PennyDreadful

Oh, thank you damzel - that's good to know. We'll give 'em a ring!

So just when we were thinking that it was going to be a bit inconvenient to have to go into Peckham to collect parcels...today we received a 'Sorry we missed you' card from Royal Mail telling us to pick up our parcel from a delivery office in SOUTH NORWOOD! This would involve us getting a bus to Forest Hill and then a train to Norwood Junction....we're carless and skint (and I'm not well). Feeling a powerful urge to shove a custard pie (or worse) in Vince Cable's face right now.

Dear Picturehouse staff, you have my support! Afraid I'm under the weather at the moment and may not be well enough to join the local demo later (but will have a go if I improve by this afternoon). Good luck to you.

Hi Lavender27, You're definitely not alone. I have a chronic health problem that leads to extreme fatigue, but that's the symptom that's least acknowledged (although it causes me enormous difficulties). Part of the problem is that because everyone knows what it's like to feel tired, there's very little understanding or sympathy for fatigue - because people who haven't experienced it genuinely don't know that it's in a different league from everyday tiredness. The other thing is that it can be a hidden problem because when fatigue lays you low, you just stay at home - but friends only see you when you're feeling well enough to be out and about! (People who see me charging around being the life and soul have no idea that I may well be 'paying' for that the next day; creeping around my flat like a ghost, barely able to function...) Two practical suggestions: firstly, it's seriously worth getting your Vitamin D levels checked. I've known several people who had to ask for this (because their GP didn't think of it) and were then discovered to have pathologically low Vitamin D levels which were then treated with mega-doses (I mean serious, prescribed, doses as opposed to your bog-standard, over-the-counter vitamin pills) and this turned things around for them and made a huge difference to their energy levels. Secondly, if there's a possibility you might have M.E. (also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), there's a local support group that might help you feel less isolated: it's called the South East London ME Support Group. Here's their website: www.selmesg.org Anyway, best of luck, hope your health improves!

Apparently it's well-known that disabled women are twice as likely to experience domestic abuse. I mention this horrible fact not to distress you, but rather to reinforce previous suggestions about contacting a domestic violence organisation - they will be familiar with what you are experiencing. The freephone number for the 24-hour National Domestic Violence helpline is 0808 2000 247 (Might it also be worth contacting an organisation like the Multiple Sclerosis Society? You may be eligible for practical help, or a respite break.) Best of luck with everything.

Decent wages. (Or indeed any wages, as opposed to the combination of internships / volunteering / workfare / "no-money-but-it'll-be-good-publicity-for-you" that's supplanted earning a living.) Count Dracula ice lollies - black on the outside, blood-red on the inside - they used to stain your mouth! Old Jamaica rum and raisin chocolate. Antonio Fargas. Spatial awareness: I'd like to propose adding it to the National Curriculum...

Actions speak louder than words...here's a look at what Theresa May says and what she actually does: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/theresa-may-prime-minister-andrea-leadsom-policies-voting-record-human-rights-what-did-she-mean-a7130961.html

Useful summary by Caroline Lucas, picking out some of the damning specifics: https://www.carolinelucas.com/latest/chilcot-report-evidence-of-deception-and-illegality

So... today I tweeted the links I'd earlier mentioned here, with a similar message urging people to log xenophobic incidents with #PostRefRacism and report them to the police via http://www.report-it.org.uk/report_a_hate_crime ...and someone unknown to me quickly tweeted the reply 'Be a nark for Brussels', together with a rather sinister photo (don't know how to post it here, but perhaps that's for the best) of a carload of armed riot police and the caption: "BE A POLICE GRASS. Snitch on friends, family, neighbours, colleagues - everyone. Inform on your fellow Britons today!" I'm left feeling - as they clearly hoped I would - upset, threatened, isolated, scared. A small taste of what others are going through.

Just to say that as well as logging incidents with #PostRefRacism, you can also report incidents to the police via this site: www.report-it.org.uk/report_a_hate_crime

Friends of mine have experienced similar xenophobic comments. It's distressing and terrifying. I feel that all these incidents need to be collated; partly so that people don't feel isolated within their own experience and partly to document what's going on so that it's not just all separate anecdotes. Searching for something like the 'everyday sexism' project, I came across the following twitter account, to which I would urge everyone to post details of xenophobic incidents: @PostRefRacism

Have signed the petition. I don't generally have much time for Dulwich College, but credit to them for behaving decently in this case. Good luck to Isaac Aganozor and his brother.

For years, the BHS 'petite' range was the only place I could ever find trousers to fit my stumpy wee legs! But more importantly, let's not forget that Philip Green was appointed by David Cameron in 2010 to run a government spending review and advise on 'efficiencies'. Praising Green's "sharp eye for detail", Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said at the time: "He's shown how he can turn around big complex businesses. Government is a huge complex organisation, and while it's not the same as a business, a lot of the same disciplines are needed". (And the then Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander said the review would help the government "totally re-think" the way it spent public money). https://politicalscrapbook.net/2016/04/the-man-accused-of-driving-bhs-to-bankruptcy-was-appointed-by-cameron-as-a-waste-watchdog/ Might help to explain the present state of the nation...

Just as an aside...today Dennis Skinner was ejected from the Commons for referring to Cameron as "Dodgy Dave", whereas last December there was no comeback for Cameron when he referred to opposition MPs as "terrorist sympathisers"...

