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Thread: Voting - Thursday 22nd May
Post: RE: Voting - Thursday 22nd May
| Bad luck, Alex, George and Margot. Hang on in there! What goes round comes round (or whatever the expression is). |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
25 |
22,209 |
24-05-2014, 08:13 AM |
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Thread: Voting - Thursday 22nd May
Post: RE: Voting - Thursday 22nd May
| Nothing yet, apparently. Why are Lewisham and Tower Hamlets the stragglers among London boroughs? |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
25 |
22,209 |
23-05-2014, 08:06 PM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| Pretty sure it wasn't. But obviously I didn't think it proper to look too closely... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
23-05-2014, 12:35 PM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| I use the main pool showers regularly and haven't noticed this. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
23-05-2014, 11:19 AM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| Unless my elderly eyes deceived me, there was a young woman swimming topless in the main pool at about 10.00 this morning. Is this a new facility being offered by the ever-entrepreneurial Fusion in re... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
22-05-2014, 11:00 AM |
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Thread: Voting - Thursday 22nd May
Post: RE: Voting - Thursday 22nd May
| You might also give the Tory your second vote. |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
25 |
22,209 |
21-05-2014, 03:27 PM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Main Pool at Forest Hill
| Good! Thanks for taking the trouble to keep us updated, FHP2. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
16-05-2014, 09:58 AM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Main Pool at Forest Hill
| The pool told me this morning that they expect the main pool to be closed until Saturday. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
15-05-2014, 08:13 AM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Station Subway
Post: RE: Forest Hill Station Subway
| I never really understood it. What is that odd strip of glass or plastic the young man is wearing over his eyes - some sort of sunglasses? And what is the point of that very improbable-looking steam ... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
195 |
191,564 |
02-05-2014, 12:26 PM |
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Thread: William Hill Bookmakers
Post: RE: William Hill Bookmakers
| [quote] Disgusting that they were open on Good Friday this year! [/quote]
No doubt because, for the first time ever, there was horseracing on Good Friday this year.
You can't stop the onward march... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
13 |
19,856 |
30-04-2014, 08:58 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| Thanks, Triangle, very interesting. My favourite Dylan Thomas poem is Fern Hill, [url=http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/fern-hill]http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/fern-hill[/url]. He uses all the d... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
30-04-2014, 11:25 AM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| According to my Collins Gem Dictionary of First Names, 'Vivian' (Richards, Fuchs) is the male form and 'Vivien' (derived from French 'Vivienne') the female . 'Tennyson gave the name some vogue in the... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
26-04-2014, 11:29 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| When I was a young boy, I told my parents I wished they'd called me 'Augustus', but I soon gave that idea up when they pointed out that this would mean everyone would call me 'Gussie.' |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
26-04-2014, 05:32 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| Nothing in the OED entry for 'maven' suggests that it can't be used for either gender.
