reenie40

I think my son said he's like to take her out to dinner and possibly marry her - maybe I'm making assumptions about young people:)

Both my husband and my twenty year old son would - although not at the same time obviously ;-) I like her so would let my son, but not my husband...

As a reluctant landlord (bought the basement flat below our maisonette when it came on the market to try to ensure that we didn't have to live above a chain smoking heavy metal lover again) we were just barely covering the mortgage with the rent payments last year, and have reduced the asking price by ?100 per month this year. We do expect that even given that people will want to negotiate on rent. Unfortunately we have a fixed rate mortgage for the next couple of years so we'll have to absorb the discrepancy somehow. I'm not complaining as the purchase was our choice, and I'm sure there are many others in the same position trying to cover the mortgage on properties they can't currently sell.

We spent two holidays at Les Mouettes near Carantec in Brittany, although there was Eurocamp and Keycamp accomodation on site, we booked through a French company Yelloh and paid a fraction of the price. We stayed in a chalet but a friend came along with his own tent midway and said they were very flexible with dates etc for the self pitch sites. We didn't join in any of the organised activities on site, but there were three lovely pools that the kids spent all day in.

Think it was all worth it in the end...

Love it, love it, love it - but again too many good quotes to single any out. I'm glad 'George Michael' is doing well with his career as he was my favourite character. It's a shame it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

no change there then!

Thanks Ted - just wondered why they bothered with such detail if there was no reason. Will catch up with episode 2 and 3 in the hope that it all becomes clear and it was worth going to bed completely depressed and confused!

Did they explain, in the first one, why the wings were sown onto the girls backs? I wasn't sure if I missed the explanation with all the mumbling (had to turn the volume way up for all the whispered conversations) or if it was ignored along with a lot of other stuff. I did think it was a bit style over substance - not seen the second one yet.

Apparently there were some police raids on properties near Southampton Way, so they shut down traffic on surrounding roads, so most buses were suspended temporarily along the Peckham Road.

Dog Kennel Hill also closed again tomorrow.

My son managed to get from Southend on Sea to Brixton to work today and back home again without too much delay - made me feel a bit rubbish about being loathe to walk to New Cross for work. Thankfully work was closed, but won't complain about lazy young people again in a hurry!

Eddie Cochran, Elvis and Jim Reeves - in that order of importance.

Saw the pink elephant on Drakefell Road near New Cross this morning and was wondering what is was for, sitting happily atop a small white van with no markings.

It is owned by the same people as the old one at Elephant - relocated due to the building work going on. Used to be really good then but haven't been to the new one. They sold the strongest garlic bread in the world!

They sometimes use other bus 'styles' on the route - I always imagine it's when one has disappeared into some strange fold in time along the Old Kent Road and they have to call a back up bus out of the garage. It's always a nice change, but never seems to be permanent.

The P13 used to go to Canada Water and perhaps a bit beyond but then they switched that end of the route with the P12 for some reason - suits me fine though. And I have met many a fellow frequent traveller and formed a nod and grimace relationship with them at the bus stop - it's certainly a bus that brings people together.

I think early morning (pre main rush hour)they seem to stick roughly to the times published on the bus stops, but past 8.30 anything can happen... They also start at roughly the right time from New Cross, but it all goes horribly wrong once they get to about Asylum Road.

I have spent more of my life than I care to calculate waiting for the P13! It does get me all the way from home in East Dulwich to work in New Cross and back and I've read many a good book (sometimes a whole one in one journey) as it weaves it's way around the longest possible route you could possibly take between the two points. I feel ridiculously happy when it arrives when it's supposed to - years of using it have obviously lowered my expections dramatically.

Was just wondering about this! I haven't had a proper nights sleep in weeks. Having said that, the street really did need more lights, and they have to put them somewhere. Hopefully the blinkers will solve the problem while still allowing enough light on the street.

I am aware some of Louisas previous posts and wouldn't wish to take on her formidable typing fingers! I just feel that it can be easy to generalise (I do it myself all the time), but it this case I am actually familiar with some of the people involved in the school and know how much effort is being put in to try to make it a 'good' school that people want their children to attend. Anywhere there are children there are going to be discipline issues. I'm sure now the report is in everything is being looked at again and will hopefully be resolved with the minimum possible disruption to the children

Louisa - do you have, or have you had children who attend this school? Some friends have a daughter there who is very happy, and when I have visited the school to attend plays etc I have been really impressed by the amount of effort put in by the parents, children and teachers. Although Ofstead reports can offer some useful guidelines, I'm not convinced that in 2 to 3 days you can really get a full feeling of what a school is like. I have heard of a school marked as unsafe because some children (being children) ran past the ofstead inspectors on the stairs. From knowing those involved with the school I'm sure they will do everything they can to address any issues raised, and I believe the new head that is in place is very effective. Surely the kids would suffer more if the school was just closed down - and how could you judge that it had been 'brought up to scratch' if there was no one attending?

I have this problem with my 9 and 5 year olds, compounded by the fact that the little one is an all singing all dancing show-off, and the older one has always been quite shy. While I agree that some sibling rivaly is normal and healthy (my brothers and sister and I used to beat the c**p out of each other and now get on fine), it's difficult when you can see one of the kids' confidence being undermined by the situation. A friend who hadn't seen both of them for a while asked when the older one had got so mean, but then quickly followed it up by saying that he would hate to have to deal with little Miss Showbiz as a younger sister. We do the staggered bed times, and the time alone with each, but I also find it sometimes helps to be a bit conspiratorial with the older one, like on a Wednesday when she pretends to go off to bed so the little one can see her and then sneaks up again to watch The Apprentice - we have some time together and she feels like she has an 'in' with the grown ups that her sister is too young to share. Not sure how the psychologists would feel about it though!

I had a similar problem when my son was doing his GCSEs a few years ago - he received death threats from a former 'friend' who thought that he was coming on to his ex girlfriend. The boy had a drug problem at this stage, having been expelled from school and as his dad was a reasonably well know South London 'gangster' we were really concerned as we thought he would have the means to carry out his threats. The school were great, with some of the teachers giving up personal time to escort my son to and from the bus stop etc after school, however we went to school one day for a meeting about it and while my son went outside to catch up with his friends the boy turned up unexpectedly and beat the s**t out of my son. His friends tried to help and one ran home to get a neighbours dog. My son kind of let him get on with it and didn't put up much of a fight as he thought it was something the guy needed to get out of his system, and sure enough he left him alone after that, his anger seemed to be depleted. It was a horrible time for all of us, but I think we were more worried than him. I'm not saying your sons should take a beating, but maybe them being away will give the guy some time to calm down - it is often bravado. The boy contacted my son about a year later to say that part of the problem was that he was jealous that my son had a home, and people who care about him, whereas he was left by himself most of the time. It did have an impact on his exams though and he did under perform, so it's important that you don't let that happen. I hope it all sorts itself out.

'grow the business' - makes me irrationally angry every time I see it written down or hear someone say it...