genwilliams

(Also, wasn't sure if this or the "items wanted" forum was more appropriate - I bow to the wisdom of the moderator!)

Can anyone point me towards any super cheap art studio space? My requirements are pretty minimal: I just need a small space with straight walls, ideally natural light (but frankly I'll manage without if need be, as long as it's not dark or dingy) and a power socket. My work is dry (soft pastel or oil pastel) and pretty portable so I don't really need storage etc. I'd be more than happy with somewhere I could rent on a day or afternoon rate; I'm not really looking for somewhere along the "?xx pcm" lines, because I work fulltime in the week! Just somewhere I can drop in at the weekend and work. I'm in Sydenham but looking in all surrounding areas - Forest Hill, East Dulwich, Peckham/Camberwell etc. Thank you!

Spider spray does help a bit - they don't like the smell (peppermint!) so will avoid rooms where you use it. I love my spider spray. Sprayed liberally on the thresholds of doors and windows! I'm told they are generally averse to citrus, peppermint and eucalyptus smells. All smells I am perfectly happy to have around my home, especially if they keep the horrid little beasties away. That said, there is a tiny little chap who seems to have taken up residence in a glass in my room. He's about 75mm across, and for a spider, *almost* cute (he's a bit like a cartoon spider), so given that he doesn't move a great deal, I'm happy for him to hang out as long as he doesn't do anything surprising.

I'm a pretty trenchant feminist. But if someone offers me their seat on the train (I don't expect them to, I'm in my early 30s so no-one would assume I need it), I'm happily surprised - I'll take it and say thank you. Transport during rush hour can be pretty self-serving and unfriendly, people shoving each other to get on packed trains etc - so something like that is refreshingly unselfish. A chap about my age got up and gave me his seat on the tube the other day and I just thought "how kind!" and thanked him. I can't tell you what his motivation for doing so was, but he wasn't flirty, creepy or patronising, so I just took it as a simple act of kindness. I agree that expectations about this sort of thing should generally be reserved for those less able to stand. But I don't think the pursuit of equality has to stop people doing nice things for each other. I like benefitting from chivalry, and I pay it back to both men and women; I like the idea of delinking it from problematic oldskool expectations about how men & women relate to each other. I guess if men and women all behaved in traditionally 'chivalrous' ways to each other, rather than it being how men "should" treat women (or are told they shouldn't any more), as a society we would just look out for each other more. LadyDeliah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No don't! With chivalry comes expectations and > preconditions, plus a load of other baggage women > have tried to get rid of for the past century. > > Eff that. I'd rather stand up than have someone > patronise me. > > If someone is less able to stand, whether they are > male or female, they should be given a seat. If > your feet are killing because you are wearing high > or tight shoes, get a pair of trainers.

I don't think one can compare the Overground service in south London to a tube service. The Overground is definitely useful particularly for commuting, but even setting aside the difference in frequency of trains, the seemingly constant engineering works mean that there's often limited or no weekend service anyway. That's true on both the Clapham Junction line and the Crystal Palace line - this weekend was a delight, finding that a return trip that should have taken about an hour and a half took twice that because the Overground was largely out of action. By the way, here's a fun bit of info I was told by someone who works for TFL: contractors often book station/line closures for works, but don't necessarily carry out the works - something changes, and the date gets shifted. The stations remain closed, though, because they didn't bother to cancel the closures and tell anyone they won't be showing up. So that's good, isn't it?

I'm moving house on Sat and tried to book Little Green Van (who've always been good) but they're fully booked over the weekend. Has anyone got any recommendations for other decent and modestly price local man+vans? Thanks!

Hello, Does anyone know where locally I might be able to shred some paper (for recycling)? I'm moving house and have a big pile of old papers/bills etc that I'd like to recycle, but I don't feel happy putting things with my personal details in a recycling bin. Thanks in advance x

I'd avoid trying to get an appointment at the Melbourne Grove surgery. I've been with them for years, and the service/care isn't bad, but just try getting through on the phone. I called this afternoon, and after a few minutes of the usual merry dance of "Call busy" / try again / "call busy" / try again that usually happens when you call them, I finally got through to an automated message which told me I was in a queue - number 3. Fine. Ten minutes later, I reached number 1, and then the phone started to ring. And ring. And ring. It's a slow day at work, so I let it carry on - just a ringing tone for ten minutes, with no sign of life on the other side. After a total of 25 minutes on hold, I hung up, and tried again. "Call busy". Total time wasted: about half an hour, to get nowhere at all. Useless.

If it's any use (and if you didn't already find someone), I used Little Green Van this weekend just past to move house, and they were excellent. The chap showed up early (though was happy to wait til the appointed hour if needed), was efficient and helpful, and the price was fair. I've used them before and I'd always recommend them.

I've been in & out of Kings a fair bit recently, in more than one department, and would like to second the words from other people here; I've been constantly impressed, in particular, by how much care the staff take to just be kind and reassuring to people. Being nice to people sounds like a no-brainer but when you see how full their waiting rooms are, how many people they have to look after, and how calm and patient the staff are all the time, it really does impress me.

My tuppence: the gardens at the back of 123 Grove Park are beautiful - I've been in a couple of times and it's a veritable forest - mostly untrodden by people, so a real haven for the kind of city wildlife that is fast running out of habitat in London. It's now rare to find such untouched spots in London. If the area behind 20/21 Grove Park is comparable, I hope it can be saved!

Haha! I managed to avoid odd stares by pretending to retie my shoelaces when anyone walked past. Obviously now everyone will know what I'm up to. Oh dear.

Good call. It may sound...er... eccentric, but when I went out today I took a tiny pot of honey with me. And managed to save a forlorn looking honey bee! It was lying sluggishly on the pavement. I fed it a bit of honey, and watched it fly off, to buzz another day. Hurrah.

Inside the home is the only place I'd ever previously seen dead bumblebees... I guess that's why it's so weird and unsettling seeing this many of them locally. And it really does seem to be within a few streets - between the corner of Soames Street and the fork at Bellenden Road / Avondale Rise seems to be a hotspot for it, I haven't seen them anywhere else. My bee knowledge is scant to say the least, but after a bit of googling it seems the one I saw earlier today (alive, then dead) might have been a queen - very big, black with an orangey-yellow end. Very beautiful actually, I was sorry to see it didn't survive. DulwichFox Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I found one in my living-room , not dead but very > 'drowsy' ??? > > Took it outside and tried to feed with orange > cordial. (Did not have any Honey which has worked > before) > > He was there for hours. but was still alive. ??? > Just.. > > Next time he was gone. ?? > > So either flew off or was blown away. ?? > > The Bee was very small. ?? > > Fox.