vallajo

I saw Helen Lederer in SMBS last week. I was behind her in the queue and and saw she knocked a packet of nuts off the shelf, looked at it on the floor, and then didn't pick it up. These celebrities eh?

thebeard Wrote: > >> > Bus Stops are placed half way into the road so as > to stop the traffic! > > Really? Where exactly? Lived in South London my whole life, can't think of many places that have that. And you're right - this topic IS supposed to be about 'Nigel'. So why do you want to make it about the whole of TFL and the way they run the buses? Personally I think the bus system as a whole is actually much better than in recent years, although I agree that the drivres need a refresher course in manners. But what do I know?

thebeard Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My point was bus driver?s behaviour shows their > level of Intelligence to be rather ? LOW. > If they behaved in an intelligent way they would > not be showing how VERY small their Brains are?.. > > > Black CAB drivers have only proved they have good > memories nothing else. > > > Minicab drivers are bus drivers who aren?t thick > enough to accept the low level of pay or an > ability to get to the depot on time or they don?t > have the right to work in he UK. They become > arrogant within a few days of contact with busses > and cabs on our happy streets. > > > What annoys me is the lack of use of Horns for > fear of starting WW3 road rage this time it?s > personal. > > The other day I hooted to warn a driver his car > was car rolling back into mine and it was as if > I?d insulted him and his entire family. I though > must have been an of duty Bus driver. Dude, seriously, CHILL OUT! I mean, I agree that there are some serious personality disorder issues going on in those fields you mention, but from what I read you're just as bad as them. Do you get this crazy about everything?

His kids just didn't want to follow him in the woodyard business, so when retirement time came the place just folded. I was told (could be wrong) that he locked the gates and walked away. Nothing there to sell off really. Guess there isn't the demand for enterprises like that as there used to be. Shame.

I'll agree that the Wetherspoons lot do have decent real ale sometimes (varies from pub to pub I think - could be wrong), and I do see the points about being able to hear others talk, and them being non-smoker friendly back in the day. All good things. HOWEVER... to say the food 'isn't great' is an understatement. Cheap - yes. Edible? Well, I once took a close look at their sourcing policy (written in very small print on the menu's). It didn't feel me with joy. I've also had a sneaky glance in the kitchen of one once (yes yes, I was in a Wetherspoons!). Never seen so many deep fat fryers and microwaves. Bottom line, the food may be cheap, but I question it's nutritional value, and I question HOW they get it so cheap. I know the going rate for ingredients wholesale. Either they're simply accepting a lower GP, and making up the money by having such a big market share, or they're buying REALLY cheap food. I reckon it's the former, but sometimes I wonder...

Not sure I agree that good pub food is neccesarily a loss leader. I think more often people fail on the food side of the business because they mis-read their market. The industry is littered with examples where someone has decided to implement the kind of menu THEY want, without wondering if it can sell in that area. Trying to compete with the Gowlett on pizza is a perfect example. Why do what someone else is already doing unless either a) You're sure you can do it 10 times better, or b) There's a big enough market share to go around, like the one that supports the mass of curry places on LL. Speaking as a ten year veteran of the London food industry, it's my feeling (and just my 2p worth) that food sales generally fail when you try to give people what they DON'T want. If you have your GP and profit margin calculations correct and enough consistent trade coming in the door then you will make money. Simple theory that's very hard to get right in practice. But if you misjudge the local market, or have inconsistent quality, or do your sums wrong or any one of a huge number of things that can screw up a kitchen budget, you'll find yourself in the red so fast it'll make your head spin. You'd be astounded by how many former stockbrokers/barristers/property developers have lost six figure sums in the restaurant trade because they had no idea how it actually works. On the flip side, I've seen totally inexperienced owners beg, borrow and scrap together just enough start up capital to open and end up making a fortune because, from the start, they understood their target market and gave it what it wanted. That's the problem with Wetherspoons. Say what you like about them (and I can't stand them personally), but they've got to where they are by having no illusions about who they are and what they do. The McDonalds of the pub world. They don't have gastro pretensions, don't do fine wine (or even drinkable wine for that matter!), don't even have music in their pubs. But they're still in business... the bastards.

