Alex K

Croissants don't provide the chances to patronise that they used to. Thirty-five years ago, when croissants were still VERY novel, a friend and I went into a bakery where they were on offer -- sign above the basket -- "Croissants (kwah-SAWHN)". He turned to me and said, "See? They even tell you how to pronounce it in Korean."

Chris is a good man. He lives in my road and we worked in the same laboratory at King's. I like him. Although our politics don't coincide, I was pleased that he was my councillor. I met him by chance at the Sainsbury's superstore the morning after I learnt that he was stepping down -- we chatted. He hopes to continue to be active in politics, he told me, but he can't at the same time do justice to both councillor duties and his two girls, who are under ten. (Maybe his failing to respond to Mustard's e-mails is part of being too thinly stretched.) I suppose there's no knowing how much of your life being a councillor will devour till you are sworn in.

No. But, as someone who booked an appointment for a prescriptions MOT a month in advance, the DMC / Chadwick Road personnel were IMMENSELY helpful and IMMENSELY accommodating in every way. Daniellia (note the spelling) Scott is a very good point d'appui.

One letter missing -- 'Dulwich OrigaSmi' -- this version should increase footfall. peckham_ryu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think I will call it 'Dulwich Origami' > > Great idea Bob, but some work needed on that name. > Here are some suggestions to get you started, with > some possible USP's for your business: > > - Origami hand-folded by Buddhist monks: > Paperchaste > > - Exotic sweets with origami wrappers: Nippon > Tuck > > - Japanese emporium in Peckham: SamuRye > > - or your original Lordship Lane origami shop > idea: Crease Dulwich > > Hope that's helpful x

Seems to be how it's developed. I'm glad that the EDF moderator gave it house room, his / her accommodating spirit let me say "Good-bye" to friends. Social media get re-purposed a lot, I suppose. For worse or for better.

Mine or LM's? If the question wasn't euphemistic, here's an answer regarding mine: Polished and bright. It's not tinned, and the other day I used it to cook down a peck and a half of plum tomatoes from the allotment. Probably the highest-copper batch of passata ever made. When I looked at what the acid in the tomatoes had done to the inside of the pan I for a moment considered tumping all that tomato work down the bog -- then decided: I'm sixty. I have to die of SOMETHING. And one serving of spag bol at a time, week by week, is probably not going to be that something. The sauce went into the freezer. Watch this space for updates, and be assured: If you come to dinner I'll give you something else.

Well, well! "Vaut le voyage"; watch ridership on the P13 soar come November...

-- you were good neighbours. Thanks for the pleasures of knowing you and of watching your children grow as we all got a bit older together. I wasn't around to say good-bye in person as you moved house yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to tell you this face-to-face, and I have to use the EDF: I like you and I'll miss you.

Right-hand turn from Denmark Hill into Coldharbour Lane? If the bus lane is retained at that point, THINK of the tailbacks...

Dear MadMum -- that photo of Mr Corcoran looks... archival. Against the chance of this happening again, might you stow away a few current snapshots? Glad he's back with you.

robbin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Weird - now even window cleaners (an occupation > that's been around since the Victorian age) are > thought by some to be a sign of gentrification! > > There's some odd views out there... To my way of thinking it's not how long the service has been on offer that makes its availability a sign of gentrification -- it's the current-account balances of those who avail themselves of it. If you can afford to use it you must not worry too often about where the money for next week is coming from, that is. But I'm an outlier. Forty years of making a sack lunch no matter how much was in my pay packet, looking in bemusement at the young folks nipping down to the corner nowadays for a sarnie / fizzy drink / bag of crisps, ?15 the week instead of parcelled-up leavings from the Sunday roast, when we could, ee bah gum, afford a roast, that is. I've asked them. They CBA to stand up out of bed the quarter-hour earlier needed to slice the bread and to smear the dripping onto it.

