X Kyle M Thompson

#savegabysdeli Dear Mr Cameron…

Dear Mr Cameron,

As a supporter of Ms Portas' recent report regarding safeguarding and revitalising the high street I wonder if you are aware of the Marquess of Salisbury's plans for Charing Cross in Westminster? As part of the development proposal a number of small shops & businesses are being forced to close to make way for a larger venue that appears to have been earmarked as a possible location for a large 'chain' restaurant or similar. Amongst the business that will be affected is Gaby's Deli at 30 Charing Cross road - a place that is known though out the world & is held in high esteem in the hearts, minds & stomachs of people worldwide. Personally my family have been eating there since they opened, indeed my grandmother seems to recall a deli there before Gaby took over. It would be a shame to lose this treasured restaurant within our capital, especially given the emphasis of Ms Portas' report I wonder if you might request a reassessment of these plans by Lord Salisbury?

Yours Sincerely,

Kyle Thompson
[Address supplies]

Together in Electric Dreams

P162

I've always been a big fan of 80's music, mainly I suppose because I grew up in the 80's & many of my earliest musical memories come from 1979 onwards (the 80's started a year early with The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star"). In 1984 Phil Oakey & Giorgio Moroder released the very best song from that decade, a song that hasn't really been bettered by anything since. Not only does the Oakey & Moroder original sum up the 80's perfectly but also as a song it is superb - I have collected various cover versions over the last few years & every one is a product of its time & every one is superb in its own way. Now that's clever, writing the perfect pop song.

Service from Advantage Valley, Hanham, Bristol

On 18 July a lorry drove into the back of my new car, scraped & gouged rear quarter, door, wheel & bumper. Annoying as I'd only had it 2 weeks. Hastings sent a truck which took my car to their chosen repairer & Hastings organised a hire car for me. It took a week to get authority to do the repairs, Advantage said it would take about two weeks. They did the work, finished a week & a half ago & then went to get new wheel balanced & said they found the axle was bent. Then so then it would be the end of the week - last week. As I was working nights I sent hire car back last Tuesday thinking I would pick up car yesterday. I phoned & they told me they'd found the sub chassis was bent & would need further authorisation so I've just been up today to get a courtesy car from them. My car was sitting outside so I went & had a look at the work they had done so far. The welding work where they cut out old panel & put in new is invisible to me, but the paint on rear door is not of the best quality. There are blisters, the painted rear door handle appears to have black plastic showing through & rather than being shiny it is matte. On the C pillar there is a black decal surrounding the metalwork - rather than replacing this it has been masked & the resulting overspray looks like... Well, looks like *I* did it. One can clearly see the rear wheel is out of alignment, but that is work outstanding. The car is filthy inside & out, & someone has stuck a Waitrose sticker on the back. Doesn't really show great respect for my property. I pointed out the paintwork defects whilst I was there & I have phoned Hastings to tell them I am not happy with their choice of repairer. I feel that if they had properly assessed the damage initially then they could have repaired it sooner or possibly even the car would have been written off. It's getting on for 50% of the cost by now I would estimate. Their whole manner of dealing with me has left me less than confident in their abilities, once I do get my car back I will be taking it to FIAT to have it checked over. Never once have the garage phoned me to inform me of the status of my repair - I have had to phone them every time. Each time I do ring they have no idea who I am & have to look up my vehicle reg. It's been 6 weeks now. Since I bought this car it's been in the garage longer than it's been on the road. I am less than happy.