Yes, it's very irritating to have a name that the Americans have feminised.(But isn't Robin Williams an Americ... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
25-04-2014, 05:34 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| I hope not. I think that both rshdunlop and I fancy ourselves as language 'mavens' (there, I've said it) and we have spats from time to time on this and similar threads from time to time. Although ... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
25-04-2014, 03:49 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote]The 'beltway' is the orbital road around Washington DC. Inside the beltway is where all the political decisions are taken. Politicians are accused of not caring what happens 'outside the beltwa... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
24-04-2014, 06:30 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote]Just wondering if the language mavens on this thread have noticed "Beltway" referring to - I assume - the M25.[/quote]
No, but I notice that 'maven' (from Yiddish via New York, first recorded ... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
24-04-2014, 03:41 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| And perhaps section 6 of the Interpretation Act 1978:
[quote]In any Act, unless the contrary intention appears,—
(a) words importing the masculine gender include the feminine;
(b) words importin... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
23-04-2014, 12:23 PM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| My impression recently has been that the main pool too is kept rather cooler than it used to be, but I may be wrong. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
23-04-2014, 11:34 AM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| I'm having problems with 'sanction', used as a verb. It used to mean to authorize or countenance, but it's currently being used to mean almost the opposite, 'to apply sanctions to', i.e. [u]not[/u] to... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
21-04-2014, 04:08 PM |
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Thread: Bakerloo Line Extension
Post: RE: Bakerloo Line Extension
| On reflection, I didn't think that through. I guess it would just mean that the current New Cross trains went on to Lewisham, so that the time gap between the trains to West Croydon or Crystal Palace... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
89 |
91,522 |
21-04-2014, 11:46 AM |
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Thread: Bakerloo Line Extension
Post: RE: Bakerloo Line Extension
| [quote]Extending the East London Line from New Cross to Lewisham and beyond makes some sense as it would only be four trains per hour, so it might not impact capacity on other overland routes.[/quote]... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
89 |
91,522 |
21-04-2014, 10:48 AM |
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Thread: Speeding - Honor Oak Park
Post: RE: Speeding - Honor Oak Park
| I was interested to note that council bureaucrats still use pompous expressions such as 'Please be advised that ...' I thought that people like the Plain English Campaign had got rid of that sort of ... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
46 |
38,081 |
16-04-2014, 12:33 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| You may be right, Steve. It's probably an aspect of contemporary 'chat culture', from which Radio 3 is no longer immune. I personally find it quite irritating -as soon as the 'chat' starts, I tend to... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
28-03-2014, 10:54 AM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote]I think it's embarrassing and soul-destroying to be at an event where all you can hear is the speaker's footsteps across the stage as they head towards the podium. So "Please welcome..." is, in... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
25-03-2014, 12:02 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| BBC concert announcers used to say, 'And here is tonight's soloist, Joe Bloggs'. Now it's always, 'Will you please welcome tonight's soloist...'
I don't like being told in this bossy way to 'welcom... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
25-03-2014, 09:24 AM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote]Rammed to mean packed tight isn't new, is it?
[/quote]
I've only recently come across the use of the word as a free-standing adjective, applied to places which are tightly packed with people ... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
16-03-2014, 04:42 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| 1. 'Rammed' for 'packed tight.' Clearly a fashionable usage - noticed several examples over the last year or so. Anybody any idea where it comes from?
2. Why are what I used to call 'Oxford Univer... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
16-03-2014, 01:54 PM |
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Thread: Smell of brewing in Forest Hill?
Post: RE: Smell of brewing in Forest Hill?
| This has been (inconclusively) [url=http://www.se23.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6796]discussed here before[/url]. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
8 |
8,006 |
14-02-2014, 05:12 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| I'm just showing my age then - as so often! |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
06-02-2014, 04:26 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| I have noticed the expressions 'Music 101' and 'History 101' used (obviously satirically) on the SE26 forum recently. I was puzzled, but research suggests that the number '101' is used in American uni... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
06-02-2014, 03:33 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| Same issue arises with 'garage.' |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
26-01-2014, 06:40 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| I guess that at one time 'Saint' as an element in a name was pronounced rather sloppily as 'Sin'. Cf 'Sinclair' = 'St Clare', and the old pronunciation of St Mary Axe (as in Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Th... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
20-01-2014, 11:59 AM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| In Leicester where I grew up, there is a St Denys' Church (the parish church of the suburban village of Evington), 'Denys' being of course an Anglicisation of 'Dionysius'. I remember being told in all... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
19-01-2014, 07:21 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| My copy of Fowler says that 'it was formerly customary, when a word ended in -s, to write its possessive with an apostrophe but with no additional s, e.g. [i]Mars' Hill, Venus' Bath[/i] [...] In vers... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
19-01-2014, 12:54 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote]Today today reported on the further decline of the apostrophe - in Cambridge of all places[/quote].
Splendid. Quite in line with Cambridge's progressive traditions. (I expect that in Oxford th... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
18-01-2014, 08:16 PM |
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Thread: Early rising potato peeling volunteer required please!
