nancysmum

honk - you must end up cleaning your shoes a lot!

One of the mums at St Johns told me she was on to the council re the fence (asking them to think again about taking it down) and she received an email telling her the fence was coming down - that's how i found out. I have to walk across the green everyday with anywhere up to 6 children, (3 toddlers, 3 4/5 year olds). I look forward to playing 'dodge the crap / mind the over friendly staffie/alsation/shi-itsu with them. No doubt in the summer we can go to the peckham park 'no dogs' area ... oh wait a minute, people let their dogs go in there too! nice!

Apparently they are going to start taking it down tomorrow and should take a few days. alas green fence, you were well loved!

my neighbour asked me for pasta the other week...i has happy to oblige!

sorry, you are right. i forgot to add the s into the equation hx

Thanks Zaardvark Great word, although I think google have mis-scored. I make the total 37 (x 2 + 50). I would have the z on the double letter, making it 20, j = 8, k = 4 (or is it 5), m = 3 and u and i are 1 a piece. hence 37. I really do hope i get to play a game where i can use that word though! Hx

i spend my moments before going to sleep trying to calculate what would be the highest first scoring seven letter word in scrabble. ie: if you were to put the first word down, it was a seven-letterer and you get the 50 point bonus. So far I have come up with: Quizzed (one zed being a blank and other zed being on double letter score) = 35 x 2 + 50 = 120 Squeeze is also 120. Can anyone think of a higher scoring word?

5 pages on a fence because we don't want the fence taken down, we want it to be a child-friendly zone and we want dogs to only be allowed to poo on the other side.

have just been onto the website - looks good and may try it. however, am curious about one thing on december's menu. can anyone tell me what diaphenous potatoes are? I presume they mean dauphenois but may be wrong!

mark are you something to do with the council? you certainly seem to know a lot about what's going on.

did anyone see the 'flagging up' of the dog poo on goose green at the weekend? there was quite a show of little white flags in the non-dog side!

it only falls down Moos as the council let it be known that the fence was going to come down anyway so the dog owners i have spoken to have said words to the like: "if it's coming down, I can use it". If the council decided to stop using taxpayers money over stupid things like this (put the fence up, have a consultation, have a consultation over the consultation, take the fence down, have a consultation, possibly put the fence up etc etc) and say that the dog free area is exactly that and that will be enforced, then it would serve its purpose. It would be very interesting to see just how much the council has spent on this issue and what they intend to spend to resolve it. Not just the cost of the fence, the removal and replacement of it, but all the administrative costs (proportionate salaries of those councillors involved in this issue, the cost of running consultations, etc). Does anyone have such figures? I don't think goose green should be dog free - there are some dog owners like the man with his jack russells who will happily keep to the 'dogs allowed' section. It's just a few selfish people who insist on using the other half even though there are no dogs / children in the dogs allowed section. I agree that dogs should be allowed to run free, but also so should children. this fence, and the enforcement of the dog free area, would allow that. As for what the fence looks like, i think it's fine. So, Sue, if you are keeping a tally of who likes it and who doesn't, put me down as one of the former.

Sue, if the fence makes you wince, how do you think we feel when we see our children with dogshit on their hands, shoes, etc?

Aced Out - I can promise you i don't push people onto the road when i am using my double buggy. I will always wait at a convenient spot and let people pass. And as for using it on the bus I will always collapse it down as the children are able to sit on the seat. Furthermore, we should encourage people to use public transport, not penalise them. If not, why not tax people in wheelchairs too.

I was taking three children (two toddlers and a four year old) to the transport museum last week. I had a double buggie. A virtually empty 176 came to the bus stop and refused to let me get on saying he already had a buggy on board. i explained that I could collapse the buggy and have the children on a seat with me but he just drove off. needless to say the next bus didn't have such a problem. how come? and thanks to the second bus driver for allowing us to get on.

Here here, Kristymac. Also, if a decision has been made and there has been all this furore as a result, surely the appropriate action would be to hold the meeting again, invite a much wider audience and get the vote cast again. I understand that decisions need to be made, but they can be changed and indeed they should be if the wrong decision has been made (as so many of us feel). removing a fence for its aesthetics is ridiculous! If we were to start a "save the goose green fence" campaign, I wonder if they would listen? I think that they are not going to tell us when the fence is coming down as they don't want enraged mums and dads chaining themselves to it.

