3 days to go

Not long now and just for good luck, here's a picture of a completely OTT house. Thankfully, this is in America, so it's not bringing down half of our National Grid. However, I'm sure certain members of Wellingshire are contributing in their own way.

I've been working at a right 'sweat shop' of a company recently so I am wound right up. The Christmas break should provide for a few days of relief, but you never know. I mean, Christmas is actually meant to be pretty stressful in itself. Important decisions have to be made as to whether you should watch the annual token showing of opera or a rerun of a Bond film? Or tape the opera and watch Live And Let Die on the other side. But having taped Die Zauberflote, will you ever watch it? Probably not.

Well, Christmas aside, I'm most pleased that today/yesterday is/was Winter Solstice. So days are going to start getting longer again. Woopee. I've managed another year without S.A.D. kicking in.

Praise good behaviour

Praise good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour. That's what they say about bringing up children. The same could be applied to shops, but I'd prefer to name and shame. Well why beat around the bush.
Luckily for me, I don't own a pet, so that means I have no reason whatsoever to visit Pets & The City in Greenwich. Stand out in the cold? You are having a bubble.
Anyway. I'll now travel to the opposite end of the spectrum and give praise.
Hallelujah!!
I had to get my bike helmet fixed and discovered that Aye Gee of Wellingshire have a Shoei doctor on the premises. The good doctor fixed my helmet, gave it a check over and it's as good as new. It only cost a few pounds and that's a true bargain for something that can save my life.
Remember kids. Always wear a lid.
Well, the staff at Aye Gee were very pleasant and not at all condescending. I can find bike shops a little daunting at times; it's a fear of being drawn in to a conversation about carbs or rebound adjustment.
Yeh whatever.
I want the thing to go when I twist and stop when I pull.
End of.

10 days to go

Shopping part deux

Thanks to Kat for mentioning Hawkin's Bazaar (no, not the heavy metal band). I've been aware of this company for a few years. They sell a veritable feast of toys from yesteryear and I thought they were mail order only but no, they have a ye olde shoppe in Lakeside. Since the opening of Bluewater, I've been to Lakeside twice. Well if ever there were a reason to return, this must be it. I've just looked at their site and it looks like they've gone modern. I'm sure they used to specialise in things like tin toys and simple puzzles.








Here's one. It's the catch-a-ball-in-the-cup game. Watch your little Charlie play with it for hours on Christmas Day.
"Oh daddy, do switch the dreary X-Box 360 off and help me master this game of wooden historical importance."
See. Hours of fun for everyone from 8 to 80.

Seriously though, wouldn't it be good to simplify life? It'll never happen, that Pandora's box has been opened. Well, except for those who appear in Channel 4 programmes about leaving their jobs in the City to live the Good Life, in Plumsteadshire of course.

Greenwich shopping

I like Greenwich.

Today, we went to the centre of the universe with Marc and Rachel, our posh friends; I never knew baby clothes were such a big deal here. I saw 2 stalls and a whole shop dedicated to baby clothes. I couldn't believe it. Now I know this great country has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the whole of Europe and the boom in baby attire is testament to this, but honestly, do we really need so many bibs in such a small shopping area?

Moving up the age range, I've noticed that we have an old fashioned sweet shop in da hood. I think it's new as I've not seen it before. A bit of the famous Hope & Greenwood treatment for us. It was great asking for a quarter of Lemon Bon Bons, a phrase I've not used for 25 years. However, I think I paid about 35p back then.

Inflation is a pain in the butt.

One shop which I will never visit again is a certain pet shop - no names mentioned. The four of us were about to walk in when a shop assistant told us to wait outside. It's not a small shop and there must've been about 6 people inside, no more. There was plenty of room (to swing a cat), and we had to stand on the pavement. I'm no retail guru, but treating potential customers like this is not good business strategy. By the way, it's called Pets & The City.

Shrewsbury Park

The good people of Shrewsbury Park might not like it but the new sign next to Plumcroft School works quite well I think.
Well, Plumsteadshire is turning into the new Pinewood so we've got to get this place on the map.

