Penguin68

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We put up pics and footage of our work with the kids every month. Thanks. Where? - You have linked to a logo picture but not a website. I cannot see how a charity 'earning' less than ?5k annually can help children 'world-wide' - particularly where it is paying collectors. A full time chugger earning ?200 a week (+ bonus - that assumes a 5 day working week at your rates) would need to be raising at least twice that to be worthwhile - i.e. ?400 a week or ?19,200 a year (assuming a 48 week working year). Just to earn their own pay would require an income of ?9600 - again more than your 'under ?5k'. Your numbers do not add-up. Take care

oimissus and Penguin68 - she is not elderly. I refer to her as a miserable old bitch because she is an adult who behaves like a child As someone in happy receipt of a freedom pass I find the use of old as a term of abuse, well, abusive, particularly when it is apparently being intended as a substitute for 'childish' (rather the opposite, I would have thought). The creation of a fenced path for her to reach her garden, whilst clearly reducing your 'available' garden might help ('good fences make good neighbours') - in the end choosing somewhere else to live, if you can, might be a better option. At least you have sunk no equity in the property. The trade-off for you will be (based on your figures) whether not having her as an immediate neighbour is worth ?175 a month to you.

Some at least of what has been described in the behaviour of your neighbour may be relevant to your categorisation of her as 'old' at least as regards e.g. suspicion, doing things at night/ odd hours - it is possible (if she really is that old) that she is suffering from early signs of dementia - that is to say that the behaviour you find difficult may be a function not of her being nasty or an unpleasant neighbour, but of her suffering from some impairment. That makes your life no more easy, of course, but it may change your view of her from being annoying to being sick. It is not infrequent to find suspicion, and some forms of aggressiveness, associated with some types of mental impairement - this doesn't, as I have said, make it any more liveable with, but it may help your own response to the difficulties you face. Of course, if that is a correct diagnosis (which it may very well not be) - then things are not going to get better.

every night we have nutters exceeding motorway speeds on residential street I believe it is exceptionally unlikely that there are vehicles travelling at over 70mph every night between the library and the Mag - I have lived in ED for over 25 years and I have never seen this happening (though I accept that motor bikes in the dead of night might do high-ish speeds on occasion). Vehicles at 40-50 (again late at night) I would be prepared to accept, but not as a regularly nightly occurrence. There have been police chases of vehicles (police are restricted as to the speeds they may use in built-up areas) - but again not nightly, not at 70+mph and these are the 'nutters' who are (most frequently) caught. Hyperbole does not get traffic calmed, nor does it help make a case for this.

It is not uncommon for the hot water from the boiler to the hot water cylinder, (which then heats the water in the cylinder for the taps) to be taken through a towel-rail style radiator - that way towels get warmed even when the central heating hot water (which will be pumped through the other radiators) is off, i.e. for the summer or when the ambient temperature is below that set on the room thermostat. Could the radiator which now warms up be (or have once been) a towel-rail radiator (though these are normally in the bathroom or shower room)? If hot water is drawn off the hot water cylinder, then the boiler will trip and circulate more hot water to the cylinder to heat up the cold water entering the cylinder to replace the water drawn off. The water in the heating systems (to the radiators or the hot water cylinder) is, effectively, sealed - water is circulated through the system (using a pump) - in the hot water cylinder it goes through copper tubing which then heats the water which is then drawn off through the taps - that water will typically enter the system via your water tank - itself fed from the mains. No water which you take from the taps will have come directly from your boiler/ heating systems - but have been heated by them via convection through copper pipes in your hot water cylinder. (An electric shower which heats the water itself will be drawing off cold water and then heating it up inside the shower installation itself). It is possible that the radiator which heats up is on the route from the boiler to the hot water cylinder - as I said at the start unless it's a towel rail (or was at some stage) that's probably poor design.

And your point about your child is irrelevant, as they didn't have cash anyway! The point I was making was that even though they were children (clearly) and were entitled to travel free with a card, without one the driver wasn't prepared to accept them - and if this goes ahead wouldn't even if they did have cash to pay - which most times they did have. If the parents are bright enough to send them here clothed and with cash, they can sure as heck work out how to get them an oyster card. Tried buying an Oyster in Manchester, or Glasgow have you? - you can do it by post, but unless you know (how much publicity is there going to be?) that you can't travel on London transport using cash, why would you? Many young people (over 15, under 18) travel around the country - to visit friends or whatever, without needing to be accompanied. From a middle-class perspective cashless is fine - but many people still live in a cash economy - or are we thnking that London Transport should be a middle-class enclave?

