Widdy

Hiya i'm still up for the 18th - thanks for booking Sophie! I've bought my maternity leave forwards by a week, so now end on 17th Feb, so I'll be up for Tuesday day-time meet ups too! Cant wait to finish now - I feel (and look) massive now! Jo - glad baby all ok! For breech babies one of my friends tried frozen peas by its head quite late on and it turned really quickly apparently (dont know how medically sound that is though...). C x

Hello The 18th is good for brekkie for me too. I'm also up for meeting up for lunch/dinner some time. I've got another 3 weeks left at work and beginning to wish I was finishing earlier - feeling shattered now! I've been told that the tours of the labour ward at Kings are no longer happening (and I didnt get organised enough to go), but one of the girls from my NCT class has sent me this link which Kings has put together to explain a bit about it and thought some of you might also find it helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNDSqyWwfwc&feature=youtube_gdata_player Catherine

Hello Thanks Emma for organising - was really lovely to see everyone! Also, on another, slightly random note, but one of my really good friends is doing a psychotherapy training course with an organisation called the Lincoln Centre (based in South London and a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council - http://www.lincoln-psychotherapy.org.uk), part of which involves a baby observation. She basically needs to observe a baby?s development over the first year of his/her life, to see how it learns about and relates to the world around it. Unfortunately she can't observe my baby as she knows me too well and it needs to be someone she doesnt know...so she's looking for a baby to observe. I'm just posting this on the off chance that someone might be happy to do this (or knows someone that would be). If anyone is interested, or wants more info, then please PM and I'll pass on her contact details and she'd be more than happy to talk through what it involves/meet up etc. It would basically involve her coming to your home for an hour a week and just watching whatever is going on (so mum and baby can just do whatever they would be doing anyway). She would not be there to offer any advice or intervention, but purely as a completely neutral observer (i.e. a 'fly on the wall'!). Apparently, previous mums who've done it have found it a very positive and enjoyable experience to have another grown-up around thinking about baby's development. Anyway, no worries if not, just thought I'd ask... See you all soon Catherine x

Thanks Emma - Cafe Rouge sounds great. Emily - welcome to the group, the more the merrier! Hope you can make breakfast on sunday. Catherine

Hello I'd love to meet up again as I missed the last one - I'm around on 22nd (but not free on the 21st or 1st unfortunately), but if everyone else prefers to do one of the other dates suggested then I'll hopefully make the next meet up instead. I've never eaten at the Mag, but have heard they do good food! We started our NCT classes last week in Nunhead and for those also doing the Nunhead ones, if it's the same place (Consort Rd I think), the first one was quite fun and the lady taking it seems really nice - nothing too cringy so far! Catherine

Happy new year everyone! Afraid I can't make it tomorrow, but hopefully see you next time. Catherine

Franklins sounds great, see you Saturday. Looking forward to seeing everyone and bumps! Thanks for organising Jo. Catherine x

Hiya, sorry to have missed last night - bloody work! Will hopefully make the breakfast meet up though. Catherine x

8th is good for me and I'm happy with any of the venues suggested. See you then! Glad everyone's scans are going ok.

KR988 - why should it be just a residents in the zone's decision? Why is it ok for one household to have more than 1 car (and some 5!!) and still expect to park outside their house or very close to their house, stopping others from doing so, yet but not ok for local business workers and their customers, a few commuters and other residents to benefit from some parking? Maybe its just tough for the few people who have occasioanl difficulty parking outsdie their house rather than inflicting it on a massive area? I think its rediculous to say only people living in the zone should have their comments taken into account - it affects more people than that (as i'm sure you can appreciate) and those living just outside will be as affected (if not more so) than those living within - I dont thnk you can compare undertaking a thorough and fair consultatoin of local residents likely to be affected (but outside the proposed zone) to consulting the whole of London. Whilst it is obviously a different issues, i'm sure that if a prison was proposed nearby, you'd expect to be consulted and your comments taken into account, and not the decision making / consultation stance you're advocating here? From the comments on here, it seems that many living in the zone don't want it, and many dont seem to consider there is the parking pressure that others do.

I can do either 1st or 8th December, or if we go for a saturday, I can't do next 19/20 Nov or 10 Dec but others are fine for me. Catherine

Hello, great to meet a few of you last week. Would be good to meet up again if anyone's up for it...maybe towards end of November? Catherine

Nikki - glad I'm not the only one! I'm 21+ weeks and still being sick most mornings...although I've started to generally feel a lot better during the day than I was earlier on! I find eating is the only thing that helps too! I'm still planning on making it this evening - so look forward to seeing those who are going later on. Catherine

A 5 car family...there's the problem! why any family living in a fairly accessible part of London needs that many cars puzzles me. I'm sure there are many houses with 2 or more cars. Maybe a survey of the number of cars per household would give a better idea of why there's parking pressure rather than blaming it all on commuters.

