Cyclemonkey

All the swifts seem to be in France. We are in Narbonne and the city is teaming with them as the sun goes down.

Agreed, it absolutely is, but not as easy to get these days. We are going to Narbonne next month by train and I tried almost every permutation to avoid going to Paris, but to no avail.

We go to the South of France by train most summers. It is pretty easy and you get to arrive right in the centre of the city. TGVs are generally efficient, reliable and comfortable. Unfortunately the direct London to Marseille Eurostar train seems to have been a victim of Brexit so you have to change in Paris - most South bound service go from Gare de Lyon - about a 15 min RER rise from Gare du Nord. Allow plenty of time travelling back from Gare du Nord, it always was horrid but has reach new levels of chaos since Brexit. I would recommend, at least for the home leg, booking the entire journey through Eurostar. That way if your French train is delayed or cancelled and you miss your Eurostar connection back to London, Eurostar will get you on to a different train home. As for destinations - there is a lot of the South of Fra.ce to choose from. What are you looking for? Also Ouigo trains can be a cheaper option than TGVs, but watch out you have to pay extra for things like luggage and seat reservations. Also they sometimes stop at TGV stations outside the city centre.

Peckham rats have nothing on the Crystal Palace park rats. Those lads are absolute units.

Like most festivals these days, Gala were using those heavy, hard plastic reusable cups that you pay a dsposit for. It would be a pretty serious wind to blow those out of bins.

Gell me about it. We have a block of flats going up nextdoor to us, 18 months and counting of construction noise six days a week.

Well I am outside the Clockhouse pub and you can barely hear anything.

I am not here to justify or excuse Lambeth Council's decisions, but you would have to be very very naive not to understand that cancelling several eventsof that size at auch short notice would be anything other than financially catastrophic for all involved.

I suspect it was putting "not bankrupting Lambeth Council" considerations first. Cancelling those festivals at a week to go could have been financially catastrophic and may have unleashed financial hell on Lambeth.

Surely the main issue for Dulwich Village is their retail offer, like most of Dulwich Village, is desperately dull and a bit basic. Not really worth anyone from outside of Dulwich Village travelling for.

Yep a lot of festivals also put people in touch with others for car sharing options. There are generally people happy to take an extra passenger or two for help with the petrol money.

I've never owned a car in the 25 years I've lived in London. I would regard it as a hopeless waste of money I walk, get public transport and taxis for the rare occasions when public transport won't cut it. Anything large that needs to be transporting to or away from my property - well pretty much all shops deliver and for anything else there is always someone who willing do it for a small fee. If I need a car to go somewhere outside of London (you would be surprised at how little this issue occurs) then hire cars exist.

What do you need a solicitor for? What advice do you/they need? Only the courts or the tenants can end a tenancy, the landlord can only require possession. If it is a section 21 that is a "no fault" eviction, meaning the landlord simply wants their property back vacant. If it is a section 8 it means the landlord requires possession because of rent arrears or some other kind of breach of the tenancy agreement. If there is no notice then it is potentially an illegal eviction. TBH the council are probably likely to advise they stay put until the courts evict them, but that could result in them being allocated emergency accomodation - which could be outside of Southwark and possibly a hotel room or hostel. As you will be very much aware council housing is rarer than hens teeth in inner London so I would advise this family not to pin thejr hopes on that, they would better off trying to find somewhere more stable to rent privately.

It would help if they opened times when most people needed them. I had to send a parcel yesterday and Forest Hill post office was unexpectedly closed. I ended up going to Sydenham, even though Lordship lane was on my way for other shopping as the Lordship Lane PO it closes at 1pm on a Saturday.

It's nice on a sunny day seeing people out enjoying themselves. I am sure if you ask politely people will move.