Mary Whitehouse speaks

OK. I've finally done it. Someone has overstepped the mark and posted something which is utterly offensive, so for the first time, I've erased their post.

I trust that you all to have opinions and that you are self-policing before you post your comments. As you know, I trust you all enough so that I don't have to put a vetting procedure in place.

I'm already getting bored of the foul language that has popped up on recent occasions. The English language is rich enough for you not to use such base words.

Sort it out before I have to flick the censor switch.

The Ship notification

I know there have been umpteen postal strikes this Summer, but I am somewhat disappointed that my letter from Greenwich Council informing me of The Ship's planning application took so long to land on my door mat.

1. The letter is dated 28th August
2. The franked post date on the envelope is 8th September
3. The letter arrived at my door on 14th September
4. The deadline for me to respond to this letter is 17th September. TODAY
   

The Ship

Thanks to one lovely listener who has underlined the deadline date for letters of objection to the Ship's proposal (see below). This Friday! Given the limited time, I'd suggest not to use the postal system, so email or wander down to Woolwich and hand your letter in person.

For a sense of balance, I guess supporters of The Ship should also attend the council meeting when a date is in the diary.

Letters to the council regarding The Ship’s licence application need to be received by the Council by
THIS FRIDAY - 18 SEPT 2009.

In order for your representations/objections to be considered valid, you need to address one or more of the following issues:

- protection of children from harm
- public safety
- prevention of public nuisance
- prevention of crime and disorder

The licensing committee are obligated to safeguard these objectives.

Send your letters and petitions to:

Trading Standards & Licensing
Community Safety & Integrated Enforcement
Riverside House
Woolwich High Street
Woolwich
London SE18 6DN

Or Email:
licensing@greenwich.gov.uk

The meeting at which the application and any representations/objections are to be considered is still to be scheduled. Please keep your eyes and ears open for the date and make sure you COME ALONG if you can.

Back in 2006, there was a record turnout of the local community (along with legal counsel!) at the meeting, which accompanied a phenomenal collective response of the local community objecting to the SAME items that the Ship owner is now requesting AGAIN.
Please, let's all make sure we do the same again, otherwise, all the efforts of 2006, and now, will have been in vain.

Let's not let The Ship a scar our beautiful common, and disrupt our quiet neighbourhood and peaceful local community.

Please don’t be complacent, and write your letter now!!

Meeting about The Ship

One of my lovely listeners has informed me of a meeting to talk about The Ship's proposals. This sounds like a very important meeting for members of The Shire who care about our little patch of London. I guess this is open to all, not just PCEG members. Read on....

There is a PCEG meeting this Sunday 13/9. Anyone concerned about this matter that wants to discuss should come to the meeting!!

Meeting details:
Sunday 13 Sept. 3pm
St Marks Church Hall on Old Mill Road.

Agenda on the website:
http://pceg.org.uk/notice.htm

Be there. Together we can protect our Common, our neighbourbood and our community.

The Ship

I have heard that The Ship pub/bar/cheap beer sports TV emporium has plans to extend licensing hours to 1.45AM at the weekend. Worse still, to extend the alcohol license to the external forecourt. And to allow bottles to be taken outside. Also to allow under 18s in!!!!

They also want to build a 1.9metre high screen (electric fence might be more appropriate), around the forecourt and move the entrance round to Wernbrook Street, yes that's the NICE QUIET RESIDENTIAL street which shouldn't have drunken yoofs staggering around at sleep o'clock waving glass bottles around.

Does this sound like a recipe for disaster? Errrr. It sounds like a complete catastrophe of atomic bomb proportions about to hit Plumstead Common in the face.

I urge everyone to write a letter to the council to object to this. Closing date for objections must be in by 18th September. Don't sit back and think, oh I'll do it tomorrow. Do it now. Stop reading this, get off your computer and do it now. Contact your local councillor, MP etc.

Find out more from the address below:-

Trading Standards & Licensing
Community Safety & Integrated Enforcement
Riverside House
Woolwich High Street
Woolwich
London
SE18 6DN

Telephone - 020 8921 8139
email - licensing@greenwich.gov.uk

ref - The Ship, 205 Plumstead Common Road, SE18 2UJ

Me

I've been a paid-up member of the Apple Mac fan club for over a decade. Oh, how OS 8 looked so quaint. Halcyon days.

