sevenhills

I have similar problem - the dreaded fast growing leilandai hedge that is now like a 30ft brick wall. It seems quite complicated but when you read the council info you DO have to pay £350 for the privelege of them looking into the matter. Firstly you have to prove that you have tried to talk it over with your neighbour amicably and resolved it that way. If that does not work you pay up (the fee goes down to £60 if you are on benefits) and make your submission. I THINK you get your money back if the council decides that the neighbour has been unreasonable in which case they will force them to take action. If they decide otherwise you lose your money. My guess is this is to deter time wasters and trivial disputes but for those of us with a legitimate complaint it's a stinger. Who has a spare £350 knocking around these days? However if it's an inanimate structure (ie wall or fence) the max height is 6ft/2 meteres and they'll be round double pronto with a tape measure as soon as a neighbour complains.

I know they call them privacy trees but this is ridiculous. A neighbour's leylandaii hedge is about 12 feet long and 30 feet high and casts a huge shadow - they might as well have built a brick wall. Does council have power to tell them to cut it down? Is there a fixed legal height?

One of my neighbours has a leylandii hedge that now towers a good 30 feet high - it blocks out light and sends a huge shadow over our back garden in summer. I know if you try to build a fence higher than 2 meters the council will make you take it down - can they force my neighbours to cut their ugly stupid antisocial hedge. I don't want to peek into their garden, I just want a bit of sunlight on mine.

The fact that they have shafted creditors (not so much the Revenue but suppliers and even poor old St John's Ambulance Brigade) does leave a bitter taste in the mouth... which is why I'll be taking my custom elsewhere from now on. I'd just rather spend my hard-earned with people who, like me, pay their way.

They've found some acid on site and are considering further road closure. Either someone was using it to clear the drains or they've uncovered a bomb factory. Watch out for fun runners in penguin costumes

I started this link so I will end it - with an apology for misinformation. Kashmiri Aroma still going strong - it's the Aroma on London Road that is closed - and has been for some time.

Kashmiri Aroma in Woodeats (site of old Blue Room Brasserie) seems to have only opened a couple of months ago, got good reviews too, but my mate reckons he drove past on Friday and it was shut down. Has it closed already?

Now that the news has emerged that the Sheffield Star is to become a morning newspaper, what happens to my afternoon paper round?

Broomheads was always the best in Crookes - but the staff really are a grumpy lot. Not been for a while. Went to New Cod on Block at Commonside last week and it's a revelation - best fish in batter this side of Whitby. Well worth the walk down Springvale Road.

My company is moving to Attercliffe and some of my work colleagues have expressed concern that we will be moving into an area overrun by petty crime and prostitution and that for those of us using public transport it might be a dangerous place to be out on the streets after dark. What's it really like? What's the traffic like at peak times? Any good pubs? Any nice shops/cafes/parks to go at lunchtime?

Re errors in Profile: all the pages for this are now done by the Press Association in Hull - probably something to do with all those staff that were made redundant at The Star last year. And now there is no-one in Sheffield to check the pages, there are mistakes all over the magazine. Dare say advertisers and the Bakewell Show people won't be impressed.

The real sad day was in March 1986 when the Morning Telegraph closed. It had fantastic sports pages and it spurred the Star journalists on to have a morning paper in the same city to compete with. The end of competition, and cost cutting by Johnson Press, has brought complacency and poor content. The forum is good fun but who will cover local courts and councils and unveil corruption and hold authority to account if there is not a vibrant local press?

Well, it's nearly a week since I posted this blog and I'm still on the forum first page with over 2,000 hits - this one seems to have struck a nerve. To answer earlier queries I am a tall man and yes i do have large feet (shoe size varies between 12 and 13 depending on make). It's a pain buying shoes sometimes but hey - 'freakish'? surely that's harsh? Am I the only one reminded of John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson talking about foot massages at the start of Pulp Fiction? The fact that they're just killing time before they carry out a 'hit' on behalf of a Mr Big who had previously thrown a man through a plate glass window for the crime of giving said Mr Big's girlfriend (Uma Thurman) an inappropriate foot massage means every time I watch it I'll be reminded of this little incident. I've not been back to Meersbrook Park since btw - has anyone else been approached by this guy? Perhaps we should get together, form a support group, have monthly meetings where we can share our feelings etc etc...

Yes, I'm not making it up or exaggerating. That's exactly as it hapened. I'm amazed that someone else actually allowed him to indulge his fantasies. The real pain is, working in Heeley, this park is so convenient and really quiet on a sunny summer lunch break but now I don't feel like going back. I might go a little further afield next and try Chelsea Park - perhaps you get a better class of pervert there?

True story: Sat on bench in Meersbrook Pk near Bishop's House yesterday enjoying the sunshine and the solitude, eating lunch, guy in motorised wheelchair stops beside me, strikes up conversation. Asks me how big my feet are! I told him they were 12s (actually it's 13 but didn't want to excite him too much). He grabbed my foot quite firmly for a few seconds, then released it and told me he gave very good foot massages and it would not cost anything. I declined politely. More small talk, he asked where I worked and if i had a family etc. I gave plausible answers. Then he said goodbye. Thanked me for talking to him. I said no problem. Then he got all interested in my foot again and asked if my socks were black or dark blue. This time he leaned over and held my ankle and asked if he could hold it. I said "No touching" - he released slowly (and reluctantly i thought - my well-turned ankle obviously held some enduring fascination) and moved on. Very funny in retrospect - very Little Britain in fact - but unnerving at the time. Anyone else encountered Mr Foot Fetish? Asian, large build, I'd guess late 20s-early 30s.