Penguin68

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is?

I am not at DMC (thank goodness) - but it strikes me that there are good and competent (salaried I think) GPs working there, entirely hampered by a wholly dysfunctional administration system (and at the very least a poor or missing practice manager). Failures to give effective and timely feedback on test results (and to match results with patients) is an issue of results distribution and performance targeting. The appalling appointments non-system is clearly an office management issue. People do not cancel appointments I would guess because they have little incentive to phone for hours, and none to actually visit the surgery just to cancel an appointment. Numbers of surgeries are moving now to computer mediated systems, allowing appointments to be booked (and cancelled) on line ? as well as repeat prescriptions to be ordered and so on. This allows staff to concentrate on those who do not have access to computers (or who are unable to use them through infirmity or lack of instruction). But of course such systems require (a) investment and (b) proper training ? something the DMC owner(s) are clearly very unwilling to put into the practice. It is now possible to set up automated calls (or texts) to remind patients of appointments, again to avoid no-shows. Finally a system of triage to get any appointment, and then only on-the-day, places anyone with a chronic condition which needs monitoring (or with work or care commitments) at a severe disadvantage. This should be seen as entirely unacceptable (except perhaps for a very short period reflecting either a local epidemic or practitioner illness) ? indeed offering booked appointments for non-critical illness issues should be a formal requirement placed on any practice which wishes to contract with the NHS to offer primary care.

I'd prefer to see what's in the window rather than relying on him bringing things from the back. Really? - pre-cut so that it dries out and blackens, in the sun/ light so that it oxydises more quickly (and so that dust etc. can get to it more readily)? Having to take 'what's there' rather than specifying the weight and cut (I buy shin/ leg of beef in the piece and cut it up for stews myself when I want to cook it). If you can be sure of the quality (you can with Kim) then 'bringing things out of the back' (actually, taking thing out of a temperature controlled cold store) is by far the best option. Kim hangs his own meat - and that is hanging on the bone and in the piece - keeping that in cold store and bringing it out only when needed is what makes his meat so good. You do, of course, know what to ask for (or, as I have said, explain what you want to cook and leave it up to him to recommend the best cuts) - but that's how butchers used to work. If you want pre-cut, shrink wrapped cuts of meat, then a supermarket, not a butchers, is what you need. One of the things that horrifies me about e.g. William Rose is the amount of cuts of meat which hang around all day in the shop, sweating away in the window. Good butchers will hang game up in windows, in fur or feather, but you don't often find them nowadays, as people get upset by seeing bunnies or birds so obviously 'animals'.

K & J Libretto and Daughters I believe. K is Kim, and J his son Jake. Kim is an excellent,'old school' butcher - he buys either direct from the farm (i.e. his Christmas Turkeys) or from a small number of 'tried and tested' Smithfield traders - he is always aware of the provenence of his food. He tries (except on Saturdays when he does some pre-cutting) to cut off the carcase only against an order/ request - this means that he has little on display but the meat he has in store is intact as possible (and hence in the best condition). This does lead to a quite leisurely service (as meat is being prepared for each customer) - but that is worth the wait. He will always try to fill orders made in advance (if the meat is available in Smithfield) - he buys on Thursday mornings (at about 5:00am) so you need to give him an order before this. He also makes excellent sausages (herby or plain) in two sizes, and boils his own hams to sell cooked slices. His eggs are delivered from a travelling wholesaler weekly - again from a small number of farms. Although he closes at about 2:00 on Saturdays you will see the lights on and him working way past 7:00 that evening, deep cleaning his shop and implements. He will always give advice on cooking methods and times, if asked, as well as suggesting quantities ('enough for 8, please') if requested. He will also advise on the best cuts for particular types of recipe. His prices (for what he sells) are very fair. His knife grinder (calls fortnightly) will also re-edge customers' knives at a reasonable price. He stocks diamond dusted 'steels' - the best I have ever used for casual knife sharpening. I have been a customer for over 25 years, and dread him retiring! (I have no commercial or family interest in this business - just a satified punter!)