This year, I thought I'd try mobileme. My foray into cloud computing.

[21:54hrs. Ooh. What sounded like a low flying Chinook passed over Plumsteadshire. This is with reference to one of Plummy Mummy's recent posts - ed.]

Back to the story.

Cloud computing.

I'm not convinced with mobileme. I find it painfully slow and that's not my idea of productivity. On the plus side, I really like syncing all my stuff so I can see my email, contacts and diary at work, but this is pretty fundamental. I also find it intuitive to use, as I would expect from an Apple product.

Well, unless the speed picks up, I'm definitely veering towards ditching it at the end of my year.

Greenwich Council is far too late

I'm extremely disappointed that most of the events that I was interested in this weekend have already been sold out. I keep my eye out all the time for interesting days out and all that, but only came across the Open Weekend events through the Greenwich Council email alert, which I received this afternoon.

I was interested in a piece of theatre at Charlton House on Sunday. It's free. Bonus. When I phoned up, I was told it was sold out. A fat load of good alerting me to events I can't attend.

Ditto for the free Blow Up event in Maryon Park. No mention of requiring a ticket so I never booked it. Sold Out.

I'd like decent publicity for all these great events. Given that I work for a living, I don't have much spare time to stroll into my library or council office and browse the local events boards.

A busy weekend

The more observant of you will have noticed a countdown timer on Plumsteadshire. It is linked to atomic clocks on Easter Island, Jodrell Bank and Bryn Terfel's Barber Shop on Dallin Road.

We are counting down to 'Plumstead Live!', the premier cultural event on Plumsteadshire's calendar. Looking at the weather forecast, the weekend looks like it'll be nice and sunny for the concert. Keep yourselves free on Sunday 26th July between 3pm - 8pm and come to Winns Common. Spread the word, bring a friend. What the hell, even bring the family too.

There is a very exciting event this Saturday. It's called The Great 'Blow Up' Party In The Park. It's in Maryon Park and forms part of the Greenwich Film Festival. There are tours of the locations used in the film. Shaky bush number 1. Shaky bush number 2 etcetera as well as other goings-on culminating in an outdoor showing of the famous '60s film.

Before you get too excited, do check with the organiser's of the Greenwich Film Festival as the Greenwich Council website has noted that this event has been SOLD OUT. The promotional leaflet I have has no mention of it being a ticketed event, so do double check and if anyone has confirmation of this, please do let us know by posting a comment at the bottom of this blog post.

On Friday (tomorrow), evening there is a similar event at the Well Hall Pleasaunce in Eltham. This time it's the The Railway Children. I don't think there will be tours of famous herbaceous borders, but there definitely will be an outdoor showing of said film.

Share and share alike

When my close personal aides, Margaret and Nick are out of the country, I seek advice from a friend. He is a marketing genius, he is a man who fights fire with fire, he sees lights turn on before the switch has flicked, he wears the same watch as Steve Wozniak, he is The Stig of global branding. He goes by the code name 'Deep Throat'.

Deep Throat read about The Woodman dilemma we have in The Shire. In the dead of night, he phoned me. I pick up the receiver and he says, "www.wooshare.com", then gently puts the phone down. From his SAS training, he knows to get straight to the point.

Maybe this is a way forward for the future of The Woodman?

Komedie Nacht

Oi va voi!!!! How did it slip my mind that tomorrow night is comedy night at the Plumsteadshire Festspielhaus und bierkeller.

Doors open at 7pm

Pay £7.00 on the door

Have a glass of Quinta do Vesuvio, kick your Testoni's off and let the comedy wave your working week away.

mobile phone directory

You may already have heard about this but early next week all UK mobiles will be on a directory which will mean that anyone will be able to access your numbers. It’s easy to unsubscribe but it must be done before the beginning of next week to make sure that you are ex-directory. You may want to suggest it to all your friends and family who have UK mobiles or they could be swamped by unsolicited messages and calls. Removal is recommended by the dear old Auntie BBC.

