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Tom V

@smbm

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06.10.2023
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Latest posts by Tom V @smbm

@scchighways.bsky.social Do you know why there are yellow cones out on Carlton Rd? Do you need people to move their cars? Nothing has been put through the door telling the residents why is far as we can tell.

08.02.2026 12:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I once was threatened to be "stabbed in the lungs with a screwdriver" if I didn't give a refund which was worryingly specific. I had to say "Look, I don't have till keys so there is nothing I can do for you even if I wanted to, let me get my manager though and you can discuss lung stabbing with him"

16.12.2025 17:28 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Also at HMV:
"Do you sell towels"
"Do you sell potatoes"
"I see there is a Celtic Chillout album, do you now if Rangers have a Chillout album?"

16.12.2025 17:27 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

When I worked at HMV:
Customer: "Do you have tickets for <gig>"
Me: "Yes we do they are available from the counter downstairs" gesturing at the well signposted and visible staircase 3 metres away
Customer: "Where's that then?"
Me: "It's literally down stairs, I don't know how I could be any clearer"

16.12.2025 17:19 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

A slight tangent but The Cuckoos Egg by Clifford Stoll is a fascinating true story from the early days of the internet. Plenty of interesting history in there though not the major focus of the book.

14.08.2025 16:07 👍 13 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

This seems like an excellent way to provide jobs for the boys and waste loads of money. Our water companies are natural monopolies, there is no competition and never can be, so why should they remain private companies paying dividends to shareholders. Why can every single penny not be reinvested?

21.07.2025 15:40 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Work begins today reinstate 30mph roads in Shirley Work is set to begin today to reinstate 30mph zones in Shirley that had been made 20mph

www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/2528229...

02.07.2025 12:37 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Scheme was set to run for 3 hours in the morning and 3 in the evening, so no incentive for local hospitality businesses to invest in outside tables and chairs, especially given the debacle of the Bedford Place pedestrianisation getting cancelled early.

25.06.2025 17:55 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Portswood Project trial set to begin The trial for the part time bus/taxi/cycle only restriction on Portswood Road is set to begin on Monday 27 January 2025.

www.southampton.gov.uk/news/article...

25.06.2025 17:53 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Portswood has a dedicated bypass that was presumably built at great expense and cleared a huge amount of housing and has created a huge obstacle to pedestrians for a large distance in the city.

25.06.2025 17:53 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The council have no interest whatsoever in limiting the movements of motorists in a serious way.

They tried to pedestrianise Portswood recently but consulted so much the scheme was useless. They did not LTN the surrounding residential roads so traffic increased and the scheme was swiftly scrapped.

25.06.2025 17:50 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

There are 2 schools and a college on or next to Hill Lane and 3 schools on roads that join it.

All of the roads are residential roads.

Southampton is very densely populated.

25.06.2025 17:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

They also steadfastly refuse to tackle pavement parking or make HMO occupiers take bins back in so pavements are blocked often.

They design and are proud of terrible junctions like this (see how there is a van on the pavement too): www.google.com/maps/@50.918...

I got hit by a car at this junction

25.06.2025 17:38 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

They also pledged that the only route capable of carrying a bus lane across the Itchen River would not have bus lanes.

Have done half arsed pedestrianisation schemes that are bad for everyone because they try to please everybody instead of just pleasing non motorists.

25.06.2025 17:34 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Speed limits set to change in weeks as 20mph is scrapped The council have U-turned a decision to make a number of city centre roads 20 miles per hour.

Southampton are reversing some sections of 20MPH limits that will have very minimal impact on journey times: www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/2526046...

The council here have been building new parking spaces on green space, building sections of bike lanes that don't join up, disappear at junctions etc

25.06.2025 17:31 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0

I hope you are part of this @darrenpaffey.bsky.social and @laboursatvir.bsky.social

23.06.2025 22:37 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Or something I can respond to in the app. Or they can somehow authorise themselves back to me with a memorable phrase or whatever.

07.06.2025 17:00 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

By building infra that stops and starts at random, diverts through sketchy parks with high crime rates, completely ignores junctions when things get difficult, gives way to minor side roads etc etc, they will not create additional cycle trips.

Wasting money sets back build proper infra.

01.06.2025 18:17 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I know they think I’m being hostile, they have told me so, but the amount of money that’s been wasted on cycling infra that cannot work is staggering.

If they’re not going to do it properly they should not do anything and spend the money on something else.

01.06.2025 18:15 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I’ve used quite robust language with my Cllrs here in Southampton to try to get them to understand that what they should build is a problem that is already solved, the only question is whether they have the guts to do it.

Anything else is a waste of money and should not be considered.

01.06.2025 18:13 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The irony here is that the Southampton Labour administration are actively hostile towards anyone trying to get about without a car. Anyone wanting a more pleasant city with fewer car trips through residential and shopping areas.

30.05.2025 11:35 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Exactly, I refuse to engage, I ask them to prove who they are and they get all defensive.

The downside is I then have to sit in 20 minutes of hold music on an outbound call at my end to get my payment cleared.

27.05.2025 16:17 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I pointed out that this was creating the perfect conditions for fraud, setting a precedent of making outgoing calls to customers and asking them to confirm their details. They did not seem to care.

My payments kept getting flagged even though I had made payments before to the same accounts too.

27.05.2025 16:10 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I've had a lot of issues with Co-op bank opsec.

They kept flagging transfers to my building society regular saver for fraud checks but would then ting me and ask me to confirm my details and I kept asking them to prove who they were, after all, they rung me, and they said they were not allowed to.

27.05.2025 16:09 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0

I used to work in a record shop where we sold gig tickets from the counter in the basement:

Customer: Do you sell gig tickets?
Me on the till right next to the stairs: Yes they are sold from the counter downstairs
Customer: Where's that?
Me: It's down stairs, I don't know how it could be clearer?

27.05.2025 15:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

This is very common in Southampton, almost universal on some roads. Cllrs actively don't care. If it's not cars then its bins permanently out on the pavement, or often both. Council have powers to deal with it but actively choose not to exercise them.

23.04.2025 10:00 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

And boiled or roast chicken (again no salt), she loved human food so if we could get some with low enough salt content that was something she would eat as a treat.

19.04.2025 13:38 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Ruby also loved prawns, so if we could ever find low or no salt prawns we would always buy them.

19.04.2025 13:36 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Integra Protect Renal Yummy Bits ► Unlock the deal, shop now. Integra Protect Renal Yummy Bits – yoo-hoo! This might be your cat’s favorite snack. Do you want to find out? Discover all of our attractive offers.

I am pretty sure it was these ones: www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dr...

She continued to get Dreamies too and we pretty much just fed her as much as she wanted, she always had renal biscuits to graze on and we gave her wet food as often as she wanted it.

19.04.2025 13:25 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

With Ruby we had better success with the renal biscuits than we did with the renal wet food. Renal treats were also well received, sometimes we would use these as garnish on top of renal wet food to add interest. We also fed 12+ wet food, broths, and soups to get moisture back into her system.

19.04.2025 13:16 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0