Reg Smeeton

In about five years time this area is going to PACKED with teenagers, so we probably ain't seen nothing yet.

Heber School closing at 2.30pm. Nothing on Goodrich website so presumably they are doing normal hours. According to BBC website, local weather forecast is for drizzle rather than snow, and temperatures not dipping below zero, so not expecting the nightmares of last week to be repeated.

Andy Zaltman's blog. Really growing to like this bloke... http://blogs.cricinfo.com/andyzaltzman/archives/2010/01/what_test_cricket_needs_is_mor.php

Hello James. I have an observation. On Friday Alleyns school was open to all ages. On the other hand, the majority of state primaries were shut and I believe the reason for this in most schools was a shortage of grit to clear the paths. Isn't it interesting that a private school can open when a state school can't? How can they achieve it, and what can we learn from it? Am I alone in thinking that part of the problem is that the state schools are playing scared? On a freezing day, children need to get into the school and get out. Nobody needs to use the playground, it's an indoor day. So the only hazard we're talking about is an icy path between the gate and the door. Now I agree, somebody might slip over. Shock horror. And maybe there are health and safety boxes to tick. But what's wrong with this scenario: What if a school regards its fundamental duty as being to be open, and only in the extremest of circumstances should they shut (I'd argue Friday was far from the extremest of circumstances). If parents decide a path is too slippy, why not give them the right to keep their child at home. To overcome the risk/litigation problem, one teacher can be given the job of standing at the school entrance with a form to give to parents, asking them to accept that the path may be slippy and the school has done all it can to minimise the risk. (One friend suggested to me that another teacher can stand at the other end of the path with a certificate saying "Congratulations, you made it across the hazardous path". He did have his tongue in his cheek). If school turnout is low, instead of ordinary lessons, how about redirecting the education to group games/activities/music/assembly in the hall etc? Jeez, if anyone can do this, then teachers can. It's one thing if not enough staff can make it into a school, but quite another if all that's between a school opening and shutting is a bit of ice (which many parents coped with on Friday perfectly well when they took their kids to the shops or on hastily arranged play dates instead of going to school). I think we're becoming a nation of wimps, collectively running scared of excessive health and safety, and Southwark (and every other) Council has a part in this.

Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Of course it's the 'right' thing to do, but it may > not, in this increasingly litigious society ('had > a fall, let us act for you, no win no fee') be the > sensible thing. Can I be sued if I'm an elderly person whose path has been partially cleared by an unknown helpful neighbour, and the delivery man then slips on my path? If so (and I fear the answer might be yes) then we live in a very sick society indeed.

One thing people can do is clear the snow on their path and the pavement in front of their home before it turns to compacted ice (and do it for elderly neighbours too). It's standard practice in some countries to clear your own stretch of pavement, rather than relying on council gritters to do it for you.

Yep, likewise, my Virgin signal was poor in Camberwell this afternoon and is non-existent this evening in East Dulwich.

damn, turned off the radio just before the wickets started to tumble as I was expecting the South Africans to grit it out for two days.

As discussed elsewhere it's going to become Futurama or Fortaroma or something, anyway, soap.

Out of curiosity, in which pubs in ED can you now play darts? Is it a dying sport?

So let's be clear (as MPs always say), in TJ's opening post she talked about a new school, but when challenged, in her second she talked about 'new school places'. Very different. Tut tut.

In TJ's OP it says: "East Dulwich can have a much needed new school" Given the comments above, it sounds as if that should be "ED can expand its current schools" (on limited space) which is a very different thing. To expand an existing school so that it can take one extra class all the way up means seven extra classrooms. That's a lot, in fact surely it's impossible for any of the existing schools to achieve. Dear Tessa, please can we have some clarification as to what was meant by the original post?

This sounds like a positive development, but there's the small matter of: (a) Where will this new school be built? Has a location been earmarked, because if it hasn't there will be an almighty planning process to go through. (Old Dulwich Hospital site is an obvious candidate for a school, but things are never this simple.) (b) How long will it take to build? These things can take years, by which time the baby bulge *might* have moved on. In the grand scheme, it's not that long since local schools were being closed, the one on North Cross Road for example. And when all these extra primary children reach secondary age, have the calculations been done for secondary places?

Mornington Crescent.

