first mate

Have an idea they qualify as bush meat, if imported, therefore illegal. If grown here don't know, also don't know how easy they would be to breed to that size here.

Hi, If you walk your dog most mornings on the Rye or Dulwich Park you will, in time, see the same faces and dogs appearing. We all get to know each other eventually and everyone is very friendly. 8.30- 10 am is the prime time. As the days get shorter late afternoon walks tail off. But in summer everyone tips out again for evenings in the park. You do get the odd rogue dog and owner and, surprise surprise, they tend to be the ones that don't pick up and that you never see again.

Actually it's the reception staff at Melbourne Grove that I feel sorry for. They are in the middle, in a no win situation, taking the flack for those in charge who have assented to and implemented this deplorable system. The Doctors, and in particular the Doctor in charge, Simon Fradd, are fully signed up to a political experiment, this is about them saving money but at our expense. Those practice members who disagreed, like Dr Brew Graves, left, fast. The only way to change it is for everyone to complain, in writing, to the local Health Trust, the local Practitioners Cttee, and our dear MP. Nothing less will make any difference because at the end of the day it's all about saving money.

What an upsetting experience. I agree that using poison should be avoided. A very nasty, slow, death. Call me soft but I don't even like to think of a rat dying that way. The cub may have ingested a poisonous plant, causing liver failure. He may have had a dodgy liver anyway. So don't beat yourself up about it. Lots of things we use in our daily livesd are highly toxic to animals and it's worth being aware of them.

He once told me that he was allergic to dogs and won't allow them in his shop. Fair enough. His behaviour to your friend is quite extraordinary and totally unjustified. I wonder if he knows that normal urine, even dog pee, is sterile? If there is a next time let him go ahead and call the police, I'm sure they'll tell him where to go and save you the trouble.

sweetgirl, I wasn't excusing, merely explaining. Not even a dog owner likes to step in something from a dog's nethers. However, the virtues of the small, white ones are many. Most of all they don't get stuck on the bottoms of your shoes. They're more crumbly...yeeeeugh....

It's coz our modern mutts are mainly fed on tinned rubbish or dried, extruded rubbish. Formerly dogs lived on raw, meat bones and scraps. The bones made their dumps much smaller and harder and white. Bet in Jamaica most dogs still eat the old fashioned way. So, there you go, blame huge, mucky, 21st century dog turds on huge, greedy, pet food manufacturers and their unwitting customers.

I second a South Indian restaurant. Ganapati is great, but it would be good to have one on Lordship Lane. A nice change from the type of Indian food currently available. Also an Indonesian would be fab...I long for rice tafel (not sure how you spell it).

I don't want to sound pedantic but isn't it Boris Johnson - without the T?

JRussel, One of the maddest posts I've read in a long time. Seem to recall you were the one who was worried about destroying the environment by using baby pooh bags to pick up dog doo. Please tell us you are a wind up merchant?

Just to add to the general picture: this morning, on Peckham Rye, an elderly woman mugged by young black male. He asked her for directions and then ripped a necklace off her neck. She was very badly shaken and incredibly upset and this is the second time she has been mugged in the area in the last year.

Sure, as I said, occasional use is okay. But if it becomes regular and you have a second school doing the same thing, that is going to take up much more park space. Plus when you've got lots of kids in one area you have to start looking at restrictions, health and safety and so on. It's the thin end of the wedge, in my view.

I think kids from the other Academy adjacent to Peckham Rye are already using the Rye for Sports Events. I for one seriously hope that sections of the Rye do not become permanent extensions of the school/s. Regular use in this way could seriously impact on the park and its other users. It was not meant to be used in this way and it is an easy get out for Southwark Council/ Harris etc.. I don't object to occasional use. It's the notion that large sections of the park are given over to schools/sports academies that bothers me and I believe there is an intention to do just this.

Try the rice crispie cakes too, yum.

omgwtfpwn, there's an enormous green space only 5 minutes down the road, for those older kids who want to play football. Peckham Rye also has a skate board area and a cafe and some fantastic gardens. I believe they are also erecting a building that will have some youth provision. Surely that is quite a lot to be going on with? Not quite on the doorstep, but very close.

Agree that it's better to keep the fence because of expense involved in removing it. Just wish it hadn't been put there in the first place.

I disliked the fence from the first. I think it's incredibly ugly and much preferred the look for the park without. Can't recall any consultation prior to it being put up, though there must have been. More important: instead of banning dogs why not insist all dogs be put on a short lead in Goose Green only? When on lead it is harder to miss the fact that one's pooch has taken a dump. A frequent excuse/reason for not clearing up after the dog is that it is too far away, off lead, for the owner to have noticed. Those who say their dogs needs to run off lead need only travel a little further down the road to Peckham Rye. However, the rights of the elderly or infirm to walk their dog closer to home are protected, as are those who want to cut through the park with their dog, or families with a dog who want to picnic on Goose Green. Because of the tiny size of the park I think this is a reasonable compromise. But I would not want to set a precedent for large green spaces. With enough publicity and signage I am sure eagle eyed members of the public would be quick to intervene and remind dog walkers who don't pick up.

Blinder, Good work. Wonder if the woman who did an article in SLP (?) knows about this?

Zebedee, Good idea, think I'll do the same. If Dr B-G has gone to another surgery in the area I am tempted to follow.

That is terrible. ZT did you leran if she was going elsewhere?

Oh, alright, you spotted a tautology. Well done you. Gold star.

Think Rose is pretty savvy and when people really cannot afford things in her shop she'll cut her cloth accordingly. She's only doing what most independent shops do, catering for an existing market: supply and demand. It's not her job to be a charity. She was the second decent place to open on Northcross Road, way back in the 90's -I was her first customer- and has helped to make ED a more interesting place. Many of the other nick nack shops merely followed in her wake. Of all of them she has, in my view, been the most original because she was the first. Just pray that the credit crunch doesn't wipe people like her out, because any vaccuum is bound to be filled by the outfits that can afford it, the chains. I don't want to live on another homogenised high street, or one filled with pound stores. Finally, though I'm sure she can take it, it must be tough to read such unfettered criticism over what sounded like quite a small incident.

Another is perspective instead of prospective. Is that her perspective partner? Depends on your point of view.

What about getting lyrics wrong? For years I thought a line in Elton John's "Benny and the Jets" went: "She's got electric boobs a Mohawk's suit, you know I read it is a magazine oh,oh,....., Benny and the Jets". The mind boggled. Other teeth crunchers are the classic estate agent's line "comprises of" and "personally I..".

I recall a receptionist at Melbourne Grove saying that the diagnosis by phone etc.. was part of a pilot. Now I wonder if we could find out who is monitoring the pilot and perhaps urge them to read this or forward them the link?!