To remove your number click on the link below, you need your mobile
phone with you to do this as they text you a code

1, http://www.118800.co.uk/

2, Click on ‘Ex Directory’ at top right hand side of page, from
there it’s straight forward.

The Woodman is our big opportunity

One lovely listener has pointed out that The Woodman pub is up for sale. I can confirm this as I sent my aides, Margaret and Nick to take a look. The pub will be sold at auction very soon (this week I think), and has a guide price of around £175,000. I don't know what the sale includes, but a pub overlooking The Common with lacklustre competition sounds a bit of a snip to me. This could be our best chance of a decent gastro-pub. The local demographic is shifting and the demand is definitely here. If I had the resources, I'd be sitting in an auction room with a very twitchy arm.

Extraordinary tennis

I don't follow sport. I don't have the time for it, nor do I want to go through the angst that work colleagues push themselves through every Saturday afternoon; seeing their minor depressions on a Monday morning as their team obviously lost at the weekend. I just don't have the nerve to say, "it's just a bloomin' game. Get over it" as I know that to them it's not just a game, it's a way of life. In a very tiny way, I envy that they know every single statistic to every game of their football team over the past two decades. I don't envy what they know, but the fact that they remember stuff. I'm sure that since becoming a parent, my memory has stopped working. I tell myself that my brain has decided to readjust and work in a very different way - maybe it's a denial of anything like dementia creeping in really early. Where was I? Oh yes....... I don't follow sport.

I don't follow sport, but I was channel flicking on the TV and came across wheelchair tennis!!!! Back in the day when I had time to watch a whole TV programme, I'd treat myself to 'Transworld Sport' on Channel 4 on Saturday mornings. It was great to learn about the Jamaican bob-sled team (it's true), or utterly queer contests in the Far East, but man alive wheelchair tennis left me gob-smacked. Their serves looked pretty fast, but how can you serve when seated? I can't serve when standing up!!?!* So the ball made it over the net and the opponent knocked it back, but then to get back in position on the court, they'd wheel around in swirls which was completely balletic. Truly amazing. You can keep your Anita Roddicks and your Federererers and your Williamses. Brute force and power serves are SO last year. Wheelchair tennis needs more coverage.

Corpsing on air

Listening to the crystal set yesterday, I was enjoying the weather forecast when the weatherman suffered a slip of he tongue. I had to cover my ears in the hope of not hearing any more colourful language however this left him in fits of laughter on air. Real Denis Norden stuff.

telephone service

I'd just like to ask if anyone knows of an alternative (and reliable), supplier for a telephone/broadband service. I'm with BT at the moment and paying a lot of money just for the standing charge.

Thanks in advance.

Plumstead Radical Club

My partner in crime has pointed me in the direction of the Plumstead Radical Club; the jazz band, rather than the imposing building opposite Plumstead Railway Station.

I've had a listen and instantly addicted. I've listened to the track 'One Way' again and again just like I'd taped it off the Top 40 on the wireless. The Plumstead Radical Club have an album out called The Coast Is Clear and I'm sure it's available in your local record store. Well, they don't really exist anymore so it'll be a trip up to Rays Jazz Store. Ahh. That doesn't really exist anymore either. It's now just tucked away in Foyles Bookshop. In my humble opinion, just not a proper record shop.

Well, I don't know if the jazz band are from this leafy suburb or not, but I'd like to know more about them. I must do the modern thing and buy their album on iTu........ Hmmmmm. Interesting. I typed Plumstead into iTunes, hoping to find jazz, but instead am watching a handful of Open University programmes about our dear Plumstead constabulary.

Well, if the PRC are local musicians then I wonder if they're taking part in the Plumstead Live! event. I do hope so.

Catch That Train

My post bag has been bulging this week with requests for information about a train I recently mentioned. That being the one near Falconwood.

Well, it sounds like a bit of an unknown gem in these here parts o' the shire.

The train is run by the Welling & District M.E.S. (model engineering society to us common folk), and it sounds like they'll be evicted from the Falconwood site next year. Boo. Here are the open days:-

14th & 28th June 2009

12th & 26th July 2009

9th & 23rd August 2009

6th & 20th September 2009

4th October 2009

They aren't open the public apart from these dates, so do go along sooner rather than later as you know you'll just keep saying 'ah, I'll go next fortnight', and so on and so on until it's 5th October and that's it. Gone forever.

