I would just like to say that I, and my wife, are thoroughly bored with the non stop coverage, and driven to distraction trying to find TV programme we want watch as they move channels, times and even disappear completely.

Let us assume that I decline to pay the additional charge for garden waste in my green bin.
I am assured that kitchen refuse will still be collected for no charge.
So, if I buy a cabbage from my local supermarket, eat some and put the remains in the green bin that will be fine.
But, if i grow a cabbage in my garden, eat some and put the remains in the green bin it will not be collected.
so my question is "Who will do the DNA testing to establish the provenance of the discarded portion of cabbage?"

I was very suprised the other day when I was reading an advertisment for commerative D Day specially minted coins.
Right at the bottom, in the smallest of print, it was revealed that the company behind the promotion was German.

Yesterday, in bitterness and resentment I had to give the council £50 so my green bin will carry on being emptied. There seemed no other choice, Trekinng to the dump every time there was garden waste (hard work and inconvenient), using the black bin (it is often pretty full anyway) fly tipping (not nice) were considered and rejected.

The gentlemen and ladies of the ruling party may come to regret this new levy come next election time. I sincerely hope so!

Funny old thing this Syria business. I know there are supposed to be "Good Rebels" and "Bad Rebels" but I am not sure they are different people, just the same guys who are "Good" on weekdays and "Bad" at the weekend. Some two or three years ago we shippped some arms to the "Good Rebels" only to find that within a short time the arms had mysteriously come into the "Bad Rebels" possesion.

So now we plan to intervene again against the Syrian Government. Basically this means supporting ISIS and its offshoots.

Are we really sure this is a good idea?

In November last year a standard pack of supermarket own brand butter was 87 pence.
Two days ago that same pack of butter was £1.60.
An increase of just over 85%
But officially inflation is around 2-3 %

Do I believe official government statistics or the evidence of actual price rises in the real world?

Thursday afternoon, about 5 o'clock, I was leaving Bradley-Moore square in Thatcham when I missed my footing, tripped over a kerbstone and smacked my face into the pavement. Dazed and hurting I lay for a few seconds before I was suddenly surrounded by people wanting to help me. Tissues were produced to wipe the blood and grit from my face. A mobile phone was produced and before I knew it I had the phone and was being questioned by a medic on my condition, name, age etc.
One of the ladies then took me by car to the local hospital minor injuries unit. I think her name was Jena but I may have got that wrong (I was a bit confused at the time). Anyway she phoned for my wife and daughter and remained with me at the hospital until they arrived to take me home.
All I can say is a big THANK YOU.

Ironically some three weeks ago my wife had a fall in Newbury wharf area and met similar kindness from strangers one of whom insisted on driving her (and I) back to where we had parked at Sainsburys.

It may mean nothing but both of our guardian angels were of non-british origin.

Whats all the fuss about? Round here the conservatives could put up a dead pig as a candidate and it would be elected with an overwhelming majority.

OK I give in. Posted them at local sub-post office in a shop. Took about 40 minutes at the counter.

A small point. It is said that if I did the business of getting them weighed at the post office and paying the charges, I could then take them to the delivery depot myself. but if I did that I would be acting as a subcontractor to the post office (unpaid) and would also invalidate my car insurance which is only for "social, domestic and pleasure"

Can anybody tell me if I can post parcels at the Royal Mail delivery office next door to Thatcham station? Got rather big ones (parcels that is) and it will be difficult at little local sub post offices.

Oh give up guys and gals
Those who matter, bankers, cabinet members, business leaders etc have decided the vote is for IN
It will be fudged and fiddled so the vote becomes IN
The whole voting process is a farce

What is it about Thursdays? Every week this one day is the worst of the week for morning traffic. It takes twice as long to get from Thatcham to the Robin Hood as any other day.

Anyone got any ideas?

Northfield Road Post Office in the mini Tesco in Thatcham has worked well for more years than I can remember. All of a sudden the Po want to change it so that they do away with the physical part of the post office (Counters etc) and you post parcels and do any other PO business across the Tesco tills alongside other shop customers.

I am not sure about the security this offers the many vulnerable people who use this post office. Who is watching as you do your business, taking money out of example?

There is an e-petition opposing tis change that can be found by entering "care2" into a search engine. Not my job to tell anyone to sign it, I'm just a concerned customer but why do the post office management want to change something that works perfectly well as it is?

I am sticking with RM.

