The Bubble Diaries

"I drink therefore I am"

2011-05-28T07:43:00.000-07:00

On 8/6/11 I will have been tea total for a year, not a drop has passed my lips!
I have lost a lot of weight, saved a lot of money and generally feel a lot healthier. All this sounds great but there is one big drawback my social life is non-existent, I don't see any of my old drinking buddies and basically go out on my own, except for the odd occasion when I go out with my wife when we can find a babysitter!
When I meet my old drinking buddies on the street they usually greet me with "how are you?" as if I'm ill then the conversation becomes very stilted and then we quickly go our own ways.
I'm not blaming them they invest a lot of time and effort into their drinking and don't want someone like me upsetting their equilibrium, but for gods sake I've known some of them for years and been through a lot with them.
It's a very strange situation but not one unheard of in the field of alcohol counselling, my counsellor, an existential psychotherapist no less!, calls it the Mitwelt dimension!!! I just call it being dumped!

“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.” Confucius

2011-05-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Lakshmi Mittal - worth £17.5b - accused of employing slave labour and having horrendous health and safety conditions in his mines (91 miners have died), bribery, 'cash for influence' in the 'Mittal Affair' and environmental pollution.
Roman Abramovich - worth £10b - accused of blackmail, bribery, theft, loan fraud, share dillution and breaching anti-monopoly rules.
Leonard Blavatnik - worth £6.2b - accused of racial discrimination, 'Lyondell' scandal and links with Russian organised crime.
Gopi and Sri Hinduja - worth £6b - the 'Bofors Scandal', cash for passports affair and accused of supplying army vehicles to the Sudanese Government breaching arms export legislation.

Etc , etc, etc , etc........

All the above appear in the latest edition of the Sunday Times Rich List and are all UK citizens, doesn't it make you proud to be British?

Tesco - latest special offers!

2011-04-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

Nestle Truffle Eggs - 59p each or two for £1.20!
Market Value Smoked Mackerel £3.79kg - Normal Smoked Mackerel £3.79kg!

Limited offers get them while you can!

Proposals by the DCLG to cut socio-economic indicators

2011-04-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

On the Department for Communities and Local Government website there is a consultation document outlining proposals to cease publication of a number of statistical data sets, they include:

* Housing and Planning Statistics and key facts
* Electronic Survey of Empty Homes
* Local Area Council Tax Dwellings
* Register of Licensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

* Commercial and industrial floor space and RV statistics

* Economic Deprivation Index

* Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)

* Child Well-being Index

* Citizenship Survey (all parts)

There is also an implied threat to the next 'indices of deprivation'.

Isn't it funny that the majority of the data sets are in one way or another indicators of poverty and deprivation? Are the condems trying to do away with data and statistics that show the impact and outcomes of their policies in a bad light?

New financial threat on the horizon?

2011-04-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

A business worth £735bn a year could be the next bubble waiting to burst according to an article in today's Guardian. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) allow investors to buy shares in a market without actually ever owning the product, pure speculation!
There will be some who argue that it creates wealth for the country, but were is this wealth and why isn't it being used to clear the deficit? This is nothing but naked greed and creates massive wealth for the individuals involved while at the same time playing roulette with food prices, our pensions and future livelihoods!

When is the Government going to rein these cowboys in? Stupid question they have too many vested interests!

Descriptive London street names

2011-04-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

Bread Street
Fig Tree Court
Fish Street Hill
Haymarket
Gropecunt Lane!!!!

Gropecunt Lane ran south from Cheapside, with Popkirtle Lane (literally pop-girdle as in tear your clothes off) on one side and Bordhawe Lane (Bordhawe means brothel) on the other. The groping of cunts was apparently the lowest form of prostitution where aged hags would charge a pittance for a punter to put his hand up their skirts and grope them. The street is no longer there but it ran roughly north to south just to the east of present-day Queen Street between Cheapside and Queen Victoria Street.
No wonder the Victorians changed its name!

Thank god for Jesshops!!

2011-04-16T04:46:00.000-07:00

Established in 1923 Jesshops Bakers have 3 shops in London, the one I frequent most is the one in trendy Exmouth Market. No paninis or Californian sourdough sandwiches that cost upwards of a fiver and no skinny lattes or expensive cups of orange pekoe, just crusty rolls, pasties and big mugs of tea at very low prices!
Yae cannae wack it!

Tricky word 'Librarian'!

2011-04-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

Twice recently, for official reasons, I have been asked to give my occupation and on both occasions the person asking could not spell Librarian! thank god i'm not a Paediatric Physiotherapist!
I find this especially worrying as both were Police Officers!
If you look at the latest guidance on the eligibility to become a police constable, educational attainment and standards is not mentioned at all, in fact the Home Office Police Recruitment website states;
"there is no formal educational requirement, but you will have to pass written tests"
Now don't get me wrong I am not in any way suggesting that our 'majesty's finest' are educationally subnormal I am only expressing my concern about a possible drop in standards?

Camden's flawed Library consultation

2011-03-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

Camden Council is currently consulting library users and residents about the future of the library service, unfortunately there seems to be a digital divide! If you complete the paper version you can leave the boxes unticked relating to what cuts you want, or don't, but on the online version you can't, in order to progress you have to tick a box!

"A spokesperson for Camden Council told Fitzrovia News “We have commissioned a market research company to support the consultation, provide topline analysis and verify the outcomes at a cost of £25,000″. - money well spent?

There is a petition to save Camden’s library service at http://www.petition.co.uk/save-camden-libraries

New Reader Libraries!

2011-03-29T03:38:00.000-07:00

The Reader Organisation, a literacy charity from the north east, is currently trying to push the idea of creating new 'community' libraries, or as they call them 'New Reader Libraries'.
"First, we are advocating a national network of New Reader Libraries. New Reader Libraries are going to be like a real home, crossed with a great school, crossed with a fabulous café. People are the main thing, people and the things people need.
There will be laptops and desktops and possibly even a home-cinema-size screen, and a PA system for dance night and disco. But mainly it will be books, chairs, sofas, corners, lamps, tables, people and food." - sounds like something Jamie Oliver would think up!
Anyway they claim to be supporting the campaign to save libraries but at the same time seem to be totally undermining this by advocating the creation of new 'libraries' run by themselves and volunteers and by asking people to sign an e-petition in support of this (90 signatories in 8 days, that's all the staff and their friends and families taken care off then!)
"Up and down the country, libraries are being marked for closure; 800 may be shut by the end of the year. No one supports the cuts and there have been protests aplenty. Now it is time for a change.
The Reader Organisation wants to create New Reader Libraries, with people and reading at the heart of them."
The word opportunistic springs to mind!

The City of London; a state within a state?

2011-03-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

I attended a lecture at the LSE recently that dealt with the City of London and its network of tax havens, absolutely fascinating and very topical!

The two speakers were Nicholas Shaxson, the author of "Treasure Islands: tax havens and the men who stole the world" and Maurice Glasman, recently appointed Labour Peer and Reader in Political Theory at London Metropolitan University. and their basic premise is that the 'city' is basically an un-democratic 'state within a state', a bit like the Vatican I suppose?, which flouts regualtions and rules and feeds itself through a network of tax havens (Hong Kong, Bermuda etc). Tax havens allow the city to make huge amounts of money through tax avoidance and using loopholes in legislation. They are secretive and unregulated.

London's slave labour!

2011-03-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

I was up and out very early the other morning and on the streets and buses were the vast army of African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian, Latin and South American and East European office cleaners, domestics, shop workers etc who tend to go unnoticed and uncared for in our society. According to research done in 2007 there where approx 80,000 contract cleaners working at Canary Wharf alone, and although the majority earned the minimum wage and above they were still being paid under the London Living Wage of £7.05 per hour! (it is now £7.85) This exploitation, and the lack of representation, was the main reason that 'Living Wage' Campaign was set up in 2001 and since that time they have won over £40m in additional income for workers and have basically highlighted the plight of migrant workers in London.

The nicest electrical power substation in town!

