Plumstead café

My spies tell me that Plumstead Common is getting a new café, but don't rush out with your order of Orange Mocha Frappuccino just yet.

Abalone hasn't turned into zabaglione; it's turning into an internet café. The internal fit-out looks very standard low-cost, pack 'em in, sell 'em cheap internet café, but at least someone is utilising the shop space.

What a toilet

I like this sign, but I'd wonder if it indicates a unisex facility.

what a sucker

Last night, I saw the Romanian bunch having a picnic out on the Common. Sitting, chatting, children playing, it was a nice scene ever so slightly reminiscent of La Grande Jatte. Then I saw one of their chums bringing an old vacuum cleaner across the grass. I know they raid the recycling bins [I'm resigned to the fact they do this as at least they are recycling, even though they have in the past left the cast-offs strewn all around on the ground], opposite the Co Op, so I guess this is their latest acquisition.

Today, I see that the vacuum cleaner has been left in bits on the Common, just where they were sitting. That's really thoughtless and selfish of them. I'll leave it at that.

comedy on the common

Gadzooks, it's comedy time again. Tomorrow night at the rugby club tea house. That's Sunday 27th July at 7pm.

The comedians are :-

Ian Cognito
Lloyd Langford
Danny Davies
Caroline Maberly

gadgets

Messing about on the computer, I've added a swish little add-on to my Firefox browser. It's called PicLens and it's a 3D interface for image searching. So far, I really like it. Given that it's free, I don't know if there's actually something sinister behind it, marketing companies tracking every image search I perform for example.

Cynical? Moi?

Anyways, it looks non too shabby.

Much that I love Apple Macs, I'm still not going to commit to the 3G iPhone. I want my address book, my email, my digital life with me, but the big selling point is the breakthrough internet communicator. Well, if it doesn't read flash files then that's a pitfall for me. Having a glossy piece of tech in your pocket is one thing, but I don't want to treat my phone like a piece of Lalique, I want to chuck it in my pocket, chuck it in my bag and not worry about it looking like it's had a scuffle with a Brillo Pad.

One piece of tech that really annoys me are those mobile phone bluetooth headsets. Are people's lives SO busy now that holding a phone to your head is a hardship? To wear a lump of plastic around your ear in the hope that your partner phones you to ask whether you want baked beans or mushy peas for tea is simply bizarre.

Cafe in the community

This isn't a typing error. Given that the letters F and R sit next to each other on the keyboard, this could've been about a care in the community.

Hundreds of thousands of you Plumsteadshireans have expressed interest in a need for a good café or gastro pub in Plumstead Common. Here are a couple from the postbag:-

'Whilst out walking my dog, I like nothing more than a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake. Plumstead Common would benefit greatly from a Betty's Tea Shop'
Sylvia Plaff, Tuam Road

'It's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a dog, but it would be great to have a few choice beers with my friends in a really nice bar overlooking the common.'
J Lemmon, Macoma Terr.

'At the end of the day, when all's said and done, Plumstead Common would be great with a nice café which would form the heart of this great community.'
Richard Head

And it goes on.

At all times, the Common seems well used. There are certainly many, many parents and child minders at home during the daytime. They visit toddler groups in the mornings then have to endure the abysmal excuse for a play park at The Slade.

Plumstead Common needs a central meeting place. The Ship could easily have been that centre, but I feel it has missed an enormous opportunity.