The Minkey

You could try the Coplestone Centre. If their rates are too high, perhaps they can give you some suggestions. http://www.coplestoncentre.org.uk/#/community-space/4541957738

It's Valentine's Day? Crap.

The petition calling for an impact assessment of the UK's drug policy has amassed an incredible 99,110 signatures, a mere 890 short of the 100,000 needed to force a debate in Parliament. With just short of 48 hours left to reach that target, it would be a great pity if it were to come so far to fall at the last hurdle. Please consider signing if you haven't already done so. http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/45969 As this is a government petition, you will need to click on the verifying email to register your vote.

Yes, they can do a lot of damage especially if you're in a top floor flat and the electrics run across the floor of the loft space as my friend's does. I had to get an electrician in a few months ago because her electrics kept shorting, both lights and powerpoints. As soon as the electrician put his head through the loft hatch, he could see the electrics arcing all over the place. The cables had been chewed down to the copper, she was lucky it hadn't caused a fire, and it cost a fair bit for the rewire. It's appropriated all the loft insulaton for its nest too. It's unfortunate it's nested in a really bad place, however, I think it understandable they want it gone asap. As for the poison bit: I do understand what it is and how it works. I've since been told the operator is using the wrong kind and the wrong quantity. The poison set up he's used looks identical to what you'd use if you were to buy a rodenticide from a hardware shop, the blue colour and size of the dishes. The authorised stuff is coloured red. As it's not the optimum concentration of warfarin, what seems to be happening is that the squirrel is sickening but not dying which is causing unnecessary suffering, imo. Let alone the inconvenient fact that the use of mouse/rat poison on squirrels is illegal. It's all very odd beccause the pest control company's website states that they only use humane traps so as not to harm the animal when they should know it's illegal to release a gray squirrel into the wild. When the landlord called them to ask about the poison, they denied it's been used.

The Community Council meeting this evening is at: Harris Academy Peckham, 112 Peckham Road, London SE15 5DZ The entrance is on Peckham Road near the corner with Lyndhurst Way, through vehicle sized gates along a wide path up tp the building. This school is locally referred to as the Peckham Academy but its formal name is Harris Academy Peckham. They are the same place. Meeting starts 7pm. See you there!

Response from Fiona Colley: "Dear Peckham Residents Thank you for emailing me regarding your concerns about the proposals for Peckham Rye Station. I'm sorry I'm unable to reply to each email individually, but there have been a quite lot of emails. I was at the consultation meeting a couple of weeks ago and I was not happy with the proposals. It was apparent that there is a lot of work to do on the plans. Whilst most people support the work to open up the station square on Rye Lane, there are too many unanswered questions about the extent of further development in neighbouring streets which seemed excessive. I also heard the swell of concern from local people about the need for public toilets in the area, and that is something I've told council officers must be looked at in more detail. One area I felt we really needed far more commitement from Network Rail (as landlord) on was the vision for Dovedale Court at the rear of the station as well as the lettings of future retail spaces around the front of the station. I want a guarantee from Network Rail that the thriving creative industries and independent businesses in the area will form a part of the plans and not be priced out. The event was intended to give people an opportunity to comment on the early plans, and Southwark Council have heard and taken on board the comments. We don't want to do this without the support of local people and therefore the council is actively working with Network Rail and the GLA (who are part funding the project) to ensure the next set of plans more closely reflect what residents and businesses want to see. I support calls for an extension in the time for additional public consultation and engagement on the proposals. One of the conditions of the ?5m funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA) is that the project should be complete by Spring 2016 and to meet this deadline a planning application would have to be submitted next month. I believe this is unrealistic and so Southwark Council will be asking the GLA to extend this deadline. I am optimistic that they will agree to this. I will provide a further update within the next few weeks to let you know how things are progressing. Kind regards Fiona Cllr Fiona Colley Cabinet Member for Regeneration & Corporate Strategy Labour Member for Nunhead Ward"

From Peckham Vision's Facebook page: "The meeting about redeveloping the area around Peckham Rye Station is: Peckham & Nunhead Community Council WEDNESDAY 12th FEBRUARY at 7pm at Peckham Academy, Peckham Road on the corner with Lyndhurst Way. There are signs that the Council is listening ? see Cllr Fiona Colley?s comment on previous post. But this is just the beginning of finding a way to put right the mistakes that have allowed this wrong plan to be developed. Your presence is needed. Please come to this meeting to support the local community attempt to get the right plan for Peckham. Encourage your friends and neighbours to come. BACKGROUND Network Rail?s plans have given only one option ? a major redevelopment . Many feel there should be an opportunity to discuss a different approach eg create the new square and improve the area beside and behind the station, not demolish it. Peckham is already self-regenerating with the creative and cultural sector at the forefront, boosting the local economy. Understanding the role of the station site in this needs much better understanding before deciding to demolish it. Local MP Harriet Harman is Shadow Culture Secretary has a keen interest in the creative and cultural industries in her constituency. So: * EMAIL: [email protected] to seek her support for an effective process designed with the community to present other options to the public for discussion and development. http://www.peckhamvision.org/wiki/images/d/dc/Station-Flyer-A4-Revised-05Feb14.pdf

"I think you'd have to be insane to take any kind of mortgage advice via an Estate Agent's broker." As illustrated, plus there would have been a fee if I'd gone with their suggestion, however, it gave a very good starting point for comparison.