2011-03-24T04:11:00.000-07:00

Situated just off Duke Street, in the Mayfair area of London, sits Brown Hart Gardens, a 10000 square foot, grade II listed public garden on top of an electricity substation. Originally Duke Street Gardens the site was leased by the Duke of Westminster in 1902 to the Westminster electricity Supply Co. who then built a substation on the site but with a raised public garden on top. The Board of the Grosvenor Estate, the owners of the site, were not overly keen on the idea at the time but after "continuing complaints about the nuisance from 'disorderly boys', 'verminous women' and 'tramps'" in the gardens they soon changed their minds! It is also claimed that this is the only place in London where quarrelling is specifically forbidden by law! (perfect place to take the missus perhaps?)

King of the Old Gits!

2011-03-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the bus yesterday I heard from behind me an old man's voice "fuck off" "shut up" "Yeah yeah we know", I turned around expecting him to be sitting next to someone, his wife or friend? But he wasn't he was shouting at the automated voice telling passengers what the next stop is!

Cafe owner appointed new Governor of the Bank of England!

2011-03-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

Had my usual breakfast, two eggs on crusty toast with mushrooms and a tea, this morning in my usual cafe. Went up to the counter to pay the £3.30 and was told by the owner "prices have gone up mate, it's £4 now", when i remonstrated with him about the price hike he shrugged his shoulders and said "commodity markets, mate!"

He uses the cheapest battery eggs, cheapest bread, bog standard (not wild) mushrooms, industrial strength margarine and wholesalers special teabags, what about overheads i hear you say, well its not bloody Claridges!!!

Doing a 'Reggie Perrin'!

2011-03-18T05:27:00.000-07:00

Browsing through the books in my local charity shop I came upon an interesting title 'Places to hide in England, Scotland & Wales' by Dixie Wills, the same man who brought you the classic 'The Z to Z of Great Britain', a gazeteer of places in the UK beginning with the letter Z!
'Places to hide....' reviews hiding places for when "facing up to your problems is just not an option", from a thorny bush in Dorset to behind the goals in a park in Blair Atholl!

When I receive my redundancy notice I might just take his advice and do a 'Reggie Perrin'!

Subway Noway!

2011-03-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

Subway, the US based, franchised 'sandwich' fast-food chain is now officially the world's top seller, overtaking McDonalds. In the UK and Ireland the company hopes to expand to 2,010 restaurants by some time in 2011.(Wikipedia)

I will admit that I have never tried one, so I am basing this post purely on bias and bile, but for gods sake they sell stodgy baguettes with unhealthy fillings such as 'meatball marinara', a 6incher with 511 calories, 20.9 grams of fat and 3.3 grams of salt, they also offer 12" and 18" monstrosities!

They do offer veggie and light options, and a 'Kids Pak', which strangely enough doesn't include a veggie option!! (I am trying to be balanced, honestly!) They have been criticised for the high levels of corn syrup in their bread products and for using plant fertilizer to make their bread brown!
All in all it sounds bloody awful and I will definitely not be adding to their sales figures!

Frozen Bubble and Squeak Cakes

2011-03-11T23:31:00.000-08:00

I recently ordered 'bubble and squeak' in a cafe, and was served up 'frozen bubble and squeak cakes', how incredibly lazy! I remember seeing them sold under the name Ross but that company has apparently been bought up and the only ones I can find available now are made by 'Aunt Bessie'.
Any self-respecting cafe should always have a pan of homemade 'bubble' on the go, as does 'Maria's' in Borough Market, I mean how hard is it? But unfortunately we come back to one of my previous arguments about London cafes nowadays, the majority of establishments seem now to be Turkish or Kurdish owned and the quality of the breakfasts served by the majority of them is atrocious, they tend to use the cheapest ingredients with no pride or thought given to taste or authenticity.
Bring back proper 'bubble and squeak'!

Statutory Burdens!

2011-03-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

The Condems are currently reviewing statutory duties placed on local government, they have identified 1294 that may be burdensome or no longer needed, and guess what the 1964 Libraries Act is in their sights! They are not trying to remove them from the statute books before any of the legal cases against them reach court, are they?

Department for Culture Media and Sport

Libraries

DCMS_026

Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 Section 1(2)

Duty: To provide information and facilities for the inspection of library

premises, stocks, records, as the Secretary of State requires.

Function: Necessary for Secretary of State to fulfil (requirement) to

superintend library service (see s1 of PLAMA 1964)

DCMS_027

Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 Section 7

Duty: To provide a comprehensive and efficient library service. In

fulfilling this duty, must have particular regard to the matters in s7(2)

Function: Secure provision of local library services

DCMS_028

Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 Section 11

Duty: Supplemental provisions as to transfers of officers, assets and

liabilities

Function: Provisions provide, for example, continuity of employment for

transferring employees. This secures consistency across library transfers

etc and in line with other local authority employment legislation

The shame of Wisconsin!

2011-03-11T00:59:00.000-08:00

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014461414_wisconsin11.html - The Anti-Union Bill has been passed by the Wisconsin Assembly. Lets hope this galvanises pro-union support in the US and other battles are won, if not then the Koch Brothers, The Tea Party and Fox News will be allowed to tighten their strangle hold on popular public opinion.

And you thought that Rab C Nesbitt was fictional?

2011-03-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

A wee Scottish man approaches library desk, reeking of booze, it's 11am "I need to copy these" he says thrusting a pile of papers in my face "Yes, fine" "Ah yer Scottish, where are you from" - a loaded question? - "Glasgow", I say and walk towards the photocopier, he stumbles after me deposits money in the coin box and hands me the papers. They are all sick notes!!!

Community engagement? or ("let's see what we can get away with")

2011-03-08T03:27:00.000-08:00

Haringey council is proposing to cut the direct provision of its out of schools services, you know things like breakfast clubs, after school clubs and holiday play schemes.
Parents and other interested parties received a letter barely outlining the proposals three weeks ago and were asked to submit their responses by today, hardly long enough given that guidelines set down by BERR state that 12 weeks is good practice! But then again Haringey don't seem to be very good at following guidelines, they also forgot to make the draft proposal and Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) available for consultation, tut tut!
Anyway they have now extended the 'consultation' until the 18/3/11 and will make the EIA available to me some time this week?
The worrying thing is that this is probably happening all over the country and all over the country authorities are probably getting away with it?

Do you really want to volunteer to work in a library?

2011-02-28T07:16:00.000-08:00

I had an enquiry today "Do you have anything on the causes of terrorism?" "I'm sure we do, what kind of information are you looking for, is about a specific place or group?" "I've just told you it's about the causes of terrorism" "Yes I understand that, is it for a project, do you have a reading list?" "Just show me where the books are" So i take the person over to the appropriate shelf and show them several books that might be of interest, they spend 30 seconds glancing at them and then say "This is not what I want", and I say "you need to look at them a bit more, I'm sure that they will help you", and they say "I don't even like books I don't know what I am doing here, and you are not being very helpful"
By this time I had taken an educated guess that this person didn't know what they were looking for and didn't understand the subject. So I take a different tack and lead them over to Britannica and explained about searching newspaper articles online for relevant information but by this point the person had lost interest and was getting quite hostile. I left them standing in the middle of the room. The whole infuriating episode lasted about 20 minutes. Five minutes later they approached one of my colleagues and asked them for the very same information and said to them in a voice loud enough for me to hear "the other man wasn't very helpful"!!!!!
It took all my 20+ years experience not to throttle them.

Faversham Boatyards

2011-02-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

Standard Quay in Faversham is one the 2 remaining boatyards where Thames Barges can be restored and built. This has been happening for over 300 years but plans are afoot to turn it into some kind of a heritage theme park, for more details see
http://standardquay.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/10/standard-guay-thames-barges
This is a beautiful part of England and should be left as it is!

The battle for Wisconsin!

