Penguin68

A cheque book sent to me was never received - and the cheques were kited close to London - nobody could determine where the book was intercepted - but probably once it had been broken up from its batch and sent to E-Dulwich. I remember a couple of years ago seeing relief postmen together holding envelopes up to the light to see what was in them - I don't think they realised I was watching them from an upstairs window. So I have personal experience of mail going missing, and 'observational' proof that (some) postmen seemed to be treating mail in an odd way. I also had anacdotal evidence (from the PC in the ED Station when I was reporting my stolen chequebook) that 'they'd had a lot of problems with the local sorting office'. That was a few years ago, and I know a number of the sorting office staff who all seem very genuine and good (and have their own concernes about some of the things that go in in the sorting office). But, when reliefs are on, some of my mail is delivered next door (and I get wrongly delivered mail as well).

I can fully understand that you need a break from active monitoring of the forum, but it does contain very useful information within it which members have exchanged - telephone numbers etc. as well as, e.g. useful 'official' feedback from people such as the excellent Station Manager and so on. Is there no way the forum can be 'locked up' - so that there are no further transactions enabled on it, until your return, while still giving us access to read past posts? The reason why it's locked can of course be given so that readers realise why it's inactive pro-tem but the (actually quite numerous) pearls amidst the dross can still be made available. Just a thought, but I would welcome being able to refer back to some of what's contained in the forum.

Steady Eddy wrote:- It is now about to become a national strike. In fact the ballot, which had a high turn-out and which had a significant majority, authorises the union to call a legal national strike, but does not require it to - and in fact the union have not (yet) declared any intention of actually calling a strike - at this stage it is a weapon which they can hold to the heads of the company negotiators. Having said that, I suspect it is a weapon that the union will use as I cannot see the company being prepared to offer what is being asked for - which are essentially levels of guarantee which no company can offer. However the union is correct in stating that the pension deficit is, at least in part, a function of the way that the pension was initially funded when the Post Office moved from being a department of state to being a nationalised industry - in effect the pension fund was 'funded' by 2.5% Consuls at nominal (face) value - they were then trading at about 30p in the pound. At the time this didn't seem to be a problem - most pension funds were taking holidays from making contributions, but it did store up a mess of future problems - the BT penison fund (BT was initially a department of the nationalised Post Office) - is in much the same fix, which is why there was a strange 'guarantee of last resort' from the Government placed on its pension fund when it was privatised. I cannot see any swift or pain free resolution of the problem now, and I suspect that many of us will be looking for alternatives to Post Office carriage for the forseeable future - e-Christmas cards - which I am not normally a fan of, will I suspect be suddenly much more common. At the moment if you pay for next day delivery you still get it - but if a national strike emerges this too will disappear. It will be interesting whether they choose to strike continuously, or maintain disruptive days of action - or more accurately, of cousre, inaction.

I suspect that the licencee's licence somewhat depends on the way that the premises are run - abusive customers would be the sort of thing which could cause a licence not to be renewed - so it is very much in the licencee's best interests to calm down this sort of behaviour. The licencing regime has just changed - and for the life of me I cannot remember who is now the licencing authority (I am sure someone on this board does know) - they might be a port of call for you. There is a very fine line between jocular and threatening behaviour - I normally assume it is jocular when the participants know each other, threatening when they don't - and indeed when it is one woman against a multitude, even when they do know each other, it has a tendancy towards threat.

Pictures of the outside of a house would capture information on:- Whether a burglar alarm (or at least a bell box) is fitted Types of windows (sashes etc.)and if there are visible locks Types of door and likely door locks Whether windows are left open Side entrances/ doors, locks If there is screening] e.g. from shrubs etc All in a few clicks, for later perusal. Although much of that could also be picked up from the Google street view! Mayae we have criminals without internet access here

I went into the Silvester Road sorting office today looking for a parcel that hadn't been delivered - the very helpful guy there - the one who remembers who regular customers are and where they live - said they had a two to two and a half week backlog of parcel deliveries. The posties themselves don't seem happy about disapointing customers; I am getting letter post in Underhill most days - but running 4-5 days late against normal delivery times (based on news magazine deliveries which are normally regular). The guy in the office's advice if you wanted a delivery was to get it sent 'special' - these are given priority - but at a cost

A bendy-bus is only a metre longer than an articulated lorry, you don?t hear anybody complaining about them being used in London. I have certainly been knocked over at the lights (on a moped) when an artic swung round without realising I was there; but artics operate (articulate) with a small front end and a large box at the back - this is, I believe, more easy to manage than the bendy buses which split in the middle. They also try to avoid suburban streets, where bendy buses now go. Artic drivers also have to concentrate only on driving - bus drivers have many more distractions which I guess makes driving buses more difficult, and hence the likelihood of incidents higher. Most artic miles are on motorways and A roads, all bendy bus miles are on city streets - again making the chance of incidents higher.

