambling Act 2005. It goes counter to all of Labour's traditional values. The old House of Lords used to pride itself in upholding values of integrity, honesty and common sense. That's all gone now and many of these newly appointed life peers are busy lining their pockets as consultants. We should have a rule that says that one cannot become a peer until at least 10 years have elapsed since you were an MP or Govt official. Similarly, Brown has exploited the Lords by appointing Mandelson as a peer. This means he cannot be exposed to questions in the House of Commons. Nice one Gordon. As the Ho Chi Min said , keep your friends close to you but keep your enemies even closer! Look at the situation with MP's own expenses. It's a damned disgrace. The system STINKS! Time for a clean out me thinks.

If it had metal shutters on all doors and windows and these were securely fixed then entry must have been forced. This means an offence has been committed and squatters rights DO NOT apply. They have committed a crime and are illegaly occupying the building. They can be evicted immediately. I suggest you make a note of their vehicle registrations and report the matter to the police and the Council - provided they are the owners. Good luck.