Mark, what consultation with what public...do you have more specific details as i get the feeling from this thread that not that many people were consulted and not that many people knew of the meeting. if you can shed any light that would be good. also you never detailed what the community wardens' area was...thanks

this is the reply i had from the council when i wrote to them asking them to reconsider... "Thank you for your e-mail. I'm afraid that this decision has already been taken by the Executive Member for Environment after lengthy consideration of all shades of opinion. As a parent with two small children, I do understand and sympathise with your point of view. If the end of the six month trial period, it is resolved that a sub-division of the site is required so that dogs and people can be separated, we will proceed to effect this. Regards Jon Sheaff" great!

Lard, do you have children? Do you know how easy it is for them to step in it, eat it, rub it into their face / eyes? the fact that we may not know people that this has happened to, doesn't make it less of a threat. A dog cannot clean up after itself and it cannot use a toilet; the owner must, therefore, take the responsibility to ensure that their dog is not becoming a source of local nuisance. Remember, it is the owner to blame, not the dog.

where is cafe 2050?

I'm with smiler - east dulwich deli brownies all the way. Cut them up really thinly and eat them slice by slice. That way, you get more air on the surface area and so the chocolate flavour really comes out. Also, the pleasure lasts longer! We had one last night - better than sex!

So what is their area, mark, and how do you know this? I didn't realise there were 'no go' areas for the wardens - perhaps they don't want to get dog poo on their shoes! As for the boards, i know what they are for but don't you think it would be nicer if they could be a community thing? or are communities no longer important? Finally, i never said that someone posted a cat poster on those particular notice boards and got fined. Just to clarify. Have a nice day

I think one solution would be to keep the supposed status quo - half for dogs, half for non-dogs. Maybe Southwark should suggest the community wardens to come out of their comfy office on east dulwich road and patrol the green and surrounding areas. I'm sure if I'm paying council tax for the wardens, they should be of some use! then if they see a doggy fouling and its owner not cleaning up after it, they can face on-the-spot fines. failing that, we should take all our dirty nappies and leave them all over the place and see how dog owners like that! bring back the stocks and dunking pool! Also, have you seen the new community notice boards - not much use if the community can't use them! I've heard of someone getting a ?70 fine from southwark council because they put a sign up saying they had lost their cat or something.

I'm with P_in_ed on this. Maybe I am turning into a grumpy old woman (I'm sure I am) but since i have had my daughter and look after other people's children I rely on the dog-free zone to be just that so that the little ones can run around, roll in leaves and not end up covered in doggie number 2s. Alas, even with the fence up (I like the fence, at least it isn't by the guy who did the one for the queen mum!) I can't guarantee that they wont crawl hand first into a dog turd thanks to those who think it's oh-so-revolutionary to let their dogs into this area to relieve their bowels and bladders. And Southwark council now 'hoover' up the leaves and crap into big piles and seem to just leave them there. so, you have a tempting pile of leaves with concentrations of poo that kids want to jump in and kick about...the illogic is blinding! You may say, take the children to the swing park, but that isn't an option when i have 3 under twos who like nothing more than hurling themselves off the climbing frame. Also they have to dodge bigger children playing football in the swing section. I've tried taking the children to peckham rye but even there, where it says "Dogs must be kept on a short lead", invariably some aren't. We're feeding the ducks and then the next thing you know some hound comes bounding over because he wants the bread the children are throwing. I've even seen dogs in the dog-free picnic area there. So maybe it's just that dog owners can't read. I have tried approaching those persons who let their dogs roam freely in the dog free section (surprisingly, old people with incontinent dogs) to ask why they they don't use the other side so that children can play freely and safely and I invariably get some gruff response even though I ask politely. One even asked me if I were the park police! That all said, I don't think dogs should be banned from Goose Green. I think a 50/50 split is fair and reasonable, but it should be enforced, as should the rule for cleaning up after your dog. I've tried to get info about becoming a Friend of Goose Green and haven't heard anything back, despite repeated requests..perhaps they know i'm not a dog owner?! Like P above said, we should try to work as a community and meet all the community needs - that includes dog walkers, people with children, people who don't want to accidentally walk into dog shit, etc. End of rant. Oh sorry, one more thing... to the lady who quite happily sat by smoking while her three children stamped on and removed the safety barrier around the hole on goose green dog free area, please if you are going to condone that kind of irresponsible and unrespectful behaviour, please dont.

I've heard of this happening at the plough before. that's why I get jay at dulwich DIY (bottom end of lordship lane) to do mine. he even told me when the colour i'd chosen wasn't all that (and saved me messing up on my front door as a result!). Sorry to hear about your troubles though daisychain. maybe subtle lighting and candles would help?