Bloody Hell Sue! That made me jump!

                              Graham.

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I think he would be a good icon for this thread. He lives on the river - in winter with the swans and in the spring he becomes guardian to a small band of mallards. I called him Cuddles as it seems to suit his personality!

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I just wondered what was going on at the other end of the bird to make it pull that face!

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
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Has April the 1st come early?

We've just received a leaflet from the local council informing us of all the wonderful initiatives that they have been undertaking over the past months, which really is an excuse to justify their spending of our council tax.

One which caught the eye was the setting up of free training for off-licence proprietors on how to avoid the selling of alchohol to under age drinkers!

But the one that takes the biscuit is an initiative to combat noise and anti-social behavour on the streets late at night. The police will be armed with lollipops, thus giving them the opportunity to approach people who are making a noise in a non-confrontational way by asking them to keep the noise down and enjoy a lollipop instead!

It makes me wonder if the police will be supplied with an instument to extricate lollipops from their bodily orifices when they are told what to do with them. They will surely comply with the demand to stick 'em up their backsides since they won't want to antagonise the naughty, naugthy, noisemakers!

Shades of PC Goody and the Thin Blue Line.

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
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We get a quarterly newspaper from the local council telling us all the good things they're doing and how wonderful the town is. One gem from the last issue was in places of interest to visit - the park near to where I live was listed as a historical place of interest. Well it does still have a few ups and downs in the grass but the council over the past few years have done their best to destroy what was probably the best park in the town - first they felled 90 mature horse chestnuts on health and safety grounds - a few were diseased most were'nt [I have the photos somewhere to prove it!]. These were replaced by bog standard 'won't grow too big' trees and the path through the centre, which was a wonderful walk in summer and autumn, replaced by a cycle track and ugly lamps. There are no more cyclists than before but the lamps blaze away at night - very green! The expensive 'cyclists dismount' at the exit signs are now in the brook. You'd think after having to replace melted burnt out litter bins a couple of times they'd get the message and go for something less easy to destroy.....but no.....  The bandstand obviously needs a bit of repair after some of those nice kids ripped up part of the floor...first they boarded it up with wood....that ended up spread all over the park. Then two men spent two days bolting on corrugated iron....that lasted a bit longer...they like a challenge. The bent corrugated iron sheets left around must have been far more dangerous than the damaged bandstand. Last week they tried again and we now have a beautiful corrugated iron clad bandstand for visitors to admire - I'm sure repairing it would have cost far less than boarding it up! So glad they keep finding new ways to spend money though.

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We're very welcoming to foreigners here too - last time I went past this gate the sign was only in English and no mention of police. I assume the other language is Polish. I can't think why anyone would risk that nasty looking gate top to enter when they could poach quite easily from the side of the lake that's by the public footpath!

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The battle over MPs' expenses claims is heading for the High Court after the House of Commons launched a last-ditch bid to avoid disclosure.

The decision to appeal, over MPs' concerns that the publication of their addresses would present a security risk, prompted questions about the potential bill to the taxpayer. It has also been noted that some MP's may have to resign, when taxpayers find out what they have been spending it on, and how much was spent.

They should be made to pay for this case out of their own money instead of public funds.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
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You mean you don't think it's fair that they can buy a house at taxpayers expense and pocket the profit when they sell it.....shame on you!! Funny how the MPs from different parties argue so much over policies but seem to stick together when it comes to their money.

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Just think how many lollipops all that money could buy, and how quiet it would be then!

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
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sue allen:

We're very welcoming to foreigners here too - last time I went past this gate the sign was only in English and no mention of police. I assume the other language is Polish. I can't think why anyone would risk that nasty looking gate top to enter when they could poach quite easily from the side of the lake that's by the public footpath!

I prefer the sign alleged to be displayed in Scotland that reads

Trespassers will be chased by a Bull -
survivors may be prosecuted.

1 language would be enough on that one.

There are far too many notices saying you cant and far too few saying  please do.

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"Every day is a nice day - if you wake up - even nicer if you are dining at Cann Office"

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On the subject of Councils and their love of signage!

             Oh the irony.

                                        Graham.

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Back to those MP's expenses. £150 a day expenses when they turn up, marvellous. I used to get money when I turned up, it was called wages!

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FACES,STREET,PROTEST & CANDID
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  May be this is just a London thing but what get right on my ni&%le end is those free newspaper vendors who stand in the middle of the pavement waving papers in front of your face every 10 yards even when you already have one in your hand!!!.

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http://community.dcmag.co.uk/photos/malky1841s_gallery/default.aspx

Malky1841:

  May be this is just a London thing but what get right on my ni&%le end is those free newspaper vendors who stand in the middle of the pavement waving papers in front of your face every 10 yards even when you already have one in your hand!!!.

I don't want to go all namby-pamby eco-friendly (that wouldn't do at all on this thread). However, we're doing all we can to protect the environment, while these vendors are handing out the last of the rainforests, 'cos that's whats used to produce the newspapers!

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Chris Seary

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Very true! but the same could be said for every newspaper i suppose, but never the less i don't understand why they have to be there blocking the pavement when your trying to get home after work when all they need to do is put them in a pile by the side for us to take one if or when we need it.  The metro does this and its still the most popular free paper around.

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