j.a.

Another great encounter with Aria. A leaking toilet was fixed quickly and cleanly and for a reasonable price. Aria’s always going to be our first call for plumbing work, and he knows a lot of good local people for their types of jobs.

Another good job done by Aria. Short notice call to fix a leaking bath, done quickly and efficiently at a good price.

This is the crucial point. I think Wagamama’s is a bit crap, so prob won’t use it, but many others will and that’s fine. My point is that only a chain of that size with that kind of profile is gonna be able to pay those rents/rates. Is LL better or worse off for losing Hisar and gaining Wagamama? Neither, probably. It’s sad that a small business is going, but good that someone is opening up and providing jobs. It’s just…how it is and how it’s always been. It’s incredibly hard for small, independent places to thrive in a location like ED, the rents are just so high.

Another whole-hearted recommendation for Aria. Small job, fixing some leak issues with our bathtub, but done quickly and cleanly and at a reasonable price. Very happy.

) This reads pretty clearly as dogwhistle xenophobia.... perhaps you're not all that different from those brexit voters you so despise..... I do get tired of nonsense like this. Cat, you post a lot of clearly well-thought out stuff, and then you revert to this garbage. Xenophobia? Really? Bitch please…🙄 Also, you chose to engage in an online forum, you clearly chose to be intense and combative, I don’t really think you have any grounds to complain. And yes, you do get the option to leave this country just as it’s flushing itself down the toilet, and you always have, so maybe it’s not surprising that some people aren’t so keen to take lessons from you. Opinions on the internet, and all that…

Ah, a trans debate that has descended into acrimony and name-calling. Who’d a thunk it?

If there was a Lidl on Lordship Lane I’d probably never see the inside of Sainsbury’s again. I swear I get ridiculously excited by the prices in Lidl, be so happy when the Peckham one opens again.

More than that, they’re a franchise. As such they’ve got no control over what they call themselves. I agree it’s appalling, but the argument is with the owners in Greenwich, not the franchisees.

I fully appreciate that others may have had different experiences, and certainly I know people who have had to get ‘forthright’ in order to get the care they needed. I would only say that until earlier this year I was lucky enough to enjoy (what I thought was) decent health. Since being somewhat ‘re-educated’ as to the state I was in, I’ve had more to do with Forest Hill Rd practice this year then my entire life combined, and I would say that I’ve found the Practice Nurse and my specific GP to whom I’m assigned to be very helpful, as well as other members of the team such as the pharmacist and the person who carries out health reviews. The receptionists, on the other hand…look, I get that gate-keeping has a role, and you help filter out the time wasters, but honestly, don’t talk to us like we’re idiots.

U ok hun?

If you don’t mind a ride on the 484, Chaska Maska over in Brockley. Brilliant. Really, really good food. Interesting, original, authentic, tons of flavour, not shy with the chilli. Set up by former Dishoom staff, it’s just fantastic. Can’t recommend it enough.

They’ve been hit with a rent increase they feel they can’t work with. It’s a shame, though I understand they’ve got other sites that employees can be offered positions in. What’s more interesting is, I wonder, the possibility that this is the very early days of more general rent increases on Rye Lane? I can’t quite imagine it ever ending up like Lordship Lane…but then I’d have said that about Lordship Lane twenty years ago…

It is indeed really lovely. (Will Blanche Cameron be along soon to tell us how wrong we are and that it’s really a blight on society and should be torn up?)

ken78 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------ > as you DON'T KNOW what i do for i living you are > the one who DON'T KNOW what you are talking about Well obviously I don?t know what you do for a living, how would I? What I did know is that you asserted that fast food restaurants are all making a killing which is, charitably speaking, out of touch with current economic trends. Speaking for myself I?ve got over twenty years in kitchens, the word Michelin on my CV, and I do GP calculations every working day. > as help supply a LOT independent food out lets AND > pubs so before you SHOUT about another member i.e > me MATE Only person shouting here is you. and if YOU to know the as you say "exact > price of the raw ingredients" if YOU KNEW ANYTHING > about this trade As I pointed out, I know quite a lot. you would know the prices change > week buy week Well, yes, of course. have you ever thought that a chippy > say we now frying new crop potatoes and the price > goes up but never comes down why ?? Because the cost of ingredients isn?t the only factor in the business. Wages, business rates, energy bills (you?ve heard about those), paint on the walls, the petrol in the van and so much more. Everything constantly goes up. Also when when one thing goes down, other stuff might still be going up. The general trend is for costs to increase at least in line with inflation, so the prices keep going up. you should > KNOW THIS MATE as you know every thing else I don?t know literally everything on this planet, but I will defend independent operators who are subtly - or not so subtly - accused of gouging customers when the reality is that this business is notorious for its razor-thin profit margins.

ken78 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > well the amount of restaurant's on the apps and no > one MAKES them go on it you have to ask yourself > why do it ? The people who make them go on it are the customers who can?t be arsed to order directly from the restaurant, instead choosing the convenience of the app - which costs them more money in delivery and service fees but they forget about that. The biggest success the apps had was to group all the takeaway places together on one page, so what you?re actually paying for is the convenience of scrolling through the options rather than searching out different places. they're in business to earn money and > they are not stupid. No they?re not, they know the apps are screwing them over but they don?t have a choice. and the mark up on fast food > is a lot bigger then a lot of people think the > cost of chips on Brockleys Rock is ?3.35, mushy > peas ?2.55 so the mark up is quite good And here?s yet another person who thinks they know the exact price of the raw ingredients, the cost of the equipment to process them, the size of wage bills these days, how much the energy costs to cook the stuff and what the business rates are. Sorry mate, don?t take this badly but every time someone looks at restaurant prices and declares that the place *must* be making a big mark-up, I feel confident disregarding their opinion. Mark-up is NOT the same as net profit. Far, far from it.

