fl0wer

Yes, agree with you there numbers. 'Unnatural Histories' is quite an interesting series for this theme runs throughout.

People, please don't use 'charity' options for writing your Wills. Written into the small print are usually some surprisingly fat sums as percentages for them. Solicitors do this too, more often than not. For a better service altogether, one which won't drive your beneficiaries mad or cause them to waste years and fortunes on disputes, this professional organisation is where to start: http://www.ipw.org.uk/

It will be available later on iPlayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k784h

The idea of fixmystreet seems to be to remove manmade nuisances by pressurising whoever's responsible into picking up rubbish or mending infrastructure. In other words it is a reactive App. I believe in Lewisham one of the things that's made a difference is an acknowledgement that the environment belongs to all of us (and our children especially) so it needs close observation and caretaking for its biodiversity to flourish. An App is easy for young people to access, and reporting sightings of flora and fauna could be one of its functions. Suggestions for protecting same soon turn it into a creative asset.

According to this article, one of the most successful strategies helping local people take care of their green space, is an App. Using modern technology to report in to the local Council has worked in Lewisham. Would we like something similar here? http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/19/england-parks-spending-cuts

Shame the writer deliberately touches upon, then avoids discussion re: social problems / council estates.

Poppet, can I refer you to an earlier thread this week, http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1217814

Generous: It's a rich corner of London, in many ways that makes it seem genteel and some shops are pricey along Lordship Lane. Many young couples/families in the area [nicknamed 'Nappy Valley'] and the facilities for new parents, infants and toddlers are excellent. This results in thriving maternity & childrens shops, books and toys and clothes, 2nd hand baby gear, keep fit clubs, playgroups and playgrounds, babysitting circles etc. yet I wonder how many cash in and move out when it comes to junior school age. Travel: Overground is superb these days, from Peckham Rye into Clapham Junction = under half an hour plus lovely new rolling stock. Bus to Elephant and Castle frequent but tediously long, also there are westward routes worth discovering, [eg Horniman Museum 197 to E Croydon for the Gatwick train]. Always need to allow plenty of time to get into central London and I would not like to be travelling back or walking alone here later on in the evenings. Problems. We get our share of street crime and burglaries. Subsidence on more than a few properties. Some worsened by ill-chosen ornamental trees and ancient Victorian sewage systems beneath streets now crumbling, under strain of root systems and extreme rainstorms. Over Herne Hill/Brockley way, if a house seems cheap investigate the flooding history. Also be careful if you take on somewhere which was next to a bomb site in the Blitz: clue = a sudden change in the architectural style. Every timber and door or window frame in an older house will have been set awry by the blast.

The one on DKH disappointed me. Sellers are perhaps down on their luck or they wouldn't be flogging so much absolute junk. I paid ?1 just to walk round and most of the stalls were patchy and grimy. A stall holder tried to rip me off as well - watch how your change is counted back if you go there.

Dear Annabel, very very sorry to read of your loss. My son cycles in London all the time and belongs to various groups who will be remembering and campaigning. Please, as an earlier commenter said, let us know if there is a memorial event we could attend. Or if you prefer a private service, at least know massive EDF support is there in the background.

It is quite interesting to see where plantings of privet hedge (now felled) and sunken pathways or ditches emerge from this newly cleared ground. Has anyone got some documentation from long ago, showing what the cemetery layout looked like? It appears that once upon a time there were entrance gates at all 4 corners.

Yesterday, chainsaws were at work in the bit of Camberwell Old Cemetery bordering Underhill Rd. Now there's little shrubbery left, & between the tall trees you can see across to the next areas designated as burial sites. Strong winds will also find their way across and further weaken the already-fragile chestnut trees, so we can expect more tree casualties and lopping and crown reduction teams in the near future. Two consolations to be gained from these apparently destructive gestures are i) there will be fewer hiding places inside the Cemetery, eg for burglars or fly tipping; ii) the Council has chosen a time of year when few creatures are active, eg no nesting birds will have been disturbed. However, all the small invertebrates normally existing at ground level, which provide food for overwintering birds and animals, will have had their shrubby shelter cleared away and many will be trampled & killed along with the tree bark and fungi. Next Spring increased levels of daylight will enter this cleared woodland to promote a fresh germination of wildflowers, hopefully NOT the Japanese knotweed! Let's observe which other species regenerate, as some may be rare, perhaps dormant in this topsoil for decades. Please be ready to photograph them and ask groups like the Wildlife Trust to ensure some seeds get collected. It will not be acceptable for the Council to start splashing around with more glyphosate, before this process has been allowed to unfold. Things like native bluebells are capable of surviving under a forest floor for thirty years and more, they are protected species, as are the moths and butterflies which thrive in glades.