Really? They dug a very large hole in my very small back garden - I don't have a lawn - didn't store any food in it and didn't back fill it? That's odd - normally fox holes (as living burrows) are dug into banks/ under sheds etc. Maybe they were digging/ trying to dig something up (previously buried perhaps?). If they were 'play digging' burrows, you would have thought they'd be trying somewhere sensible - but fox cubs are very playful - hence the plethora of stolen shoes around here.

Sue wrote:- at this time of year they dig holes, parents teaching cubs how to dig, so I've read, could be a load of b******s of course. Foxes actually eat worms, often the small (and very annoying) holes they dig in lawns are to find them - larger holes are also dug to store food in (i.e. bits of chicken they scavenge from bins) but these will be back filled.

Cynics might even be tempted to think that not making it easy to buy a ticket but making it easy to be caught if you don't is a revenue enhancing technique. While the cost difference to the travelling passenger between the normal and penalty faires is individually significant, I suspect that the overall cost of running an inspectorate and revenue enforcement force absorbs most, if not all, the difference - which probably does not make it a revenue enhancing activity. In good old QoS terms it is a 'cost of failure'. The most profitable thing for the company to do is to sell tickets normally to passengers prepared to pay - which is what Barry's people try to do, although there are times when it will not be possible to match supply with demand without massively over-providing (which has a cost)sales outlets. Ideally on-line purchase of tickets - or adding value to such things as oyster cards, would allow a 'smoothing' of demand.

As a definite E Dulwicher I went to and enjoyed the Fete; if you are going to get excited about exact definitions - then consider it a treat that total foreigners put on for us in East Dulwich and and give them the courtesy of feedback so they can keep what's good and replace what's bad and so that we privileged East Dulwichers can have an even better time next year when we travel to foreign parts over the border (or not). There is a thread on this page about the best way to Greenwich - and we have had ones about Heathrow etc. - are we to argue that because these parts of London aren't in East Dulwich such topics should also be excluded? The excellent Barry tells us about railway stations that are not in ED (I don't think, by strict definition, even East Dulwich Station is) - should we be asking him to absent himself from our pages? Really

At the moment road traffic trough Greenwich itself, i.e around the Market, down past the Maritime Museum (Romney Road) is diabolical as gas mains are being replaced - often big hold-ups - right now I would chose a route that avoids roads that go through the centre of Greenwich if you can.

muffins78 wrote:- ..the bus pulled off really fast and the lady wasnt holding on to anything as she was walking to towards a seat, she fell over on the bus!! This used to be known as 'granny bowling' and was considered quite a sport by drivers - mainly of the small 'hopper' buses where they could appreciate the fun more readily. There was a scoring system if you got your granny right to the other end of the bus before she stopped. (no really, I'm not making this up - it was certainly discussed in Oxford which had a number of competing bus lines and hence 'raced' each other between stops - although I never saw it myself).

Whilst Underhill is a rat-run, and thus may have significant numbers of non-EDers using it, most of the remaining side streets are mainly used by locals - it is Barry which, in particular, has non locals who may be unaware of local conditions,and who are speeding. We may thus assume that people exiting side streets are more likely to be aware of dangers, even though, un-sighted as we often are by parked vehicles etc. we still have to take calculated risks. These would be reduced if, as I and others have suggested on this thread, continental style steel mirrors were erected to overcome blind-spots on intersections, together with more speed warning displays, if other types of speed reducing road furniture are resisted by the mighty bus company.

I apologise Penguin68, what i meant to say .... Apology accepted - but KalamityKel is right, what would be 'best' to me might be just what you weren't looking for - regarding food (i.e. type of cooking, not quality), ambiance, etc. etc. Some of the restaurants are very traditional (mainly) Bengali in their menus, others reflect other regions, or groups of regions - some are quite modern in their approach (i.e Omrith and Babur - although that last lies just outside ED - although very convenient for it). Perhaps if you set out what was 'good' for you in an Indian restaurant others might suggest ones that seemed to match closest to your specification.

no i can't be a**ed to trawl through that search engine looking for the answer And I am sure so many of us will be putting the same effort into helping you

Most of the roads in the area around Barry are 20mph limited - Underhill certainly is and that is a bus route (albeit a small bus). Isn't it time that Barry was limited and enforced as 20mph? Or (and/ or) broken up by mini-roundabouts and blocked rights of way so that people can't (despite the temptation) get any speed going - clearly the evidence is that (some) people who use it can't be trusted to drive with the care and consideration a suburban, residential, street demands. Just because buses travel down it doesn't make it a 'main' road.

