Loz

Who needs a more frequent service to New Cross, anyway?

The tube line was going to happen as part of the East London Line extensions, but then they changed the plans and it will now go through Denmark Hill.

They do. Chips.

But you can pretend to be wanting to buy a house...!

I certainly haven't noticed any ghosts on my travels around St Francis Place. But thanks for that - I won't be sleeping soundly tonight! ::o

To be fair, in the past few years since Southern took over, punctuality of the services out of ED has improved significantly. It is now something approaching a decent service. However, as others have said, there are not enough peak services and not enough evening services. The last train from LB is far too early (23.49) - especially on Fridays and Saturdays. The station (considering how many people use it) is a disgrace. Two leaky bike sheds does not constitute a station. I'd like to see ticket gates installed, if only for the fact that they would have to have staff in attendance (and I'd notice I had forgotten my pass before I arrived at London Bridge).

It still is there - it got a revamp a couple of years ago. Well, I don't if it is the same one you remember, but one exists. Walk up St Francis Road and then up the side of the football club. You'll get to a nice new(ish) concrete path through to Greendale.

Barclay's do charge, though not on a 'per transaction' fee basis. The small print from their website: So, take out 1000 euros at a foreign ATM with your Barclays Switch/Cirrus card and it'll most likely cost you ?4.50 Foreign Cash Withdrawal Fee plus 27.50 euros 'Foreign Loading Charge for the pleasure, i.e. about 24 quid in total. Nationwide is - I believe - the only one that does not charge like this for debit cards.

Did you actually eat much organic meat before now, Alan?

Nationwide don't. HSBC do.

I've seen a number of properties in and around ED over the past month and I can assure you that the houses in Abbotswood Road aren't bad at all for space for a two/three bed house. Having viewed a number of Victorian style houses at the half-million mark, I can't bring myself to spend an extra ?150K for very little extra total room and a smaller reception room than I have now. If I'm going to spend that sort of money, I want some serious cat-swinging room. Plus, as Ladygooner said, the St Francis area is a lovely area with lovely people. I've had eight happy years here. It's close to Sainsburys, close to ED station and not too far from Denmark Hill station. Lordship Lane and the Bellenden Road area are a nice walk away. All in all, you could do a lot worse for your money. Though, it must be said, it's not a place for snobs... >:D<

Ooh - got it. It took a couple of YouTube visits. The radio announcement at the start - the tune, "The Stripper" was requested by Mr M Allison of Crystal Palace Road. Taa daa!

They did say 200 on the advertising flyer they sent around. I imagine they'll pull it as soon as their books/window looks full. We're selling a 2 bedroom house on the St Francis Estate. Two double bedrooms, nice sized reception room, garden and off street parking. Nice and quiet area, 5 mins walk to both ED station and Sainsburys. I'll stick up full details on the property thread sometime soon, but if you want more before then, PM me.

Peckhamboy, 1) The form I have here has the terms and conditions. The 0% offer has no mention of the 'first 200', just the conditions (paraphrased) I put in my post. As my form has the 0% offer, I consider that legally binding. Mind you, they probably employ better lawyers than me. 2) Correct, but that's standard with all estate agents, AFAIK. 3) You can give notice at 8 weeks, but not before (i.e. you can't give them five weeks notice after seven weeks of the contract).

Have the fellow from Foxton's in last night. Unlike poor Spangles' experience, this one turned up exactly on time as promised. Nice chap. Looked around, discussed possible prices and left me with a pro-forma contract should I decide to proceed. No real hard sell, which was a bit of a surprise. He did mention that Foxton's knew about the forum! As I said in a previous post, I was very interested to see the terms and conditions of the deal. Essentially, the deal is: 1) You are tied in for a minimum 12 weeks, with a four week notice period to terminate the contract. 2) You get charged 0% if your sale is agreed before 21 Dec. 'Agreed' meaning offer accepted and lawyers instructed. It does revert to 2.5% after that. But 21 Dec is very close to 12 weeks from now. 3) You have to have a Foxton's 'For Sale' sign outside your property. 4) It is a sole agency agreement. I was really looking for things like 'ready, willing and able buyer' or "sole selling rights" clauses, but it seems to be free of such trip ups. I was initially dubious, but this might just be a good deal.

And there was I thinking there was a new protest website about how the media ignores ED. :))

Who'd want to be called a whore with a bucket??

I've got them coming around tomorrow. Just had a call confirming the appointment, so expect a second report on them sometime soon!

Ludlows Property Alerts are good, but their website, as someone said, sucks. Badly. As a potential buyer, Winkworth has impressed me no end.

Probably not a useful answer for the OP, since I'm guessing you are travelling very soon, but Nationwide are very much your friend for international travel. We have an account with a Cirrus/Switch card, plus a credit card and it has saved me loads of money over the past few years. I woke up to this when I paid a 600 euro hotel bill on a different CC and paid nearly ?20 for the pleasure. Before we travel we bung enough money in the account, then you can withdraw the local cash at ATMs anywhere. You get the Visa rate of exchange (i.e. very close to the 'proper' rate, rather than the rip off tourist rate - 1.47 euros to the pound at the beginning of the month) and no commission or charges. You save about ?50 for each ?1000 you spend. The credit card is the same - no charges (unless you use it for cash withdrawals) and the same damn good exchange rate. I can't recommend doing this highly enough.

No no no to CPZs. The cost a fortune and achieve nothing (if not worse). The actually reduce the amount of car parking available.

I have them coming in next week. I intend to read the contract very carefully before proceeding. 0% is attractive, but if the tie-ins and/or contract terms are unacceptable then they'll be given the heave-ho. Shall report back on my experiences. As for using Foxtons by landlords, all I'll say is have a good look through Google...

Since someone asked about Marmora Road, I thought I'd add a request for experiences of Ivanhoe Road, especially towards the estate end. It might be a little prejudiced (apologies), but that bit looks like it have the potential to be a little dodgy. Anyone live around there and have experiences of walking after dark to/from the station/Sainsburys?

A rep from NPower has been going around the St Francis Estate area. He knocked on my door last night very keen to offer me 'special discounts' (without mentioning hard figures, of course). He was very, very keen to get my supplier numbers and surname. Be careful people. Give over that info and you'll probably be surprised to find you have changed suppliers and may (or may not) be on a rate far from the best available. (Yes, even though you haven't signed anything.) Send him on his way PDQ is my advice.

Leon, I always thought there was a market for "rags" that charities could make use of, which is why I've never been too choosy about what goes into the charity shop bag. Obviously that was mistaken. As someone who lobs things your way occasionally, what are the best things to drop off?