Brixton news, rumour and general chat - January 2014

[Onket]

But it's so very black and shiny, isn't it! Why is it so black, I wonder?

Some kind of mould, probably?

 

[TruXta]

Aliens?

 

[trabuquera]

DEATH

 

[editor]

Interesting bit of speculation about the future use of the old Granada Cars office in Coldharbour Lane by a local resident.

It's designated for A2 use, so primed and ready for another bastard estate agent.

http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2014/01/...nada-cars-office-on-coldharbour-lane-brixton/

 

[leanderman]

Ah well, you see. My drains never did block up, because the clever trap would trap the gunk before it ever got into the drains. So once or twice a year, the water would start to run slowly and make a strange gurgling noise in the kitchen sink. This was my cue to get out there in the next week or so to clear the strange black slicky gunk out of the trap. I had a dedicated crowbar that had a strange kink in it with which I prised up the grate, and then the trap thing would come out, and I'd knock that out into a previously prepared bin bag, and then I'd hose out with trap onto the back of the garden, and that was that. I was worried in the beginning that the black gunk would not be incorporated into the garden soil, but it was. There were never fewer than four adults living in the house and sometimes as many as seven, plus guests. I reckoned that wasn't too bad: a twice-a-year chore to take care of the gunk produced by that many people showering and cooking every day.

I had a pair of long-cuffed rubber gloves that were dedicated to this task as well. And sometimes, someone else would do it so I didn't have to. That was always a great day.

But it's so very black and shiny, isn't it! Why is it so black, I wonder?

Yes. Same trap. Dead clever. I put my hand inside a carrier bag or two.

 

[leanderman]

Where's best to get rid of baby/infant clothes? On inspection, some appear to be untouched.

 

[Chilavert]

Clothes recycling bin?

There are a couple on the Tulse Hill estate, up by the Lambeth Housing offices.

 

[Winot]

Where's best to get rid of baby/infant clothes? On inspection, some appear to be untouched.

Probably easiest to have a fourth.

 

[story]

Where's best to get rid of baby/infant clothes? On inspection, some appear to be untouched.

From the drains??! You might want to check what else is down there while you're at it...

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

1,000 up.

 

[story]

DEATH

It certainly smelled that way. Like dead aliens... Dead mouldy aliens...

 

[Onket]

You sneak, Dexter Deadwood!

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

You sneak, Dexter Deadwood!

Congratulations on your stewardship of a lively thread and restoring the traffic if not order.

 

[editor]

From Twitter:

Chris & Dave ‏@saltsearth2 hrs
Bid accepted on a bar in Brixton! Roll on world domination for @saltsearth pic.twitter.com/0XeC1ovRJT

"Cocktail Therapy: Drinks Consultants for Drake & Morgan & Counsellors for Salts of the Earth ltd"

 

[Chilavert]

Pop-up cocktail bar in Foxtons?

Edit: On Coldharbour Lane somewhere apparently; in the vicinity of the Villaaage or perhaps the old Joy store? The latter may require change of use though I guess...

 

[Rushy]

Bloody hell. Lambeth wrote to me advising that I was due a council tax refund but that I would need to request it from them before it would be returned. So I wrote to them by email requesting it. Almost two weeks later they have written to me asking for proof of payment.

 

[TruXta]

Bathsalts of the Earth?

 

[leanderman]

Probably easiest to have a fourth.

Separate bedrooms from here on in

 

[ViolentPanda]

I have an empty food can that lives by the hob, into which the excess fat/oil is poured at the end of cooking. When it's full, I put it in a plastic bag and put it in the bin.

We use an empty jar. When it's full we just tape the lid on and stick it in with the general rubbish.

 

[ViolentPanda]

People in this house before us did not bin their oil and fat, which led to me putting my entire arm down the outside drain u-bend to clear a bagful of it. Hideous stench.

When my parents downsized their place in Folkestone to a small terrace, I had to do much the same thing at the place they bought. It looked like the previous tenants were pouring all their fat down the sink, and occasionally using an unfolded wire coathanger down the drain to keep the drain (barely) functional. I ended up taping a binbag around my arm, and then scooping this heave-inducing dark-grey gunk out of the drain by the handful. Pulled out enough to fill a washing-up bowl, and it was only a 4" drainpipe!

 

[EastEnder]

When my parents downsized their place in Folkestone to a small terrace, I had to do much the same thing at the place they bought. It looked like the previous tenants were pouring all their fat down the sink, and occasionally using an unfolded wire coathanger down the drain to keep the drain (barely) functional. I ended up taping a binbag around my arm, and then scooping this heave-inducing dark-grey gunk out of the drain by the handful. Pulled out enough to fill a washing-up bowl, and it was only a 4" drainpipe!

Sulphuric acid drain cleaner is a lot easier.

 

[Rushy]

Sulphuric acid drain cleaner is a lot easier.

Not sure thriller would agree

 

[story]

Sulphuric acid drain cleaner is a lot easier.

But very mean to the faeries of the forest. or those little goblin folk who live down there in the stinking black depths. Either way, I'd rather avoid pouring toxic shit into the water courses. or does sulphuric acid break down harmlessly in the environment...?

 

[thriller]

Brings back aweful memories...

 

[EastEnder]

But very mean to the faeries of the forest. or those little goblin folk who live down there in the stinking black depths. Either way, I'd rather avoid pouring toxic shit into the water courses. or does sulphuric acid break down harmlessly in the environment...?

It breaks down in the sense of reacting with bases until the pH matches the surrounding environment. Probably ghosts a fair few faeries in the process, but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Sulphuric acid drain cleaner is a lot easier.

Not if you need to use the sink straight away.

They did dose it a few times over the following weeks, though.

 

[editor]

If this new cocktail bar is opening where I think it's going to happen, it may get, err, *interesting*.

 

[Rushy]

Albert garden?

 

[friendofdorothy]

There are loads of those new little recycling bins all over the streets, already broken. They are going to be a disaster.

I'm in favour of more recycling, but why does the whole of Lambeth look such a mess!

Design/ size /number of bins looks a mess - did no one think this through? I'm fed up that evening before and whole day when they empty the bins, all the streets are an obstacle course and the pavements are usable. We have front yard next to pavement with no fence, but unless I move bins a few inches so they block the pavement too, the binmen won't empty them. Wind just blows over all the small bins everywhere.

 

[editor]

I'm sure I must have got it wrong, because if it is the place I've been told, I really couldn't think of a most unusual choice for a trendy upmarket cocktail bar