Twin town (part deux)

Yes, film crews have been flocking to Woolwich. Well, the Slade library was taken over for a few days earlier in the year and Woolwich Town Centre was used last weekend.
But you know what they say. 'Tall oaks from little acorns grow'.
So in this vein, here's my first Plumsteadshire twin town nomination.
HOLLYWOOD
In fact, I feel a bit of simple 3D modelling and Photoshop coming on. Maybe PLUMSTEADSHIRE lettering on the slopes of Shrewsbury Park. I'll do something over the weekend.
Nice.

The Coronet Cinema

I just had a look at some photos on The Plumstead Commoner's blog and saw a photo of the old Coronet Cinema (down by the Woolwich Ferry roundabout, where cars park at fantastically dangerous places on a Sunday and open their doors just when you pass by on a motorbike. Religion and common sense don't neccessarily go together).
I'm not originally from around these parts so I've never known the building as a working cinema, which is a great shame. I've been told it was a beauty in its' time though. Egyptian Deco I think.
Nice.
Well I shudder to think what the New Wine Church has done to the interior. If the building is as spectacular as I've heard, then I just hope the whole thing's been listed. When I said there are some tasty buildings in much-maligned Woolwich, I wasn't kidding.

The new Japanese knot weed

You horticultural types think you've got a problem with Japanese knot weed.
You can't weed it out.
Your systemic injections don't have any effect.
Flame thrower? Watch the fence mum.
You just can't kill it.
Not even with Cillit Bang!
















Well, those illegally sold cars are the new scourge.
Bang! And the dirt is gone.
If only.

The future of Woolwich

You may mock, but I can imagine Pizza Express in Woolwich, maybe in the Arsenal development. I do think that Woolwich has many prospects. The DLR did alot for the Lewisham housing market and that 'new money' brings alot of new energy with it as well as a new dynamic to the whole community.

Woolwich has a good down-to-earth scale about it. There's a centre to it. The square where the winos hang out. The fountain with the most unnatural looking green tint to the water, but it's a green space and it's the heart to the town centre. Where's the centre to Lewisham? We've already got a good start.

I hate pedestrianised High Streets as they are usually deserted outside of shopping hours. Admittedly, I don't frequent Woolwich on a night, but there are a couple of town centre buildings being refurbished into dwellings. This is a great thing. By the very fact of people living in the centre, the pedestrianised road is actually used, not just by shoppers in the day but by residents in the evening.

Whether the burghers of Woolwich can lure the multinationals to open stores in Woolwich is one thing. Whether Woolwich should turn into another faceless shopping precinct with the same old shops is another. I read that Tesco might come to Woolwich. On one hand, that's great, but on the other, we've already got Sainsbury. Having a huge Tesco will inevitably mean a large car park somewhere.

I like Woolwich because it's of a human scale. Taking a train to and from Woolwich Arsenal is so simple and lands you in the centre of the town. Lewisham is too imposing. The train station is cut-off from the shops, the Lewisham Centre building is hulking and superbly ugly, the only sense of human scale and personality is the Italianate church. I hope the proposed redevelopment will address this.

Most people will never look at the buildings in places like Woolwich. They get in and get out. Don't blame them, but we've got some tasty architecture here. I feel a bit of photography coming on to prove it.

Now, back to Pizza Express. Plumstead Common is a prime area for some tasty nosh. Get a map and look at the commons around London. The majority of them have either been posh since dinosaurs dined there or they've been gentrified already. As sure as day follows night, it will happen to Plumsteadshire.

Bike Repairs

Bike repairs. Well I always go to Garozzo in Blackfen; they've never let me down. However, I'm no grease monkey. Still, they are always nice and helpful.
Logistically, Garozzo is great because I leave the bike with them and can take the 51 bus straight back to dear old Plumsteadshire. I haven't got a clue whether they are cheap or not though. Also, Garozzo are Yamaha & Piaggio dealers.

