The Minkey

My OH swore he saw a dormouse on a collapsed wisteria in someone's front garden up round that way. Having seen and held one myself, his description did fit and he knows what a rat looks like so although I was initially disbelieving, I concluded that chances were it was a dormouse.

For comparison: I live in a 3 bed 1920's semi and have a dual fuel deal with EON. My direct debit - which doubled when I had a non-energy conserving friend staying - has just come back down to ?62 per month, and I anticipate it may come down a little more. For comparison, my CH is on from 7.30am to 10.30pm every day at 17 degrees as I'm at home more often than not. It's not on overnight. I've had my loft insulated and blown double-glazed units replaced. I don't have cavity walls. Dodgy health means I'm a lot more sedentary than I'd like to be so I stay warm by wearing a lot of layers. If I'm cold when watching a bit of TV, unless I have visitors rather than turn the heating up I stay toasty under a blanket. I only do a clothes wash when I have a full load. Drying gets done on the line outside or comes inside to finish off on the drier. I don't have a tumble drier because of the expense of running one, and as money has become tight, I rarely use the dishwasher.

A shit in the foyer? Bad Santa.

What next, an explosion of nail bars?

Yes, little point starting up a guessing game on here. Let the business know you had a problem.

There are two DMCs in the area, one in Chadwich Road, the other in Crystal Palace Rd (I think). Assume you are talking about the CPR one?

I live at the top end of Nunhead/Peckham Rye. It's quieter up here than down in Nunhead Central, but I love the proximity to One Tree Hill, Brenchley Gardens, Nunhead Cemetery and the Ivyhouse, plus the fact my garden backs onto the reservoir. Lordship Lane is a 20mins stroll away, across the park and down Northcross Road. I can't say how it compares to living in ED, as I moved here from Brixton.

Granted it's annoying to have someone knocking at the door with unwanted and overpriced things for sale but the way I look at it, we have the good fortune to be able to close the door and return to whatever it was we were doing in the comfort of our home, while the seller has to carry on knocking doors knowing hardly anyone is going to buy. I've done some shit jobs, and I know how it made me feel at the time. The first time someone called round, and I declined to buy anything, he looked so dispirited as he moved off down the road, I trotted after him and bunged him a couple of quid. It didn't open me up to a flood of dishcloth sales people. I reckon they turn up on average once a year, maybe less. A firm but polite 'No thanks, really not interested' seems to have worked well so far.

Paul and his team from Scenic Double Glazing came round on Monday to replace various blown window units, and french doors which although fairly new were already rotted through and falling apart due to a botched install when they first went in. No hard sell whatsoever and very competitively priced. He also went round doing various smaller jobs like resealing the window frames which used to moan in the wind at no extra cost. Such a pleasure to deal with someone who takes pride in doing a good job so I really can't recommend him highly enough. Never thought I'd say it but I'm loving my upvc doors.

Get well soon CS. Do you need any help? PM if so. Love that photo of you in the Cheltenham Cafe looking very dapper behind the wheel of a car ;-)

Why not do something about it and take it up with Environmental Health?

Thanks Renata.

Co-op's more expensive than my local corner shop for a lot of basics. Emergency supplies only.

Panel from the roof of my next door neighbour's extension just ripped off and flew away.

Lol, it sounds like you're all just sitting there wondering where your post went instead of doing something about it.

Smelly ladybirds? Not that I've ever noticed. Though the Harlequin ladybird - the invader one that's eating our native species - does leave yellow stains apparantly, so maybe it's the smelly one.

How to complain about your postal service: http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/post/postcomp

Bad luck about the work, Tim. If you run a search on the ED businesses, restaurants & trades forum, you should find a lot of recommendations from people who've had this kind of work done. I've found it to be really useful.

Yeh, I do the same PR. Bottle and bin.

I was very relieved to put some weight on over the Summer. Wish it would stay put.

This is the kind of thing that is happening due to the welfare changes: http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2013/oct/%E2%80%98absolute-hell%E2%80%99-after-benefits-were-axed-atos The new system is letting people down badly. This woman's GP and consultants all deemed her unfit to work but this evidence was ignored and a decision made by someone unqualified to judge. Although she eventually won her appeal, she suffered many months of real hardship. Foodbanks can be a great help in these circumstances

One of the reasons is that no cumulative impact assessment was done prior to the introduction of the recent Welfare changes. There's a Petition calling for one here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154 While the media inflames the sheeples ire with exceptional cases of apparent excess and benefit abuse, desperately sick people are dying while waiting many months for their appeals to go to tribunal or quietly committing suicide because they simply can't afford to live. If there is one positive thing I've gained in the 5 years since I lost my health, and the 18 months I've had to claim benefits, it is compassion for the plight of others in a similar situation. As a member of various support forums, I'm well aware there are many, many, desperate people out there, worried to death about what the future holds, who would love to be well enough to work again, but are instead facing a very frightening future as a direct result of the recent changes to welfare.

Lol, yes Sue, was directed at the OP :-)

A couple of semis in my street sold for under 500k in just the last couple of months. One was on at 489, the other at 499, I'm told they went for a little under the asking price. Small 3 bed houses with big gardens backing onto the Aquarius. So it's possible to get a house for under 600k in a decent area within a 20 min stroll across the park to ED. Still, I'm amazed they are fetching what they are because just a year and a half ago, they were fetching 350k.

Out of interest, how did you know it was an axe?