Out of interest, there is still evidence (in pre-war houses in ED) of damage done by the bombs, both those dropped from planes and particularly the V weapons. This damage/ evidence of movement can be attributed by surveyors now to current subsidence, but in some cases at least these are old (and stable) injuries. If you have an adverse survey it may be worth checking from the records admirably recorded and referred to by Shorty whether your house was close to a blast area, as this might explain old cracks/ walls out of alignment. (It's the equivalent of checking whether you had a tree close to the house, now removed, which could have caused movement, but where the 'problem' is now only historical).

In the thread linked by Sandperson there is a suggestion that the diversion was 'away from the City' - in fact the diversion, as I understand it, was away from highly populated areas of Central London and into the suburbs, in particular away from the docks and areas of government - both of some strategic importance at the time. This was not about wealthy toffs getting others to be bombed in their stead. Ideally the fields of Kent was where government wanted the bombs to drop (if they had to drop anywhere) rather than areas of higher population - but of course anywhere they did drop casualties were likely. The history of deception - including for manned bombers the creation, using lights etc. of fake towns and industrial plant/ docks, as well as attempts to confuse and repoint the radio direction beams used by the Germans for manned bomber navigation is a very interesting study. Much of the information about it was suppressed for a long time (like the information about the work at Bletchely Park) because it still had relevance to (then) current defence issues.

Amelie wrote:- According to the Highway Code pedestrians have the right of way as soon as they set foot on a pedestrian crossing, regardless of what the driver may be doing. I well remember my mother, in the context of Zebra crossings, teaching me the poem He was right, dead right, as he walked along But he was just as dead as if he'd been dead wrong It stuck, after nearly 60 years.

brum wrote: I heard that SE London took the brunt of the V1 & V2 attacks because British Intelligence deliberately issued false damage reports making the Germans think they were hitting the docks & central London instead - they didn't know that their rockets were actually falling short of their intended targets. Anyone know if this is true? I believe that this is true, SIS used the 'turned' German spies to report falls of missiles to the North and West of London, causing the aimers to reduce their aim, so that they started to fall to the south and east - hence the damage in SE London, Bromley etc. By 1944 the Luftwaffe was virtually interdicted from English skies, so direct observation from planes wasn't a possibility. Last night on TV Kate Humble learned that her grandfather, a test pilot, had helped prove the fighter that could take on the Flying bombs and shoot them down, downing over 600 if my memory from the programme serves. Tne ballistic missile however moved at supersonic speeds and couldn't be shot down.

Anyone know whether organic snail bait that claims to be safe for cats and dogs etc would be safe to use for our frog? If it's actually bait (i.e. to trap snails/ slugs - such as using beer as a bait) then it should be OK, but if its any type of poison then I suspect that if it kills the slugs it will kill the animals that eat slugs (which cats and dogs in the main don't). I am not sure what 'organic' in this sense means - but often it refers to not using chemical pesticides - but there are many organic (i.e. non-chemical) poisons.

Probably during the last unpleasantness with the Germans

Are you sure they are frogs? Adult toads only stay in ponds during the mating season - otherwise they live in moist areas of gardens, and not just ones with ponds - this is ideal weather for them to be out and about searching for slugs etc. Actually, unless the weather is very hot, frogs also spend a lot of time out of water. If you do have either in your garden, don't put poison down for slugs etc. - the amphibians will eat the poisoned slugs and then die themselves.

Of course, the wonderfully counter-intuitive thing would be to give priority to Underhill Road, not Barry Road (though the buses wouldn't like it). I have never had a visibility problem when in Barry Road about traffic in either leg of Underhill Road (when turning into it, for instance). That's actually what happened along Underhill about 10 or so years ago, when its priority was broken up by giving priority to even more minor roads (and by putting in a mini-roundabout). At the time, as an 'Underhiller' losing my priority seemed irksome, but it certainly also seemed to reduce minor (and not so minor) accidents. So would enforcing a 20 mph limit on Barry, using those warning signs which light-up when you go over the designated speed.