George Orwell

The AA - take a look: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1739079

A family member has used AutoAid twice now and the service from their nominated local garage has been good. One's spouse is covered in his/her car too. It's about ?42 per year for the full deal: roadside, at home, recovery etc. If you go with a big name, just watch out for the AA / RAC renewal price after the first year sub has expired - they are robbers. Do a bit of googling and you'll see what I mean.

Try Bureau Insurance Services Ltd. These are brokers specialising in getting insurance for previously underpinned houses and those in 'dodgy' areas. www.bureauinsure.co.uk We've been with them for maybe 10 years now. The insurance company they find with the best deal changes from time to time and we're happy with the service.

OK then, I'll try and be helpful. Every day you wait before you buy a ticket the price will go up and up until the day before, when, if there are any seats left it'll cost a grand a ticket. Think about buying now. I'm not putting you down, it just seems that in my experience sometimes those in need can appear to be a tad unreasonable in their requests when looking for the generosity of others. I'll say no more on the subject.

"Yes air whizz was the cheapest that I found the dates that she would be going for are for 2 weeks from the 23rd December to the 2nd of Jan so that she can spend enough time with her nan and mum. Thanks for the advice" Well, if there's a shortage of cash then she and you ought to be flexible with dates.

Flying Wizz Air Wednesday before Christmas, returning Wednesday after Christmas from Luton is ?208 per person, i.e. ?416 return for two. You won't be getting anything from me.

Call your local councillor immediately. How dare they permit leaves to fall off trees and then get wet in the Autumn. Write to your MP. In the meantime contact the Council Wet Leaves Department. At this time of year they have dedicated crews (assembled at vast expense) of well trained cotton wool wrapping specialists. The council has a special warehouse loaded with vast bundles of cotton wool which they will deliver to your home immediately ? they will urge you not to step out of your home before the delivery arrives in case of accident. The specially trained crew, at least two persons in each van, will arrive wearing full protective clothing and construct a bridge over the footpath leading from the van to your home. This will enable the crew to enter your home while minimising the risk of injury to themselves. This bridge will of course necessitate a temporary closure of the footpath to ensure pedestrians foolhardy enough to venture onto any slippery pavements will not trip on the bridge. During the delivery the police will be needed to shut the road temporarily too, but it shouldn't be for too long. They may install temporary netting barriers to prevent neighbours gawking out of windows and thereby raising the risk of them falling out. Once fully equipped with your own full body wrapping you may very carefully walk on the footpath but I'd recommend spiked boots and a full face helmet. Alternatively one could take responsibility for one's own actions and simply take care.

I reckon that's 52 spaces. I'd bet my mortgage that there are way fewer electric cars in the area than there will be charging points. Yes, forward thinking alright - shame Southwark can't apply this notion to countless more pressing issues.

"Awkward Knee's OP states s/he's informed Southwark, spoken to the foreman,...." Yes, but was it Building Control - Dangerous Structures ? I doubt it as they are duty bound to investigate asap.

May I most respectfully suggest that if it worries anyone then contact Southwark Building Control - Dangerous Structures - NOW. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200011/building_control/2160/dangerous_structures No point just waffling.

Why, oh why won't the government listen to me . . . .? Expand Gatwick to 2, later 3 or more runways. I know there is a restriction on a new runway until 2019/2020 - but it'll take at least that long to plan it. Then build a high speed elevated train track above the M23 and M25 linking LGW and LHR. The journey time could be as short as 20 / 30 minutes which is shorter than changing between gates at some airports already e.g. Dubai. The high speed link would allow them to keep the "Hub" concept and have minimal planning delays for the link because it would be all on state owned land. We need to think big and be ambitious. Problem sorted.

I originated this lengthy thread a few months back when steam was coming out of my ears in desperate frustration at the state of the place, particularly the difficulty in getting an appointment and the abysmal administration when for example repeat prescriptions had been lost or hadn't been signed and hospital consultations lost by them too. IMHO It has slightly improved, there are more doctors so appointments are now easer to obtain. The admin too is a little better and hopefully improving too. From what I have picked up about other places (The Gardens excepted) I don't think there is much point in me changing. So, I suppose I am saying that if you can't get into The Gardens Surgery then you might as well give Forest Hill Road a go. I hope this helps.

