Benches outside Tesco

kreuzkav

I think this has been a most interesting thread. Commissar's question, 'are we a bunch of atomised, cynical individuals who couldn't give a toss, is a very pertinent one, especially in times of recession with a Tory led government at the helm. Despite the anti-social behaviour occuring on and around these seats maybe it's unfair to penalise the elderly and less abled who welcomed a bit of a sit down on the way out of Tescos.

I think Checkski's point about being careful when it comes to posts about local characters should be heeded. I'm guilty of being a bit loose tongued on here, so this is a note to myself too. I think it's one thing doing it in a bar among friends, but this is a public forum and people's reputations might be damaged. However, free speech and a certain messiness are part of forum culture, but we should be careful.

We should also try to be respectful of each other on here and not make sweeping judgements. In the heat of the moment and maybe after a few pints late at night these things happen. I imagine we have a mixed group of people on here but I think it's generally a university educated middle class crowd . I'm from a borderline working class/middle class Irish emigrant background, but I have friends from all classes and races, even some who were educated at public schools.

I think this is a great forum and I've learnt a lot about places. I've also had my views challenged about a variety of issues (noise, gangs, benches etc.). I get the feeling most people are on here because they care about the area, even if their views are varied and opposing.

ADGS

I think the Stalinism is relevant in that any appeal towards community spirit, social values or morality from a defender of one of history's greatest monsters is necessarily going to ring a little hollow. Particularly when he starts throwing around words like 'cynical', a term I feel can more easily be applied to certain of Uncle Joe's policies than to not being that bothered about the posterior comfort of a bongo player.

kreuzkav

I agree ADGS. Stalin's fascist collective communism was just as bad as Hitlers. More people were killed under his regime too. Does Commissar support him? From what I know of him, he is the Trotskyist who seems to be Mr Rent-a-cause? The guy with the beer and Trotsky paraphenalia who was always outside Tesco.

Arkady

His sect is distinctly Stalinist. They probably have icepicks as standard issue.

Emma

You don't have to buy anything in Tesco to sit on the seats inside Tesco.

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David

Christ, I've never witnessed so much collective palm toffee over a public bench.

Ali

Go and spend them at the Devonshire in Crouch End - only one per session is allowed so that’s 40 times you have to visit to use them up. It opens on the 16th <http://www.hornseyjournal.co.uk/news/silence_not_broken_at_wetherspoon_s_despite_music_bid_at_crouch_end_pub_1_719356>; I have found that at the WLM you can use one per time you buy drinks although the price of a pint is not allowed to fall below a pound when taking the voucher into account. I was finding at the start of the year that the beer was so cheap that I wasn’t getting my 50p worth because of that rule !

Arkady

Wrong thread Ali, but thanks for the tip. I may brave the new place.

Emma

I'm a bit scared to ask, but what is palm toffee?

David

It's a special elixir I wash the forum down with every now and then to help prevent confusion of mild local authority incompetence with Stalin/Tories/Hitler/Sith/Ben Fogle.

miss annie

Ooo, I love Ben Fogle.

David

He was personally responsible for removing that bench you know. And the trees. I've heard he ate dolphins rowing the atlantic and killed polar bear cubs for fun in that other im-so-posh-i-need-a-dangerous-challenge-to-validate-myself show that he did.

ShaunG

@misscara -why would there be talks about putting the benches back? Either remove them or don't, don't take a step and then back down - that's the kind of fannying around that rightly gives councils a bad name. And why are you in agony? Was talking to the council that painful? Whatever it is, hope you recover and thanks for looking into it.

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ADGS

Yesterday a friend of mine got mistaken for a homeless by one of the cast of Doctors, who was very rude to him. Said friend wasn't even attempting to accost the actor, just saying hello to his girlfriend who was. Given all the discussion of whether or not board members understand the plight of the homeless, this seems as if it might be relevant, though I'm not entirely sure how. For myself, I was mainly puzzled that everyone was accosting (or not) one of the cast of Doctors when Victor Lewis-Smith was stood about two feet away.

krappyrubsnif

Oh no - this thread is morphing into Top Celeb Spot.