...in the context that the shop, as a former chippy, would not be having any change of use.

how those that don't use the buses for commuting know so much about who is on them If you don't use buses to commute, then probably if you do travel on them it will be out of commuter time (i.e. when you're not at work) - in which case the demographic described is probably fairly acurate - i.e. almost by definition excludes those going to or coming back from work. It's fairly common (and normally unsound) to extrapolate rules or models based just on your own experience - but we all do it (particularly it often seems on this forum!)

As Mr Branson is the most self publicising billionaire possible, the chances of him denying his own identity are so slim as to be invisible even to an electron microscope.

Several points:- 1. The Daily Mail story link was covered by either The Standard or the Sunday Times last week (can?t remember which) ? but included a Db ?contour map? which showed ED conspicuous by its absence from any of the sound contours measured. So it falls outside the critical sound footprints being discussed. 2. All the evidence of this thread suggests that the sound impact of aircraft on us in ED is a very subjective area. (I doubt whether this would be true much closer to e.g. Heathrow.) This may well be evidenced by impressions of some posters that the ?problem? is significantly on the increase not being supported by actual published figures (although the fact that Heathrow is now operating at 98% capacity does support some increase, though this may be on aircraft loadings rather than frequency). 3. Unless the intention is to restrict overall the number of flights into and out of London ? which will not exactly help the economy, creating a 6 hour window of silence would simply increase traffic in the remaining 18 hours and possibly substantially increase safety issues as even more planes occupy a limited air space at one time. 4. In fact it seems possible that many people supporting this simply wish to shift the ?problem? onto someone else. 5. The benefits of living in a modern society come with some costs. I find living relatively close to airports a good thing ? I don?t have to travel for hours to get to an airport. The cost of that is living relatively close to aircraft as well. It?s a cost I?m prepared to pay.

Once you think you are being attacked, philosophical discussion about where 'blame' should sit is irrelevant, you want (presumably) to avoid exacerbating the occasion, so if you can suppress screaming, it's a good idea, if attacked by a dog, to do that. Learning that most approaches by dogs (in ED) don't require a panic 'scream' response would also be sensible. Dogs may not always be fully 'under control' - but the choices are not binary - 'in full control' or 'savagely mad attack dog' - most 'out of control' dogs in ED are still mostly harmless.

It protects everyone from babies to sensitive adults A lot of research shows that babies, once asleep, are very difficult to rouse through external sounds. A baby is quite unlikely to have disturbed sleep through aircraft noise. Adult anxieties can of course effect children's sleep patterns (and general well being).

a lot of very good points about phobias undermined sliiightly by this " by the way, screaming is probably not a good tactic where dogs are concerned, " Sorry - but screaming is likely to excite dogs (who have very good hearing) more - the OP said she had screamed when 'attacked'. Screaming if you are attacked by a person has the effect of calling attention to your situation for passers-by to assist, something a human attacker will recognise, but not a dog. So screaming, even if involuntary (as I assume it was) will not tend to quieten down a dog attack (or even being bounced by an over friendly dog).

As I have said in another thread, sometimes changing yourself, rather than changing the world, is a more effective tactic in dealing with issues that trouble you. I have lived for 25 years in ED (under, as I have also said) the old Concorde flight path. If I concentrate I can be aware of planes passing overhead (I must admit I have not noticed any increase in frequency or noise levels over my time here). But only if I concentrate (my hearing, by the way has been recently tested as being 20-30 years better than my actual age). As a child I lived under the old B52 training flight paths (in Oxford). There the US bombers flew so low that the house shook and ornaments would move. I had recurrent nightmares about these planes crashing for years. In ED I have had nothing like that - athough I am as much disturbed as anyone else by circling police helicopters when they are in 'search' mode. Learning to live with annoyances which you are very unlikely (petition or no) to be able to change is a rational choice - I am not saying that you do not, or should not, find aircraft noise annoying, what I am saying is that there are effective methods to reduce the amount of annoyance you feel.

