tomskip

Speechless! for once.

On the whole I agree with what you say Mops. But the solution to this person's vulnerability is not to encourage him to collect money under the guise of it being a charity collection (if it is not) surely? People who are short of money themselves could be donating whilst under the impression they are giving to an organisation, not an individual who needs cash. It's ok to question the validity of collection buckets, no matter who is holding them. Or no? I always feel it's best to be honest. I hope some of the many excellent local homeless outreach workers are talking to him.

That's not really my point.

I saw the same man being asked to leave his spot outside the entrance to Sainsburys Dog Kennel Hill the other day. It suggests, at least, that Sainsburys didn't licence him to ask for donations there.

The compostible food waste bags from Lidl or Aldi are large and very strong.

Out of interest, how close do you have to live to the park to get this sort of consultation?

I'm pleased that Charter North have caught on to the dishonest practice of owning elsewhere and renting nearby to get a place at the school. It wasn't the case a few years ago and I knew several families who exploited the loophole. I'll admit to finding it funny when I met a family who rented in Dulwich Village to get their first of three children into the school. But then their second child wanted to go to a school in Lewisham ... and they were out of catchment for that! I wonder if they did it again ...

I only go there about every couple of months now (to put my flimsy plastic in the recyling bins). What a dismal, grubby experience it has become! I don't go to Sainsburys Forest Hill either because of their requirement to have me download a parking app on my phone. Luckily we have many supermarket choices nearby and I find Waitrose deliveries, Sainsburys Local on foot, Lidl and Aldi cover it all.

For ArchieCarlos - Billings on Sydenham High Street is also an excellent butchers and fishmongers.

It's a strange thread heading for sure. There are thousands of dual income hard-working families locally! Most of them aren't in a position to pay private school fees. Of course a 20% cost uplift is going to be hard for many private school parents, but the real question is - why is a private education in a weird loophole of not being seen as discretionary spending? As adults we pay VAT on clothing, heating, fuel, furniture, most purchases other than some foods. So private school fees being VAT exempt seems extraordinary.

Good luck to them. I should think anyone inclined to crowd fund in this borough has had their fingers stung by the non-starter projects of the proposed Lido at Peckham Rye and a green walkway following the train route from Peckham Rye? (memory a bit hazy) which have resulted in nothing.

I think it's an ambitious asking price, yes.

I've said it before and I'll say it again! I really don't think anyone needs a large brown wheelie bin unless they have a vast garden/are such keen gardeners that they fill it every week. You can buy paper garden sacks from the council. Put one or two of those out when you've had a busy pruning session. Keep a small compost heap in the garden for all your small prunings and fruit/veg waste, dead flowers etc. Say goodbye to that ugly brown bin on your driveway and get a brown kerbside bin. Keep that outside your back door for your non compostable food waste. Surely in a borough with mainly small or modest back gardens, a full sized brown wheelie is just not needed for the majority of households. You don't need it if it spends most of the year empty or nearly empty.

Just been outside to discover a parcel delivered by Royal Mail tucked slightly out of view under my bay window. It could have been there since before Christmas. The contents have been damaged by all the recent rain. No card through the door to alert us to this delivery. The person who sent it to me spent nearly £5.00 on that. So even if there has been an improvement this year (has there, really?) it's still a p*s* poor service imo.

This forum has readers in Dulwich Village (postcode is London SE21), East Dulwich (London SE22), West Dulwich (also SE21 mainly) and Peckham (London SE15) and house prices tend to vary rather a lot across the post codes. So it would be helpful to know what sort of house or flat you have in mind and what is your budget? I would recommend joining Mumsnet and posting on there. It's a huge site and you'll get lots of responses from people living in SE London. This forum is nice but a lot quieter.