On these days, they open between 2pm - 5pm. Last orders at 4.30pm.

Here's a funny new-fangled map to locate the train.

View Welling & District M.E.S. in a larger map

iPhone 3G S

The new generation of the gadget of all gadgets, the one and only iPhone, has been announced. The iPhone 3G S. It pretty much follows the rumours that have been bandied around on the blogosphere and maybe that is why I'm still slightly under-whelmed.

The trouble with technology is that it advances so quickly that it's hard to keep up. In trying to keep up, we expect the next big thing to leapfrog the last big thing, well I do anyway. Given that there are phones out there packing 8 mega pixel cameras and the 3G S offers just 3 is one disappointment; one key reason for me to have held back from spending lots of cash and changing phone provider. Even so, I'll have to remind myself one thing. Rather than judging the iPhone on the amount of features and how it'll fare against the competition, I'll appraise it's usefulness for my needs.

1. A good quality phone. tick
2. Speakerphone. tick. Great for being kept on hold by call centres
3. Camera. Uh er. I'll just have to buy a cheap small digital camera
4. Synchronise with my Mac. tick
5. On the go internet. tick. So I can be more spontaneous with blogging
6. Reliability. tick. If it runs as smoothly as my Mac then all's good

I'm not keen on the polished finish though. I like my current phone because I can throw it in my bag and not worry about it getting scuffed. For me, the thing is to be used, not a fashion statement.

A vibrant part of suburbia

I had a really pleasant and eventful weekend. Normally, we'd be day-tripping to far off lands in deepest Kent and Sussex but this weekend was purely Plumsteadshire. Of course, Saturday was the Make Merry, an event which I feel should be more reminiscent of maypoles, sheep driving and smocks rather than a parade of unmuzzled dogs. However, I really like the utterly terrifying clowns which look like they hail from an Edwardian side-show.

Being a key part of the local social calendar, I bumped into alot of friends at the Make Merry and it was this feeling of a community hub that makes the Make Merry special and essential.

In the evening, I went to the comedy night at The Pavilion (AKA the rugby club), and it was an utterly brilliant night out. The comedians were top notch and the audience were very receptive. I really do love the Pavilion space as it's intimate and you're engaged with the performers. I can see it working as a film club venue. I'll try and look into the viability of this idea. My idea is not for another outlet for mainstream Hollywood tosh, but to screen classics, Saturday morning Laurel and Hardy children's club, Woody Allen Wednesdays, David Lean Sundays. Might be cost prohibitive, but you get the idea.

Today, I went to the model railway exhibition at the Firepower Museum. I've never been into trains but I think I might be coming out of the locomotive closet. I thought the model railways were incredible and with immense attention to detail, the scenery told many stories beyond just a train circling a village. Best of all though, I'd discovered a small scale railway which you can actually ride on. It's round the back of an electricity sub-station in Falconwood and not many people know about it. They have a few open days coming up so we can go for a ride, but we'll have to be quick as it looks like they're going to be moved on from this site. I'll have to blog more on this later.

As if I'd not endured enough excitement for one weekend, my trusted source confirmed that the Plumstead Live! music event is for real. This is the icing on the local cultural cake and promises to be a major date in Plumsteadshire's social diary. Hey, it might not be Glyndebourne, but it's here on our doorstep so let's spread the word.

Blue. Yellow.

There's something quite queer going on along the parade of estate agents on Plumstead Common Road. The blue and yellow theme seems to be taking over.

Is this some kind of ruse by the Swedish Intelligence Bureau? Are our Nordic cousins buying up The Shire in readiness for an IKEA take-over? We've all heard how Tesco buy up properties & land for their global gain. Is this the home furnishings equivalent?

Robinson Jackson? The jig is up.

Computer Repairs? I should co-co.

Global Development & Business Services? Your name says it all.

Such is the power of the blue/yellow combo that those who have not complied have been 'OUSTED'. Dear old SJ's Lounge didn't stand a chance with their retro black, silver and red brand identity.