ed26

That's good to know. Looks like Day Lewis pulled out in December and a new business (Pharmtrack Ltd trading as Bellenden Road Pharmacy) has taken on the licence to operate it. Good luck to them. Still very happy with Vale for prescriptions but good to know that there is an option.

The signal has deteriorated significantly in the last few years. There was always a huge dead spot in Peckham (all the way from Lidl to Queens Road station in my experience) but this seems to have spread. I used to get a good signal around Goose Green and Dawson's Heights (at the bottom, not up high) but it's impossible to get calls or data at either spot. I took this up with Vodafone a year or so ago. They refused to accept that there is a problem in the area. They said they will send someone out to check the signal if they get enough complaints from the area (which is difficult if you can't get through to them). After I complained in writing, they grudgingly activated the WiFi calling on my plan. This is useful if you're at home without a signal. You can make/receive calls over your WiFi from your mobile without needing to use a separate app like WhatsApp. The problem is that the call drops for a second when the phone decides to flip back to the mobile network. You can turn the mobile network off completely, but then you don't get SMS text messages.

Thanks for posting that. I've also heard those noises and always wondered what they are. I assumed it would be foxes but wondered if it was frogs in the Wildlife Gardening Centre (https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/nature-reserves/centre-wildlife-gardening)

I suspect that Chris's "Not what you expect in East Dulwich" was just a throwaway comment and doesn't warrant anyone suggesting that he's got an attitude. Moreover, while I accept that crime is a problem in ED and all local suburbs, I've lived here for 20+ years and would agree that several vans of riot police with guns is out of the norm and "not what you would expect" in the middle of a Tuesday morning.

Maybe this one? https://www.stjohnseastdulwich.org/

A lot of the prepacked ham was very grey the other day. Must have been out of the fridge for a long time while they've been reshuffling everything. A sign said that the refurb should be complete by early December, so check your purchases carefully until then.

Nice to see the independent pharmacies succeeding where the chains are doing a poor job. I've never been to Sogim but Vale is very good, albeit a bit disorganised. Co-op pulled out of the store that was the old Sogim. Day Lewis on Bellenden Road has the rudest lad on customer service (after visiting several times for my prescription, he snapped at me that I should stop hassling them until I received a text. I'm still waiting for the text and that's over a year ago now). Lloyds have pulled out of Sainsburys and now North Cross Road. I never once managed to pick up a prescription without having to wait 15+ mins while they tried to locate it. So, no great loss, as long as the independents survive. I always try to buy something extra when I go into Vale.

I've always thought of Chipotle as the sort of place you pick up some grub when dashing from the pub to a gig so it seems a bit out of place on the Lane. I'm not averse to a burrito though, as long as the ingredients are pretty fresh and not the dregs that have been out keeping warm all day. First time I heard of Chipotle was this (not for the easily offended / grossed out): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHsR65IRW_8

This is very useful to know. Would be interested to learn where it is published, although I don't fancy my chances when quoting chapter and verse to a grumpy driver.

Hi - does anyone know if the new batch of school streets are enforced during the school holidays? I'm thinking of Adys Road in particular. The sign says that it applies Mon-Fri but says nothing about school hols. But this page on the Southwark website suggests that the old batch are only enforced in term time: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/transport-and-roads/improving-our-streets/school-street-road-closures. I emailed [email protected] and got an automated acknowledgement but no one has responded. Thanks

When I was at university, the facilities staff used to put warning notices on the windscreens of cars that were parked inconsiderately. These notices were printed on very sticky full A4 sized labels and were a nightmare to peel off, especially if it had rained after the sheet had been stuck to the windscreen. Just saying.....

I'd like to understand this more, as it would be a great opportunity for the community to own part of a local business and participate in the success, but there's very little information on the GoFundMe page and the questions haven't been answered in this thread either. My understanding is that 50% of the business is owned by an absent Director, and is valued at £200,000. The other 50% is owned by Sarah Coe and possibly Joanne Coe, also valued at £200,000 (logically). Sarah Coe is trying to raise £200,000 to buy the absent Director's share of the business. If the GoFundMe raises £200,000, do Sarah & Joanne Coe own 100% of the business, or does Sarah Coe still own 50%, with the 50% acquired from the absent Director being owned jointly by everyone who contributed to the GoFundMe? One of these options sounds like a great opportunity for local people to participate in a local business (for local people). The other sounds like giving Sarah & Joanne Coe lots of cash so they can own all of the business and not share any of the benefits. I do hope it's the first option, as the second sounds rather cynical - what would stop them from then selling the whole business for £400,000 and not returning the funding to anyone who contributed? I've read the comments about only commenting if you want to support the business. I'm very interested in supporting if it's fair for everyone who contributes.

It's a bit of everything I think. People have been predicting the demise of the cinema for as long as I remember, and I saw Ghostbusters when it was new, to give you an idea of how long that is. But things do seem a bit different this time around. Short waits before films are released to streaming sites, big home TV screens, Netflix, etc. just make staying home a more viable entertainment option than it was back then. Until about 10 years ago, I used to go to the cinema nearly every week - we'd turn up, see what was playing and go to the pub if we didn't fancy anything. Our cinema (out of town) was a big 12 screen job so there was plenty of choice. I can't imagine going to the cinema now without having booked tickets in advance, and I think that's part of the problem as it's not a spontaneous thing any more. The local just became a bit of a bit of a headache. They started charging extra if you wanted to sit in the back few rows, or for priority entry, and even for the top films at one point. They stopped you going in more than about 20 mins before the movie as they didn't want kids hanging around in the foyer, so you had to queue outside in the rain (but they had no problem letting kids disturb everyone once the movie started). They started showing the blockbuster movies in more screens which reduced the choice - obviously supply and demand, but the number of times that we just ended up going to the pub instead increased. In the end, it just fizzled out and we stopped going. I've enjoyed going to the new boutique cinemas like Picturehouse and Everyman, but I only go for specific films, and even then it feels like hard work. And it's become too expensive to go to see random films just because you fancy going to the cinema. Maybe if they could do some simple things to attract the spontaneous crowd back instead of throwing millions at 4D VR megascreen experiences, it would do a lot for the film industry.

Agree with the above. You would need to keep the kitchen mains hard for cooking / drinking, and any other taps that you want to retain mains pressure, such as an outdoor tap. Your boiler will last longer as it will be heating softened water. The valves in your water tanks / toilet will last longer and be less prone to leaking, reducing the chance of floods. You'll use less detergent (and you'll have to, unless you want a foam party in the kitchen). And you may not need hair conditioner (so I'm told) or fabric softener, which is better for the environment. We were complimented on our new bathroom in spite of it being 10 years old, as everything stays shiny. The softener does need to be kept topped up with salt, which means additional storage and cost, and it will probably take a couple of hours to flush and regenerate the softening core each week. It's usually on a timer or sensor, so it doesn't need active involvement, but you'll have a couple of hours of whooshing and whirring to put up with, so have it installed somewhere where it won't disturb you. The only drawback is that it reduces the water flow. We had a power shower with its own feeder tank, and the water feeding the tank went in more slowly than the water coming out of the shower, so the tank could run dry after a while, stopping the shower. We got used to it but a few visitors ended up with soapy hair and no water coming from the shower.

I don't understand the thought process of spending £2,000 on a new bike and then being too tight to pay the council to collect the box, or take it to the recycling centre, or break it up and shove it in the blue bin. The sense of entitlement....