lizbells6

I think this is a great idea Robert. As you say, it may be a bit late for Southwark but are there any shops or businesses nearby who would sponsor it and maybe get some good PR in the local press? Also, if the council doesnt strim, you could sprinkle some packets of wild flower seeds around in the spring. They thrive on poor soil. I'm sure all the local beekeepers (including me!) would thank you for as many crocuses as possible. They are a very important source of early forage. In fact that might be an angle to take if you can think of any sponsors to approach, that they would be supporting bees and other pollinators as well as making the area look nice. Everyone thinks bees are dying out but in London more and more people are starting beekeeping, and there are worries about whether there are enough of the right sort of flowers to support them. Good luck.

What do people do with sloes? Apart from sloe gin, which always tastes like cough mixture to me. The stuff I've made has, anyway.

"shabby chic" Tatty old furniture given a bad paint job with Farrow and Ball-type colour and possibly a bit of Cath Kidson fabric thrown in. This is NOT chic, it's just old rubbish.

I went to Jan's classes for about 18 months 2 or3 years ago. She's a brilliant teacher and I'm surprised there are places on her courses - there were always queues at enrolment for them and it was a worry whether you'd get a place, especially if you were in the middle of a project. (you could only enrol for a term at a time and Southwark introduced priority enrolment for new students.) There are good woodworking classes at the centre too, by the way.

Thanks everyone. It's not an emergency. My teenage daughter had hers stolen (along with the rest of her life - keys, phone, iPod, cards etc) at the weekend. I think I will just keep on telling her it hasn't arrived so she won't have any ID!

Doorstep milk stolen. Again.

Thanks boosboss, that's just what I needed to know.

Does anyone know how long the Passport Office is taking to process applications at the moment?

You could try Sally Nencini. She is local and has a website showing some of her work which I think is lovely. Unfortunately reupholstery is very time consuming to do properly so as you say, it may just be cheaper to buy a new one.

Heard a squeaking from the garden yesterday and looked out to see a sparrow hawk had landed on the decking just outside the back door. After a minute or so, it flew off carrying a mouse.

Thanks, right-clicking. Dulwich fox came over and cleaned up our desk top and gave us some very useful advice about anti virus and malware programmes. Brilliant. Many thanks, df.

Thanks Fox. I have sent you a PM.

Does anyone know how to get rid of the PC tools registry mechanic pop up? It's driving me mad! Thanks.

Chick, I hope your swarm stayed. They wouldn't need honey though, they will have filled up their honey sacs from the old hive before they swarmed. Drawn comb is good for holding them if you have a spare frame plus a frame of brood (check no queen cells on it!).

Brilliant blog. You obviously like a challenge. Haven't spotted Kevin McCloud in any of the photos looking gloomy/smug though.

On the coat tails of this (sorry), where can you recycle padded envelopes?

Thanks to everyone for the comments and advice. I should have explained that the shower is currently over the bath and we thought not having to climb in and out would be nicer. Would love a Japanese style bath too but they are mega bucks I think. Will look into walk in baths though. Water pressure's not an issue as we have a combi boiler. I suppose at the moment I could just step into the garden to shower - that would save water too.

Now that our kids are older, we all take showers. I can't remember the last time anyone had a bath so we are thinking about removing the bath and installing a walk in shower. Its a bog standard victorian terrace with the bathroom about 2.4m square so i dont think there room for a mini bath as well without stubbing our toes all the time. We dont have any plans to move so selling on is not an issue. Has anyone else done this? Any pros or cons and advice about configuration would be very welcome.

It could be natural death. The workers only live for about 4 weeks, so it may be the first batch from a nearby nest which mostly die off at the same time. Could be cold weather after a warm spell or their nest flooded. Something has attacked their nest. For single dead bumbles, could be as above, or parasites, or bird predation, especially great tits.

ladida Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would like to get a bee hive on my roof. Is this > a bad idea and/or will it cost a fortune. First up - practicalities. How high is your roof? 2nd floor is maximum recommended height - the bees use up too much energy flying up higher carrying a load of pollen/nectar. Is there easy access? You will be carrying large heavy boxes up to the site. Urban bees need managing because you have a responsibility to the public (swarm prevention) and to other bees and beekeepers (preventing spread of disease). Beekeeping is a very satisfying occupation but it can be time consuming and expensive. I would suggest you do a lot of research to find out what's involved, visit an apiary (there's one in brockwell park) and go to a taster session to see how you get on. Meanwhile perhaps you could plant some bee friendly flowers up there to support the hundreds of local hives.

We had this problem a few years ago in nunhead always after it rained heavily. Thames water kept fobbing us off with water table excuses until I told them I thought it was sewage. They tested it and said it did have ammonia in it, checked our drains with dye and said they were ok. if you live in a Victorian terrace, your drain is probably paired with a house on one side. Ours meet at a junction in our side return, go through to a junction in one next door neighbour's side return and out to the road under their house. N.B. Thames Water are responsible for the shared part. After months of battling, some intelligent chap from T.W. checked the drain on the OTHER neighbour's side and that was partly blocked, so when it rained heavily, it overflowed under their house and seeped into our cellar. Their cellar is blocked off and they didnt realise. Yuk. Anyway, long story but it might be worth telling T.W. you think it might be sewage and they should come and check.

The southwark website says it is being converted into 13 residential units + 2 office spaces, so it's not being demolished but will be quite a bit bigger. Originally they applied for 10 one bed flats and 3 two bed but this was turned down as over provision of one beds. I can't find what the configuration is now. Just wondering how many "residential units" can be got out of the beautiful old Bredinghurst School buildings when the new one is up and running. Does anyone know what the plans for these are? Thank goodness the Ivyhouse pub got listed before that was knocked down and turned into flats too.

PeckhamRose Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh Chick you poor thing. I too am allergic to > beesting but why the antibiotics? I was > immediately put on steroids to deal with the > poison. I do hope the floods won't reduce their > number, but this year I sowed a lot of bee > friendly plants on the balconies and on some spare > bits of open land and there have been a few bees > visit! Everyone knows bees are a Good Thing but there are now hundreds of hives in London and bees are more likely to die of starvation than disease because there isn't enough forage for them. And with the horrible weather we've been having, even when they can fly, the rain has washed all the nectar from the flowers. So thanks Peckham Rose for planting your bee friendly plants. The more people who do this the better and we need to put pressure on parks to scrap their sterile old bedding plants and do the same.

Has anyone been to one of the free events at Scoop? Tickets are first come first served so I'm just wondering what time you have to turn up to get in. Thanks.

Hi, I am the swarms collecting coordinator for the London Beekeepers Association and can put people in touch with the nearest collector. However, we can only deal with honey bees, which I suspect these are not. If you go to our website, there are good descriptions and illustrations of the different types of bees. If you think you have got honey bees, give me a ring and I will find someone to come round.