2011-02-25T03:46:00.000-08:00

The Unions, with significant public support, are mobilising in Wisconsin against Governor Walker's, a Republican, proposals to end collective bargaining rights and to basically 'bust' the unions. His ideological campaign is being partly funded by the Koch Brothers, billionaire right-wing 'Tea Party' supporters.
The unions are seeing this as the most important battle since 1981 when Reagan took on the air controllers and activists are pouring into the state from all over the US. Over 70,000 marched last Saturday and there are plans for demonstrations in all the state capitals.

This really rings alarm bells for me not just because of our own ideological battle with the Condems but because of the activities of LSSI, the US based private library company, in the UK, who are vehemently anti-union.

Bankers, ethics and Spearmint Rhino!!!

2011-02-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

Ah! the cultural life of a banker, the Royal Ballet, an exhibition at the RA, or even maybe a recital at the Wigmore Halls?
No! we find them spending their ill-gotten gains in a jumped up knocking shop

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/20/banking-executive-pay-bonuses

Morally bereft, surely not?

Recession! What Recession?

2011-02-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

Isn't it good to know that some companies are making money out of the recession and its not just the usual culprits, pawnbrokers, money-lenders, bookies and banks etc !!!
Fried Chicken shops and the Lottery are both booming, one from the country's obsession with unhealthy, fatty and high salt content foods and the other by stripping money from working class communities.
According to an article in the Guardian recently, for every school in Tower Hamlets there are 42 Fried Chicken outlets and some children in the borough eat 16 takeaways a week. They also say that the borough is considered by nutrionalists to be an 'obesogenic environment', an unfortunate Americanism! Most outlets I know off have £1.99 deals directed mainly at school kids, which provide about as much nutritional benefit to developing minds and bodies as 'agent orange' does as a growth enhancer to plants!
And what do the Condems do to try and tackle the issue, they involve the big food companies in formulating public health policies relating to food quality and safety! A bit like asking Myra Hindley about childcare provision!
The National Lottery is also making a 'killing' out of working class communities, with the average amount being spent by individuals £5 per week, now this doesn't sound a lot but if you say live in a community of 2,000, that's a lot of money every week, money that could be put in to opening a food bank or credit union.
Now that really would be the 'Big Society'!

The Morning Star's secret football training centre!

2011-02-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

I'm off to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in August and as I usually do before travelling I looked on Google Maps to check out the terrain and to my amazement came across http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kerala+KUMARAKOM&aq=&sll=9.995816,76.26812&sspn=0.038122,0.055017&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kumarakom,+Kottayam,+Kerala,+India&ll=8.104183,77.418337&spn=0.019162,0.027509&t=h&z=15
I wonder if this is the place that Camus trained to be a goalkeeper?

My Big Fat Stereotypical Wedding!

2011-02-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

Gypsies and Irish Travellers in the UK are upset at the portrayal of their community/ies in the Channel4 programme 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding', they say it doesn't show a balanced view of their traditions and culture.
Well of course it doesn't!, it is just another example of the cheap sensationalistic 'freak show' tv that we all seem to crave nowadays!
I wouldn't watch 'Embarrasing Bodies' if i wanted a serious overview of the current advances in medical science, would I?

The 20 bus to Debden (or "we're on the road to knowhere!)

2011-02-11T02:34:00.000-08:00

I sometimes flick the pages of my London A-Z and what ever page my finger stops at that's were I head, I have ended up in Croydon, Pinner, Thamesmead etc. and now Debden.

Debden is an outpost of Loughton, a 1950's housing estate with very little going for it except for the 'De La Rue' print works which prints Bank of England banknotes and TJ Kelly's Pie and Mash Shop. I, as you can imagine, made a quick exit and walked the five miles to Woodford Green, through some leafy countryside but mainly along busy A roads. Why? I hear you ask, well "because it's there"!

Hidden London - 'Soapsuds Island'

2011-02-11T02:16:00.000-08:00

Aerial photograph of Kensal and North Kensington, 1938

London really is an amazing city, you think you know it then you turn a corner!
'Kensal New Town' is wedged between the Grand Union Canal and Goldborne Road, with Kensal Green Cemetery to north and Trellick Tower to the south. Commonly known as 'Soapsuds Islands' in Victorian times due to the abundance of laundries in the area.
The area now is mostly made up of council housing and an interesting open space called the "Emslie Horniman's Pleasence' which contains the 'Voysey Garden', named after the architect who designed it.
A fascinating area with a real sense of itself!

Camden consults community!

2011-02-08T02:29:00.000-08:00

Camden Council is cutting £1.6m from its library budget, this is two years after it cut the library workforce by 40%. They are consulting with library users and have given them access to selective data in order that they can come to an informed decision (sorry i would laugh but its too serious!), there is one slight problem, and i quote
"We are not consulting on whether to make these savings at all, or whether to make less savings from libraries"
the choices include decreasing library opening hours by 40%, closing the central library in Swiss Cottage, or closing some of the smaller branch libraries, what a choice!
This is the new style of community consultation, holding a sham consultation to try and legitimise a decision that has already been made!
Oh! and by the way Camden spent £1m on consultants last year and £3m on temporary staff!
I have only one thing to say to Camden's library users, and to library users everywhere, and that is "Boycott consultations they are not worth the paper they are written on"

.

The 'Time Out Speaker's Corner'

2011-02-04T02:08:00.000-08:00

In this weeks 'Time Out' 'books editor Chris Moss writes a vitriolic attack, "don't cry over library closures" on what he sees to be the middle class, liberal bandwagon of campaigning against library closures.
And I quote "What are libraries for? Well, from the scene at 'mine', they're for reading newspapers, keeping warm, fucking about on the internet, renting films, killing time and getting the kids out of the house"
"In the main, public libraries are a dust-ridden Victorian project lumbering into the twenty-first century that gives the impression that the underclass mind is being serviced, while the middle class lies in bed with its hardback and soft notions"
He also goes onto say that he couldn't find any good books on 'modernist architecture' or 'Brazil' and that the shelves were full of dross such as "Catherine Cookson and Agatha Christie", elitist moi?
Funnily enough he appears to be happy to see councils cut the public services he doesn't approve off, but he doesn't find it ironic that his council gave him "an allotment two weeks ago", obviously something he does approve off?
What a complete and utter twat!

High salt levels in afro-caribbean food

2011-02-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

I cook a lot of Caribbean food at home, but i was shocked to read today about the levels of salt found in some popular Afro-Caribbean dishes served in cafes and restaurants.
Take one of the staples 'jerk chicken with rice and peas' salt levels of up to 7.6g were found, the recommended daily adult allowance is 6g!
I know from experience that some of the seasoning mixes used can be very salty and sometimes contain MSG as well.

Afro-Caribbean people in this country have some of the highest rates of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and other related conditions so it looks as if some health education is needed, i cant see the cafes and restaurants taking the lead as they might be fearful off losing trade?

The ballad of Lord Wei!

2011-02-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

Lord Wei, the youngest peer in Parliament and the Condems 'young gun' on 'Big Society' issues has had to give up volunteering three days a week because it is "incompatible with having a life".
"Much of Wei's work has focused on how to free ordinary people from the daily grind to give them more time to do voluntary work and involve themselves in their communities under the big society plans."
"Whitehall sources said that when he was invited to take the role he had expected it to be remunerated but was told only the night before that it was a voluntary post and there would be no salary." (Guardian)
You couldn't make this up if you tried!

The 'Linzer Biscuit'!

2011-01-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

Greggs, in London, have started selling the 'Empire Biscuit', a layer of jam in between two sweet biscuits topped with icing and a glace cherry. Originally called a 'Linzer Biscuit' before the 1st WW and then 'Empire' after.

A tooth rotting delicacy in Scotland but little known down here. Wonderful stuff!

'Uncle Gunnysack' returns!

2011-01-18T05:28:00.000-08:00

Has he come to admire the views or to catch up with some old friends or maybe he is the new 'Cultural Attache'?
No 'Baby Doc' Chevalier is back in Haiti to take political advantage of the carnage and chaos that he and his father, Papa Doc, and their murdering militia, the 'tonton macoute' laid the foundations for half a century ago.
He fled after an uprising in 1986 with millions of dollars and has been in exile ever since.
As the 'Mirror' put it today "Haitians needs 'Baby Doc' like a hole in the head"

Fair?