Complain. Complain, and then complain again. Although the staff obviously didn't want to get involved - and as I wasn't there I can't comment on what happened - YOU'RE version of events, as YOU see it, is such that you should take this up with them. Banks rely on the idea that people won't argue with them. Last year, when Abbey National sent a large sum of my money to the wrong place I complained. They admitted fault, but then tried to brush me off by telling me it'd be returned in two weeks. I had it back in less then a week, because they realised I wasn't going to go away. Make a nuisance of yourself. Go in the branch, ask for the manager. Give it to him/her in writing. Tell them you want a reply. If you don't hear, go back. Then ask for his/her bosses name (you'd be amazed at the cooperation you get when you threaten to go over someones head!). Keep at it, all the way up. Eventually they will take you seriously. As I say, I wasn't there, so I don't know how this will end. BUT that isn't the point. You feel they mistreated you. Frankly, if it's happening in their branch they should be smart enough to try and resolve the situation. Anyway, you owe it to yourself to know that you did everything you could. Don't ever let the big boys think that we don't matter - that's how they get away with it in the first place!

Oh wow - I go and complain about someone else's spelling and then spell here/hear wrong! Makes me look like an idiot... Is it a cheap shot, pointing out punctuation/grammar problems? Perhaps, but if you're going to stick up for the upper end of the educated, surely you need to watch that aspect of your post, otherwise you leave yourself open to it? I don't think it's possible to discuss private schooling without addressing the idea idea that it "turns out exceptionally well educated people", as that's supposed to be the point of it surely? Any discussion will always circle back round to that. If you then go on a forum and make it look like you have no grasp of basic writing skills then someone will make the point. Although yes, at least by getting involved you're contributing to the debate, even if it's in a clumsy and arrogant way.

Hey 'alleynsstudent' - CALM DOWN! One of the wonderful things about this here internet is that anyone can say what they feel - that includes you and it includes everyone else in the world (except maybe China!). You need to accept that not everyone thinks private education is a good idea, and sometimes they have valid reasons for that. I don't want to kick off some kind of flame war here in placid East Dulwich webland, but I was a student at Alleyns, and can vouch for the fact that the private system does indeed have faults, some quite serious. If you don't like folks saying how they feel about it... well you just need to get used to it - you're going to here a lot of it in life. And by the way - ???? is right. You're post lacks any and all grammar and punctuation which makes your education look like it lacks something! And given the attitude you take in your post, eg. "there is very little you can do about it" (what is THAT supposed to mean!) - you shouldn't try to intimidate people, it only shows you to be a fool.

Me and your brother will just have to agree to disagree then!

"As for Derek Fenner he was so hated by the pupils that the sixth form used petrol to born what they thought of him into the front law (4 letter word beginning with C). In the right light you can still see it." This is highly inaccurate on several levels, and seeing as Derek Fenner is dead I'm going to speak up for him. For the record I was at Alleyn's when the incident occured and remember it very clearly. ONE individual who had sat all his A-level exams and was only a few days from leaving the school decided to turn up one morning in a pink suit (I think it was pink...). Fenner got a bit pissed off and sent him home. He retaliated under the cover of darkness by using weedkiller (it was not petrol and nothing was burned) to carve the aforesaid word into the lawn. It is possible that he had help, but it was not a concerted act by a whole swath of the sixth form who 'hated' him. A headmaster may not be loved unconditionally by all, but to say he was a figure of hate is overstating the facts. More akin to hating the school would've been the actions of some of my contempararies there who took it further when they left and committed numerous acts of vandalism and one case of outright arson!

Alleyns is one of the best schools in the country/planet? Hmmm... must've changed since I went there. I actually had teachers who were openly offensive about pupils they didn't like and proceeded to ignore parents who complained about this. They seemed to hide behind the protection offered to them by it's status as a private school. Certainly an incident involving my form teacher and myself would've been a serious issue in a state school. At Alleyns the teacher concerned didn't care, and neither did anyone else. I won't name names or go into specifics (although the teacher concerned is still working there!) as this isn't the right place for it. However I hope it's changed from the place I experienced in the late 80s'. The one excepton was the headmaster, Mr Derek Fenner, an exceptional man who did an outstanding job. A shame that several bad apples got away with what they did.