spymum

Eeew! Dog cakes; my boys call them dog logs! spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Mark, in my case it depends on how big they both are (and the dog too)! I have once been brave enough to order a bloke with one of those scary pit bull type dogs out of a children's play area though. Having owned a dog, and having been able to endure the yuckiness of picking up handfuls of warm dog poo, I reckon anyone can do it! Clean up after your dogs y'all! spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

LOL! Thanks Jamie - and so as not to get off point, England is a great country, a safe country and we musn't ghetto-ise it. Get out there, reclaim the streets, the local parks, mingle, talk and don't isolate yourself. The incident at West Dulwich train station adds to the scariness, but we are not living 'apart' American style yet, thank heaven. spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

Thanks Clare!! you are a sweetheart for mentioning it!:)) I spotted the namecheck this morning and nearly died laughing at the comparison! Belle du Jour no less - I am flattered! I am totally stunned - whoever journalist Johnny Dee is, I would sure like to give him a big kiss! (And - for the benefit of the jealous husband - just a kiss, OK!?) What a larf, ey? (here) spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

D'you know what Jamie - I think that an updated 'Peace Corps' idea would be brilliant! Although the Peace Corps has a bit of a 'drippy' image that could do with a bit of tweaking! (I remember them from when I was a kid, and they were almost embarrassingly earnest!). spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Have fun tonight everyone - wish I could join you. spymum

Jamie, what you have done is amazingly hard to achieve and is brilliant. I, for one, would like to say that I'm proud of you. But let's not muddy the waters with talk about gambling/cigarettes/alcohol. Ok, gambling brings in crime, but no-one broke into my house to get money for a pint of scotch or a packet of fags! I too have read 'Freakanomics' (an excellent book) and the chapter on 'Why drug dealers live at home with their mothers' was an incredible read - according to Freakanomics petty drug dealing simply doesn't pay and the life expectancy is brutally short. All gangsters get is the supposed 'glamour' and an illusion of support from their gang. But I agree with Oldtimer on this one - drugs are endemic in this country and its effects can be felt from all the way from smashed car windows/nicked stereos to murder for 'dissing'. Then there are death squads in Columbia, where judges and lawyers and policemen are targeted and killed. When there are 'middle class' deaths like Leah Betts (or that poor lawyer that was stabbed in Bethnal Green) we get a few squawks from the media and the government then all goes quiet. Meanwhile the safe, secure, middle class trendies snort drugs in the Groucho and off the loos in the Houses of Parliament - each line of coke and every pill has a long string of crimes behind it. Now the footie stars, the MP's and the White Cube crowd are safe and secure, but those living on the sink estates in Peckham with these unloved, amoral, almost feral kids are not. They are poor, inarticulate and don't vote so no-one cares about them - (John Reid, I'm looking at you!). Those living next to the sink estates (US!) are not safe either (and perhaps the government couldn't care less about us too!) but we have morals; it is painful to watch 15 year olds die and it shouldn't be allowed to happen. And we have a vote and a voice, and as Oldtimer says we should use them. Now, while the media is interested. Jamie, your knowledge and experience would sure come in handy! spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

Cheers all_star! That is amazing! (and I'm rather embarrassed that I never thought to click on Wikipedia, despite the fact that I've been wondering about this house for 8 whole years! Durrr!) Why did they squeeze the rather skimpy 'copy' just behind it (another thing I watched with interest). And are they just waiting for the original to finally fall down by itself? Shame really. spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

I like that one too - I've always wondered what the history was behind that house! Does anyone know? spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Interesting one Snorky, although I would suggest that people buy Boden not to display that they have more wealth than others per se, but out of a desire to be part of the 'Boden dream' of perfect mummyhood, happy, pretty kids playing on a beach in Cornwall with handsome, still-quite- fit ex-rugger b**ger dads - so maybe we should lay the blame with the PR and Marketing industry !! I'm very happy to do that!;-) Joking aside, capt_birdseye's point that it isn't lack of love/care/human interaction but a perverted sense of morals is even more dreadful. How do you teach someone that their twisted moral compass is wrong? Like how do you explain to a parent that goes storming in to beat up the Headteacher (a catholic school in Brockley, this was) that their whole idea of 'being' is not the way. If parents are warping their kids in this manner we are doomed. Doomed I tells ye! I am just so worried that a whole generation is being lost. I watched my old neighbourhood (5 minutes drive away) going slowly downhill over a period of six years as a small group of kids grew to adulthood - no-one said anything, and by the time they were 15 everyone was scared to. And BTW, whenever I saw misbehaviour I (being the feisty type of officious mother) told them off. But now that they are 6'2 (I'm 5'3) I don't think I would. spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