2011-01-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

I listened to George Osborne being interviewed about the rise in VAT on Radio 4 the other day, he used the words fair or fairer a lot, not words that i would use about a rise that will hit poor families the hardest!

The Institute of Fiscal Studies reckons that the VAT rise will lop 1% off the after-tax incomes of the richest 10% and 2.25% of those of the poorest 10%, hardly fair!
A fairer alternative would be to tax land owners and increase the bank levy, but of course that would be hurting their own!

It's a mugs game!

2011-01-04T03:52:00.000-08:00

The Quinlan brothers pulled of a coup with two horses at Lingfield on Thursday. Both horses heavily backed, even though they had been woefully out of form, and both won! The stewards investigated but no action was taken!
On Saturday another one of their horses, royal island, ran at Southwell, again well fancied! The horse was held at the back untill the last 2 furlongs where upon the jockey, with a double handful, switched it to the outside and eased it into 3rd place! He could easily have won but chose not to, obviously stable instructions!
The reason for doing this? Well there are two that i can think off , they are looking to bring its handicap mark down, and its price up, for the next race or someone attached to the stable had layed it (backed the horse to lose)

Over the years i have closely watched hundreds, if not thousands, of horse races and i can honestly say that i have only spotted this happening on a handful of occasions, but it does happen and it is dishonest and unfair to the everyday normal punter, it's hard enough to back a winner, especially on the all weather courses.

We are all in it together!

2010-12-31T05:16:00.000-08:00

Gold rush helps hedge funds bounce back‎
"The hedge fund industry, heavily criticised for gambling on the collapse of some banks in 2008, will end up the year with $2.4tn (£1.54tn) of assets under management, after adding a net $79.5bn during the past 11 months, according to HFN, a trade publication." Guardian 29/12/10

• About 2,500 charities that provide welfare services in Greater Manchester – around a quarter of all voluntary groups in the area – could go bust because of the cuts, according to estimates by the Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation.

• A quarter of charities in the north-east of England which depend at least partially on public funding will go bust in the next 12 months, according to research by Voluntary Organisations Network North East. It says that while demand for services has rocketed, 64% of charities surveyed say they will be forced to close services.
• A third of charities nationally that receive state cash say they will have to reduce the level of services they provide, while over a quarter expect to make staff redundant, a survey by the Charity Finance Directors Group, consultants PWC and the Institute of Fundraising found.

All Hail the Big Society!!!

Westmoreland Road Flea Market - A Eulogy!

2010-12-31T05:05:00.000-08:00

Between East Street Market and Albany Road SE17, lies Westmoreland Road. Famous for its 'pie and mash' shop, opened in 1914 by W J Arment & Son and up untill last year its Flea Market.
Visiting Westmoreland Road Flea Market was like stepping back into victorian times, a raggle taggle bunch of people selling a raggle taggle bunch of goods. Old clothes, bits of crockery, dubious looking electrical items, well thumbed books etc
Now its gone but the memory still lingers! http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/soundmaps/more/37/35/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mal1/3795705591/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mal1/3795707693/

Humbug! (or Happy Christmas from a self serving, hypocritical liar!)

2010-12-24T03:14:00.000-08:00

At the last count 365 libraries closed or closing, redundancies galore and a full out ideological attack on the public sector, unions and the welfare state!
But at least we know that some families will be safe and warm this winter!

Do you realy want to volunteer to run a Library?

2010-12-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

In the last few days i have dealt with aggressive and abusive library users, handled a complaint of harassment from a young woman, told numerous students to keep their voices down, told numerous users to turn their mobile phones off, split two men who were fighting over a newspaper, dealt with two potentially hazardous health and safety issues, unlocked a user from the public toilet, answered a phone enquiry from a woman in Sydney about florists in the Finsbury Park area, dealt with an enquiry about the law relating to child abuse etc etc etc
I regularly work from 9am to 8pm and every other Saturday.
Do you really want to do all this for no pay?

Email to the American Library Association

2010-12-21T04:09:00.000-08:00

I thought that your members, and American Librarians as a whole, might be interested to know what is going on across the water?

The UK Public Library Service is under attack, 350+ libraries have either closed or are under threat of closure, this figure is expected to rise to 600-1000 before the end of 2011. Local Authorities are also considering running libraries with volunteers or handing them over to Trusts. The profession has been very slow in building a defence and the real thrust has come from library users and campaigners.

These cuts are due to UK Government cuts in Local Authority Funding and are also seen by many to be an ideoligical attack!

for more information see;

http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com/

http://alangibbons.net/

http://www.goodlibraryguide.com/blog/

Good Honest Cafes!

2010-12-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a breakfast review for a while and since it says that this blog is about 'breakfasts, libraries and london' I'd better do one!

The Workman's Inn Cafe, 147 Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park - nothing to look at but does good, cheap and honest food. I used to work in the library around the corner, until they closed it down (it's not a new thing!), and frequented this cafe some 15 years ago.

Mushroom omelette, chips, beans, 2 slice and a tea = £4.40. Served on a large oval plate, they didn't have to use this device to make the portion look big it was big!

Cafe Delight, 351 Green Lanes, N4 - a welcoming, bright and clean cafe with a very friendly chef/owner. I reckon that this is the best cafe in the area and i use it regularly.

Mushroom omelette, chips, beans, 2 slice and a tea = £4.90. One of the best mushroom omelettes i have tasted in a cafe! And i hear you say "What can go wrong with a mushroom omelette?", well let me tell you i have had some stinkers!

CILIP and the Big Society!

2010-12-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

For the last few months i have been reading with increasing anger and amazement both the 'Public Library Journal' and the 'Library + Information Gazette'.
Article after article has been published on how to manage volunteers and how to 'do more with less'.
Library staff are fighting for their jobs and trying to keep libraries open and our main professional body, CILIP, is telling us how to manage volunteers!!!
There seems to be a cowardly acceptance of the staus quo, it's pathetic!
Would the BMA, RCN or the NUT undermine their professions in such a manner?

Correlation and Causation!

2010-12-18T00:06:00.000-08:00

The government decides not to spend money on the annual marketing campaign to persuade people to have the flu vaccine, the number of people taking the vaccine drops and the number of reported cases rises! Coincidence?

Bullying tactics in Gloucestershire (or "all's not fair in love and war")

2010-12-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

Email sent to Chief Exec and Asst Head of Library Services

"As a UNISON member and Librarian I am emailing you to express my anger and disgust at the bullying tactics being used against Gloucestershire Library Staff in order to shut them up about cuts and library closures. I believe that staff are being forced to ‘register an interest’ if they are a member of a group campaigning against the cuts. These are committed and professional staff who are willing to fight to save public libraries for the good of their communities and the nation as a whole, they should not be treated in this manner.

Your authority has a statutory duty under the 1964 Act to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library service, please do your duty and dont close any libraries."

.

Public Libraries and Austerity!

2010-12-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

Whilst library staff were being told of redundancies and library users were being told about closures, the great and the good of the library world were discussing 'What future for public libraries in the age of austerity?' at the The Public Library Authorities Conference 2010 in Leeds.

Roy Clare, the chief exec of the now soon to be defunct MLA was a guest speaker, this is the man who praises councils for having 'political courage' when they close libraries.
Anyway they all appeared to have a jolly good time with a dinner on the first night, a black tie dinner on the 2nd and a lunch on the last day, not very 'austere'!

Irish Banks

2010-12-14T02:37:00.000-08:00

The Irish Government has threatened the Allied Irish Bank that it will withdraw state financial support if it pays its staff bonuses of up to £34m, and guess what the bank has backed down saying
"Previously the Board had received strong legal advice that it was obliged to pay these bonuses. However, the letter from the Minister conveys a decision by him to legislate which overtakes this obligation."
"The Board of AIB very much welcomes the actions of the Minister and is relieved to be in a position not to pay these bonuses."

Surely this is what our government should be saying to the banks and the City, ah! but hold on silly me! there are vested interests afoot!!