I feel a modern day parable coming on.

Once, I had a flat tyre. I got the bike to Aye Gee in Welling and a chap there was super helpful, he was full of advice and knowledge and willing to share. Anyway, they couldn't do anything for me at Aye Gee, but proceeded to load my bike onto a vehicule transporting lorry and took me to Watling Tyres in Catford. Dear old Mr Aye Gee could've left me stranded, but instead demonstrated that people can still be kind and why (in Plumsteadshire), things are all for the best in this best of all possible worlds. A bit like that Samaritan bloke in the Bible.

Plumsteadshire replies

Man alive. I've had a sudden deluge of comments from readers of Plumsteadshire - It's all for the best in this best of all possible worlds etc etc....

As I'm not up to speed with blog commenting protocol, I'm going to post my comments here rather than try to find the relevant post and comment there. Hopefully that way, it's easy for readers to follow up on their original questions.

• Yes, I'd noticed the new/old cinema in Greewich Village. I've had a drink there and very much like the programme of independant and foreign films. I think that'll be the cinema for the more discerning movie goer. I'll have to say that I was initially put off by the price but now that Filmflops has raised its' price, there's little to persuade me to stay with the gasometer.

1. Being a modern day Londoner, I like a rant. So here I go about Flipflops. Chavvy kids running around outside Nandos-I-Ain't-Never-Heard-Of-Bird-Flu-A-Go-Go pulling off all the bollard covers and trying to hit each other; innocent film goers being caught up in the crossfire. My advice to the kids is to use the metal bollards themselves. Straight across the back of the neck. A few less soap dodgers is not a bad thing.
2. Now, what is it about the row of nice glass doors? I've never got to grips with having all these doors but only unlocking 2 pairs? It's a bit like a supermarket, or B&Q. Why have 18 tills if you only ever have 8 open at any one time? Especially when queues are forming. On a Sunday afternoon.
3. And Co Op. Now don't get me started on the wonderful queue management philosophy adopted by Co Op.
4. Back to Filmworks. I felt really pleased with myself when I used Orange Wednesdays for the first time ever. I'd saved £7 to (unknowingly) put myself through the most God aweful film since Ishtar. Save yourself. DO NOT SEE THE BROTHERS GRIMM. Anyway, having bought tickets, I bought 2 cups of tea and a sandwich. Bad mistake and we all know it. The price of refreshments in these places is extortion almost beyond the proportions of Halloween Night. How do I manage not to learn? Sneak my own refreshments in. If I have to drink Pepsi or Coke, I don't really need a bucket of the stuff.

• I could go on but won't. Well, I'll be interested to see if the planned cinema for Woolwich Royal Arsenal goes ahead.

Christmas turkey

I've had my first piece of turkey this evening. Can't say it was particularly appealing though. In fact, it has left a sour taste in my mouth.
Went to Filmworks to see The Brothers Grimm. If ever there were a film that lived up to its' title then this is it. Ten minutes in and I should've walked out. Complete lack of direction and an exercise in why you shouldn't cram as many regional accents in one film. Even the special effects weren't up to scratch. Oh, the list goes on. What a waste of 2 hours.
Bernard Matthews come back.
Mr Gilliam. Get yer coat.

On the other hand, Harry Potter is everything I hoped for. Now this was a masterclass of film making. Story, script, acting, design, fx, sound, the lot. If I can dodge past the scuzzy oiks tearing up the Filmworks forecourt and the endless queue outside B&Q (queueing for Nandos), then I'll have to see the Pottmeister again. Bring it on.