I sourced both my mortgages. If you go with one of those ones with a special rate over a couple of years or so, make sure you work out what that's really going to cost you. Let's say you like the look of a deal that lasts for 2 years. You need to total up all the extra costs applicable to that deal, arrangement fees etc, then multiply the monthly mortgage repayment by 24 and add the two totals. What may at first glance appear to be a great rate, may not look quite so attractive once you've factored in those additional costs. I ended up with a standard variable mortgage from Hinckley & Rugby which was set at 0.35% over the bank base rate. The real cost over two years was more or less the same as the 'wonderful' 2 year deal KFH suggested, however, the H&R one ticked every single one of my requirements which the KFH one didn't and I liked the fact I wouldn't be forced to do it all over again in a couple of years time. It was a lucky choice because short of two years later, the financial markets had taken a hit and it was much more difficult to get a mortgage, let alone a good rate, and the fees by then were astronomical. Get your head round the real cost bit now and you can save yourself a fortune over the long run. Another thing worth checking is the redemption fee for such time you're able to pay the whole thing off.

Anyone know if there's a visual difference between squirrel poison and rat poison? Only one is legally approved for use with squirrels, presumably the most effective one. An elderly friend has a squirrel nesting in her attic. The pest control guy put down 4 small trays of poison a couple of weeks ago which went untouched til last week. By Monday, all four dishes of poison had been emptied. As he told me it would take 4 days (!!) for it to take effect, I left it til yesterday for the call back, i.e. visit no.2. Squirrel was in its nest very much alive still. In the course of our conversation, the guy said a couple of things that made me wonder if he was sure of what he was doing, which in turn has led me to wonder if he's using the correct bait especialy as he didn't seem knowledgeable about the dose required. Squirrel's fate aside, I'm getting mighty fed up. I'm the only person she's got who can go up and check but I have quite a bad fear of heights and start getting vertigo by the third rung up a ladder so I'm finding it really stressful having to keep going up there. So my interest in whether it's the correct poison or not is 1) to ensure the squirrel suffers as little as possible, and 2) to ensure I'm climbing that ladder no longer than necessary.

I had a possible land contamination report when I got my place surveyed. It was due to proximity to Camberwell New Cemetery. Didn't put me off and there have been several sales in my road since I've lived here. Is there any indication where the contamination originates and what it might be? For example, houses built on the site of an old petrol station would classify as being built on contaminated land.

The charity shop down by Goose Green has a textile recycling bin outside. Good for the sheets and pillowcases I would have thought.

Of course the 50% stat isn't true ;-) Back to the OP, so sorry to hear of your experience.

Opened the door to the police this afternoon. They wanted to know whether I'd answered the door to a couple last week because they robbed someone in my street. I'm in Kelvington Road but I'm sure they aren't inclined to limit themselves to this side of the Rye. The man is his mid to late 30's, the woman appears to be in her 20's. They claim to be neighbours with a problem with their water supply. They ask the householder whether they've noticed the same problem, then the female keeps the householder distracted while the other goes on the rob. They appear to be targeting older people. Just be on your guard and if you have any elderly neighbours, please let them know.

It's worth noting that the presence of trees helps minimise flooding as the roots provide channels down which water can run, unlike grassed areas, so removal of trees can make a tendency to flood worse.

I have both types of brown bin. In the Winter, I only use the smaller to dispose of the food waste, but Spring to Autumn I do frequently need the large bin for garden waste. As has been pointed out, if you don't need the larger bin, you can request it's taken away. If you still have a need to dispose of garden stuff occasionally, you can use the brown paper sacks instead. Aesthetics aside, it's a great service imo.

"cock" This.

TFL always handle this sort of stuff in a cavalier sort of way. If I remember correctly, the work was supposed to last from Tuesday to Tuesday starting last week, so Wednesday could see us back to normal. As so often happens with TFL though, we won't know until the buses start running the full route, usually the information doesn't get disseminated to the drivers very well so it's entirely possible we'll find a mix of some buses back to normal while others continue on diversion. It should be possible for TFL to set up auto-notifications so that every time they update their website to say there's an issue or that work is planned along certain routes, an email/text would fire off to users of that route. Apart from the back end work, it would just require people to have an account with TFL and the ability to select the routes they want to be kept informed about. There would also be the requirement for TFL to update their site with the information. It wouldn't replace signs at bus stops, but it would make life a lot easier for regular users with email/phones.

It often seems to be the case that the notifications only appear on the affected stops which is pretty useless for anyone getting on further back along the route. Out of interest, how much notice were we given? I only saw the signs up on the Surrey Rd stop on Monday, but it's possible I didn't get a bus for several days prior to that.

Just noticed the sign about the 343 today. Checked with a driver on my way back from town and he said it starts tomorrow. I've seen no signs up about the 484 at all which I was relying on as a backup bus. Which bit of its route is affected, do you know?

If it hasn't completely uprooted, you may be able to salvage it. Page 14 of this document has some useful information: http://hort.ufl.edu/woody/documents/FR172.pdf Apparantly, much may depend on the type of tree, its age, and whether the tree trunk is narrower than 4 inches. Either way, it's worth seeking the advice of a trained aborist.

When I lived a few minutes away from Brixton Rec, I went swimming several times a week before work as a means of doing something productive with my insomnia. Later, I did studio pilates at the Laban for several years which helped manage an issue with degenerating disks. So my reasons were very much therapeutic. Back home, there was a guy who used steroids as a part of his gym routine. He killed his girlfriend in a fit of roid rage. Nasty drugs.

Storing yams and other large tubiferous veggies?

Check this thread: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1234564

I went in for an appointment at DMC Chadwick Road on Monday and was told by the GP that the system is changing so there will be very few advance appointments, instead one will need to call up, wait for a GP to call back to talk through the issue, then the GP will decide if it needs a face to face appointment or not. If yes, the appointment will be made for that day. My folks in Wales are faced with a similar system the last several years and either they can't get through or they are told there are no slots left for that day, they have to call the next day etc etc.