Post: RE: Early rising potato peeling volunteer required...
| Thanks, Alice. As it happens, I was talking to someone this evening who knows him and thinks very highly of him. |
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robin orton |
Offered, Wanted, Lost & Found |
39 |
32,301 |
03-01-2014, 11:25 PM |
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Thread: Early rising potato peeling volunteer required please!
Post: RE: Early rising potato peeling volunteer required...
| Dare one ask who Tommo is? Or does he prefer to remain a man of mystery? |
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robin orton |
Offered, Wanted, Lost & Found |
39 |
32,301 |
03-01-2014, 05:31 PM |
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Thread: Early rising potato peeling volunteer required please!
Post: RE: Early rising potato peeling volunteer required...
| This sounds as if it was a great event. Out of interest, who actually took the lead in organizing it - individuals or a formal organization of some sort? Does it happen every year?
Churches Togethe... |
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robin orton |
Offered, Wanted, Lost & Found |
39 |
32,301 |
03-01-2014, 11:08 AM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| On another matter, I noticed today that a BBC news bulletin called what I was brought up to call a 'railway station' a 'train station.' I remember first noticing this usage in the 1970s, soon after I ... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
01-01-2014, 09:23 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| Yes, its an interesting article. The only one on the list I hadnt come across was 'amazeballs.' I shall be on the lookout for opportunities for using it - preferably combined with 'totes.' |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
01-01-2014, 04:46 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote][...] but who really care's when its better to simply read into what theyr'e saying.[/quote]
And the same goes for split infinitives! |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
31-12-2013, 04:02 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| [quote]GrAy?[/quote]
Silly me.
One thing that puzzles me about US culture (or those aspects of it which we are exposed to over here) are how it seems sometimes to be prudish and Victorian and someti... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
22-12-2013, 02:40 PM |
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Thread: English Usage
Post: RE: Usage of English
| As US 'peek' seems to have driven out UK 'peep', so the (prudish?) US 'tidbits' clearly has designs on 'titbits' - see e.g. Mariella Frostrup in this morning's 'Observer.'
It's red squirrels and g... |
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robin orton |
Wider Topics |
587 |
489,460 |
22-12-2013, 02:07 PM |
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Thread: Dartmouth Road attitudes & behaviours
Post: RE: Dartmouth Road - Attitudes & behaviours stink!
| My wife and I have been walking or driving along Dartmouth Road several times a week, at various times of day and evening, for over thirty years, and we have never encountered this sort of behaviour. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
50 |
40,074 |
16-12-2013, 11:32 AM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| I've never noticed muddy footprints - wet ones possibly. I would need scientific evidence to convince me that the risk to foot health of 'dirt and germs' in the changing area is other than infinitesim... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
12-12-2013, 12:40 PM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| Being a natural law-abiding type, I now regularly comply with this rule, including carrying my shoes and socks out with me after I've changed back into my ordinary clothes and sitting on the bench out... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
12-12-2013, 11:33 AM |
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Thread: Forest Hill Pools
Post: RE: Forest Hill Pools
| I find the new timetable perfectly accessible (and usable) from my desktop - no 'apps' required. I wasn't very fond of the old pdf version, which I had to zoom into to read and which even then wasn't ... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
2,074 |
2,040,821 |
11-12-2013, 03:39 PM |
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Thread: Forest Hill traffic
Post: RE: Forest Hill traffic
| My wife tells me that at 5.30 this evening it was very slow on the westbound South Circular coming into FH from the Catford direction, and also in both directions along Dartmouth Road (partly due to l... |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
9 |
10,056 |
01-12-2013, 08:51 PM |
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Thread: Barclays Bank refurb
Post: RE: Barclays Bank refurb
| The other problem with having the ATM on the Dartmouth Road side was that when the sun was low early in the morning it shone directly onto the screen and made it impossible to read. |
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robin orton |
SE23 Topics |
13 |
14,061 |
26-11-2013, 09:28 AM |
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