Definitely the pavement area around East Dulwich Train station and the pizza place. (And just to be fair, my fave. is the view from Overhill Road looking across the little valley to the top of Horniman Drive - that must have been truly beautiful once). spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

(Groans, head in hands). Capt Bird's eye, this illustrates my point perfectly. I was listening to the transcript of the 'video' they made and it is unbelievable that people can lack humanity like this. Can we even call them people? And though we have mocked her a bit on this board, for someone who was raised in similar circs. Jade Goody has done bl***y well considering - (and we can all see how damaged she is). Brixton, West Norwood, Peckham, New Cross, Deptford and Camberwell (ie: all around us) have loads of kids/youths from just the same background - it isn't even about absent fathers anymore, it is about absent love, care, emotion, absent flippin' everything. Social workers don't help (pah!), nor the councils (double pah!). Tony and his cronies are too far removed from regular life - gangs and gun violence can't reach their Islington ivory towers methinks! Jamie, your idea of turning that huge building into some sort of place where kids could find some sort of structure would be wonderful. spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Oh dear! That'll work then, won't it ;-) And it's not exactly near! Where in Peckham? - I go there quite a bit and have never even noticed it. Then again, I arrive, shop and leave at lightning speed! spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

G*d, this whole spate of violence is scary. I worry that it is far to late to teach a whole chunk of 'youth' anything - bolting the barn door after the horse has gone. Someone has to teach the younger kids respect, self-discipline, empathy and the concept of delayed gratification - working hard to earn something (as opposed to grabbing what you want 'cos you feel you deserve it). But who is going to do this? The parents are totally absent and the teachers are under siege. When you read about the work of that Camilla woman who runs the Kids Company in Peckham it is enough to make one weep (and chill ones blood!). Radio 4 had a programme about youth clubs closing down in Camden yesterday. The middle classes have a huge self interest here - all of society benefits if the 'youth' problem can be sorted out. But how? spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

Poor little mutt, how can people be so mean as to abandon a dog? Well done Mark! I assumed that the ED Police station was completely closed, which I thought was a shame. I always try to memorise where the nearest stations are in case I have to drive to one for help (paranoid, moi?!). Where is our nearest functioning police station, just out of interest? spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

There is a farmers market at Dulwich College (on the fourth Sunday of the month, except for December) - I don't know whether they include soaps and cosmetics, but maybe it would be worth asking. And there are regular craft fairs at St Barnabas Village Hall (Dulwich Village) - maybe they can help? spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

My handsome husband does indeed like monkfish (yay for Moxons!) but alas, Jeremy is not my husband. Unless hubby has a secret identity. Which on balance is entirely possible. What is uncool about monkfish; is it somehow unmanly? Like quiche? spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

My handsome husband does indeed like monkfish (yay Moxons!), but Jeremy is not my husband. Unless hubby has a secret identity. Which on reflection is entirely possible. Whats wrong with monkfish - is it unmanly??! spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Silky pants shop on Lordship Lane - how did I manage to miss that? Where is it!! Now that's the kind of polluting of ED that I like. Yay for silky pants! And don't tell Ibo - he'll be even crosser than normal. ;-) spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Okaaaaay! (tap, tap, tap).

Read the thread - it isn't a restaurant it is MOXONS you muppet! SMH (shaking my head!) And no I cannot 'explain how the more sceptical amongst us cannot be conned'!! :) spymum (blog: Posh Mum)

Ibo, enough of the 'pompous mug' nonsense. Quaywe says the salmon was organic because, he can read and that is how the shop labelled it!! In this country it is illegal to make false claims about stuff, you know. The Sale of Goods Act 1977 takes care of that kind of thing! Take a chill pill! spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

Too right batdog! How about Mumzz Gal Dem?! Our 'uniform' can be tight Seven jeans, nubbly Hobbs coats and (of course) Orla Kiely bags. Mark's 'safe' greeting will be the secret code and we'll hang around outside Dr Boo's intimidating passers-by, (and furtively selling school fayre tickets). spymum (Blog: Posh Mum)

James, I'm feelin' you boo. Aahright? ;-) spymum

Pretty much it means 'blokes', chaps, fellows.! East Dulwich chattering classes dem! :)) spymum