Government too poor to print Poverty Report!

2010-12-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

The Government has decided not to make Frank Field's Poverty Report available in print form, when questioned by a leading information professional a Cabinet office spokesperson said
"We were hoping not to produce hard copies of the Frank Field Review report because they are expensive and would need to be paid for out of public funds. Is it possible for you to allow your customers to read it on-line?"
This is a growing trend, a multitude of official documents are now only available online.
Are all the public online, are they all able and willing to go online and have they all got the money required to print all, or sections, of the report?

"Lies, Damned lies and Lewisham" (my apologies to Mark Twain!)

2010-12-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

Lewisham Council has been threatening to close six of its libraries, to save money they say! Library users in the borough have mounted a vigorous campaign and legal challenge to stop them doing so.
Now they have announced that they are to join the 'London Libraries Consortium', a grouping of 12 library authorities who offer access to over a 100 libraries in the capital and most importantly shared costs, but in order to do this they must change their library management IT system, at a cost of possibly 100's of thousands of pounds! Were has this money miraculously appeared from?

Money and war! (or thank god for Radio 4)

2010-12-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

I know that Radio 4 can sometimes come across as very middle-class, twee and smug but it also one of the only remaining places left were intelligent conversation can still be found.

Heard an interesting piece this morning about the 'Malayan Emergency', a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960. I t is widely believed that the reason it was called an 'emergency' and not a 'war', which it clearly was, was that the rubber plantations and tin mining industries had pushed for the use of the term "emergency" since their losses would not have been covered by Lloyd's insurers if it had been termed a war.

Capitalism in all its glory!

A brilliant condemnation of the current zeitgeist in public library thinking!

2010-12-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

"The neoliberal mind-set across all three main political parties is obsessed with the mythology of choice. We are told that public libraries need to be more commercial in their look and feel because people can choose to use the same or similar services elsewhere. The mantra is that the market is all, and the market in access to knowledge means people will choose to go elsewhere if the public library does not give them what they want.

Except of course we know that the concept of choice in relation to the core services public libraries provide is complete tripe. Yet this has been the modus operandi for public librarians for over a decade. Services have been tweaked, added, or removed based on the fear that public libraries must compete with the choices people have for their leisure time. Have those evangelists for mediocrity any idea at all of why public libraries exist in the first place?"
see http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/?p=736#comment-528 for full article and comments

What a shame! (or 1966 and all that!)

2010-12-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

"I'ts not coming home, I'ts not coming home, Football's not coming home"

It's good to see that Cameron has got his priorities sorted out, we are in the grip of the worst recession since the 1930's and the 'Three Stoooges' are off on a beano with some FIFA officials!

Anyway whats 15 million quid amongst friends?

The barbarians have breached the gates!

2010-12-03T03:07:00.000-08:00

The wholesale destruction of the UK Public Library Service has begun in earnest, 240 libraries under threat or already closed. Many more being handed over to volunteers. Thousands of library staff at risk of losing their jobs.
The 1964 Act stating that authorities have a statutory duty to provide an "efficient and comprehensive" service has been pushed aside. The MLA appears to be in favour of library cuts and CILIP, SCL and the profession as a whole have been conspicuously quiet!
Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been spent on the London Libraries Change Programme, the Future Libraries Programme, consultants and a multitude of reports and research documents, a complete and utter waste of time and money!
Recent research published by the MLA miraculously finds that the majority of library users value the service and want books!!!! Library users, campaigners and staff (well some of them!) have been saying this for years but were never listened to, instead they have diversified and diluted the service so much it has lost its focus and, in my view, its integrity.
In my view, and many others, libraries are all about books, they are at the core of the service and of the ethos. Off course welcoming buildings and knowledgeable and experienced staff are also very important.
You have to pay for Cd's, DVDs, coffee, and in some libraries ICT but books are free and in light of the recent statistics that family spending has fallen, for the first time in 10 years, this is an extermely important message to get across.

Anyway its not all doom and gloom there are voices out there campaigning against library closures, people like Tim Coates and the LLL, Alan Gibbons, Shirley Burnham, Voices for the Library, The Library Campaign and millions of library users. But what we really need is a national demonstration against library cuts, a London wide one would do for starters!

These are my own views and do not in any way represent those of my employer.

God Bless Greggs!

2010-11-27T05:49:00.000-08:00

Like Wetherspoons and Robbie Savage, Greggs gives the man and woman on the street what they want!
Bread Pudding, Baguettes and Belgian Buns, the holy trinity!
Also see http://bapstodaps.blogspot.com/2007/08/thesis-greggs-and-demise-of-dough-based_03.html for interesting blog on the demise of regional cake talk!!
But i must say Benjys is sorely missed!!

Managing expectations!

2010-11-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

Recession
Cuts
Redundancies
Public revolt

Royal Wedding

hooray!

Austerity London (or any other place)

2010-11-13T03:55:00.000-08:00

I quite often walk around London wondering how i would manage with no money, or very little, and i actually try some times not to spend very much just as an experiment, obviously i do this on my own and not with my wife and kid who would accuse me off being a skinflint! Anyway here are my observations;
Food and Drink -
Waitrose and some of the other posher stores regularly have free tastings as do food/farmers markets such as the ones in Borough and Spitalfields.
Private views in the smaller galleries, and even some of the bigger ones, are usually quite easy to gatecrash and usually have free drink and food, I even gatecrashed the Whitecube in trendy Hoxton and helped myself to quantities of free wine, beer and canapes.
Culture -
Obviously private views and galleries again.
Libraries with free books, newspapers, IT and events.
Bookshops with free book readings and events.
Free lectures at the LSE, Gresham College etc
And obviously just walking around London is free and I cant think of a better way to pass a few hours.

Up the Holloway

2010-11-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

Two conversations overheard in cafe on Holloway Road -

Two old geezers, the first one scottish the other english - "Spurs are playing at home tonight" "what" "i said Spurs are playing tonight" "what" "are your fucking ears blocked or something" "i can never understand what the fuck you're saying" "for christ sake we,ve known each other for 30 years" - the conversations over the years must have been riveting!!!

Two young middle-class students, the waitress approaches and asks "would you like to order", one of them picks up the menu and the other comments "why are you looking at the menu, all restaurants sell the same things don't they?" Err Indian, Chinese, French, Italian etc etc!!!!!

The Barbarians are at the gates!

2010-11-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

The onslaught has begun! from London to Leeds councils are taking the easy way out and closing libraries and sacking librarians, the savings made are miniscule but the damage to communities and society as a whole is immense.
Yes libraries are intrinsically about books but many offer a lot more, free ICT, information and reference services, children's activities, activities for older people, reading groups, outreach services for refugees/asylum seekers etc etc and of course a safe and warm place for people to meet and greet. They play an important role in the provision of Lifelong Learning and increasingly assist people who are job hunting.

But because of the Governments ideological decision to hit public services instead of the City and the banks we are in grave danger of losing this valuable national resource.
We are beginning to hear prominent voices against the cuts and there are dedicated groups of campaigners opposing them but my own profession has been pathetically ineffectual, unfortunately librarians are not very militant by nature.

how the middle classes have ruined it for the rest of us!

2010-10-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

Me and the wife have been visiting local schools in order to choose which one to send our daughter to next year.
The 'tours' are usually conducted by the head teacher and there are usually other parents towing along.
At the question and answer session at the end you can bet your last dollar that some handnitted metrosexual type will say "what proportion of kids in the school have english as a 2nd language?" and when they are told "quite a lot" they say "does this hold the other kids back" Come on be brave just say "there are too many ethnics in this school and my precious fragile little blond haired, blue eyed jemima, oliver etc will be overrun and intimidated by them, i would rather they went to school with kids of their own class and colour"
Of course they all come armed with data from Ofsted, league tables etc and of course they will do the best for their little wonder and for themselves, that is their way!

How the other half live!