"We have community wardens so if you witness a dog owner allowing their dog to foul on school entrances etc and not bothering to bag and bin it, who ya gonna call........." I'm not so sure you'd get anywhere. I've just come back from a football match where police horses were making one helluva mess in the roads and some poor souls were having to tread in it owing to the crowds. Who should I complain to this time ?

I agree fabfor - LHR is not at full capacity despite what they tell us. For example, since BA took over the runway take-off/landing slots of now defunct British Midland it hasn't been able or maybe willing to use them all. Recently I read that BA is cancelling partially full flights which poor punters have already booked in a deliberate policy to protect it's slot allowance. Apparently they must use something like 80% of their allocated slots or lose them; they pretend to use them all but when the qualifying figure on slot use is reached they know that they can cancel flights without penalty. For BA it could be that the slots are at the wrong times for the destinations they travel to. To be clear, what I am saying is that LHR is not full and could be more efficiently used. Of course, more capacity in SE England will be needed eventually and in my view, all governments are short sighted and are only self-interested in the 5 year term, so it's 100% certain to be at LHR. For those under the current flightpath there will never be any respite, it'll only get worse.

You could try: Down for the Count http://www.downforthecount.co.uk/home/

A summary of the 33 responses to my original post is: The doctors are good ? tick Admin, including receptionists ? not at all good. Very urgent appointments are dealt with in a satisfactory way ? good, tick Routine and follow-up appointments are not at all easy to obtain ? not good. DadOf4, you have hit the nail on the head with just two of your statements: ?FHR has decided to "play" the government targets by differentiating between emergency and non-emergency appointments.? ?FHR has a handful of Doctors (highly skilled professionals, but customer service amateurs) and admin staff, struggling to keep their heads above water and probably with no experience in improving processes, etc ? Separately and long way from London, a family member is a young GP who knows his stuff very well, but hasn't got a clue about how to run a business. He is in two minds about staying in the UK and whatever he does I am urging him to get some business / management training. Medical training does not cover management and then one day ? because you are a good doctor you become a partner rather than a salaried GP. That's when the trouble starts ? the government expects you to be a GP and simultaneously run a business with a considerable turnover when you've never so much as run a market stall in the past. I still have some slight sympathy for the predicament of the partners in FHR but it's been shown that they need help and they should spend some of their not inconsiderable income on bringing it in. DadOf4, maybe you and I should offer our help !

Many aspects of the Forest Hill Road Doctors' Surgery have gone downhill over the last year or two and I think it's nearing meltdown. Unfortunately two of us in this household each have several repeat prescription items and between us need to see a doctor maybe every couple of months so we do have some long term experience. Firstly the renewed repeat prescriptions started to be often handed to us unsigned and needed to be sent back for a signature. Then we found we couldn't get a doctor's appointment in the same week as requesting it. Gradually over the last 12 ? 18 months the time lag from call to getting an appointment extended to two weeks, then three weeks and a month. Finally, on Thursday last week I was told that no appointments were available at all and I should call again on Friday when some would be ?released?. On Friday they said try Monday. On Monday I was told none were available but they should have some released for booking on one day later on this week. Today (Tuesday) I popped in to collect a repeat prescription and was told again that no appointments were available at all but if I phoned at 8am any day I stood a chance of getting one, but certainly not before January. A couple of months back my ears needed syringing but no nurse was available either ? I couldn't wait, it certainly wasn't an A&E matter, I had no choice and so I paid ?60 privately elsewhere. Before that they "lost" a prescription of mine and it turned up 4 weeks later together with a newer one. It won't be long before a simple review or a modification of a drugs dose will require an emergency appointment. Today I was also told that a new Appointments Manager was joining the practice on Monday next week when thing are sure to improve. Unless this new manager can influence the space-time continuum, finds a Tardis or starts seeing patients him/herself I really cannot see how any meaningful changes can take place. They have lost several doctors from the Practice in recent times, and many of those remaining work part-time only. It looks to me that the situation can only improve if they employ more GPs, get the part-timers to put in a few more hours or they reduce the size of the patient list. None of this seems imminent. Sorry for going on, but having already complained to the Practice Manager a while back about a ?forgotten? hospital referral and having being ignored by her I am at my wit's end. I can only suggest don't be ill. Was there any feedback from the recent Patient Forum ?