Marmora Man

Have you thought of Center Parcs? I know my niece had a "sort of" hen party at one. Apparently fabulous spa for the evening, a variety of places to eat, good fun in pools and other activities plus, if you feel like it, you can just chill out in their cottages with wine and easy cook food from the shops. Having arrived the only way around is by bike.

On Marmora the trees have been pollarded - as they have been ever three years since I moved here. They have always responded well to the pollarding by springing into green leaf later in the year and full green leaf the following year. Without this action Marmora would have been impassable many years ago.

If ensuring the unpleasant ex wife & her family don't get the money is the important issue, then contesting the will but declaring that your brother would have preferred it to go to charity / good works or similar might add weight to your position. Otherwise very sorry to hear your sad story - I wish you well in your quest. Is it worth contacting the NZ embassy for advice on whether you need a specialist NZ lawyer?

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What this place definitely does not need is any > more shops attracting trendy 20/30 something yummy > yuppy wannabe pretentious types who failed to get > a job good enough to pay for a cosy mid-terrace > period property in Clapham. So no more cosy yummy > mummy cafes with room for a bugaboo or 6. Lets get > in some decent shops for everyone to use. My vote > goes to pret a manger. > > Louisa. Doesn't Pret count as a poncy hipster faux street food outlet that looks down upon good ole working class fare such as bacon butties on sliced white with marge offering, instead, lemon mayo & crayfish on wholewheat bread?

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Cassius Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > For a real 'pub' pub there is always the Hole > in > > the Wall - bit rough and ready but can be a lot > of > > fun.......... and very close to the station. > > xxxxxxx > > Rough and ready is an understatement, but it does > have good ale :) I can remember in the 70s meeting musicians from the Royal Festival Hall popping into the Hole in the Wall for a quick half time pint between symphonies - t'was really rough then but their DJs added some class, even if the speed with which they downed their beer didn't

numbers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > EatsDulwich Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > numbers - yes they did (do?) sell Little Bird > Gin > > at Franklins. It was launched as Sparrow Gin > and > > then changed its name a while later. Quite > > citrusy with orange & grapefruit. > > ah yes that was it, sparrow gin. thank you so > much! Now available at The Bishop.

Not a pub but I can recommend Meson Don Felipe - http://www.mesondonfelipe.com/

Annette Curtain Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thankfully it's started to warm up, which means > it's Street Food season again. > > I'm partial to Brockley market on Saturday, Herne > Hill on a Sunday, as there's a good mix at both. > > Pitt Cue have a new truck & The Joint from Brixton > Market have bought their first wagon. > > > Any others worth searching out for a visit ? See my thread on The Ropewalk in Bermondsey - there's even a local gin distillery and pop up cocktail bar. Food reneged from burgers to tacos to Iberian ham, waffles, cup cakes and a fantastic cheese stall, plus some pizza and other bread stalls.

Eventually made it to this new "ish" foodie spot - can recommend it for checking out. The highlight was to drink dry sherry on a fantastic Jamon Bodega - Bar Tozino, tho the Little Bird pop up cocktail bar ran t a very close second with a stunning Bloody Mary. See Blog: http://www.a-littlebird.com/2012/12/13/food-best-food-shopping-ever-at-ropewalk-market-off-maltby-st-and-bermondsey-spa-terminus/ Cheers MM

wee quinnie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Loz Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > JohnL Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > No state funeral - neither was Princess Di. > > > > To be fair, at least Maggie was a national > leader, > > rather than someone who just ponced around in > > designer dresses shagging anything with a pulse > > and a wallet. > > > I am in no way a fan of the royals but I don't > think as many people actively resented her getting > a ceremonial funeral. (I'm finding it really hard > not to say "State funeral" - because if it's paid > for by the state wtf wouldn't you call it one?) A state funeral requires a "laying in state" which didn't happen so thus - it was not a state funeral.

LadyDeliah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I didn't say it was. I was just correcting MM's > post. However, I wanted to go but heard about the > likely heavy handed policing. I can't afford to > get arrested do I stayed at home. I imagine there > were others who felt the same as I did. I was in Trafalgar Sq around the same time - after a day out in London. 500 in the square would be an overestimate. As for "can't afford to get arrested" - if you and others all truly believe what you posit, that Baroness Thatcher's death must be celebrated, then fear of arrest shouldn't be a concern surely?