2010-04-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

Meandering through Mayfair the other day I popped into the 'Punch Bowl' for a quick pint. "A pint of Kronenbourg please" "That will be £4.30 please sir" "Fuck me is it gold-plated?" No response!
Anyway I take my pint outside to enjoy the vista and low and behold there are a couple of archetypal sloan traders standing next to me "fucking labour" "fucking trade unions" "just bought a house in the cotswolds" Drank my pint swiftly and went.

Another glass cube with some books!

2010-04-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

The all singing all dancing new Enfield Library has opened and true to form it is a glass cube with a cafe, pc's, self-service borrow and return, a 'teenage zone' and all the other accoutrements of a 21st century library. They also, you'll be pleased to hear, have some books upstairs, 'airport' and 'beach' reads, neither quantity nor quality!
Things could have been worse they could have renamed it, as Hackney did, the 'Technology Learning Centre (TLC)' or 'Totally Lost and Confused' as the staff called it.

When,or why, did we become so insincere?

2010-02-27T06:46:00.000-08:00

"Hi Sir, how are you today" "How are you doing today, Sir" etc etc etc. These are the inane platitudes that greet you in most cafes and shops nowadays. I was even asked in a greasy spoon recently, after consuming egg, chips and beans, two slice and a tea, "how was it, sir", I said "fine thanks" but wish i had said "the battery eggs were delicious, the frozen chips just the right side of crispy, the catering pack beans great and the industrial spread on the value bread went down a treat", but I didn't!

I'm not blaming the staff, most of them work for poverty level wages, it's the corporate 'customer service' ethos based on profit maximisation and the blatant insincerity that I can't stomach.

Wild exaggerations #1

2010-02-27T06:40:00.000-08:00

old geezer in cafe;

"European Union! don't tell me about the fuckin' European Union"
"We're the fuckin' European Union"
"If you go to fuckin' Europe there's no cunt there, they're all over here"

Favourite TV chefs

2010-01-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

Who is your favourite TV chef/cook? Delia? Ramsay? Nigela?

My own is Kenny McBlane, the Scottish chef that appeared on series three of 'The Fall and Rise of Reggie Perrin. With his catch-phrases "Up Yer Clunge" and "Ya fickwe ma doodle split!", fag in mouth and a filthy apron he is head and shoulders above the rest!

Up the Elephant!!

2009-08-11T02:36:00.000-07:00

Wife and kid away in Ireland, nothing to do last Sunday so I decided to check out the 'Carnaval del peublo' in Bermondsey, a Latin American extravanganza!

I walked from London Bridge down towards Elephant & Castle and then down to East Street Market, a traditional London street market, fruit and veg and loads of stalls selling cheap socks, clothes and other poorly made essentials, a dying breed! And then further up Westmoreland Street Market, a throwback to dickensian times, bric-a-brac and nic nacs sold by the poor but cheerful locals, see http://delsarto.wordpress.com/category/il-castello-e-lelefante-elephants-project-and-westmoreland-market/ for some great photos.

From here I walked to Burgess Park for the carnival, which was great, good food, beer and music.

Bored with London, Ha!

The English Swearing Championships

2009-08-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

Venue: Metrochef Cafe, Holloway Road
Time: 8:30am

1st participant, old cockney-type geezer "fucking asthma! you don't know what fucking asthma is you cunt!"
Challenger, another old geezer "I,ve got to use three fucking nebulisers"
1st - "I was nearly fucking dead three times, three fucking times", "they told me to stop fucking smoking, but I told them to go and fuck themselves, bunch of cunts"

Thank god for old cockney geezers and cafes!

they're fuckin fairy cakes!!!!

2009-07-03T05:48:00.000-07:00

Bloody cupcakes! What's the big thing with cupcakes? We have had fairy cakes for years, every birthday they would be lovingly wheeled out and eagerly devoured, and now they have been re-branded and americanised as 'cup cakes'. They're sold for a bloody fortune in the trendiest places, spitalfields, portobello road et al.

Healthy Eating!!!

2009-07-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

Conversation overheard in 'Metrochef Cafe', Holloway Road, 5 women, 4 of them order 'Chicken Burger and Chips' the fifth one "I aint havin chips, they're unhealthy", "can I have a double cheeseburger with no salad, I don't like salad"
It's good to see that the NHS healthy lifestyle campaigns are having an effect!

Time gentlemen please!

2009-05-02T05:49:00.000-07:00

Walking from Newington Green up to Stoke Newington one afterenoon a couple of weeks ago, I thought that it might be a nice idea to have a pint or two. I passed six pubs and all of them were closed, none of them opened in the afternoon.

I can only surmise that it is not profitable for them to do so? or that the metrosexual middle-classes deem it too working class to get hammered in the afternoon, unless you're at the riverside in Putney drinking Pimms?

Not only are all the pubs closing down but the ones that have been gentrified don't fuckin open!

What! No British?

2009-04-24T02:40:00.000-07:00

Just come back from a family holiday in Estepona, a great spanish seaside town. A brilliant place for relaxing and sauntering, something i'm particularly good at. The town is full of parks and squares, and the old part is very authentic and pretty.

I'm glad to say that it wasn't full off British tourists, it seems to attract the Dutch!

A speciality of the town is 'Fried Fish Malaga Style', which is a great heaving plate of assorted fried fish, squid, octopuss, prawns etc, wonderful!

What a great town.

Walking the River Pinn

2009-03-06T01:52:00.000-08:00

The river Pinn runs from Pinner to the Grand Union Canal at Cowley, 12 miles in all. Pinner is classic 'Metroland', a sterile suburban high street and an old village green, church and a couple of 17th C. pubs.

The route from there runs through an amazingly long stretch of interlinked playing fields, meadows and woodland. Parts of the walk are very badly signposted and there are two major diversions, RAF Hillingdon and Brunel University.

We stopped for a pint at the Red Lion Hotel, a splendid looking Fullers pub overlooking Hillingdon Hill. Not a great selection of beers on offer, in fact one of the worst selections i've seen in a while, Carling, Stella, Strongbow, Guinness and three real ales! but then maybe i've been spoiled?

And then on to the finish at Cowley, according to most of the posts on BITE, a chav lager drinking paradise! didn't hang around to find out, got the train to Paddington and had a cheap pint in 'Cads', all the pints are 1.90!!!

More 'Up the Holloway'!

2008-11-29T08:14:00.000-08:00

In search of a quiet Saturday lunch-time feed I went to the Masterchef Cafe on the Holloway Road, a place I know well. The cafe was virtually empty, but within minutes of sitting down, ordering a mushroom omelette, chips and beans, 2 slice and a tea and contemplating the Guardian crossword, my relative peace and tranquility was shattered!

The waitress, a loud 50 something fellow Scot, yelled something to her daughter, who was sitting in the cafe with her two kids, who both started to scream.

Her daughter yelled something back and it continued! Then things took a turn for the worst, the daughters friend came walking in, she then started yelling and then her mobile phone rang and she started yelling in to that.

By this time I was truly rattled and trying to finish my lunch as quickly as possible, finally suffering from indigestion I escaped.

Bexley or bust!!!

2008-11-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

Ventured into deepest darkest south-east London recently to do the 'Cray Riverway' walk, 10.5 miles from Foots Cray Meadows to Erith on the Thames.

It was a lovely day and the walk was flat and easy.

An hour into the walk I stopped to have breakfast in Old Bexley Village, no bubble on the menu but I did have a passable veggie breakfast. Old Bexley has a nice old fashioned High Street and a lovely church and church yard.

From here the walk led to Crayford, 'the land that time forgot!!' and then on to Crayford and Dartford Marshes, the River Darent, and Erith on the Thames, which looked quite spectacular with the 'Queen Elizabeth II' bridge in the background. Can't say much for Erith, depressing and full of scaffolders!!!

'Old School' cafe in Boscobel Street

2008-11-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

It was a lovely bright autumn day so I decided to walk along the canal from Camden to Portobello Road. It's amazing how quickly you can cross London by way of its waterways.
I came off the canal at Lisson Grove and walked to an old favourite cafe of mine, the 'Costella Cafe', formerly 'Mario & Mike's', on Boscobel Street. The owner is Italian and does a mean 'bubble & squeak'. Nothing fancy but a classic.