There were two brief appearances of Lordship Lane on Horizon on BBC2 this evening too. It was a programme about the effects of drinking too much alcohol. The presenter was in a cab on his way to the Maudsley to have his brain scanned after imbibing at several hostelries en route. (Actually that last bit is not true).

The Mail's journalists were snouting around Dulwich Park yesterday tring to find the person whose car was hit. This incident happened 3 months ago apparently.

Ann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes there was a Westons, a pasta house which was > previously called Spaghetti Weston I think. It was Spaghetti Western.

Very disappointing. Misdirection is one thing, but Derren Brown blatantly lied before and during this programme, the title of the programme was dishonest. Of course magicians lie all the time ("you had a completely free choice of card") but Brown's lying makes me uncomfortable, since he's encouraging a lot of susceptible people to believe in pseudo-psychological babble. Mind you, the HHT "trick" he did in the middle of the show is a neat bit of maths. It's a phenomenon known as Penney-Ante,and is genuine (albeit nothing to do with the people wearing red hats).

I use the post office regularly (to post parcels among other things) and have done for years, so this was not intended as a sudden revelation. I was merely reflecting on the fact that standing in the Post Office you get a different impression of East Dulwich from the one that dominates the forum. Unlike many people, it seems, I quite like the Post Office, except on those occasions when the queue extends to the door.

Fair point, but then I'm going to guess many in the PO queue have never been to Green & Blue or White Stuff. I can't claim the PO is all that representative, but it certainly represents a different and still significant part of East Dulwich.

Where would you go in East Dulwich to find the best representative sample of current East Dulwich residents? Looking at the threads that dominate the forum, you might think it was the clientele of Green & Blue or the diners at Tandoori nights. But standing in the queue at the (recently spruced up) main Post Office today I saw a very different group of people - diverse in age and ethnicity, and in affluence too. Not many nine-to-fivers in there of course, maybe not many active forumites, but if you want to see who East Dulwich really is, perhaps the Post Office queue on a Saturday morning wouldn't be a bad place to start.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It's funny, I have a gap from 1996-2001 when I > lived in Liverpool, and did notice a big change > when I came home. > > However, I'd say an even bigger change has > happened since then. The EDT had just become > "trendy", and was packed on Friday and Saturday > nights. Then The Vale opened, and was very popular > for a year or two as a later night venue (well > 2am). But the likes of The Bishop, the Cherry, > Green & Blue etc opening have really changed the > place. Yes, I see what you mean Keef. This is all very subjective, but I'm sure my reaction to most of the changes in the late 90s was really positive (they felt like "my" East Dulwich), then in more recent years shops and restaurants began to appear that didn't feel so inclusive, with Foxtons the ultimate expression of this. Lots of good additions in the last five years too, though.

I've incorporate most if not all of the changes/additions people have been adding in recent days. There are still errors and gaps, but it's beginning to build a good picture of LL just before the face of ED really began to change. As ???? said, 1994/5 seems to have been the start of the big changes, though the arrival of Sainsbury a couple of years earlier (which forced several oldies to close) was also a big factor.

Dealing with some of the questions above... - dress shop next to William Rose was closed in the 1980s I think - think it had become Somerfields by 1994, Gateway was earlier - estate agents: there were a few even back in the 90s: (Raymond) Bushell, Halifax, Wilson Rogers, White Dent (and another next to it), Winkworth. Acorn arrived around 1994, Haart and Ludlow Thomson a bit later - both started with small offices and moved to larger ones - while Property In, Osborne Stewart [late not lamented] and Foxtons were the most recent arrivals. And some questions: - was the previous occupant of Moxons Jerk Rock (and since Jerk Rock only lasted a few years, what was there before it)? - the never-open jewellers was close to Dulwich DIY, what took over from it? - where was 'Sound and Vision'...was it at the shop now called Jolie a pied?

On topic please chaps. Don't let this factual thread degenerate, lots of good local history coming out here. Jah - Bells Fish & Chips must have been before 94 as I have no recollection of it. Were they related to Bells kitchens? Holman the electrician was somewhere in the Moxons vicinity. His brother had a model railway shop for a while, which used to advertise in the pine shop (now William Rose) but operated from one of the units in Blackwater Road. That was still going in the mid 1990s.