Dear friends and neighbours, being practical after the typhoon please remember the excellent Shelterbox scheme which is ready for disaster relief with everything a family needs to survive, including in one crate a large tent, bedding, cooking equipment. see 1-minute video => http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24948428 Here's one page of their on line shop, read more about the work this charity does by following the links. http://www.shelterboxshop.org.uk/products?page=3

If anyone would like to read up more here is a brilliant blog from Phil Gates http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/.

.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/nov/08/thames-water-price-rise-rejected-ofwat

Renata, the link doesn't appear to be working. Please would you post a paragraph to describe what this is about?

Hear, hear, Yuuna.

BrandNewGuy, I agree with you. I think you will find that the Wildlife Trust were not consulted at the time of choosing the trees. To your point I will add that native grasses and small shrubs are equally important. The Council's own Tree Officers learned their trade a while ago, and accept advice from horticulturalists, for several reasons. One is that climate change is forcing professionals to advise species which are more resistant to disease. E.g. chestnuts being planted now are from a moth-repelling strain, I believe it's Japanese. (OK, I know neither the Horse nor the Sweet Chestnut are true native species, but they've been here a good few centuries.) Furthermore, sappy weak-limbed tree growth is a consequence of extreme weather, and root habits have to be considered, wherever the old municipal drainpipes are already under strain. Another is council bargain hunting, if they employ particular landscape firms and nursery garden suppliers. These will be offering competitive rates for doing the work. Sometimes 'deals' dictate what is available.(And yes, I know that the Woodland Trust offer young native trees for free, and every gardener could be cherishing seedlings and striking cuttings, but try telling that to a town planner.) Thirdly, the current generation of councillors has, like everyone else since WW2 unless they were taught at home, received a poor education re: the natural world. & only recently do humans start taking account of the disastrous impact we're having on biodiversity. Having said this, it's almost impossible for anyone to be an expert, except in a very narrow field of study, because biodiversity and ecology are complex sciences. This suits certain types of industrialist and tilts university learning towards specialism, so that people get compartmentalised, fragmented, and ultimately marginalised if they care. We rise to positions of power through a cut-throat system, not a system which promotes 'green' and 'inclusive' action as the norm.

stephen509 Wrote: > Just out of interest do people see police walking > the streets on patrol anymore? On another thread in the EDF Stephen, here http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1209153 the police let us know there are plain clothes officers patrolling. Whether they'd be around overnight & in the very early morning, I can't tell.

If you missed it, view on iPlayer before 10 pm Tues 12th Nov here => http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03gvnvm/Autism_Challenging_Behaviour/ Am still musing over its contents, and would be interested to read some others' responses to the film. It's often hard work and lonesome for parents and I think there may be quite a few of you, as I see plenty of people clicked on my post.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/52740 To read the campaigner's column in the Guardian online, go to its 'Comment is Free' section, here =>http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/05/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-child-abuse-british-girls Her contribution is included in a TV programme for Channel 4. catch-up link http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-cruel-cut/4od Warning: this film will be gruesome & opens with on-line guidance for protecting children's viewing. The so-called 'cultural' arguments are reviewed as part of Leyla's campaign.

Will be watching this with interest, just saw trailer for it on lunchtime news. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03gvnvm

Today George Monbiot is writing in the Guardian about what happens when the wrong materials get thrown on bonfires, " Plastics, paints, timber treatments and other manmade chemicals contain chlorine. The best way of manufacturing dioxin is to stack up your junk outdoors well in advance, make sure that it gets nice and damp, so that it burns at low temperatures, and then roast it in an uncontained fire. Which is just what we do on 5 November." A bonfire made of untreated wood wouldn't be as damaging, according to him, so he isn't writing a killjoy piece. Still folks please bear this chemical waste problem in mind, for the sake of the Earth.

Thanks. Mine's a pint of IPA!