2008-11-04T03:23:00.000-08:00

Just come back from a week in Deal, a lovely seaside town in Kent.

A place full of character, with cobbled streets lined with Georgian houses and some nice Shepherd Neame Pubs.

I would recommend the 'Prince Albert, and 'The Ship' also the 'Royal Hotel' bar with its terrace overlooking the sea.

The only criticisms I have are the expense of eating and drinking out, London prices and dearer! also I couldn't find a proper cafe, loads of paninis etc but no greasy spoons.

I did manage to find the blue plaque for Charles Hawtrey, the 'Carry On' actor who spent his last years in Deal "In "retirement" in the seaside town of Deal, the pathetically broken, profoundly alcoholic Hawtrey lived in squalor: aggressive, unpleasant, banned by every pub and cab firm for miles around." (Roger Lewis)

Well done Son!!!

A Sojourn around Southwark on a Sunday with a Scouser!

2008-10-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

My scouse mate Mark is an avid walker, so with both of us having nothing better to do and the sun shining we decided to head of towards Tring and meander towards Wendover. But alas, we missed our train from Euston and the next wasn't for another hour. We decided to walk down to the Thames and into deepest Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, a fabled land home of the scaffolder!
We stopped at the 'Angel', a Sam Smith's pub on the river and then at the 'Mayflower' in so called Rotherhithe Village. This is a lovely part of London, very calming and evocative. We then walked to 'Stave Hill Ecological Park, a great place with a man made hill with a view across docklands. From here we walked to GreenLand Dock and stopped for a pint in the 'Wibbley Wobbley' floating pub, a gem of a place full of locals and other eccentrics.
A lovely walk and a great day out.

Bubble - an English Icon?

2008-09-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Is 'Bubble and Squeak' an 'Icon of England'? vote at:

http://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/bubble-and-squeak

Bubbleboy's guide to eating cheaply in London

2008-09-19T02:51:00.001-07:00

London is generally regarded as one of the most expensive places to live, work and play in the world, but there are still a plethora of cheap places to eat. I will grant you that a fair majority are of poor standard, but a good few shine out as beacons for the skint and hungry.
Here are a few of my favourites:
'Tai' Veg Noodle Bar, 10 Greek Street, W1 - one of many 'Tai' veggie and vegan cafes in London - an unlimited buffet of 'mock' meats, noodles, rice and veg all for a £5 (approx)
'Leon' - there are now 8 branches in London serving cheap Mediterranean style wholefood, the sweet potato falafels are lovely. The Spitalfields branch is my favourite, is has a great outdoor area.
Any of the Indian restaurants on Drummond Street, especially 'Chutney's'
'Wetherspoons' - for their ultra-cheap veggie breakfasts for £2.49 (and they use free-range eggs!)
'Jai Krishna' - a brilliant cheap Indian veggie restaurant on Stroud Green Road, Finsbury Park (now has another branch on Turnpike Lane)
Any of the Indian cafes on Turnpike Lane, especially 'Salim's'
'Mega Bite Cafe' - a very plain ordinary looking Chinese cafe next to the Emirates Stadium which serves mountainous plates of very good, cheap Chinese grub (also 'Green Jade' on Holloway Road, another great cheap Chinese cafe)

and last but not least, the thousands of cafes and 'greasy spoons' in London, with their 'Set Breakfasts' and 'Roast Dinners'.

Cafe Musac

2008-09-19T02:51:00.000-07:00

"any recorded background music; (more widely) light, bland music of a kind regarded as easy to listen to, whether recorded or live" OED Definition

No! Cafe Musac is not another new Hampstead eating establishment, but refers to the incessant stream of drivel that is played in most cafes nowadays.
All I want to do in the morning, before tackling the horny beast 'work' is to sit quietly in my local cafe, eat my usually mediocre breakfast and struggle with the Guardian crossword, not have 'House' music or some moronic radio presenter booming in my ear.
We are bombarded by noise pollution everywhere we go, is nothing sacred?

The healthy Scottish breakfast!

2008-09-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

My brother is in Edinburgh, well Portobello to be precise, and is scathing about his B&B's full Scottish breakfast, "swimming in grease" was one of his comments. He also says that Edinburgh etc is incredibly expensive for eating out, everything is geared towards the tourist industry.

So in the interest of scientific research I googled 'Scottish Breakfasts' and up popped the picture on the left. What the hell are slices of orange doing on the plate, is this an effort to try and make it healthier?

'The Decline and Fall....'

2008-09-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

You know sometimes when you get a craving that just won't go away, like for a tin of curried baked beans or in this case a chip roll!

Well I had to have one, so I went to my nearest chippy, placed my order and stood back aghast when the man put his hand into the 'roll box' (a technical term!) and brought out a soft seeded burger bun!! Before he could fill it with chips I remonstrated "haven't you got any crusty rolls?", but he hadn't, so I withdrew.

I mean what is the world coming too? Standards are slipping, once you knew where you stood, now things are hazy!

More 'Up the Holloway'

2008-09-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

The Green Jade, 219 Holloway Road is a great place for Chinese food, take-away or sit down. It is more of a cafe than a restaurant but the quality of the food is excellent and very cheap.

I have lunch there quite often and on one of my recent visits overheard the following discourse between a customer and the woman behind the counter.

The punter had been standing looking at the menu for a good few minutes and then said "I don't like chinese food", the counter woman replied "well this is a chinese restaurant", "yeah but haven't you got anything else", "no, you will have to go somewhere else", "don't be so rude", "i'm not being rude, this is a chinese restaurant"
- at this point she walks out complaining loudly!!!

I wonder if she goes into her local Fish & Chips shop and asks for a Chicken Tikka Masala???

Do you want bacon with your vegetarian breakfast?

2008-09-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Having braved the pea-souper that hung over London on Sunday morning, I ventured along the rubbish strewn streets of Harringay looking for a cafe that was open at 8.30 am. Unfortunately I found the Corner Cafe and Deli on Green Lanes.

I ordered a Set7 which was one of the veggie breakfasts on offer, egg, beans, tomatoes, hash browns, mushrooms, 2 toast and a tea, all for the princely sum of £4.50. I was going to try the bubble but decided against it, mainly because it was spelt 'buble' on the menu!

The breakfast came a little too quickly for my liking, but looked adequate untill I noticed that hiding under the beans were two rashers of bacon. I called the waitress over and pointed the mistake out to her, she said that she would remove the bacon and give me the breakfast back. I responded that I didn't want to eat the breakfast as it had been contaminated with bacon residue and asked for a newly cooked breakfast. This caused a lot of discussion between her and the cook and after much head scratching, and 10 minutes, another Set7 arrived. There was no apology or refund offered.

All in all a very poor experience and one I definitely wouldn't recommend.

Sam Smith's

2008-08-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

There are 36 Sam Smith's pubs in London, and every one of them is an architectural gem, how does the company do it? They've managed over the last few years to take over some of the most beautiful victorian pubs in London.

I've been in few, and it's my ambition to try all of them, but my favourite has to be the 'Cittie of Yorke', 22 high Holborn, it has a wonderful vaulted beamed ceiling and 'confessional' like snugs.

There are also a number of huge wine vats near the entrance, said to hold 1000 gallons each!

The 'Pure Brewed' Lager is only £2.88 a pint, which is nearly Weatherspoon prices!

"Can I get..."

2008-08-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

'Friends', the frankly 'vomit-inducing' American TV programme, has a lot to answer for. The main gripe being the introduction of "can i get..." into the British/English vocabulary, "can i get a pint of...", "can i get a packet of crisps" etc etc etc
It drives me bloody crazy, so much so that I can quite reguarly be heard muttering obscenities whenever I hear it used.
If you ask to get a pint, by any reasoning, you're asking to come (a)round to the other side of the counter and pour it yourself. Surely it should be "can/may i have" or "I would like", "can i get" is and sounds rude, pushy and self-centered.
Maybe it's indicative of the dumd-downed, US dominated popular-culture that is all pervasive nowadays!