A fear of unknown dogs is entirely rational Context is key here - unknown dogs in e.g. India or Africa may well be a threat (where rabies is endemic), but the vast majority of dogs in ED are owned responsibly and are people friendly (and not diseased). My experience (I am not a current dog owner, and haven't been for more than 40 years) is that you are more likely to be bitten by a small dog than a large one. So being frightened of big, bouncy, dogs in ED (unless you are easily knocked over and have physical vulnerability) is, in fact, irrational (in the sense that there is a very high probability that you will be safe). A very small amount of self-training (with perhaps a dog trainer) will give you the appropriate mannerisms to communicate to dogs that you are not either a threat or a potential 'victim'. Most people have phobias - it is whether you allow them to rule your life or find coping mechanisms to address then which is key. I, certainly am, and have been, phobic. Some I have addressed, some (those which are rarely encountered) I have learnt to avoid, but if I had a fear of dogs and wanted to visit London parks this is one phobia I would do something about. An ability to be able to 'cope' with dogs will make park visits much more enjoyable for you. Equally, training will allow you to be more clearly aware of dog 'body language' so that you will be able to discriminate between the vast majority (in ED) of harmless mutts and the very few which may be a threat. [That will include 'good' dogs which may protect their owners against perceived threat as well as the very few rogue 'bully' dogs or ones actually trained to be aggressive]. [And, by the way, screaming is probably not a good tactic where dogs are concerned, although perfectly safe with mice or spiders]

If cables have been severed (copper or fibre) it is a very non trivial job to reconnect them. Unlike gas or electricity or water, where we all have the same supply, and do not have bits of water, or gas, or electricty which are uniquely ours, each house is served by its own, unique, pair - which has to be properly connected through flexibility points all the way back to frames and racks on the exchange - for traditional analogue that's two copper wires (a 'pair') which have to form a connection from the right points in your house to the right points in the exchnage. A cut cable has loads of pairs at each cut end - each of which must be correctly re-comnmected to its counterpart in the other cable end. That has to be done by people, jointing and testing each wire. Sometimes it is easier and quicker to pull an entire new length of cable and join each up at street connections than to attempt to mend a cut cable - but if the cutting is done past the last flexibility point at the subcriber's end that probably isn't so. Houses next door to each other (depending on where the cable has been cut) may well be being served by different intermediate cables, hence one house can have no service when the next house has service. If you have a fibre connection (fibre to the cabinet), and your neighbour copper pairs, this will certainly be so.

I think the point people are making about phobias is that there are good and proven methods to desensitive people against fears - sometimes (pace also the discussion about aircraft noise) it is more effective and addressable to change yourself rather than change the world.

Books make good insulation - if you have enough, shelving (bricks and planks) and books will give you about 3-4 inches of very good sound insulation (bricks and planks so as not to harm your landlord's walls). Actually, on an outside wall this gives quite good heat insulation (for those with older houses and no cavity walls to fill).

Anyone actually attacked by a dog (i.e. the dog attacks and bites or attempts to bite, with clearly malicious intent) deserves sympathy and is right to seek a remedy; but from what the OP has said, it is clear that she is frightened of (any) dogs, and reacts alarmingly (screams, apparently) if approached by a dog. There are numbers of dogs (particularly labs and retrievers) who can be naturally boisterous and ?tigger-ish? but which mean no harm. Dogs which are not vicious have as much right in parks (assuming their solid excretions are properly collected by their owners) as any other park users. Their boisterousness is part of their pleasure, for many people. This appears to be a phobia for the OP (irrational fear) ? there are many treatments for phobias, including CBT, and I would suggest it is worth examining them, so that you can share park space with dogs and without excessive anxiety. [it is not ?wrong? to have a phobia, but it can be inconvenient for the phobic, and it is addressable]. Those people with dogs will also be tax and community charge payers. Who will also think they have rights. The signage and its positioning is not helpful. Edited to say, cross-posted with message above, which makes some of the same points, Sorry.