Very little - there are multiple ethical systems many of which are in direct competition with each other - utilitarian against deontological for instance. 'Ethical' in this context means, probably, 'doesn't upset my personal sensibilities' - a vegan's ethics would be quite different (regarding menus) to a carnivore's. A Moslem's quite different to a Hindu's. And so on. In the 10 (which 10?) commandments - 'thou shalt not kill' referred only, in fact, to co-religionists - the slaughter of different (and non) religious adherents was both encouraged and at times required. Event the ethics we think are there, sometimes aren't.

You can buy an Oyster card in most newsagents and pay in cash. Why would you not use one? And, I have several Metro tickets from my last trip to Paris (from a book of ten), so poorer value than an Oyster, as you can't cash them in for a refund... I assume that you knew how many trips you were buying - and chose a carnet of 10 because these were discounted (by about 20%). You bought 10 trips, and used less than that, but you knew what your money was buying. Quickly - I have charged my Oyster with ?10 (about the sterling equivalent of a carnet) - how many trips does that buy me? And that still doesn't address the child (under 16) who is in London without an Oyster card and perhaps nowhere near a newsagent (or they are shut) - how is he or she to get home? My children, who could travel free with a child's oyster, were turned off buses without one (and without money).

London is a tourist city - whereas many cities have easy to purchase tickets (or goups of tickets) where you are in effect buying journeys - such as the Paris carnet system - the oyster card system is more difficult to operate (you cash-charge it rather than buying a number of journeys) - so it is more difficult for a visitor to operate - how much do they need to charge it with if they want to make 10, or 15, or 5 trips in London? Charging foreign debit cards (for trivial amounts per journey) will incur disproportionately large foreign usage charges (for the user) - with one card I have if I used it abroad it would add ?1.50 for each journey - I assume that travellers to Britain would face much the same penalty. Children - actually anyone unbanked - who may not have their oyster with them (or be from out of London) - will not be able to pay for travel independently, since they tend not to have debit cards (and one wouldn't encourage them to have to take such a card with them wherever they went, considering the number of children regularly mugged) At least for central London (Zone 1) not taking cash would be dreadful - since many people visiting London would be disbarred from using public transort. As I have said, where transport systems don't use cash directly, they use tickets (journeys) which can be easily bought from many outlets - such as newsagents. If only 1% of journeys are paid for in cash - with 6M a day (2009 figures, so probably many more now) that is still a lot of people being turned away a year (those who could have an oyster would, I am assuming because of the cost benefit, so we are talking about those not having their oyster at the time, or who don't have oysters at all)

Some cars are known to have a lock vulnerability so that if they have remote locking they can be interferred with. I think (very happy to stand corrected) that VWs are amongst those with this vulnerability. It may be worthwhile checking whether your make: model is known for this. I expect googling it with some tag like 'vulnerable locks' would be sufficent.

We do seem to be talking about lots of different things here. There are some people who are contrarian ? they will look for an argument within a thread ? and frequently (but not inevitably) are readable when they do so. They are prepared to ?take-on? other feisty posters and tend neither to use dismissive or ?threatening? language when they do. One at least, who has been quite silent recently, is missed, at least by me, although we were frequently on opposite sides of any debate. There are some people who take a clear and consistent stance (perhaps over wild-life, over dogs and dog-poo, over cars, over cyclists, over CPZs (my pseudonym might be seen there), over the social changes seen in ED) and will weigh-in whenever they can, often quite stridently, and repetitively. These are far more monomaniacs than bullies. Indeed neither of these groups are cyber-bullies ? although I am sure those on the other end of their posts may feel either discomforted or annoyed. Then there are those who will hi-jack any thread (or start one) with an outrageous statement, not infrequently insulting, hoping to create an argument or cause discomfort. Although outwardly not dissimilar to the first group these are much more close to the standard forum troll. Normally these are the ones found-out and banned (at least in the persona they have chosen) by the Administrators. As someone quite active over the last few years, I have rarely seen the form of cyber-bullying on the EDF which has been the subject of recent reports. (James Barber has probably been the most bullied, or at least attacked, individual ? as a politician I suspect he can handle this ? he certainly seems admirably robust on the forum). Entirely different is the OP?s initial complaint, which is about real (not cyber) bullies using the forum as a threat, rather than being threatening within the forum. In my experience any such threatened unwarranted attack made on the forum is immediately and robustly countered (a warranted complaint may be supported however) ? the forum is not somewhere where reputations can be unreasonably ruined. I do not see this forum as a hot-bed of bullying or aggression (arguments can get heated) and rarely is language used which is personally directed (rarely but on occasion ? often these are late night posts when alcohol might have been taken). It is generally good natured and often supportive. The one thing which I think will not help is to search for lists of names (or hints) at posters who have not been consistently emolient, and who have been combatative and argumentative. These traits are not necessarily or at all markers of cyber-bullies.