Gone to 'Paradise'!

2008-08-12T04:19:00.000-07:00

I awoke very early this morning, due to a mixture of a restless night with a hangover and the 'monsoon' that swept through London this morning, so I decided that I would have a 'fry up' in the 'Paradise Cafe' on Holloway Road before venturing to work.

I went for the 'Veggie Breakfast', hash browns, veggie sausage, egg, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, 2 toast and a tea, all for the measly sum of £3.95. I substituted the veggie sausage for another egg as I am not fond of the 'Dalepak' version on offer here. If you didn't know already, 'Dalepak' veggie sausages are an abomination, fingers of potato with diced carrot, peas and sweetcorn.

The eggs were cooked to perfection, firm whites and runny yolks; the hashbrowns golden and crispy, and the remaining items tasty and hot. I can't abide lukewarm baked beans!

Suddenly my hangover dissipated, the rain stopped and the sun broke through. All was well with the world!

The 'Mary Celeste' of restaurants!

2008-08-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

For the past five years I have been passing the 'Standard Tandoori' on Holloway Road, the one with the sign outside which proudly announces "One of the best restaurants in London", and in all this time I have never seen anyone entering or leaving it!
How does it survive? Is it a front for something?
If you know something then please tell me.

More 'Up The Holloway'

2008-08-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

Overheard in a Holloway cafe; man to woman 'how's your son?', woman "oh he's fine, just come out (I assume this means means out of prison and not that he told her he was gay), lost his job and he's skint, but he's alright"
I suppose everything is relative but I would hate to meet him on a bad day!

Gone to the dogs! (or not as the case may be!)

2008-08-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have just read in The Guardian that a rescue bid is being put forward to save Walthamstow Dogs, I hope it succeeds.

There used to be 33 dog tracks in London and now there will only be one left, Wimbledon.

Whole swathes of working class culture are being lost in London, either through gentrification or re-development, look at what we have already lost to the Olympic fiasco!

Everything seems to be geared around expensive sit down meals, gastro-pubs, deli's, coffee chains etc.

Do we need another block of expensive, designer, lifestyle flats for the metrosexual urban elite?

Up the Holloway!

2008-08-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Ah the joys of Holloway Road!
Sitting in one of my many local cafes on the Holloway Road today I overheard the following snippetts of conversation;

between an 11/12 year old boy and his beloved mum, boy to mum "stop fuckin' hasslin' me, you know I don't use a knife and fork".
Three men to the waitress, after ordering and receiving 3 plates of fish & chips, "have these been cooked seperately from the other food?", waitress "what do you mean?", one of the men "we are muslims and will not eat anything that has been cooked in the same oil as pork etc", waitress "why didn't you tell me this before you ordered?", men "it's ok we'll pay anyway", which they did and left.
I left shortly afterwards to go back to work only to find a certain Mr. Behan, of pissing on the Oxford English Dictionaries in the Central Library fame, lying on the pavement, with urine soaked trousers, cursing and swearing.
And people say they are bored of London!!!!

Piss Poor Pints in Paddington!

2008-08-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

The pubs just off Praed Street in Paddington are a strange brew! Maybe its because of their proximity to the railway station that makes them on the whole, characterless, soulless and bland.
The first, the 'Rob Roy', as you may have guessed a scottish theme pub, was virtually empty at 5.30pm on a Friday. I had a pint of Holsten Export which tasted slightly sour, the barman replaced it with another that tasted slightly better but I ended up leaving half of it and moving on.
The next one was 'The Sir Alexander Fleming', full off white van drivers and staff from the nearby hospital. Ordered a pint of Grolsch which was flat, asked the barmaid to top it up or replace it and she replied "it's my first day, what do you expect". Drank up and left.
Lastly, visted the 'Fountains Abbey', another characterless pub serving bad beer. The only interesting thing about this pub is the lovely green tiled victorian fireplace.
I've heard that the 'Royal Exchange' on Sale Place is a gem of a place, must try.

Bubble the same colour as the walls!

2008-08-05T03:20:00.000-07:00

Recently I had what I can only describe as the worst breakfast I have ever had, which is quite an achievement as I must have had thousands.
This award goes to the 'Arsenal Cafe', 25 Blackstock Road, N4.
I had 2 eggs, bubble, mushrooms, tomatoes, 2 toast and a tea, £4.60 for the lot. Lets start with the bubble which consisted of fried mashed potatoes, peas, diced carrot and onions, it was a lurid bright green colour, which incidentally matched the colour of the walls. The eggs weren't cooked properly, the whites were still runny and the 'fried' tomatoes were raw.
I mentioned these shortcomings to the young waitress and she shrugged her shoulders and said that she didn't see what the problem was, even though I had left nearly all of it uneaten on the plate. I paid up and gladly left.
What a miserable experience!

Lunch, a beer and English Longhorn Cattle!

2008-08-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we, that is me, the missus and the little one, decided to head up to the wilds of Chingford for lunch.

Near Chingford Station there is a pub called the 'Royal Forest', as near to Harvester hell as you can get! The food wasn't good and came in very mean portions, but the beer garden leads onto Epping Forest and on one side you have Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, built by Henry VIII in 1543. So all in all a very nice view and place to sit in the sun and quaff a beer or two.
Also there are some very nice walks in the forest. The little one was fascinated by the Longhorn Cattle, which have recently been re-introduced to Epping Forest

Dodgy Deptford!

2008-07-31T04:05:00.000-07:00

Deptford used to be one those places in London that was stuck between other places of interest, a hinterland, somewere that you passed through. But now I must admit it is one of the areas that I visit quite reguarly. There's a bustling market and some interesting new cafes and bars , there are also some very old fashioned boozers, like throw backs to the 70's, drunk old men and carpet on the floor, which is no bad thing in this age of gastropubs.
Anyway on one of my recent visits I popped into the Deptford Cafe, one of the many in the market, for sustenance. I had my usual, bubble, eggs, beans, 2 slice and a tea. The bubble was by far one of the worst I have ever tasted, fried packet mashed potato, with no cabbage, onion, no nothing! In fact it was like eating burnt wallpaper paste. The bread was economy class and on it was the normal industrial spread we have come to expect in most cafes.
The only redeeming feature of the place was the clientele, a curious mixture of local characters, one woman's false teeth fell out of her mouth and into her tea, how quaint!

Borough Bubble!

2008-07-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

Maria’s Market Café, Borough Market, SE1

I had bubble, 2 eggs and beans, 2 slice and a tea.

Re-incarnation of the much missed ‘Borough Café’ formerly in Park Street. Wonderful traditional bubble cooked in its own pan. Hailed by many as serving the best bubble in London. A great place to sit and watch the world go by, especially when the market is on.

Unspoilt Gem!

2008-07-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

, beer

I met a good mate of mine in 'Ye Old White Horse' , an unspoilt gem near the LSE, the other night for a drink or two. We then meandered through the back streets behind the 'Old Bailey' skirting past our beloved 'Seven Stars' and ended up in the 'Old Nick' in Sandland Street, had a pint of HB, a strange hoppy lager. A nice enough pub with a very friendly landlady. From there we moved onto 'The Duke' in Roger Street, just off the Grays Inn Road, a great 30's art deco pub with a lovely little dining room. And lastly onto the 'Queens Head' in Acton Street, Kings Cross, a classic little victorian pub with a lovely bow window at the front and some original features inside.
All in all a pleasant crawl.

In The Bailey!

2008-07-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Getting away from breakfats for a moment!
I have tried thai food in pubs all over in London since it became the in thing well over 10 years ago, and I must say that most of it has been mediocre to say the least. My favourite used to be the 'Coach and Horses' in Stoke Newington. But!I have just had a thai lunch in 'The Bailey', which I think is probably one of the best pubs on the Holloway Road, and it was bloody lovely. A large portion of king prawns stirfried with peppers, onions, fresh pineapple and chilli with rice, £6.95.
I would thoroughly recommend it, if the Arsenal memoribilia doesn't put you off!!!