(almost) nice view of Plumsteadshire

I thought I was hardened to the cold.
Mais non.
The fantastic chill in the morning is too much to handle. I am a wimp.
It's times like this when I realise whoever/whatever invented hibernation had incredible foresight. Unfortunately, not quite enough foresight to foresee the inflexibility of the working week.

work slave : Sir, may I have three months off around the Winter Celebration period?
line manager : [silence]
work slave : [exit stage left, whilst thinking 'whatever']

The plus side of this chilly atmosphere and I'm not referring to The Addicks' opinion on Manchester Utd, is that Plumstead Common looks absolutely beezer. Crisp low morning sunlight, perfect for dazzling drivers right in the minces as they head towards Welling. The Common has a gentle dusting of frost, apart from where the dodgy cars hang out in no man's land. I almost feel compelled to take a dolly mixture tomorrow.
With this cold snap, I couldn't Adam n Eve it. Macoma Road had been gritted. Stone the crows, the council have done something. Not only that, but they'd stickered the illegally sold cars along Plumstead Common Road too. Hoo bloody ray. But no sooner have the rolling death traps been stickered, the dodgy pikeys have crawled out of the gutters and swapped them with other cars. This is the recurring pattern. As sure as day follows night, the pikeys swap cars as soon as they sniff out the council car stickerer. Get with the programme Greenwich, some of us actually pay your council tax. Why not do something for us? These dodgy pikey cars and the dodgy pikey dealers wouldn't know what tax is if it hit them in the face.

The answer's simple. Zero tolerance. Forget stickers. Pick the things up, take them to a breaker's yard and squash the damn things down to a cube of scrap metal.

Job done.

Dragon's Den

No, nothing to do with mother-in-laws. I mean, I wouldn't allow such down-right degrading filthy comments to be made in Plumsteadshire.
Never.
I'm talking about my favourite tv programme, Dragon's Den which is back on our screens. Dare I say it, but even the England game on Saturday didn't have as much drama as watching the entrepreneurs being eaten alive by the dragons. How can this geeky programme be edge-of-the-seat watchable? How can it be so captivating when it's not even live?
Dunno. It just is.

Evan Davis is a geek god. Maybe a demi-god because the king of geek chic can only be our bushman, Ray Mears.
Thinking about it, it's odd that two of my favourite programmes live in such diametric worlds from one another.
I love the whackier Heath Robinson inventions on the show. The roller skates for knees was an interesting idea. Pass me the strait-jacket. Maybe Ken Livingstone can implement these into the TFL 10 year plan.

Nice bike

Wowzer.
Now this is a thing of beauty. The Yamaha R1 SP. You can keep your MV Agustas and the other fancy Euro pop pops, I'll have one of these. Trouble is though it probably won't last ten minutes parked on the road in London.
Dream on.

Argie Bargie

I'm no football fan i.e. support a club, but I do like to watch a good game. England v Argentina was a must-see by any standards. Now, I don't want to sound like a football pundit, but at the end of the day, it's a game of two halves and the boys did good.
Due to matters beyond my control, I had to miss the second half and it was only after the game, me ol' mate Arun phoned me and filled me in on all the details that I'd missed. Now, this is what puzzles me. If I can easily avoid the whole football season and not give two hoots about the beautiful game, why is it that I am STILL so gutted about missing half of this game? Also, if I don't care about league football, why is it that I have a strong dislike of Man Utd and Chelsea?

Argie Bhaji

Get your hair cut!!!!

Firefox

I'm not one for standing still whilst the World passes me by. If I wanted this, I'd stand in a queue in Co Op. So onwards and upwards, which is why I have to recommend the Firefox browser. Internet Explorer has had a history of crashing and Safari is not so goody.
It works and it's not Microsoft.

Bush

I know it's an old photo but how could I resist?

The Ship

The building works at The Ship seem to be going on forever. What are they doing in there? Building stud walls with Lego? Get on with it people. I'm waiting for Pizza Express to open.

famous model in Plumstead Co Op

I don't usually look at my till receipts, but today just happened to notice that I was served by J Kidd. I kid you not. Next time you shop at our local inconvenience store, see if you too have had your fusili swiped by Jodie.