A number of the shops that have 'survived' Sainsburies (though I grant you fewer of those post Sainsburies) are not 'high end' - but they do offer a good level of service (for instance being prepared to order stuff out-of-stock) - that includes a number of grocers. People will use retail outlets, even where the prices are slightly higher, where they are known and welcomed and treated well. It is true that the demographic has been changing - and that shops have understood changing customer needs and responded to them. This is not, actually, a bad thing. You do need to understand the difference between price (cost to the customer) and value - a shop which offers customers a seat whilst waiting (like Libretto's) offers a service which is valued - the headline price of meat pound for pound is subsumed within that value equation. Sainburies drove out low value retailers (good) - and the changing demographics encouraged a different type of retailer to enter (also good, if they were meeting changing customer needs) - these two events may have been linked in time, but were not wholly causative (the changing demographic, which Sainsburies probably saw happening) was a more a function of people being priced out of the housing market elsewhere).

Small shops (should) offer value for money through other things than price - i.e. range (Cheeseblock offers a far wider range of cheeses than any supermarket), quality - well sourced and made products - and service (knowing customers and their needs, providing a good atmosphere within the shop etc. etc.). All of these can be grouped together as 'quality of service' and research shows that you can charge a price premium of up to 20% when customers perceive they are getting excellent service quality. There is no reason why small shops that focus on service quality (and this doesn't mean stocking high price 'snob' products) shouldn't do well against supermarket competition, which tends to focus on the 'ease of use, price' end of supplier differentiation. A number of shops in LL pre the Dog Kennel Hill Sainsburies offered a poor range and quality of goods (old, small range and expensive) combined with a 'take it or leave it' service attitude - and suffered the consequences. The shops that now survive tend to look for the sorts of differentiation I have outlined, and do it well.

Loathe as I am to be fair to Mr Barber, I don't think any of Southwark's parks actually fall within his constituency - so he might be seen as commenting on something which is the remit of others. I am sure there would be people happy to point this out if he did comment. HOWEVER - he might want to consider that some of his constituents do use Southwark parks recreationally, or to walk their dogs, so might have an interest in the outcome of all this.

If he has access to BT broadband at home then he may be legitimately using the BT-FON network - there people who want to can open up spare capacity on their own BT broadband wireless system (which is otherwise entirely fire-walled so secure) - in exchange for being able to use BT-FON capacity from other people. It's a secure way of sharing spare capacity in exchange for using that of others - quite useful if your travelling. But equally he could be using an unsecure network, and if it isn't secured then he also may be able to hack in to private data.

Several points 1. Caravans used by Irish Travellers tend to be custom built and expensive - often top-of-the-range 2. Traditional Romany caravans (those built round a hoop design) are very sought after and seen as design classics 3. Building control would ensure that any replaced chimneys were not 'crooked' - and I have seen none that are around ED. 4. Although some loft extensions built in the last century (pre about 1990) are, to be honest, not well designed, most are now both well designed and often fit well into existing architecture. They are frequently finished to a high standard. The point about light is perfectly reasonable, although possibly over-egged - it is only in terraces which are themselves qute narrow initially that the impact will be most felt, and this will be exacerbated or mitigated by the house orientation (it could be argued that building to the north of the over-looked side windows will tend to have less impact because there will be less light lost - that side will already be comparatively dark, with no direct sunlight).