HIRE THEM. Love Trees Ltd Tel: 0208 090 0582 Email: [email protected] Website: www.lovetrees.uk.com Mind you, the muscles, jawline, and tattoos make Darren almost scary butch. But just get him talking about vegetation? PUSSYCAT. He and his mate showed up today at the promised time and rapidly, efficiently, and cleanly dismantled a bay tree, mattocking and grinding out its stump, that had got well too large for the back garden. It?s gone, we?re delighted (albeit a bit regretful, it wasn?t the tree?s fault that we wanted the sun it had been appropriating, and it was a lovely specimen), and we don?t have a bad thing to say about Darren & Co. Not only that, they tidied away some volunteer trees in the front garden for another few quid ? so they?re flexible and helpful along with all the other good things I already noted. Did I mention HIRE THEM?

Spot on for ponderwoman -- some sort of Prunus -- and yes, if your neighbours are pruning, that will prompt the roots to throw up suckers. Mow, mow, and mow; in flowerbeds, just pull and snip.

We're in one of the little matchboxes, two-up-two-down, on the St Francis estate. No question that a loft conversion would increase habitability. But would it increase house value, as assessed by an estate agent? Zoopla and RightMove values, comparing converted-loft house with next-door-non-converted-loft house, don't show that the investment adds value. (Cf. 73 Abbotswood Road, not converted, with 71 AWR, converted... the former on Zoopla is actually a few hundred quid in the lead.) I know that those website estimates are crude -- that's why I'm turning to EDF readers for the real story. Your thoughts / experiences / opinions sought. Thanks.

Japanese knotweed still in the differential diagnosis here.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3114654/Breast-cancer-hit-former-NHS-chief-causes-outrage-moves-England-life-saving-drugs-denied-Welsh-patients.html Welcome to the neighbourhood.

Robert Poste's Child Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not only is the customer service usually excellent, they employ ex-convicts to help them get back into normal society, which adds a pleasant frisson while I wait. I must confess that I too enjoy eyeing up a bit of rough now and again.

oimissus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > GBK's been around longer than beardy hipsters, > though, hasn't it? I must say (though I haven't > been in a while) that I've never felt it's a smug, > sneering place, just somewhere to get a filling, > tasty burger and chips. I'm not averse to > MacDonald's but they are just so unfilling, 10 > minutes after you've finished you're hungry again, > which I find a whole lot more annoying than some > free nuts. Full agreement with everything except 'tasty'. What should be the core of GBK is instead... abomination. I do so miss Meatwagon...

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > grabot Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > A shame for James Barber. I wasn't a fan of > his > > early on. Seemed to be too much politicking > from > > him on the East Dulwich forum. But of late, to > > me, he has shown himself to be a man of genuine > > conviction and someone who has done a lot of > good > > in the local community. > > > Agree with this completely. Otta, Grabot -- yes indeed. James is a decent sort. I hope that he continues to contribute to making Southwark, and East Dulwich, better places.

As the Yanks say -- "The people you meet when you don't have your gun...".

maxxi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This image plays across the back of my brain every > time I see the thread title - was it subconscious > Tarot? > http://static.gigwise.com/gallery/1031302_frankieg > oes-relax.jpg Hott.

"Cheese on toast" -- yes. Also ruined fettucine Alfredo for me (bycatch / collateral damage); mac 'n' cheese forever after.

A moment to regret Louisa -- who although cranky, and contrary, and reliably (predictably) opinionated, also posted with wit. I never thought that she made the Forum's tone unfriendly. But then again, she never swivelled to bring me into the crosshairs of her gunsight. *** Those who exasperate most often bring most to the discussion. That's how I'll remember Louisa... and I hope that she will return.

Blah Blah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The same is true for cows. Cows that roam free and > eat grass a far healthier than cows that are corn > fed and kept in factories for mass burger > production. Mis-information above, I think. Grain is expensive. Mature cattle are grain-fed only immediately before slaughter, as I understand it, in order to force them to lay down new fat deposits, increasing the degree of marbling (fatty infiltration) of muscle tissue and increasing meat tenderness... self-basting, really. All beef thus is grass-fed, only some is feedlot-finished. Beef from older cattle, supposedly more flavourful (years and years of wear and tear, think how good some of us would taste after decades of hard living!), is enjoying a vogue at present. I wager that much of it, no matter how long it's dry-aged, is made edible only by fattening in the animals' last few weeks.