Plumstead Airport

The ink has barely dried on the scrawlings of potential twin towns for Plumsteadshire and I've already earmarked Thamesmead to be redeveloped as Plumstead Airport.
You see, Christmas (I mean Winter Celebration), is fast approaching and I need to think about my wish list. I started thinking boys toys, then thinking bigger, then started thinking out of the box. Blue sky thinking.
I thought that this'll do nicely.
As you can see, Belmarsh has been utilised to good effect. Maybe we could close a wing ot two, ship the residents out on a prison hulk (it's not a new idea), give the walls a lick of paint and there we have it. It'll be a boon for the 2012 Olympics.
An architectural competition should be arranged, or maybe just cut to the chase and invite Herzog & De Meuron?

Twin Town

Matthew, a chum of mine (not of this manor - he is Lord of Greater Dulwich Heights (formerly know as Forest Hill)), suggested a belter of an idea. It is everywhere, but we never think about it.
Twin Towns.
I love the idea of twin towns. Well, I love it but at the same time, don't know what it means.
So, Plumstead Common needs a twin town.
I'll think on it and will take suggestions too.
Answers on a postcard etc....

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!!

Merry Winter everybody!!!!
Doesn't have the same ring does it? Ooops. Can't say 'ring'.
Ring = bells
Bells = Christmas
Christmas = Racist Britain

The lilly-livered politically correct loons are well and truly ruling the asylum. When will this absurd cancer ever stop?

Oh damn. Can't mention liver. That might just offend vegans.

Let's just hope that Greenwich Council don't fall down this same slippery slope that Lambethshire has.

Google maps

The internet is a great thing. Some might say that it's so great, it's bad. I don't.
One of my favourite sites is Google maps. [I don't work for them - ed.]
I like a good map, and being a fully paid-up member of the Apple Mac fraternity, I can't use the Google Earth programme yet.
Sort it out people.

Halloween survival guide

Phew. Managed to survive the onslaught of young extortion racketeers last night. I had adopted a cunning tactic.

Option 1 - Play them at their own game.
Remove lampshade from pendant light fitting in hallway.
Knock knock.
Put on bad wig and secondhand dressing gown (available from all good charity shops). Set the lightbulb swinging. Pull open the front door very quickly and raise right arm holding a piece of cardboard fashioned in the shape of a carving knife.
Then watch with glee as the little tikes run for the pavement, begging forgiveness for all their sins.

Option 2 - Pretend it's 1977, we'd enjoyed our Silver Jubilee street parties in the Summer and even though punks were being punks children were once children.
Knock Knock.
"Trick or treat?"
"Oh hello children. Have a bag of Lemon Bon Bons and share them with your brethren."
"Oh thank you very much. Happy Halloween."

Option 3 - Pretend you're not in even though the lights are on.
Now, I know this is the preferred option for most but being Plumsteadshire where all's the best in this best of all possible worlds, I let my partner answer the door whilst I hide in the dining room.

With the Festival of Legalised Extortion out of the way, we've now got the Festival of Legalised Street Explosions, a celebration of suburban terrorism with added bang. Don't we all love it.

Halloween Hell

Bracing myself tonight for the annual Festival of Legalised Extortion. Children walking from house to house asking for any treats. TREATS, as long as it's cash. We've all been there.
I don't do tricks, not unless it involves a person with a wand and lifetime membership of the Magic Circle and these little brats sure as hell don't have either. But they've got tricks alright, ones involving eggs and very little sleight of hand.
I wonder what kind of response I'd get if I asked them the derivation of Halloween? I'd reckon that would be a fast-track ticket to their treat.

nice cup of tea in Plumstead

I've lived in this area for about 4 years now and had discovered the café at the top of Shooter's Hill almost on day one, and a jolly good spot it is too. It's particularly good if you like dogs. Not that they serve tea to dogs (that I know of), but dog walkers seem to congregate there on a Sunday morning. You can have a hearty fry-up (or other foodstuffs which your heart will thank you for), and a mug of tea whilst taking in the view Sidcup. Can life get better than this?