A few weeks ago I stopped, on Underhill, to let an oncoming ambulance on blues and twos have a clear run past me (it was heading towards me, the road is narrow) - I was overtaken, at speed, but a hooting guy in a car that then had to swerve violently to avoid the ambulance. There are idiots and then there are ********* idiots. I know road furniture is a boor, but we do need, at least until it sinks in, a lot more 20mph signs rather than just where the limit starts. The French system of Rapelle signs to remind people a limit is still in force might be worth copying (particularly on the long roads like Underhill as it goes up past the cemetery).

Population density is much less now (per tenement) than it was in Victorian times (when much of the infrastructure, in particular water supply and waste) was initially being installed - read any contemporary accounts to see just how many people lived to a room in much of the City and East End (and in the West End around Drury Lane and St Giles). What has changed (as has been noted) is the expectations of individuals in their water usage (and the amount of waste water disposed of). This absolutely isn't about migrant workers housed in hovels, it is about aspiring and middle-class expectations of what is a 'good' life. A major problem London has is that it has been a 'modern' city far longer than most others, so it was built a long time ago. Most of the housing in ED is late Victorian or Edwardian, with a minority of houses (many filling 2nd World war bomb scars) being built post 1st, let alone 2nd War. So the underlying infrastructure is there to support people who didn't have washing mashines or dish washers, mutiple flush lavatories in their houses, power showers etc. etc. No wonder at times it creaks a bit.

James Whilst I actually agree with this alteration to benefits ('bedroom tax') there are some anomalies - (1) For those in areas where there aren't any available houses or flats to downsize to (it is reasonable for people not to be obliged to move excessive distances). (2) For those whose 'additional' bedroom masks a social need - i.e. for those couples who may have to sleep separately for medical needs - but whose (used) bedroom is treated as 'spare'. Where individual anomolies could be addressed, then it doesn't seem unreasonable where housing is being subsidised for only the 'right' amount to be subsidised - and where there is alternative local accommodation - particularly where there are needy families who are living in substandard (over-crowded) accommodation locally - for people to right-size their subsidised accommodation. Nobody likes disruption - or having to move - but there is a need to balance competing needs where subsidised housing is concerned - and those who are in subsidised private housing already have had to live within these constraints.

The Iceland debacle - which will create (possibly) another blighted retail spot in the Lane - will exacerbate the situation - Callows (I am presuming) can't afford the rent-rise because it's not getting the footfall and custom to generate sufficient revenues (it's locksmithing business, installing locks etc., isn't so location dependent). As retail 'holes' appear in the street so will footfall fall away (the bars and restaurants are a different type of trade) - making high rents for retail stores increasingly non-viable. It is a moot point whether a small M&S would have been sufficient to stimulate greater retail footfall and have a positive knock-on to other retailers - but the apparent future of that site is clearly not going to be retail beneficial to LL. Regular small independent retailers have to make their money (often) out of single sites - where they can't they will move or fold.

who and/or what is calling ED the canine faeces capital? Bsed on the numbers of references, threads etc. on the forum, the ED Forum-ites are. By inference at least.

Doesn't sound like an Eid party to me. Most of my Moslem (of Moslem cultural backgrounds) friends drink (though, mainly, not to excess) - as a militant atheist of a Christian cultural background, I celebrate Christmas, many non-Moslems celebrate other cultural festivals, such as Eid or Divali, with their friends who do have these festivals in their cultural background. If Christian cultural festivals were only to be celebrated by fully practicing Christians, shops in the UK would all be bust by now (OK huge generalisation, but most retailers make their profits in November-December) and chocolate sales (Easter) would plummet. So drinking at an Eid party? - perfectly possible.

There is an Android Ap (OpenSignal) which will identify the towers that are around you and indicate signal strength. Microwave works substantially on line-of-sight - so the hilly-ness of Dulwich, so good in so many ways, offers a problem for mobiles, as you may not get strong signal when below the brow of a hill. Sometimes switching from 3G to 2G will improve at least the phone (i.e. voice but not the data) functions of your mobile. 'Bars' by the way are misleading - there is no standard for them. My phone can be showing bars, but not send texts, then the bars dissappear and later the text goes. It does sometimes help (yes really) to switch off and then on again.

When I started drinking (legally) it was 2/6 (12.5p) for a pint of Scottish Ale. And 2/9 for a pint of Guinness. Happy days (what I can remember of them!)