Who actually does the flytipping? A guess that unprofessional landlords/maintenance staff in adjacent apartment blocks are responsible Whist fly-tipping may be local, it is possibly more likely to come from other boroughs which do not have the same helpful attitude to bulky item wase disposal that Southwark has. Fly tippers tend, in my experience, to travel some distance from their own patches to fly tip. And re-use sites which have worked before for them.

This happened to my daughter's car in Underhill a few years ago. I had thought it had been caused by a group of youths hanging round outside, one of whom had sat on it (but it wouldn't hold his weight). Apart from pushing the wing mirrors on both sides of tha car in when you park - on the basis that if it doesn't stand out it might be ignored - I can't think of any other preventative remedy. It's hugely annoying, and even if caught the offender(s) would probably just end up with a police caution.

Mnay years ago (1969 or so) we got access, as students, to a 'free' telephone (i.e. we weren't paying the bill). We spent our time ringing up every George or G Brown in the London Telephone Directory (there were quite a few) and saying, in a very passible imitation of Harold Wilson 'George, you're drunk, and you're fired'. Well, we thought it was funny.

A famous story (possibly not true) of Brown goes as follows:- Attending a glittering official reception at the Palace of the Dawn on an official visit to Brazil, with all the military officers in full-dress uniform and the ambassadors in court dress, he is said to have made a bee-line for a gorgeously crimson-clad figure. A colleague later recalled: ?George said: ?Excuse me, but may I have the pleasure of this dance?? There was a terrible silence for a moment before the guest, who knew who he was, replied: ?There are three reasons, Mr Brown, why I will not dance with you. '?The first, I fear, is that you?ve had too much to drink. The second is that this is not, as you suppose, a waltz that the orchestra is playing but the Peruvian national anthem, for which you should be standing to attention. And the third reason why we may not dance, Mr Brown, is that I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima.??

It is not often realised that on horseback the police get a much better view over fences and into gardens, allowing them to spot lurkers and hiders more easily. This is a better perspective than they can get on foot patrol (not that we see that nowadays very much) and a much better perspective than from inside a car. When the stables were in the Whately Road station they used to patrol quite regularly.

70k surely.

James The metrics you quote do suggest that there is a problem, the remedy however is one dimensional and heavy handed and will (as suggested by others) place unnecessary pressure on a National Health system already creaking at the edges, and more, locally. For 'short' absences it is a good idea to check that the parent/ guardian was aware of them (not by a note in the school bag) - this addresses truantism - but the implicit 'we don't trust you if you say your child is ill' is, frankly, rude and suggests a significant break-down of trust between the school and parents. I would be looking at patterns per child, not at overall metrics here (except as an initial trigger that there is/ may be a problem). Absenting from school can be symptomatic of e.g. bullying, poor teaching and class control, even dirty buildings. After all, if one school is exceptional amongst others within the same broad cachment area, that may suggest a problem with the school, not its public.

I have lived in ED for the last 25 years, (under the old Concorde flight path) - throughout that time I have never been bothered by the noise of planes - on occasion I have noticed it - and I recall a South American friend being amazed in the summer that he never saw fewer than 2 planes in the sky throughout an afternoon in the garden. Being bothered (I have perfectly good hearing, by the way) is to some extent a state of mind - the more you are annoyed by the sound, the more intrusive it becomes. If I listen out I can hear planes (I can now) - but I don't listen out for them or notice them, even though I am frequently awake in the early mornings,when they appear to annoy others. I hear sirens, I am annoyed when helicopters hover overhead, I am driven as nuts by foxes screaming as anyone, but I can blank planes. It may be that they are so prevalent that they have become part of an ignored sound scape (I also can blank traffic - having lived next to main roads). For your own peace of mind, changing your response to planes, rather than trying to argue about flight paths, might be a more (cost) effective route. Maybe CBT (or meditation) could help.