Now if one of those benches had been used by a celeb, it would be a different matter.

commissar17

Sorry, guys. In my discussions with both Tesco and the council, nobody mentioned "Mr Bongo". Can someone please tell me who this particular bench-user is/was, and why SG should presumably become a music-free zone?
Yes, I'm back in the debate (despite having earlier withdrawn). And, by the way, I am definitely a Stalinist, not that it's relevant to this thread. Being labelled a Trotskyist is a very hurtful thing, indeed.
Latest news: There's a petition being organised to reinstate the benches, and support has already been strong.

JoeV

Maybe people who do not live on Stroud Green Road should swap flats for a week with someone who does. You may come away with a very different perspective on noise, crime, drunks and bongo players.

David

This constant trumpet blowing of ones political persuasion is getting very tiring. It feels like its permeating every thread on the site recently.

WillM

What's your perspective, Joe? I think people on both sides of this debate could come away from your comment thinking you're supporting their point of view...

miss annie

@David I'm a Deppist with occasional leanings toward Fogleism.

sincers

I wanted to be Sith, but I've got a bad back.

ADGS

I never saw Mr or Mrs Bongo, only heard the incessant, tedious, migraine throb of its efforts. As I said upthread, I have no objection* to buskers who use the classic acoustic guitar, or other instruments that don't carry. But anything with that much bottom end dominates the whole of the street. It's rude and invasive. Ditto boy racers with bass-heavy soundsystems on their motors, obviously, but at least for the most part they are only haring down the street over the speed limit, so not a problem for very long.

*I think they're almost invariably shit, but in a harmless way, so I'm happy to live and let live.

miss annie

@sincers You could be Jedi - it's a recognised religion now I think. @ADGS and Commissar It was a scruffy looking chap. That's not snobbery just a statement of fact but I appreciate that that might not help with identifying him on SGR.

N4Matt

I can't believe the fuss being made about a bench, a bench that was used almost exclusively for street drinking and begging.

It seems ridiculous.

In other news, I was off work on Friday and down by the station at about 9:30 am when Mr Bongo arrived on his long board skateboard (natch) to bongo-ing away under the bridge. I couldn't help thinking that if he had gotten out of bed an hour or so earlier he might have had more success with commuters going to work.

Either way, it seems reasonable that people should not have to put up with someone drumming outside their home/business (or heavily drinking/begging etc and monopolizing public furniture).

David

@miss_annie Deppism is a very acceptable stance. However any leangings towards such a Fop Twat as Fogle is reprehensible and undoes all your good work.

JoeV

@WillM -- My perspective is that people who on live on or near SGR should expect (and I think do for the most part) that they will need to have a higher level tolerance to all that comes from living on a busy road. But for those who live farther away, I think you’d be surprised at the nonsense that goes on in this area. People who live on SGR either witness or deal with more crime, more noise, more everything and will have a very different perspective than someone who rides by on the top deck of the W3 or W7 twice a day. So when people make dismissive comments about issues or start petitions for things that don’t happen in front of their home (or business) I often think they should trade places for a day. What I think is hilarious in this thread, other than the realisation that I live in one of the last bastions of Stalinism, is that whether you believe the benches attract the wrong sort of crowd or provide a refuge for the less fortunate one thing both sides have in common is that they seem to be made of people with no direct stake in the matter other than principle.

Arkady

A thoughtful post Joe, though I understood that the point of principle was to assist in defining right and wrong regardless of whether one is personally affected.

JungleFaceJake

@ JoeV, I think that anyone who lives in the vicinity of SGR, and uses it as their main place of shopping/meals out/drinking, has a right to speak about it and decisions made about what is going on there.

The benches were outside a commercial property that is frequented by residents who don't just live on SGR.

So anyone who wishes to have a say should be free to, no matter how stupid or ill-advised they are, or what ever their idiotic political leanings are.

@N4Matt, I think you might see this might be about more than just the benches. The benches are the catalyst of a more wide ranging debate about social welfare.

@commissar17

Bongo's do not constitute music.