JMT

We pay about ?40 for gas and ?40 for electricity. We have a 3 storey Victorian terraced house. Family of 4 with a lodger. 4 bed, 2 bath, occupied during the day. We have done quite a lot to improve our house thermally - replaced sash beads with brushed beads, clad the side of our outrigger with insulation and timber cladding, extending the rear with a cavity walled rear extension on two levels. We also have a wood burning stove and solar water heating panels. I'm glad to see it seems to be paying off!

A lot of these rear sewage pipes got adopted as public sewers in October last year so many of you may now find you have public sewers in your garden. They say it is so that they can take responsibility for maintaining them, but with a fee for connecting to an existing sewer and a separate fee for building within 3 metres of an existing sewer, I suspect Thames Water just saw the opportunity to capitalise on the increased trend in house extensions. http://www.thameswater.co.uk/got-a-problem/8654.htm Depending on the invert level of the sewer, you could drop the access point down - to the approval of Thames Water, of course. I agree with red devil re: the chimney breast. The vendors should be responsible for providing the Building Control Certificate for the works done. Planning permission is not usually required.

Mr Ben - "Bottom line is that it IS totally unregulated industry in the UK so you're always taking pot luck." Not if you use an architect.

My husband is a Certified Passivhaus designer. Maybe he could help - 07932 717 064.

I'm from Cockermouth, just west of Keswick. It's a lovely little town. Wordsworth was born and lived there. There's a great veggie B&B. Check out http://www.veggielakelandliving.co.uk/ The owner used to own a vegan restaurant in town. She's a great cook.

PS Renata I would like to hold you to our word regarding non closure of libraries and children's centres. There are so many posts about possible closures, some posted by ED councillors, it's great to know that they are all safe.

Thanks Renata I'd say you need to address the application system rather than giving free meals to families who can clearly afford it. You say you will not see evidence of any success for ten years, but then say that after the success of your pilot scheme last year you are going to roll out the scheme to every child in primary school. On what evidence? One child eating vegetables? I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get any negative feedback from parents who now don't have to pay for their child's lunch. What negative feedback were you expecting? I have friends on benefits who still manage to feed their children healthy food. It's more about education than giving out freebies. My child currently gets school meals from Chartwells, a popular provider of 'healthy' school meals . She regularly comes home having eaten burgers and chips, fish fingers or biscuit with custard. Why can't the money be spent on installing kitchens in all schools to cook meals themselves, rather than going to these large companies? The children could even help with the food prep. I see from James Barber's posts that there are quite a few holes in your argument. I am well aware that there are many families in need of these meals, and I would give my wholehearted backing to these families receiving them. I do believe that there are plenty of families in Southwark - not just in Dulwich, but in other districts such as London Bridge, Waterloo, Herne Hill, Tower Bridge, Shad Thames and Bermondsey who can well afford their child's school meals.

Thanks for your response Renata. I'm sorry if I am about to upset anybody, but I am quite shocked that Southwark are planning to give free school meals to everyone, regardless of income, whilst at the same time asking for ways in which to cut funds to the libraries to avoid closure. It is quite obvious that a large proportion of families in Southwark are not on the bread line. Surely the money you are spending on this scheme could be put to much better use. If not libraries, then attending to the lack of school places in the area - especially with the amount of new housing planned for the area in the next five years - or even into producing better quality meals. Calculating the average wage does not automatically mean that most families are receiving that wage, and I would be surprised if this were the case. I don't know a great deal about income support, but I understand that if you earn under ?16,000 per annum but work more than 15 hours, then you are entitled to working Tax Credits. If people claiming this benefit do not know that they are also eligible to claim free school meals, then I believe this is the issue that should be addressed, rather than just ignoring the problem by giving school meals to everyone, regardless of income. I would be very interested in other people's view on this.

Hi Renata Are school meal given free to everyone in Southwark, or only those on low incomes?

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My Friend got the lease last year to turn it into an art gallery, but was met with such resistance and red tape from the council, that she had to let it go, so I heard.