If existing cummuter parking is, say, 10-20% a day in surrounding streets, but the introduction of a CPZ will reduce the avaialble parking areas by, say, 20-30% (notwithstanding bays not available to residents such as pay and display etc) it's clearly vital to understand how much parking will be available to assess whether or not it's worth all the hassle. Otherwise the CPZ wil be introduced and parking will still be an issue so then people will only be allowed 1 permit per household, which may not be so attractive to some households... I live just outside the CPZ on Copleston Road (but still only a 5 min walk from the station), and we'll get concentrated pressure from residents just outside the zone wanting to avoid paying ?125, commuter parking, local businesses and all the visitors, workmen, cleaners etc visiting those within the zone..yet we weren't even consulted! That said, I'd still rather have all that pressure and have to park 3 streets away than the CPZ (when implemented) being extended! It's absolutely disgraceful that funding is being used as an excuse not to consult those who will be most affected.

At the moment people park almost up to the junctions, wheras the CPZ designated bays will mean that they need to be fully highway reg compliant, i.e not parking within 10m (or whatever the requirement is) of a junction etc. As Peterstorm says, there will also be certain gaps which need to be left either side of people's drives, whereas at the moment people leave just enough space for a car to get out. There will also need to be passing points, so there wont be allocated parking bays down either side of the road...plus pay and display bays which you cant park in with a permit. It's not that I dont sympathise with people's parking problems - when I lived in Lambeth (in a CPZ) I had the same problem, but I just really dont think a CPZ in the answer. Personally I'd rather have to walk 10 minutes to get my car than have a CPZ - they're evil, horrible things that make your life and living in London an absolute misery! Maybe I've been unlucky, but i've been caught out and towed more than once and it's a nightmare having to go to Morden (or wherever cars get taken in Southwark) to pick up your car and drive it home before work and paying ?300 for the privilege.

It's odd that if so many people are for the CPZ so few have come on here to say so. If there are so many of them, I'm sure a few more would have vocalised something they presumably feel so strongly about here. Although some people may have been campaigning for a CPZ over the years, it seems to be the silent majority of people living in and around the proposed CPZ (who've had no reason to raise this issue until now) dont want a CPZ, and they havent had the opportunity (or need) to articulate their opinion until now. If the decision really hasn't been made, it seems clear from the responses on here that the CPZ won't be implemented. But we'll see.....

Sorry, one more thing...I also suggest before people write in support that they go and look at the reduction in having to park in designated bays will bring by looking at existing cpzs elsewhere (I think there's a cpz around Peckham rye station). As I said earlier I think the reduction in available parking will exceed the pressure created by any commuting parking.

Ingridcjones, there will always be more spaces at the weekend because people go away for the weekend or day and for most people who work in central London it will be the only time the car is used - so probably has no reflection on commuting parking. When I lived in a cpz I used to take the opportunity to move my car closer to my house at weekends when everyone had gone out in their cars so I didn't have to take a detour of three streets away to check it hadn't been ticketed or towed on my way to work everyday. I really don't think a cpz will make it any easier for the roads around the station (including the one I live on). A cpz brings limited (if any) benefits and huge disadvantages. I will definately be objecting. But I'm sure the council see it as a good revenue stream in these tough times, so it's probably a given....

That's good for me too. Thanks for organising. Looking forward to meeting everyone then.

At the moment you can park wherever, but a cpz will mean designated parking areas, which will inevitably reduce the available parking areas on streets around the station compared to existing situation. Probably equal to the amount of commuter parking. So likely to have very little benefit for anyone but massive expense and inconvenience for lots of people. Having lived in Lambeth before it's a nightmare living in a cpz area. Nearly everyone i know who lives in a cpz has been ticketed and / or towed at least once (?300 a time) for minor parking infringements. Not nice worrying everytime you've been on holiday whether your car is still there or has been towed away. Even if you don't get caught, friends or family visiting may do...which is embarrassing! In my experience even with a cpz you still can't park near your house anyway.

Hello I didn't come to the first meet-up, but I'm due on 12 March with my first baby, so I'll hopefully make it to the 3rd Nov meet-up.

CPZ = traffic wardens who try and catch you out for minor parking offences.

You need to speak to Southwark Planning Enforcement - they'll investigate.