fl0wer

People are right to make a fuss. Some pics of the offending meals would provide evidence if you need it for publicity. There was that brilliant schoolgirl who reported her school dinners via YouTube last year....

See here, post copied from the Family section of the website. Consultation closes 31st May. The open meetings listed below have already happened. Addresses give readers catchment areas. Re: Please read - message from a local GP Posted by Health Involvement March 18, 09:54AM We just wanted to let you know that our consultation on health services in Dulwich and the surrounding areas is now under way. This formal public consultation, which asks for your views on which community-based health services should be available to local people and how they should be delivered, runs until 31 May 2013. You can download the consultation document at: www.southwarkpct.nhs.uk, or request a hard-copy from SMulcahy@opinionleader.co.uk (Tel: 0808 178 9055) As part of the consultation there are two public meetings and a number of drop-in sessions for a conversation or to give your views. These are below: PUBLIC MEETINGS (book in advance on the website) St Barnabas Church, Calton Avenue, London, SE21 7DG Tuesday 30 April in the evening from 19:00 Wednesday 22 May in the afternoonf rom 14:00 DROP INS (just turn up) Cambridge House 1 Addington Square, Camberwell, London SE5 0HF Tuesday 19 March 2013 from 10:00 to 12:30 Peckham Library 122 Peckham Hill Street, SE15 5JR Friday 22 March 2013 from 14:00 to 16:30 Gaumont House Surgery 153 Peckham High Street, Peckham, SE15 2AU Wednesday 1 May from 10:00 to 12:30 Dulwich Community Hospital East Dulwich Grove, Dulwich, SE22 8PT Wednesday 8 May 2013 from 18:00 to 20:00

lizbells6, http://www.ngs.org.uk/shop-online/order-the-yellow-book.aspx

Dear Grumpy Granny, I understand your question, and I would ask you in turn, what do you want? I think getting this clear in your mind is crucial. The above comments show how many variations on a theme there can be. In our older age we can even join an agency for people on limited budgets who'll exchange an agreed number of hours work [usually 10] per week in lieu of rent. The negotiated work generally includes help with shopping, a bit of hoovering and gardening maybe. This way you can help someone finance their way through university and also help yourself by living in slightly more safety than if you were totally alone. When I think about this I know that sitting down together & sharing a meal & our news would be healthy once in a while, maybe meeting one another's friends, maybe going for a walk or an outing to something arts-related & stopping at the caf?, etc. In other words I would welcome a bit of companionship. On the other hand I would not like to share my living space too closely - own bathroom and I think it is civilised to give someone their own front door. Maybe this could be done by adding steps as a fire escape or converting a French window/balcony, which could need planning permission but be worth it. Suggest you put neutral coloured d?cor, see that windows and heating and storage spaces are of modern standard & well maintained. Good soundproofing between floors & spotless appliances in the kitchen. Whether you share a large kitchen or design two smaller ones will depend on your building. Privacy is obviously easier if there are two. Whether people are vegetarian, smoke, keep pets, and so forth it can only be harmonious if lifestyles aren't too different.

The reason the estate agents put that is probably the views. Being so high up above London, some of the top floor flats get great vistas. Downstairs ones seem fairly spacious but otherwise much like any other street. Another reason this corner of the city is 'desirable' is its proximity to green space. You have Dulwich Common, Sydenham Woods and Dulwich Park a short walk away across the main road at the bottom, Camberwell Old Cemetery & the green chain walk accessible from the top. Peckham Park & Peckham Rye offer space for sports as well and Nunhead Cemetery is not far beyond that. Dawson Heights and a couple of other modern housing blocks mar Overhill Road's beauty, but at their feet is another precious green space Dawson Hill, managed for wildlife.

The man who gave the talk runs this website, if any of you are keen but missed the lecture: http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

There's long been a scam for stolen garden ornaments, statues and posh-looking planters - the likelihood is, though, that they'd go missing at another time of day, not 8.10 a.m. GET THE VAN LICENCE PLATE NUMBER next time. Different from the modern day rag-&-bone van which does us all a service taking scrap metal and other recyclable rubbish out of the way. The suddenly booming scrap metal market attracted a few famous thefts and has had to be tightened up so dealers won't accept anything without paperwork now. Some collected stuff certainly ends up in 2nd hand shops, for charity as well. Anyone collecting up junk for legit reasons would expect to see it by the dustbins or on the pavement, such people always come to the door & ask about things out in the front yard.

Title of talk is 'Guerilla gardening' a name I think might have to be revised, interesting topic though. Part of the Chelsea Fringe, organised alternatives to Chelsea Flower Show.

Here's a timely comment from 'Plantlife' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22671186, for those of us who'd like to see less Council time- and fuel- wasting & more enlightened management of grass verges and park edges around the place. Also campaigning for the trees to be left alone whilst young birds fledge - please go to Councillor James Barber's thread if you would like to chime in on this.

RIP the motorcyclist. Feel so sorry for the lorry driver as well. Thinking of you, and of all your families.

Some of Lytcott Grove was prettily set out like the rest of this district, but a bomb landed so after WW2 it received several blocks of council flats & maisonettes. These are well designed and spacious inside except they have inadequate sound proofing - concrete construction makes the stairwells and overhead flats echo. Thanks to Mags some which went into private ownership are fetching about ?330,000 now. The public spaces have been carefully regenerated with a lot of patient effort and determination. As in most parts of London there is a shadowy component, noisy mopeds in and out at any time of day or night indicate the crack, etc courier service and groups hang around outside making a lively party on the street, this escalates in warm weather. Some of us would find it challenging to tolerate this so I feel it is only fair to answer your question candidly.