I often get deliveries from Tesco and Ocado (boycotted Sainsbury's home delivery after two no shows out of two). Recently, I have been noticing that they are managing to avoid giving me the advertised deals by telling me one of my items in the multiple offer is not available, or not sending me my 25% off voucher for having spent more than ?80 with the the previous week, or substituting an offer item with a cheaper non offer item. Has anyone else experienced this? I would be very interested to know.

Yes, I had heard that it was being rebuilt, but that the existing buildings were to be retained an used for something else. I haven't done that much research, as you can probably tell, but I had been told that unless an educational use can be found for it, the buildings were going to be converted into residential.

Hello I have just attached a satellite shot of the grounds, which are accessed from the corner of Stuart Street and Sartor Road. Very much tucked away.

Oh dear, maybe I should book a table at Ganapati instead!

There is an old school site just off Inverton Road in Nunhead that is earmarked for housing. However, Southwark are obliged to give first refusal for anyone wanting to start a free school. I can find out more if anybody is interested. It's a lovely old building set in its own beautiful grounds.

I'm really interested in reading any reviews of this production. I'm thinking of going on Thursday.

They start at 4:30am on the dot. You can set your watches by them. An insomniac's nightmare - if they have them, that is. I am woken up by them most mornings. What is worse is that now they are starting to come over during the 'quiet period' between 11pm and 4:30am. I'm sure this is not allowed, but who would I complain to? I keep myself awake pondering this question, before stuffing the ear plugs in once more.

The idea would not be to give it over to Bold Tendancies, it would be to provide cheap studio/retail/office space for local people. If the council gave small grants for potential lessees to create their individual space, and the basic infrastructure - toilets, heating and electricity, then ownership of these pods would revert to the council after the end of a lease of say 5 years, with an option for the lessee to rent it back from the council. There are plenty people who work from home, and this is on the increase. I know there is a huge shortage of school places in the area, but this building is not suitable for that kind of purpose. I like the idea of a roof top garden. I think you could get a great community going in the building. Where does the Bold Tendancies' money go, by the way?

Also extremely environmentally unfriendly

I believe I read in Southwark's regeneration papers for Peckham Rye and Nunhead that the car park had been ear marked for re-development. I would very much like to see it left to grow organically, perhaps renting bays for people to fit them out how they like. Frank's bar and the sculpture exhibition have been a great stimulus to the immediate area. It would be great to see an artisan market evolve in the car park.

I went to see it last year when I was looking for a place for my daughter as my friend told me she was really impressed with it. I asked quite a few questions and this is the information I managed to glean: - They changed the head teacher when the school was made a feeder school, but kept all the other staff. I think there were some tensions because of this - possibly resolved now. - After seeing some horrible blue slush puppy rotating in a machine in the dining hall I asked if all the food was cooked fresh on site. The head teacher assured me that it was. I then asked if I could see the kitchen, she tried a few times to dissuade me, first telling me it was being knocked down so I didn't need to see it, then saying I would disturb all the busy kitchen staff just before lunch if I went in. I have to say that this discouragement made me even more determined to see it. I peeked in to see two kitchen staff heating up trays of externally made food, which disappointed me, mainly because I had been lied to. - In the discussion room later, I asked the head what she thought had been going wrong with the school before she took over. No kidding, she said " I dunno, I wasn't here, was I?" - I also noticed the that the new construction work, costing over ?1,000,000, was to a very poor standard (I'm an architect) and was not at all surprised to hear that the site had burnt down due to contractor negligence. Needless to say, I didn't put it down as one of my choices.

I think it's ?7 for adults and kids go free. It's for all ages, babies upwards, and is especially for parents and their kids, so anything goes really - a bit like the baby screen at the cinema.

I went to one of these concerts recently in Borough and it was fantastic, my little one was mesmerised. I'm surprised it has taken so long for someone to come up with the idea. I see that they are now coming to St Barnabus on 29th March, so thought I could recommend it to you all. Have a look at their website - www.classicswithmybaby.com

Hello I had terrible trouble feeding both of mine, and expressing too. I eventually discovered that expressing without a pump was actually the easiest, and quietest! Worth a try?