Chase Dulwit Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Who on earth spends ?80 on a couple of bottles of > wine? No wonder the member of staff was blowing > smoke in your direction, they probably despised > someone who spends more than a weeks food shopping > money on wine alone. It's disgusting the amount of > money that goes to waste when there are people on > our doorsteps who need it. Please tell me that you > regularly donate the equivalent to a worthwhile > charity. I doubt the staff in a specialist wine shop despise someone that spends ?80 on two bottles of wine - I always found the G&B staff extremely helpful when I wanted to purchase something special. I find the implication that because an individual can afford to spend ?80 on wine they are disgusting and the implied threat that they might excuse such a decision by donating an equivalent sum to charity both naive and borderline offensive.

Tonight's BBC News: 300 - 500 protesters at Trafalgar Square, scarcely a mass demonstration of support for the obsessed left?

PeckhamRose Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Courtesy of Steve North on Facebook (and I agree > with it): > Whatever you think of Thatcher she divided this > country in so many ways. Why the @#$%& should she > get what is essentially a state funeral when so > many people in this country hated her and what she > stood for? Do we not all have a voice or a say? > She decimated communities in the North of England. > She sold the Falkland Islanders down the river by > ignoring their concerns and denying them British > citizenship and then used the ensuing fallout of > conflict to win the 1983 election. She called > Mandela and the ANC terroists. She encouraged the > police to lay into miners, shipworkers, all kinds > of protestors, by giving them huge overtime > payments and backing them to the hilt even when > they were completely in the wrong. She called the > miners who'd dug coal and powered this country > "the enemy within". She allowed mass unemployment > to be an acceptable result of severe economic > policy. She encouraged a get rich culture based on > banking and lending to become our major industry > whilst completely running down our once great > manufacturing base. So when we buy a stupid > single, or protest against her funeral, we aren't > disrespecting an old woman. If it was a low key, > marked event in the nature of Harold Wilson's or > Heaths, fair enough. But if they're going to give > her the status of a mass state worship shoved in > our faces then too many of us resent that her > legacy isn't being shown up for what it was. The > most divisive period in British politics in recent > times. You want respect, you earn it. PR - you may agree with it, but a rational historian would not recognise the caricature of that period that Steve North (who is he) draws. As ???? has said - the Conservatives under her leadership won three elections in a row with significant majorities so a hell of lot of didn't hate her or her policies. Edited to add: I hadn't seen Hugenot's or other similar responses to this post.

rgutsell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hallo everyone I am very pleased that my thread has produced such a fertile, creative, and entertaining response. My own family want me to shut up and stop ranting! Glenda Jacksons speech was excellent and bravely undertaken in isolation. What a stark contrast herapproach is to that of Ms Thatcher et al. Jackson for PM anyone? I think I will head for the Magdalene wed eve, and metaphoricaly tip some beer over Thatchers grave. From MM: I personally will raise a glass in tribute to one of the most effective post war Prime Ministers we have seen. My first 10 adult years were between 1970 and 1980. That grey, dismal and utterly uninspiring decade was reversed under the Conservative government that she led. Her government made mistakes, not least in attempting to downsize the Royal Navy at the height of the Cold War, a decision that arguably contributed to the Argentine invasion of the Faklands, but on the whole the government she led got it about 75% right - which is a pretty good outcome for politicians. The personalisation of her period as PM, attributing every decision (good or bad) to her alone is ridiculous - while the continued demonisation of her by the left is, to me, barely understandable. Her government made decisions that, in hindsight, almost every other politician would have been forced to make given world economic forces. The suggestion that without Margaret Thatcher there would still be happy northern communities of miners and steel workers, gathering in their working men's clubs or around their racing pigeon lofts and indulging in clog dancing to colliery brass bands at weekends is pure fantasy. In 1979 deep mined (ie UK nationalised) coal was costing > ?130/ton to produce while it was fetching ?35/ton on world markets - an unsustainable commercial proposition. I remember my first car - a rust bucket (nationalised) British Leyland Maestro - I could afford to buy it as a student because it was worth, three years old, about 10% of its purchase price due to rust and mechanical problems. That was the reality that the incoming government was faced with. Time is meant to lend perspective, the Thatcher is Dead celebratory parties by those who were, in general, far too young to have even lived under her governments let alone been affected by them are just weird. If those participating had an ounce of gumption they would be making real political points in today's political arena not dancing around the effigy of a politician who last wielded power in 1990. As for Glenda Jackson - her speech was more a spiteful, shrewish and cowardly rant than a considered political demolition of a, once upon a time, opponent. Lord Howe's resignation speech in 1990 was both a far more effective attack and also far more brave as he didn't wait until Margaret Thatcher had died.