Kestrels do come over, characteristic flight style is their ability to hover in one place. Here in town they are probably looking for pigeon chicks that aren't fledged yet. They are not the only birds of prey that do this hovering, but they are the ones we're most likely to see. Sparrowhawk style is to swoop fast horizontally, even through narrow gap in hedge, snatching small prey en route.

One of the GP clinics in Peckham runs a collecting point and is always asking for donated things - cannot find link on EDF - perhaps another reader can oblige.

Today there's a feature about 97% of academic papers agreeing that climate change is manmade, here http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/may/16/climate-change-scienceofclimatechange to which you can add your own questions and reflections. Just a reminder that one thing humanity CAN do is start replacing trees in every possible site, but especially along seaboards, to anchor the shoreline. Wide bands of trees, planted by the acre, just inland actually set up conditions that help regulate rainfall. All along riversides we will need to anchor topsoil far better, restoring watermeadows. Rivers will be violently in spate thanks to more storms, & they need to be accommodated within flood plains as our ancestors knew full well. We need not leave it to others to grow the trees, but each of us start saving and potting on saplings, even if we have limited space. They will be wanted en masse in another decade - no need to plant them into the earth just yet. Please include all sorts of ordinary 'weed' trees that start off accidentally in your garden borders and paving, such as sycamore, ash, holly, elder, hazel, willow.

As we are already saturated with aircraft noise at times here in ED, & have had extended discussions about it in the forum, I thought this item in today's Guardian =>http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/10/heathrow-third-runway-transport-committee merits ED contributions.

If the water filter isn't making enough difference it's possible that there's a problem up in the water tank in your loft. Besides a taste from metal corrosion up there, a plumber once told me a horror story about drowned pigeons.....sorry to place such images in your mind, but it's the first thing to check.

To hibernate successfully the next generation of hedgehogs needs to (a)put on enough weight during the autumn - territory takes in on average 5 gardens, access can be beneath the fence.... (b)have a safe refuge for several months during frosty season. A generous wood pile with spaces full of dry leaves is ideal. For this reason, plus the fact that dragonflies (and many other invertebrates) need dead wood for part of their life cycle, I was sorry to see someone taking fallen branches for firewood on One Tree Hill last week.

Green woodpeckers rely on ants as part of their diet. It is a good indicator that people are leaving the insects alone in orchards and in unmown lawns, especially. I learnt yesterday that their unusually distinctive cry is known as 'yaffling'. This is different from any other bird, including the green parakeet - and some descriptions related to spotted woodpeckers, which you will probably notice drumming on tree bark.

PS The contractors are the same people who landscaped and restored Brockwell Park over the last few years.

For 'very overgrown with trees' please substitute 'a most valuable wild life resource, which we should treasure as it is home to East Dulwich's songbirds' Many old-timers remember camping here as children! .....it is also home to a great many wrecked 19th century memorials, huge numbers of seedling sycamores, and a patch of Japanese knotweed (cordoned off for herbicidal spray at present). Please, folks, help me conserve this lovely area of haphazard woodland. In the middle of a great noisy sprawling city here's a piece of refuge for all who love genuine biodiversity. All it really needs is an occasional litter pick, broken glass and plastic don't belong here. The fly tippers over the wooden fence along Underhill Rd, who are messing up a nature reserve in effect, need to know that from the houses opposite we can record their selfish behaviour, includng taking van registration plate numbers. Another thing, 300,000 people have been buried over the many centuries of Camberwell Old Cemetery's life. It is likely that each gravesite has already been the final resting place of four people, on average. In these hallowed places it is surely more civilised not to instigate too much of a 'clear-up'. The rebuilding over on Wood Vale side is almost complete and was scheduled to provide gravesites for 2,000 more dreamers. I won't be one of them; have asked for my ashes to be sprinkled in any piece of favourite woodland my children choose, and we are very sorry to see how many of COC's graves get flooded on the unstable London clay.

Even though a chazzer can't put them out on the racks for sale, old 100% cotton will join the recycling system which collects from your chosen branch. Sorted & shredded for papermaking, carpet underlay, etc. You can also bag them & put them out for the wheelie bin recyclers, enclose a label saying they are clean but unusable clothing. Before you ditch them, snip off the buttons if they are real mother-of-pearl (you can tell, because they will feel cold and there's a trace of shell-calcium on the back) - these are worth keeping. Patchwork, from old much-worn fabric - no. Whatever work you put in to the quilt, it'll soon wear right out.

For all interested in keeping city life healthy, a news item => here http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/07/supreme-court-air-pollution-legislation

Dear ED readers, Sainsbury's central management have been looking into safety on the DKH site and write back as follows: Thanks for [my email] and comments about our Dulwich store. I?m sorry to hear that people are discussing bike thefts and cash point machine robbers at work around the store and the car park doesn?t get adequately patrolled. I can understand how disappointing this must be, as you and other customers may now fear visiting the store. We want our customers to enjoy visiting our stores and using the facilities provided so we set very high standards. We also want them to feel safe so we check they?re meeting these by visiting them regularly and checking the quality of their service. With that in mind, I?ve been in contact with the store today and spoke with Mat Carlson, Duty Manager and passed on your comments. He told me they had a spate of bags thefts in the past outside the store but nothing has been reported recently. The car park gets patrolled on a regular basis and is also covered with a number of CCTV cameras which are monitored within the store. He also told me he was aware of the forum and if you have any specific thing that you want to report, you can bring this to the attention of him or the store manager directly. They will then discuss this with you in more detail.

Done!

What with this and the bike theft recently it would seem that particular big supermarket is getting targetted. Would it be too much to ask for Sainsbury's uniformed security staff to be more assertive and patrol outdoors? This is going to affect Sainsbury's reputation - how safe customers feel there.