Bumpkin

Just been for the first time and definitely recommend. Great value, lovely atmosphere & far preferred their pizzas to some others on the lane. Give it a go!

Thanks all, my son is an F1 fan who bought himself a simulator steering wheel & pedal set with birthday, Christmas & odd job money ages ago so the practicalities of driving a manual will be simple for him. I’m after someone that will drill in the safety aspects of driving. I think F1 is a dreadful sport, but he’s 16 so I give him some slack. Given the above, think most sensible to learn on a manual as widest use once passed.

Hi - does anyone have any recommendations for a driving instructor for our soon to be 17 year old son? I saw glowing reviews for Silvano but think he only does automatic cars now. Thanks appreciate don’t need to drive in London etc, but may as well get the test out of the way now.

Any news on what’s taking the White Stuff site?

Our fox left both a shoe and a poo last night but thoughtfully made it easier to clear up..

Our wren (or a female he persuaded to join him) has been spotted again feathering the nest.. fingers crossed for babies!

That’s good to know!

We were very excited to discover a wren has build an impressive nest in a yucca just outside our window, however since finishing we haven’t seen her for several days. Really hoping a cat hasn’t got her (or him..).

NFU (yes, national farmers union!) were the only insurer I could find who would cover us for subsidence for our house (Victorian conversion).

My son’s primary school hatched duck eggs, probably under this scheme around 12 years ago. We were all very upset to hear that 2 of the (5 year old) boys had knocked the incubator over & all eggs smashed. feeling a lot less sad about that now!

Think website is wrong…. Said shut Sat eve but was open when we went.

Ate there Sat early evening for the first time - 2 for one pizza deal - really tasty pizzas, v crispy base. Had the fish platter which was a decent size for 2 & good to share along with a pizza. Great atmosphere, do support, was not busy but very good value with the deal.

Yes, opens 11am now. The one at the station is open until 9pm on Sundays as is smaller.

Hi, has anyone used local restaurants or caterers to provide food for a party? Having one in a few week’s time and considering not doing all cooking myself!

Kingsdale do sports scholarships & I believe are sympathetic to time off for training, however, as above, I really wouldn’t start worrying about secondary for at least another couple of years.

We had a bit of excitement in the garden last week when what at first I thought was a large thrush, came out of our hedge, caught a sparrow & took off with it. Pretty certain it was a sparrow hawk. Still plenty of sparrows.

Thank you, how lovely

Our record delay was a Christmas card posted by an elderly relative a couple of weeks before Christmas that turned up in August..

Fear not, they will doubtless return soon in another guise. These provided much fun for myself & 12 year old during lockdown & were mysteriously changed on a fairly regular basis over the months. We stopped going after a ‘see how high I can go mum!’ resulted in a badly broken wrist (now absolutely fine). But I still have happy memories although the boy now avoids the hill.

NFU have given us really competitive quotes this year for house conversation previously underpinned. Think they are new to the market & gaining market share - are Which recommended

Hi - we've got a good quality kingsize duvet that's slightly too hot for me therefore hardly used and seems a shame just to take to the tip. Does anyone know of any shelters etc that might want a kingsize duvet?..

Hi, does anyone know of a running club or athletics club locally that would welcome a relatively fit 13 year old boy who's not in any sort of regular training and not likely to be star material, but would like to keep fit sociably? He's hit 13 and due to Covid and age doing no sports or any other clubs any longer and doesn't have friends that want to join him as they either play football (he doesn't enjoy playing) or don't want to do active things. It's a tough age to start a new sport if you're not already good at it, but he likes running. Any ideas welcome thanks.

Thanks all, appreciate the advice.

Hi - not sure if anyone's got any experience of this, but we live in a Victorian conversion flat that serves a front drain with rainwater pipes and a kitchen waste pipe from two upper flats. Our front garden has been slowly dying over the last few years with a number of different species of very established, large hedges now completely dead and I'm concerned that we have a drainage problem. A couple of workmen recently said they thought that the front drain was a soakaway, which shouldn't have the kitchen drainage going into it. Does anyone know how we can fully establish that we have a soakaway and how best to resolve this? Thanks

We live on East Dulwich Road and the first thing we did when we moved in was to install secondary glazing acoustic glass, best thing we did - massively cuts down on the noise. I can't comment on price as it was over 12 years ago so won't be at all realistic.