simonethebeaver Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > MarmoraMan, you're not right. Ten of Southwark's > 17 secondaries are academies and another a free > school, far outweighing the LEA-run > establishments. Great -I'm all for the power of the market. If LEA establishments are declining then perhaps that's because they weren't delivering what parents & children wanted?

Council seems to reluctant to collect soil of any kind - attached to plants or turf. If you take it to the Southwark recycling centre (off Old Kent Road) they'll accept it.

I have been an intermittent regular at Si Mangia since it opened - dining here alone, as a couple with my wife and with friends and family. I have never been dissatisfied - occasionally service can be slow if its very busy but thats about the only (mild) criticism I'd make. It has, to my mind, positioned itself perfectly - it does not aspire to be a destination top end gastro restaurant, it is a very fine local restaurant that delivers value for money Italian food in a friendly and welcoming way. Late home? - go for a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine, change from ?20. Grandad's birthday? - take the whole family from 8 to 80 along and enjoy a friendly, casual meal with no time pressures and still not break the bank. Si Mangia is somewhere I'll miss when I move away to Cornwall.

Not sure how good, or otherwise, it is - but I do know it's difficult to book into, we couldn't get tickets for before end May (tho' in part that's due to other commitments).

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Do you have any from London music halls eg > Vauxhall? Islington Green is the best I can do. There is one with Max Miller's name on it too.

I'm planning a stall on Northcross Road maybe weekend of 20/21 April. Thinking of prices around ?50 - ?75 as they're all nicely framed already. An example attached - with another higher up the thread.

Just to show what one of the posters looks like

langlounge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi Dulwich DIY > This afternoon I bought: > Brasso 3.98 > WD40 3.98 > Vent 3.98 > Paint brush 1.25 > Doorsign 2.75 > Blades for scraper 3.98 > Wood filler 16.98 > > I make that 36.90. You have debited my card for > ?61.84. I will be calling in tomorrow for a > refund. You only gave me a debit card receipt, > not a till receipt, so please make sure you keep > the till receipt. Thank you. Just a query - how come you didn't notice at the time? I usually have an approximate idea of a total of goods purchased when shopping - whether at a deli, supermarket or corner shop, certainly enough of an idea to notice a ?25 overcharge when it's presented.

Inthepink Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just for everyone's info, we have over 250 paper > signatures to add to the electronic ones, to reach > our quota. > Please do sign if you would like Southwark Council > to start monitoring and tackling the problem. > Thank you, In summary ITP you appear to be proposing that "someone should do something" but have no specific suggestions or proposals to make. If I've misread this then please let me know what should be done.

Hart 108 said "The Harris phenomenon is part of a culture that also sees individual private traders in Lordship Lane increasingly under threat from Caf? Neros and private international and national mega businesses with huge clout and expertise let it be said". This is a very poor analogy. In Southwark the majority of schools are run by the Local Authority - with a one size fits all model. Academies, in contrast, offer alternative methods of teaching, discipline and process. In many ways Local Education Authorities are the equivalent of monolithic, international and mega businesses - with Academies and others like the Charter School being the more nimble, smaller, customer focussed suppliers. My children are now beyond the education system - but if they were younger I'd be looking at something like the Harris Academy on the Rye - where, by all accounts, there is great competition for places, strong teaching backed by self discipline with an emphasis on encouraging aspiration to strive for the best rather than settle for the norm. Academies came about because years and years of different government initiatives (from right and left of the political spectrum) had singularly failed to improve the results of inner city local education authority managed schools.