acanthas

A third recommendation for Gardenia Gardens. Helen, Steve and their excellent team have just finished our garden here in SE5/SE15 borders. Our previous garden was just awful - a complete mess, badly laid out, and not inviting at all. Previously we had spoken to a number of locally based designers and landscapers who turned out either to be unreliable, or rather sniffy about redesigning a smallish garden for a London terraced house. Gardenia on the other hand were fantastic from the start. We got them in initially to fix our fence after the storms late last year (via the EDF), and decided then and there that they were a team we wanted to help us with our new garden. Helen devised a clever new layout and planting scheme, and Steve and his team have constructed fantastic timber fencing, raised borders - and a beautiful paved area. We are over the moon with our new garden - it complements our house, and us as a family, beautifully. Hoping to use Gardenia too on an ongoing basis for annual maintenance, as Helen's knowledge of plants is superb. It was a pleasure to have them working here - they are diligent, friendly, tidy and incredibly kind and considerate - we missed them when they left. A fantastic experience from beginning to end.

Op - I think the nitty gritty is that you are terribly frightened of all dogs, and that you see every dog who is not on a lead as a potential 'attacker'. What I fear from your post is an underlying narrative to see dogs banned from parks. While I appreciate you have this panic and terror around dogs, you are intimating that because you have this fear all dogs should be placed on a lead in case they 'come charging at you'. My point was that speeding cyclists scare the beejeezuz out of me too but I don't want to restrict them in anyway - it's not MY park, it's a local park for everyone. I just get on with my time, and move away or avoid the areas where the cyclists are (i.e. the perimeter track). There are clear areas for dogs to run off lead, and clear areas where dogs should be on a short lead. And yes - if the dog that came bounding up to you was in the latter then of course you are in the right to speak to the owner about it. But if the former then no - and in future definitely avoid that area so as not to feed the fear. And I think you find 99.9% of the people in Dulwich Park are 'law abiding' people.

These kind of hysteria posts fill me with dismay. And as Mustard says - did this dog really attack you, or were you simply caught unawares by a single over zealous boisterous dog? Yes - over exuberant dogs should be better managed by their owners, but honestly I think this is a complete over reaction, and knee jerk response to one unfortunate incident. Dulwich Park is VERY busy. Myself and my children always have to avoid speeding cyclists, roller skaters, flying footballs - but hey, we live and let live. I was once floored (9 months pregnant) by a child on one of those yellow reclining incumbent bikes, I went flying, but I didn't start tub-thumping about it. The park is for us all - and we need to let everyone enjoy it. (As an aside I really don't think how much you pay to the Government in taxes has anything to do with your argument - no one has a greater sense of entitlement due to paying more tax).

People who use their wheelie bins to reserve parking spaces on (already hard to park) residential roads. LOATHE THEM.

Agree wholeheartedly about Lyndhurst Way. There's a very nasty (at least 2 inch wide) long groove in the road - like a tram line - that runs from the bottom of Chadwick to at least Warwick Gardens that I have to consciously avoid so as not to come off my bike by getting the tyres wedged in it. It's in a really annoying position in the road too - about a metre apart from the parked cars. And avoiding it often puts me slap bang in the path of the bus or drivers which is never ideal. Lethal in the dark too. I ride a sit up and beg bike and have actually had the mechanical fixtures that keep my basket attached to my head stem shaken off when cycling down that road.