Spartacus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The chippie on North Cross Road is just about to > start using delivery services but has been quoted > that they take a 30 to 50% commission for each > transaction. > This is accurate. The various delivery apps want exactly that kind of cut. Also, that?s *BEFORE VAT*! So if you spend ?10 with them, they have to give at least ?3 to the app and another ?2 to the government, because VAT is still charged on hot food for takeaway. This is why I think Deliveroo etc are scum and I don?t use them. I go and get it myself and make sure all the money goes to the business. > That's a ridiculous amount and if that's true > across all small restaurants then for them to make > money out of it they may have raised their prices > A lot of them have higher prices on the apps to compensate. > > Is having an app to feed your junk food addiction > worth paying higher prices for or is it better for > your bank balance, fitness and the environment to > simply walk somewhere and collect the food in > person 🤔? > > Cut out the middle man and deal directly with > local businesses is my advice. Personally I couldn?t agree more. I recognise there are people in situations for whom it may not be an option, and I don?t judge them. I judge the #%^* out of the delivery apps though. They screw the restaurants, they screw the poor drivers, they sit in the middle making fools of everyone.

Basically what we have there is Frost using a lot of words to try and make himself seem reasonable. He?s trying to say that of course there was always going to be disruption, of course things look bad now, but it?ll shake itself out in the long run so long as we make sensible decisions. Now this is indeed a reasonable point, but one undermined by the people currently in charge. Also, his assertion that the NIP should be up for renegotiation. Again, on reasonable point in and of itself, but also one undermined by the fact (which no Leave voter has ever been able to explain) that it was sold to the country as the right deal for us. Indeed Parliament was denied time to scrutinise it precisely because we were told it was so good. So forgive me if I am not convinced by the suddenly reasonable Mr Frost, who not so long ago was bellicose is his desire to take on the EU in a trade war. It seems to me that they painted themselves into a corner with the NIP, thinking only a couple of moves ahead, and planned to bluff it later. Again, I offer the current crop of idiots at the top of government as Exhibit A regarding the likelihood of this being screwed up yet again. And this stems, this all stems, from the fact that no one had any idea *how to actually get Brexit done*, or indeed what it should mean. Cakeism and simplism were allowed to define what passes for policy because the entire thing is an emotional project. Amazingly (to me at least) I?m starting to think the only person with a grip on the reality of it may have been a Mr D Cummings?

I?m not convinced this will make a huge difference to obesity on its own, but a) it?s a step in the right direction, and b) more information is never a bad thing where this is concerned. If it alerts people to the frankly staggering amount of calories that it?s easy to consume without releasing when purchasing meals out then I think it?s helpful. At least it?s an informed decision if you decide to get that burger or whatever. The rest is up to the individual.

I can only imagine the scene in the headteachers office when yet another email rolls in, exhorting that won?t somebody PLEASE think of the view of the flowers! ?Oh no, not this nutter-butter again??

Ok, so anyone who disagrees with you isn?t a good parent? And a hoarding on a fence that stops you from seeing some flowers while advertising a sports club is somehow ?corrupting children?s minds?? Yeah, you?re just trolling now.

Mate, that is first-class Nimbyism. Nicely done, good to see people still putting in the effort these days. I mean come on; a state school is reduced to raising money like this because they *don?t get enough from the government to educate children*, but you feel it?s more important to harass a headteacher because you want to see the flowers on their ground. I might point out that the flowers aren?t actually on public property so I?m not sure your logic about you being entitled to look at them holds up, but I can see you?ve made up your mind about what?s most important here so I?ll get out of your way. After all, those entitled and hubristic emails won?t write themselves?

The schools desperately need the money. Got to say I think the fact that headteachers are having of do this is more important than the need to look at metalwork, flowerbeds and water features, as pleasing as they may be (and I don?t dispute that). This os kids education we?re talking about. The headteachers aren?t doing it to pay for new furniture in the staff room, it?ll be for, you know, books and teachers.

Went bad - The West Wing. Never really survived the loss of Aaron Sorkin, though it tried. To be fair he never delivered a script on time or within budget plus there were myriad other tensions behind the scenes so it?s understandable that they parted ways. But even before that ratings were slipping, and it never quite lived up to the initial promise. It?s like it couldn?t decide if it was a political drama, personal soap opera or some kind of procedural. By the end so of the plot lines were just odd. Stayed excellent - The Wire. One of the best bits of TV to come out of the noughties. Still holds its own today. But then David Simon is a superb writer who understood the source material like no one else. Even the slightly crazy McNulty plot line of season 5 works.

jazzer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Who cares about "partygate", so he lied, so what, > he's a Minister of the Crown, all ministers of all > parties don't always tell the truth. It matters. https://davidallengreen.com/2022/03/partygate-returns-and-a-reminder-about-how-this-still-matters-in-constitutional-terms/

Lynne Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was having a heart attack. Is this urgent > enough? I recently went into Kings with what turned out to be a heart attack. It was the middle of the night and I actually took an Uber in as I thought it most likely I had some kind of insane indigestion (apparently people roll up thinking that when it?s actually a heart attack more often than you?d think). It was made very clear to me that if I get chest pains again that I?m to call an ambulance, as they will call ahead and alert cardiology. Hope you?re on the road to recovery.