Yes it can. It could stay open a little longer. This place has the location but the interior decor of a greasy spoon.
7/10

Having walked everywhere in Hong Kong, I thought I'd go for a walk locally. I'll cut out the mundane part.... I ended up in Charlton House. Nice building, nice cup of tea and a delicious scone with a patty of butter and mini jam; not in Cornwall, so no clotted cream. However, could do with a range of pastries.
7/10

Maybe Bettys of Yorkshire could run a nice tea shop at the pub formerly known as The Ship on Plumstead Common. Now could life get better than THAT?

George Bush

Speaks for itself.

The green green grass of home

Today, I saw the most peculiar thing.
A whole back garden laid in ASTROTURF!!!! I kid you not.
Calm down folks, this is not a hoax.
The whole garden was laid with the stuff of goalkeeper's nightmares.
Maybe the home owner was being ironic, or controversial in a conceptual artist kind of way. Somehow, I doubt it.

There And Back Again

"There And Back Again"
Thinking back to the Lord Of The Rings films, I think this is what Frodo's dad entitles his autobiography.
In this context, I've been away and unable to report back to Plumsteadshire, hence millions of disappointed fans around the globe have been sobbing into their handkerchiefs and musing over whether life is worth living anymore.
I know the feeling too. I only have to think back a few months when local hero and star of Daz ads, Danny Baker had decided to shut up shop on his brilliant morning show for BBC Radio London. It was simply the best shot in the arm to start the day. I couldn't imagine mornings without the Candyman, then suddenly he'd gone.
So I've spent a couple of weeks in Hong Kong, recharging my batteries. Oddly, I didn't miss checking my email, but I did miss using the internet. It's so ingrained into my daily life, reading the news, finding addresses, checking train times, looking for any possible piece of information, writing Plumsteadshire. I was very surprised that I couldn't find an internet café anywhere and Hong Kong isn't exactly behind the times when it comes to technology. Well, when I found internet access, I was stumped anyway; using Internet Explorer in Chinese was too much like putting together a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle with a blindfold on.
I had such a great holiday that I knew when I'd come back to London, I'd fall back to earth with a huge thump. Part holidayitus gloom, part knowing how Britain can be better if it tried gloom, then it's as if guardian angels really exist, I discover that Danny Baker has returned to the London airwaves.

Who can take a sunrise
Sprinkle it with dew?
Cover it in chocolate
and a miracle or two
The candyman
The candyman can.

Cillit Bang!!!!

Hi, I'm not Barry Scott.
I'm wrestling with the Cillit Bang phenomena. I've probably had four conversations about the wonder cleaner in the past six weeks, all with different people. And no, I haven't been starting these conversations either. I mean, I'm not some kind of subliminal Cillit Spy, putting the brand name in everyone's sub-conscious.
CILLIT BANG
The commercials are so cleverly bad, the garish colours of the product, the ridiculous name which is amusing yet doesn't describe the product whatsoever (does the name Cillit Bang derive from an Eastern Bloc country? Is the liquid spewed from a certain industrial building in Chernobyl? Come to think of it, do the Cillit Bang brand guru's have an office in one of the reactors?). On the subject of power, what about the amazing cleaning abilities?
Oddly, this is where the Bangster falls down.
Four conversations and I only know of one person who's bought it.
Research shows that 75% of people don't buy it because something that'll shine a one pence piece will kill a family of dolphins in Ireland as soon as it gets flushed down a loo in Thamesmead. In complete contrast to the ad campaign, this stuff is meant to be so good that it can only be bad. Here's a link to a scientific test under laboratory conditions.
I've yet to succumb to purchasing the big daddy of cleaning products, but I've certainly bought into Barry Scott's advertising campaign.
Bangloss

Plumstead Common moon

Sounds strange eh?

Well, let me explain myself. The other night, looking across Plumstead Common, I saw a huge red/orange moon, and a (sort of) flat cloud wafting across its' glow. The moon was massive, I mean unreal, which obviously caught my eye, but with the cloud too, it was just like that scene from the seminal favourite of art students, 'Un Chien Andalou'.
Remember this?









