Dulwich Clock Cafe Review

The cafe is situated in the pretty Dulwich Park in London. We went to the park for the first time. We decided to lunch there but it was so noisy because of the screaming parents and kids, some were having pizza parties next to us and using scooters in the cafe. There was no place for adults to go to without parents and kids being there. It was like a horrible noisy creche.

The cafe should have a separate area for families and a quiet area for adults only.

Even outside the cafe, it was no different, lots of kids and noisy barking dogs, and parents shouting at their kids.

The food was nice and I had a fresh egg and cress sandwich on granary bread.

The staff were nice, though the management clearly doesn’t care about adults who wish to be somewhere quiet.

I think we will have a picnic next time we go to the park and avoid the cafe.

UK: Review: Counter-Terrorism Training

I thought I would try and do the Police ‘Counter-Terrorism’ training, and be a good citizen. I am one of these people who like to be vigilent, after all, I don’t trust people that much, which helps. The free training is for ordinary members of the public and businesses. The link is here https://ct.highfieldelearning.com/. It is supposed to be an ‘Award winning Course’

 

The training was supposed to take 45 minutes, but it took me one and half hours because it was very slow, and some of the modules didn’t work properly so I had to keep going back into them again. Was this ever tested?

There was some good information in there, such as how to spot a suspicious bag and how to spot a suspicious person and how to approach them. Also how far people should cordon off an area where there is a suspicious bag. And calling the police on your phone, far away from the suspicious bag was a useful reminder.

 

I liked the short snappy modules and that there was plenty of visual training.

 

However, there were some points that I wanted to mention. When you had to ‘search’ for a suspicious package in the video, it was impossible to see what was in the bag, whether there were any wires in, because the photo was so far away from the item. There should be a Zoom function. Maybe there was one, but it was impossible to see

 

On the final module, there were a load of documents for you to click and read, and some documents ‘you had no authority’ to read, which didn’t make any sense. I did find the last module, a bit of a confusing jumble of information.

 

Finally, it was impossible to know whether you had actually completed all the modules as you were not sure whether you would get a certificate at the end, which would have been nice. One module just wasn’t working properly, or perhaps it was, but it was uncordinated. My computer is a bit slow sometimes, but I went into it several times, and there was nothing, no module in the module.

 

Would I recommend the training? Well, yes, even if it doesn’t work that well, I did learn something and I am a bit more vigilant now.

 

 

 

 

Review of Tooting Market by a Senior Reviewer

It was a bit of a disapppointing experience. Oh dear, thought it would be much better.

It was quite empty during the week, compared to all the other shops in the High Street. When I looked at the stalls, several were closed, and when you looked at them, the staff had wandered off. Several stallholders on fabric stalls, looked bored, and some were catching up on their sleep.

When you approached some of the stalls, people didn’t ask if you wanted any help. They spent a lot of time preferring to look on their phone, or chat to their friends on the phone. They barely looked up from them. When you had to ask for something, they didn’t show you, but just said ‘there it is’. Then they would hover by you ‘as if you were a shoplifter’, or perhaps, they wanted you to hurry up, so they can ring their friends for a chat. They made no effort to engage with you, have a chat or make you feel welcome. They semed to be more focussed on chatting to their fellow stallholder friends, than their customers, who help pay for their wages. Do they treat younger people different, I don’t know. This is how they treated me as an older person.

The area round the market has lots of cockroaches, and I have seen them too, and it doesn’t help if the market has open food courts, which, I expect, is very hard to keep clean. I didn’t see any actually in the market, but I will keep a look out for them.

On the bright side, some of the stalls were good, they sold a good variety of things, including pet food and kitchenware, but customer service is certainly lacking, so there is a whole of room for improvement. The market won’t last if they don’t make an effort to engage, and make people feel welcome. Ir makes us seniors a little less lonely too.

Review:

Customer Service 2/10

Choice: 6/10

Wellbeing Factor: 2/10

Senior Friendly: 3/10

Review of #LondonPride2017 8th July

I watched the Parade from the sidelines along Regents Street and enjoyed seeing procession.

It was good to see different kinds of organisations getting involved, although it was very much dominated by large, impersonal, corporates like Tesco, British Airways, financial corporations and John Lewis. You rarely see them in smaller Prides. I didn’t see any rural businesses, or smaller businesses either. It appears to be more of a corporate ‘marketing ploy’ and also catered mostly for the urban population. Come on, Pride, where are the LGBT tractor drivers, the LGBT Gritters, the LGBT construction workers etc.

The Army, Royal Navy and the RAF were there which was good because they used to be so anti before, although even then I thought of it has a marketing ploy to get more fodder for the forces. The Coldstream Guards were there, still wearing their bearskins, on an extremely hot day.

I would like to see more types of organisations and clubs getting involved in LondonPride. Needs a bit of freshening up.

The Parade was smaller this year, but I think this was due to people having to register, but I think that is a good thing as it can make a bit a bit safer.

As an Asexual, I didn’t see any Asexual people in the corporate organisations involved. There was a distinct absence of diversity within these companies in that respect.

The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) were there as well as the Asexual Podcast team, Pieces of Ace.

Furthermore, I barely saw any disabled and wheelchair bound people and I saw virtually no elderly people. It is supposed to be inclusive, but it really isn’t enough. Perhaps carehomes and the like, are not providing trips to LGBT Pride, I don’t know. It just seems weird. The music is also catered for the much younger crowd. I don’t think Pride is really marketed or equipped for these people. London Pride has been going on for 50 years now, but it needs to cater for the older generation too as time goes on and our body falls apart. Even more seating for them would be helpful. I wasn’t given any survey by the organisers to provide them with any feedback.

I enjoyed the music despite this and the silly antics of those in the Parade, although it was really too hot and crowded to stay watching.

I did see a lone Christian man with a large cardboard with some homophobic comments and quoting the Bible. I just ignored him.

I went to Trafalgar Square and listened to the music and to Sadiq Khan droning on and on, it was good to see Peter Tatchell again. I didn’t see any Asexual speakers though.

I did notice that the LGBT brigade tends to ‘bring out the Scene people’, and according to the forums on social media, the Scene lot, can put off Non Scene gays and they refuse to go to Pride. In some ways, Pride has become ‘too sexual’ if that makes sense. One person I met said that the stuff in the Pride Magazine, didn’t apply to him. I would also add that there was nothing about Asexuality in the magazine either. Some Asexuals said that they were very unhappy about being ‘wiped off the PrideLondon posters.

Despite it being a very hot day, there was a lot of alcohol being sold, which was harmful to people’s health and increases anti social behaviour. However, there was a water fountain which people could use that was great. One blonde woman was so intoxicated that she was sick in Trafalgar Square, which was disgusting and I nearly got sprayed by it. However, generally people behaved really well and warm which was nice to see. Security was ok too.

Many people didn’t pick up their alocholic litter and loads of glass bottles were just left on the floor. There were officials who helped clear it up, but people should pick up their litter and it stops animals getting hurt too. I picked up my own litter.

Though there were dogs around, on a really hot day, the Event Organisers refused to supply any dog bowls, as ‘it was not their problem’. Next time I go to Pride, I will take my own dog bowl. I thought this attitude was poor. People forget to take dog bowls sometimes.

When I got home, I checked the news on social media, and you can see from the comments, that people who are gay are still having abuse in the 21st century, although generally on the Parade I didn’t see much of that other than the man with the cardboard.

REVIEW: 7/10 Generally a very good day, but needs some improvements.