Last time I tried to use a "rival" to send a parcel to Northern Ireland they told me it was not part of the European Union so I would be charged the same as if it was at the far end of Eastern Europe, same price as Belarus.

I retreated back to good old RM

OK - LETS GET REAL ON THIS TOPIC.

I and several neighbours in thatcham have had rats in our gardens recently.

Our communal garage block is infested with rats.

I have seen a dead rat in the gutter at Beenham hill near the hospital and a live one on the pavement further along opposite Tesco/Poundstretcher area.

Friends have mentioned rat problems in other areas of newbury and Thatcham.

Looks like the floods have driven them out of their usual nesting places and they are all looking for new homes, hence the whole area is infested with them.

Funny thing is that there has been no mention of this in NWN or anywhere else. Conspiracy of silence????.

Over the last ten days or so i have seen rats in my back garden, a neighbour 100 yards away has shot some with an airgun and another has been putting down poison. i have laid baited traps (without success) and a local tom cat has had a couple.

Now the little pests have got in my garage and started eating ny seed potatos that were due for planting this week.

It has been suggested that the problem is that recent flooding has driven them from they old homes and they are seeking pastures new.

Anyone else aware of this problem?

What about the authorities? council? environment? anyone have responsibilities in this area of concern?

They are dim because they are ecologically sound, low energy, very green etc etc.
If we want bright lights we need to burn more energy.
Its a choice. The council chose "dim and cheap running" if you want "bright but more expensive" then change the council.

Hey! Listen up you guys. The supermarkets seem to have listened to this thread and the correspondence in the printed paper.

All (I think) of the main supermarkets are offering three 4pint containers for £3. Not quite as good as £1 each but a good deal better than £1.39 which is now the standard one pack price.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE copyright Wolfie Smith

and last night in a Tesco Local it was £1.39 - another 10p rise!!
are they taking the mickey?

in the paper version of NWN this week was a letter from K Harvey commenting on the price of milk. Specifically that the major supermarkets charge £1.29 per 4 pints whilst Iceland charges only £1.00.

May I say that Lidl and Aldi also only charge £1.00

!n thatcham at a so called convenience store they wanted to charge me over £1.50 and the container was only 2 litreS rather than the usual 4 pint/2.227 litre normally sold.

But in defence of Tesco/Sainsbury etc I have to admit that when I was recently in Northern Ireland their stores there charged only £1.00. In fact even small village stores did not charge more than £1.05.

To conclude then, it is really the Newbury area that is being subjected to higher prices BECAUSE THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT.

FACT. Monday, journey from Thatcham Central to Faraday rd. Journey time 55 minutes.
FACT. Tuesday, journey from Thatcham Central to Faraday rd. Journey time 48 minutes
FACT Wednesday, need to go to the retail park. Don't want a repeat of Monday/Tueday so elect to go via thatcham station and Burys Bank rd. Level crossing closed, (all day????) traffic queuing half a mile up Pipers Lane. Finally escape and go via LowerWay, Hambridge Rd etc. Journey time 90 odd minutes.

CONCLUSION. Newbury is not accessible from the eastern side. As far as folk in the east are concerned Newbury is closed.
Fortunatly Reading, Basingstoke and Oxford are accessible and will benefit from my trade over the next half year.

Question. Were the BID team, Shopkeepers, Commerce departments etc consulted or advised of the impact of this concatenation of roadworks?

Spartacus - brilliant, absolutely brilliant. RESPECT!

Sorry Richard but I could not disagree more.
The lights in the broadway were sparse in the extreme and the solar powered christmas trees did not switch on at the same time. I don't know when they came on but they were working the following evening, if by "working" you mean that feeble flickering.
In my book the whole lighting saga scored about one out of ten.

Last year we got Kitchen caddies for waste food and a bundle of biodegradable bags. I feel pretty sure that at the time we were promised a six monthly delivery of replacement bags.
In the spring we got a delivery of new bags.
So far so good We supplemented the free bags with a limited number of bought bags and all was well.
Until now.
I now discover from the council website that there a no more bags from the council and we all have to buy them from supermarkets.

Also, my caddy has fallen apart so I followed the links on the website to ask for a replacement. I got a reply to the effect that there was a issue of one per household and thats it. There are no replacements but again these can be purchased from various shops.

Can anyone explain how this encourages recycling?
How many households will just stop bothering?

Or is this another little cut in what we get for our council tax, death by a thousand cuts?

****.
Forgot what i was going to say.
What did I come here for?
Oh - forget it. probably wasn't important anyway.