If not, I'm sure you'll remember this one.














Happy days eh?

Anyway, the moon did freak me out a tiny bit. The colour as well as the size, but it was a welcome distraction after wasting 2 hours of my life watching 'Pride And Prejudice'.

I'll be one of very few to dislike this film, but half an hour in and I wanted to perform the operation as shown above on myself. The film looked great, but even that couldn't save me from the continual close-ups of Ms Knightley. Stop pouting woman!!!!
See what I mean?
I don't mind films without lazers and a good car chase, but the dialogue in P&P gave me a real headache. Maybe it was the aroma de popcorn from row H?

Just to restore my faith in cinema, I notice there are some good showings coming up at the new magic lantern house in Greenwich. A local Art-house cinema; about time too.
Pangloss

If the bible can be shortened, so can this blog.

Dome was a lucky dip? You're telling me!!!!

Pangloss

Cars to be crushed

And whilst I'm on a roll, how fed up are we of the cars being illegally sold along the Common? On a scale of 1 - 10, I think we've reached 59. If I could work out the exploding custard recipe, I'd put it to good use.

The Ship pub

My oh my. The building works at the Ship pub goes on.

I've heard two versions of what the final building will be.

One
That the building will be a number of flats (note that I never heard the word "luxury" mentioned within the description, even though this word seems to be included with every new development). Also, the developers are going to shoe-horn a house or two behind the existing building.

Two
That the upper levels of the building will be a number of flats (not luxury), and the downstairs will become an Italian restaurant. Hmmmm, I'm liking that idea. The good people of Plumstead Common could do with a decent eaterie.

Winter isn't far off. Will the building works stop for the dreary season?

Fool of a Took!!!!

Parking a motorbike on a slope and at an angle is not a good idea. This I already knew but this evening found out exactly why.

Pushing my bike off its' centre-stand, gravity and the slope worked effortlessly against me and I felt helpless as I watched my bike fall sideways (in filmic slowmotion), onto the pavement. Fool of a Took. Down to the bike shop tomorrow for a foot peg then. I think I got away very lightly.

It's all for the best in this best of all possible worlds? Hmmmmmm.............

Pangloss

Custard unveiled

Thanks very much to the anonymous writer who REVEALED ALL about the explosive properties of custard. Even better, the aforementioned writer had linked it in with our local area!!!! How good is that?

I have also been notified by the eminent Sondmeister, that another innocent food, a poached egg has similar bomb-like qualities. Can this be true? I feel this blog about the hidden gem of South East London has taken a slight shift off the rails of culture. Maybe I should start another blog entitled "Dangerous Food"?

Can the day get any better?

Pangloss

Custard

Today has been a good day. Not because the sun has been out, or because I'm taking time out from work and can therefore do my own thing in my own time, but because I've had a couple of eureka moments.

Eureka 1
I've found a builder who is knowledgeable and 'is bovverd'. He was working on a house and I chatted to him. He went on to show me what he'd done and I was very impressed. He spoke with great knowledge of architectural history and construction and, blow me down, didn't speak condescendingly to me either.

Got your number.

Eureka 2
The Plumstead Common Co-Op didn't have a queue. I almost had to pinch myself.

Eureka 3
I discovered that custard can be explosive. It's a great discovery and if you see people with ruck-sacks in Co-Op, emptying the shelves of the great pudding accompaniment, contact your local bobby.

Hello

I distinctly remember when Channel 4 broadcast for the first time, 20 odd years ago. Strangely enough, in a much much smaller way, I have that same feeling now.

My first blog post.

Plumstead Common is my area and I hope to blog about Plumstead and it's environs, and other random thoughts, for as long as I can. I rather like this area and with additions of a bridge and DLR to the local infra-structure, can see that Plumstead Common will change over the next few years (hopefully not for the worse); it'll be good to be a part of documenting this.

Anyway, as you can see, it hasn't changed all that much for the past 100 years though.

regards,
Doctor Pangloss