Yes, the thing is, the council's proposal is not for a downsize; it's for a fee-paying gym with a few random bookshelves (and no library staff, just gym staff). That's not downsizing a library, that's closing it. The council have come up with such an ill-thought-out plan (including excavating the basement of the listed building) that they are not ready to go ahead with it straight away, which means that proceeding with closing the library on the arbitrary date of 1st April involves them paying lots of money to a security firm to protect the buildings while they work out what to do next. Half of the libraries in the borough of Lambeth were closed up and padlocked on the same day. That's a hell of a downsize. The council is suggesting that everyone can just use Brixton Library, but as the author Stella Duffy points out, that's already overstretched. https://stelladuffy.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/when-is-a-library-not-a-library/ It's my understanding that library staff in Lambeth had come up with a proposal that could have kept all the libraries open by running them as a 'staff mutual', but the council rejected this. But anyway - whatever one's views on libraries - the main point I was trying to raise was the disgraceful nature of the response from councillors, who reacted to concerned queries by posting sneers, smears and 'amusing' cat photos..!

I've been genuinely shocked by the response of some local councillors to those who dare to question their plans. Further to my earlier post about councillors Rezina Chowdhury and Matthew Bennett perversely trying to claim that supporting libraries somehow equates to attacking homeless children, another councillor came out with an even more extreme response. Councillor Alex Bigham (@alexbigham) replied to tweets expressing concern about library closures by posting pictures of cats yawning: http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2016/04/lambeth-labour-cllr-takes-to-twitter-to-post-pics-of-cats-on-treadmills-to-mock-local-library-campaigners/ ...this is an elected official effectively behaving like a stroppy teenager saying, 'Talk to the hand'! Unbelievable. Obviously, the cuts are being passed down from central government who can then handily weep crocodile tears over local crises and blame local councils. We all know it. But still an' all, surely local politicians have to do better than this.

Disappointing that local councillors Rezina Chowdhury and Matthew Bennett have been indulging in some unpleasant 'divide and rule' tweeting: both tweeted a photo of the library occupiers, accompanied by the words 'Library occupation looks fun. Wonder what kids living in temporary accommodation in Lambeth will make of this.' (Rezina Chowdhury) and 'While they knock back wine in the library, almost 5000 homeless Lambeth children go to bed in temp accommodation...' (Matthew Bennett) (There have been some choice replies, including: "you're right mate, if they hadn't poured out that bottle of Pinot you'd have housed all those kids, surely") Anyway, those of you who use twitter might like to respond to @CllrMattBennett and@RezinaChowdhury ...

Jenny pink, it's wonderful that you lend things to strangers, please don't stop doing so! I know it's a horrible feeling to have your trust abused, but one bad experience doesn't outweigh lots of good ones (even though it may feel as if it does, at the time). In this instance, I think KidKruger is probably right that contacting forum admin is the way to go. Good luck. By the way, I've always thought that the old adage 'neither a borrower nor a lender be' is only half of a couplet that goes: 'Neither a borrower nor a lender be / Just be a miserable git like me'. Here's to NOT being miserable gits - here's to helping each other out - here's to you, jenny pink!

I work between the Elephant and Waterloo and my commute (originally usefully straightforward for someone with chronic health problems) has been getting more and more tortuous. It used to be one bus ride, but that began to take an impossibly long time; so I began getting the bus to Peckham, then train to Elephant and Castle, then walking the rest of the way. I still recall my sense of disbelief the day I found the pedestrian subways blocked with no alternative crossing except some temporary lights way off in the opposite direction to where I wanted to go, with roadworks & dust & cables all around and crowds building up as the lights remained unchanged for ages. It's astonishing that more people haven't been killed yet. That Evening Standard article that Blah Blah posted a link to has some interesting comments under it. One comment asking why the pedestrian underpasses were removed before the crossings were complete - recipe for disaster. Another comment led me on to this site: http://saveoursubways.org which I wish I'd discovered earlier! It sums up the works with this succinct phrase: "...a misguided piazzafication of a major transport hub." Damn right.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. It's so important that patients are involved in these consultations, otherwise bureaucrats and vested interests are just talking to each other in a closed loop! I've completed the survey (despite its jargon-tastic appearance). While not referring directly to Kings, I just kept making points like how existing provision needs to be taken into account because it's both financially and environmentally wasteful not to do this. And it being costly and risky to transport ill patients around. And so on.

A lovely idea and a lovely website! Thanks for posting - and particular thanks for including public transport links for those of us without a car.

Jovaner has done a number of decorating jobs for us and the results have been outstanding every time. We keep asking him back! As others have mentioned, he takes great care in the preparation of each job - a real perfectionist, incapable of cutting corners or being slapdash - meaning that the finished job not only looks great but will last. Our flat is old and crumbly and a bit of a nightmare to work on - peel off a bit of wallpaper and half the wall comes with it, that kind of thing - and Jovaner has really gone the extra mile to sort out all sorts of issues for us, partly because he takes pride in his work and partly because he's a kind and helpful soul. I feel bad not to have posted this earlier in the year, as he is actually about to go back to Brazil for two months to help his family. He leaves on (I think) Christmas Eve and returns on 16th February. So get in quick - or book him for when he gets back! By the way, when I told him I was going to post something about him on the forum, Jovaner asked me to mention that his mobile was stolen recently, meaning that he has lost his contact list - so anybody waiting to hear from him should give him a ring - his new mobile has the same number: 07450 985 602

I find the 'bad lip-reading' videos weirdly revealing about American politics:

I think you probably mean England rather than the UK, otherwise I'd suggest Edinburgh, or... well, just about anywhere in Scotland, really! But sticking south of the border, I really liked Shrewsbury - lovely medieval town centre, peaceful riverside walks and a great wee independent cinema inside a historic building. (And there's a street called 'Grope Lane'!) You mention Bristol - don't know much about it, but was thinking of trying to go this year myself because it's 'European Green Capital 2015' and so there are lots of events going on, such as an art installation of (real) fishing boats in the woods... a floating 'seed garden' on the river...

Seems particularly appropriate on election day - 'Truth and Lies' by Sergeant Buzfuz: