merse
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Post by merse on Jun 25, 2010 17:22:32 GMT
 I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing Kipper all the very best following some pretty heavy duty surgery this week. It's no joke trying to recuperate in the high temperatures we're experiencing at the moment and I for one am looking forward to seeing my mate before too long. I always remember how he was one of the ones who came to visit me in The Whittington when I was banged up in there five years ago and if he's up for it I'll be popping down to Kennington to eat his grapes before too long! ;D
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Post by stuartB on Jun 25, 2010 19:20:21 GMT
Get well soon. hopefully England will ease your pain
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Jun 25, 2010 21:23:35 GMT
Kipper and I had a chat via PM a few weeks ago and I was able then to pass on my best wishes to Kipper for the operation and the future. Many thanks for putting this up merse as now I know the operation went OK and here's hoping for a very speedy recovery for kipper.
Kippers PM to me was one of a number I have received over the last month concerning other members health , their loved ones or someone very close in the family.
So I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all those I know are also unwell at this time all the best and also thank those who have felt they have been able to share their pain with me. Please remember I'm always here and don't ever think you might be over burdening me due to Carols situation, as you won't be.
Get well soon everyone who may be unwell at this time.
Dave
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Post by stefano on Jun 25, 2010 21:31:27 GMT
Kipper and I had a chat via PM a few weeks ago and I was able then to pass on my best wishes to Kipper for the operation and the future. Many thanks for putting this up merse as now I know the operation went OK and here's hoping for a very speedy recover for kipper. Kippers PM to me was one of a number I have received over the last month concerning other members health , their loved ones or someone very close in the family. So I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all those I know are also unwell at this time all the best and also thank those who have felt they have been able to share their pain with me. Please remember I'm always here and don't ever think you might be over burdening me due to Carols situation, as you won't be. Get well soon everyone who may be unwell at this time. Dave ....and that is something that differentiates this from other forums (not the only thing by any means) so well done Dave and long may your commitment and enthusiasm continue. Well done indeed and your caring nature is something to be much admired. Thanks for a brilliant outlet and it's amazing it involves following a very frustrating football club!  |
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merse
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Post by merse on Jul 7, 2010 15:53:29 GMT
I've just returned from visiting "The Golden One" and was pleasantly surprised to find him looking very fit considering.......................well who wouldn't look good standing beside me? I don't handle the hot weather too well myself due to my health issues, so I took advantage of a grey sky this morning to jet over to the other side of the water and visit his penthouse near Kennington Oval. It's no joke having to undergo a head transplant, but I must say the result is pretty impressive ~ shame about there being only one ear available though due to the new Government cutbacks. Kip can hear OK it's just that his RayBans keep slipping down to one side!  Good to see you again though old mate, and thanks for the cherry cake! ;D
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merse
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Posts: 2,684
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Post by merse on Aug 5, 2010 19:34:56 GMT
My mate Kipper and I, together with his partner Vanessa and my two older ones, Anthony and Olivia; went for a long slow potter along the tow path of the Regents (Grand Union) Canal this afternoon and I must say the old geezer is looking in fine fettle for someone who was treated like chopped liver just six weeks ago! We rendevouzed at Thornhill Bridge where the Caledonian Road crosses the canal (just where the tunnel that passes under The Angel opens out again) it's only a ten minute bus ride from my gaff, and proceded via Ice Wharf, Camley Street Nature Reserve and Camden Lock where we stopped for an al fresco lunch of Thai chicken, fried rice, noodles and sweet and sour sauce....................a £4 dish was enough to feed both my kids and I, and little did we know it at the time but we chose to sit and eat by the water right underneath the famous old distillery of Gilbeys ~ one of the great old London Gin makers. There can't be another place in the world as Camden Market and Lock, where there is such a choice of the planet's foods with which to fill your face and there were literally thousands of folk sitting around in the warm sunshine lunching out. Those who know it too, will understand when I say that people watching in Camden is a particularly rewarding way to pass a half hour or two................the world's most eclectic dress sense I would say! On through posh Primrose Hill and into Regents Park where the canal runs through the zoo so that you have a free show of eagles and other large birds of prey perched up in the fantastic aviary there and packs of wolves and priairie dogs prowling about right accross the water from you! We finally emerged into Little Venice and the Paddington Basin, where Kipper and his lady disappeared down into the Bakerloo Line for home and the kids and I caught the no. 27 (the very first route I ever drove in London) bus to Mornington Crescent where we changed onto the no. 29 Bendy Bus and our Hornsey Road home. I can't understand the objections to the "Bendys", these wonderful "Road Trains" are as good as a continental tram; fast in the bus lanes and smooth to ride on....................wonderful! The kids have been brilliant to their old Dad today, Bijou and Calvin have gone off to Manchester for the weekend; so we have carte blanche to do our own thing without getting it in the neck! Although I say it myself, my cooking's really excellent and they love my efforts....................Oli helps me prepare them and Anthony does the washing up. We've planted a load of seeds we "nicked" from assorted plants and exotic flowers in the many little waterside gardens along the way today, and all we have to do now is wait for about 9 months to see what comes up. How I love the chalet like anarchism of all those canal side homes.................either traditional narrow boats or other assorted and hardly "seaworthy" looking little tubs ~ little gardens created out of minimal space up against the factory walls and other decrepit old buildings and that wonderful Victorian "gasworks" scenery of the Kings Cross and St Pancras Basin with the cutting edge Eurostar trains rumbling overhead. I've captured loads of great images today, and all I need to do now is settle down and get my blog going again ~ this little jaunt has given me loads of material, but as I'm feeling about a hundred and twelve right now and have just got over another energy crash; I'll suffice with a nice strong coffee tonight and think about doing it tomorrow!
