Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

silvercar

vivatifosi wrote: »

Yes they can fine you more than the book is worth, though in practice, fines stop after a certain period of time, so people get large fines generally as a result of having several books overdue, not one. Having said that, if you also lost the book, you would be charged for the replacement cost of the book as well as the fine, so you would definitely not be better off doing this! The biggest cause of large fines though is bringing DVDs back late, not books. Always get DVDs back on time or you get extra hire charges, rather than fines in many library authorities.

This was a few books that had been renewed online each a few days late and then renewed again and then all returned bar one. So the fine is larger than the one last paperback. I have overheard people negotiating their fines down at the queries desk.

vivatifosi

Silvercar, forgot to mention. Never be embarrassed about having fines on library books, everyone gets them at some point or another. I even get them and I work there and its always for a DVD doh! Fines income where I work goes to running the library service, so although its not nice at least it buys new books (or better still, pays my wages).

chewmylegoff

michaels wrote: »

First time I travelled on the Drain (waterloo and City line) I did not realise that everyone stood politely in a line where the doors opened and proceeded on in a calm manner and instead on seeing a train there when I got on the platform I walked straight on - won't be making that mistake again...

i never see it like that, but the only time i see it is when the jubilee line is down and i have to get to bank for the DLR. it is not a pretty sight when it's like that, and there is definately no orderly queuing.

there is, however, orderly queuing at canary wharf coming back to waterloo, as there are doors on the platform, so you know where the train doors will be. occassionally someone will just walk to the front of the queue, and it's often the sort of people you least expect to do it. it's not like they can honestly believe that people are standing in a line there for a laugh - they just want a seat and aren't prepared to wait for the next train. it's often the sort of people whom, to look at, you wouldn't believe would try to queue barge.

vivatifosi

silvercar wrote: »

I have overheard people negotiating their fines down at the queries desk.

I have PMd you about this, hope its helpful.

chewmylegoff

lostinrates wrote: »

Yes, I am surprised you recommend it, but that's a good surprise. Its a popular spot for work meals, so might be nice for dh to try it under different circumstances.

edit: my baby for the day hasn't turned up yet. I hope they are ok. I'm hoping he'll settle in the shady garden with me for a wee while, otherwise I think we might go for a stroll, maybe feed the ducks.

i didn't think much of smiths, personally. i think it's overpriced and only barely better than gaucho, which is naff. the hawksmoor is far better, it's more expensive, but better value for money, in my view anyway.

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

only barely better than gaucho, which is naff. .

The thing that amazes me about gaucho g. is how different the different restaurants are.....obviously food not decor. It was our default when in lawing because they like it, I like steak and dh buys me a mojito everytime they get bumptious. By the end of the evening not only do I not want to retort but I'm unable too. They used to do brilliant cheesy sort of puffs...like profiteroles without cream or sauce. I've tried at home but never get them as good.

so smiths, st johns or hawksmoor. Thanks.

silvercar

vivatifosi wrote: »

I have PMd you about this, hope its helpful.

Thanks for PM.

lemonjelly

Forgot to mention, my peppers have finally started showing signs of life!:j Not propogated, just planted in a pvc greenhouse. Suprised but excited.

On greenfingered, it seems that everyone got out there planting a lot earlier than I. Looking at their photo's of flourishing gardens & flowering plants, I feel slightly inadequate with my measley stalks and the like.:o

vivatifosi

lostinrates wrote: »

so smiths, st johns or hawksmoor. Thanks.

What's interesting is that all of those are for what I'd call good honest food. Not fancy foreign menus, not nouvelle cuisine, just a good plate of nosh. If that's how restaurants are changing, its refreshing.

Sounds like you can just walk out in either the Smithfield or Spitalfields area with DH and see what takes your fancy. I wouldn't take him somewhere he's already been though (if he already goes to Smiths), that wouldn't be special.

Davesnave

GDB2222 wrote: »

How lucky can it be? After all, somebody else lost it.

On the swimming side, there's only one trick that works for me. That's putting my head completely under water for a few strokes, then lifting up, breathing and going under again.

I suppose it was lost, but hey, that's only once in 50 years....and counting.

Generali's comment about making a dam reminded me of when a friend and I (we were aged about 13) spent a day or two demolishing part of one which had fallen into disrepair. We fished this council-owned stretch of river, and we felt that the removal of some retaining wall might create a nice pool on 'our' side, when the floods scoured through there.

We were right. After one or two periods of heavy water, the river was doing a fine job, removing more of the wall than we could ever manage and carving a nice pool into the bank below. It was all going so well.....

Then, after a particularly stormy time, we went down to see what the river had done, only to find that a huge section of the council yard had slid into the river, leaving several large outbuildings teetering on the edge.:eek:

We beat a hasty retreat.

Huge irony followed. Forced to protect their yard, the council undertook a major project, making a new stone embankment about 70m long and 5m high. To do this, they dredged out the whole river bed with bulldozers and re-routed it. There wasn't a fish to be seen in that stretch for the whole year, and when they let the river return to its old course, there was just a sheer wall and nowhere for us to fish from. Justice, I suppose.