Tanza

It's going to be very odd without the forum. Just yesterday my neighbours were photographed and interviewed about using local services/tradespeople (for an article in the Telegraph - due in a couple of weeks I think) and they cited the East Dulwich Forum as being the place that's made it possible. Have a great holiday. You will be missed!

New Statesman:Buggy Moms Hope this link works - just spotted this article on East Dulwich in the New Statesman.

ratty Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was under the impression that Franks Campari bar > finished last weekend? Is this not the case? Hope not! Time out thought it carried on till the end of the month. But they aren't answering the phone so it may be a fruitless outing. Thank you to everyone for the recommendations.

I am going to that pop up bar on the roof of the carpark near Peckham Rye station and want to know if anyone can recommend somewhere to eat near there at about 9.30/10pm. Any type of food fine. The bar itself is supposed to serve food, but I've read they stop serving really early and often it's pretty ropey.

I would second Fushia's experience. I couldn't face the whole pain of potty training and just kept putting it off. Until my son was almost 3 and I felt really ashamed he was still in nappies due to my laziness. But it turned out to be super easy, he trained in a day (and then we stayed in for the next two days just to be sure as it seemed too good to be true). It was painless. We didn't bother with a potty, he went straight from nappies to the loo. Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Our son never ever used a potty, we had a pull > down seat on the loo. He did it at 2 3/4, did his > first pees and poos on the loo, we immediately > junked the nappy, and he didn't have too many > accidents, even. I think waiting till he was 3 was > what made it so easy, once he was ready. We did > try at 2 1/2 but he kept pooing on the floor

Another route for dealing with an exceptionally fussy eater is to simply just serve up the food they will eat - not worry about trying to introduce anything new at all. I followed this advice (which I must admit, from a lazy perspective suited me better than the frustration of cooking a dish, having it immediately rejected and then throwing it away). For some children, the dinner table can become a bit of a battleground and this does at least take away the stress for everyone involved and the focus is no longer on the fussy eater. My son is now five. He's not an adventurous eater now, but he manages at school lunches and he will at least try a mouthful of something new from time to time. I also found eating out seemed to really help, I would order their version of his familiar homecoooked dish and that got him used to trying something different.

Agree Whitstable is great. But... didn't realise the train station was such a hike from the town and beach. I would advise taking a scooter along for any small children not in a pram.

I agree - I don't think it's worth it for that number of kids. If they like painting then why not make masks (or buy them ready made) and get them to paint them. Or start watching the Mister Maker programme on CBeebies and copy one of his craft ideas. Or have a look on www.kidzcraft.co.uk for inspiration. Followed by all the usual party games. Love the idea of the mini icecream bar Fuschia has suggested.

It was amazing. - I think the Museum of London are doing a few beachcombing expeditions this week, if you look on their website for details. I have a feeling there's one on Thursday. Not sure which bit of the Thames they use. The one we went to was an organised session on the beach right under the Tower of London, (which was uncovered by the tide between 11.15 - 1pm) but I imagine the stairs leading down might be locked otherwise. There were archeologists on hand to explain the finds. It's a yearly event, the details were on Time Out. It was astonishing, there was so much to find, we were all stumbling across so much interesting material. They said that since Roman times people just used that stretch of the Thames as a rubbish dump, so I imagine that would be the case along the whole Thames. So as a result loads of oyster shells (that probably came from Whistable according to the experts) and bones from sheep and goats, dumped by butchers, lots of broken pottery and lots of clay pipes.

This is fascinating. I think a visit to the local history library, (wherever that is) in order as I'd love to see a picture of the R Whites building, it's clearly the Batey mineral water building. I think Coca-Cola tried to launch a mineral water business out of Sidcup a few years back too, and Del Boy and Rodney out of Peckham in Only Fools and Horses - must be something in the air/water down here.

Does anyone have any info about Batey - the factory that produced bottles of mineral water/ginger beer? I understand it was somewhere overlooking Goose Green/on East Dulwich Road and was still there in about 1914. My small son and I went beachcombing beside the Thames near the Tower of London, and among our haul of animal bones, clay pipes and oyster shells was a bottle stopper from Batey, of Goose Green. I know there are often posts from local historians on here, just wondered if anyone had any info to share.

My son (5) loves this site. I think it's great too. In any case, if you are concerned, you can always choose not to allow your child to see or write their own messages - pick one of the closed forums when you log on, there's a symbol beside each one. We've spent a lot of time on it, and I've never seen anything untoward, it's well moderated. It's excellent for helping your child learn to read - for example there's a newspaper with all the latest news/games/jokes. Your child can become a secret agent, which requires your child to read what the penguin spymaster says to complete the mission. You can play for free, earning virtual money to buy things by playing the games. There are benefits to becoming a member with a subscription, but it's not necessary.

kford Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I like the tyre shop. It's got a great used look > to it. Why can't it be the vile chicken and pizza > shops? I hear that the landlord who has bought up that particular row of shops (all the ones repainted white)has put the rents up so it will be interesting to see how the other shops in that row fare. Can't recall what the other shops there are though. Is there a florist there??

The tyre shop (corner of Bawdale Road and Lordship Lane) is closing. They mentioned that the shop in the same row - the old Jerk Rock will be a new clothes shop run by Mrs Robinson, the shop opposite on Lordship lane.