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Aug 5, 2010 19:42:45 GMT
Just clicked your link merse and your blog site seems to be down at the moment.
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merse
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Post by merse on Aug 5, 2010 19:46:52 GMT
Just clicked your link merse and your blog site seems to be down at the moment. Probably in protest at my taking a sabatical from it since The World Cup ended. I've just tried it and it's coming up OK ~ there was probaly a rush of action following my little article tonight!  |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Aug 5, 2010 19:50:43 GMT
Just clicked your link merse and your blog site seems to be down at the moment. Probably in protest at my taking a sabatical from it since The World Cup ended. I've just tried it and it's coming up OK ~ there was probaly a rush of action following my little article tonight! It does seem to have a problem, it loaded only once out of five attempts for me after checking it again after your last post. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Aug 5, 2010 21:47:47 GMT
Well I can claim to have been on a bendy bus, only it was not in the UK and therefore not sure how different the one I went on was from the ones in London.
After doing the tour of the Amsterdam Arena Rolf took me on one to get back to his home. It was driven by a lady who was mental behind the wheel and she just chucked the thing into corners and it took a while before I felt safe on it.
Being the kid I am, I just had to sit in the middle so I could reach out from the seat with my feet and put them on the join bit in the middle that turned as the main front bit went around any corners.
All in all good fun and it was the only one I went on as the other times we went into and back out of the city we used the metro.
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merse
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Post by merse on Aug 6, 2010 7:14:20 GMT
Well I can claim to have been on a bendy bus, only it was not in the UK and therefore not sure how different the one I went on was from the ones in London.
Being the kid I am, I just had to sit in the middle so I could reach out from the seat with my feet and put them on the join bit in the middle that turned as the main front bit went around any corners. Well they're little different in Amsterdam to London's Dave, ours are built in Germany and they can be seen in many European and other British cities..................Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield to name but three; and I even saw them in congested little Bath! .................and yes, I too used to love standing on the turning plate when it was all bit of a novelty to me! It is only London, fueled by the right wing Evening Standard which takes delight in continually discrediting any mass transit system and more significantly it's staff, who seem to have the biggest objection; and then of course the others who do are those who don't choose to use public transport but clutter up the city with their cars instead. Of course then, the opportunistic Boris Johnson jumped on the right wing band wagon and promised to "sweep them off the streets" ~ yet another of his ludicrous generalisations, together with his ridiculous "New Routemaster for London" promotion which isn't a Routemaster at all, just another one man double decker. Apparently car drivers are supposed to hate them because they "are so long" ~ well surprise, surprise. As a long time car driver in London, I never found any problem with them, and for most of the time they are operating in their own lanes anyway! I was surprised when taking a tram to Hillsbrough in Sheffield a few years ago to find myself sitting on one that was being delayed by queuing traffic........................the only city in Europe where I have seen that tolerated and indicative of the need to ban private transport from streets not wide enough to accommodate exclusive road space for these marvelous beasts! I once promoted the idea of a light rail/tram system as an answer to Torbay's traffic congestion and the Kingskerswell issue in particular when we were discussing Chris Roberts' sea front re- location for OUR football club. A genuine, blue sky thinking authority would consider utilsing all the available and redundant space on the "railway lands" at Newton Abbot, adjacent to the A380; build a dedicated highway exit for a huge park & ride system there; and build a light rail/street car set up parallel to the footprint of the railway, re-opening Kingskerswell station and creating new ones along the way ~ Decoy, Aller, Cadewell etc etc, and branch off the railway footprint at Torre Station for street car services down past the coach station and the Teignmouth Road in both directions, down through Castle Circus to the harbour and back along the sea front to the station. What a civic benefit that would be, and a real attribute to the quality of life in Torbay. Trouble is small time and short term thinking prevent such schemes ever being promoted, let alone acted upon; whilst leading European communities and some actually very small ones too leave this country looking shame faced in the light of their enterprise and social responsibility. |
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