Jamma

Leon came round today and fixed a couple of lights very quickly and at a reasonable rate. Nice guy, responsive on texts. Will now be my go-to guy for anything electrical.

Couple of likely lads knocking doors earlier this evening, claiming to be from ‘rehabilitation project’ and trying to sell cleaning kit to raise money to get into a hostel. Not really putting much effort into trying to hide that they casing local houses around the library area. 

So be it, be aware.

But my question is what to do in such circumstances. Should I contact police - who? how? - or the council or something? Would appreciate advice.

All you can do is keep emailing Helen Hayes and copy in Royal Mail. It's ridiculous that we have to keep doing that but Royal Mail just refuse to respond to anything else. I spoke with Helen about it recently and she said one thing that gets things moving is if she phones them on Friday and tells them she's coming to visit the depot on Monday, backlogs get attacked over the weekend. But obviously she can't do that all that often given all the other things she has to do as MP.

Absolutely incredible that this has been allowed to happen. I hope Thames Water will be held to account somehow. 

Adding my recommendation for Aria. Our kitchen sink just sort of fell off on Sunday night. So it wasn't exactly a plumbing job but I figured Aria would know what to do. Sure enough I called him first thing Monday morning, he came round at lunchtime and arranged for carpenter/handyman Mick to come and do the repair that afternoon so we were good to go again that evening.

Reasonably priced but, more importantly, he's quick and effective and a pleasant chap to deal with into the bargain.

Gas leak apparently. Two houses evacuated. The workmen say they hope to finish the drilling soon!

Who the heck is drilling at 10.30pm on a Friday night at the Dulwich library end of Lordship Lane?? Assume it’s the same people who started drilling at 6am this morning.

Is there a law against that and/or a way to get them to shut up that actually works?

Surely the police can pick him up fairly easily? Known to some as 'Fred the window cleaner'. Shouted some very horrible abuse at me and my son as we walked home evening of July 12 then scarpered when a neighbour emerged with their dogs and started shouting back at him!

I've seen him give the same sort of abuse at other people before. If he sees a parent with a child he tends to shout at them that they are a paedophile.

He also does a thing where he pretends to be on the phone while talking to/being rude to women walking past.

It's not OK. He clearly has some issues and needs help. But if he's now physically attacking people then it clearly has to stop.

I'll email the Safer Neighbourhoods team now and suggest others do the same.

(not sure why the police are holding a meeting outside Goodrich school on July 25 when it'll be shut?!)

Found it yesterday evening (Saturday Aug 28) outside Christ Church at the top of Barry Road by the library junction. Message me if you think it's yours.

We did ours at home on my phone against a plain wall. The online application lets you upload the photo then tells you if it's OK or not before you submit. (Once again showing up that post office check and send business as a right old scam!)

Thanks for all these. Will report back what was best!

Thanks. I'll give them a try.

Still in the market for any other recommendations from anyone else so we've got options...

Both my kids enjoyed doing a bit of boxing training at a summer holiday club a few weeks ago. One of the coaches there recommended a gym in Deptford. But wondered if there's any a little bit closer to home (not that Deptford is that far away!) that offer decent classes for kids. All recommendations gratefully received. Thanks.

Hi Renata,

Couple of things. "Every applicant being offered a secondary place in Southwark" doesn't really mean anything. For example my daughter (and many of her classmates) were offered an inappropriate school. If you can make sure every applicant is offered a secondary place at one of the six schools they applied for, that would be something to shout about.

Also what do you know of what Monkey says about Charter ED not expanding as quickly as anticipated. I too have heard there's problems with the hospital site that might inhibit expansion. If so that's going to be a problem, and perhaps a shock to parents hoping to get a place at Charter ED in a few years time. Would be good to know asap if there's gong to be any change to the admissions there.

Thanks.

If it's any help I spoke to Helen Hayes about admissions because clearly it's daft in our area. We all know there was a nappy valley effect a few years back and the primary schools were bulging. Now that cohort has reached secondary but no-one seems to be getting a grip.

Helen Hayes was interested but not entirely helpful with my enquiry. There's not a lot she can do. And there's not a lot Southwark can do about some of the schools because they are academies. But certainly if she got the message that there are votes in sorting it out I think that would help. The more people that contact her about it the better.

Adding to the positive reviews for Helen and the Gardenia team. After our builders had reduced the garden to a mud bath they sympathetically restored some bits, radically overhauled other bits as desired. Very hardworking and pleasant to deal with and reasonably priced.

Yes. That's a good idea, particularly given all the plaques marking where bombs dropped in the area etc.

Among my jobs I make podcasts. Perhaps not surprisingly my kids are keen to make some podcasts too and this seemed like a good summer holidays project.

I've had them on my politics podcast once or twice before interviewing MPs and we thought we'd like an interview section of whatever we cook up over the summer.

I've approached Helen Hayes to come on but I was hoping to widen the field a bit. Can anyone recommend interesting locals we could talk to? Could be celebrities who live in the area and might be amenable but also just folk from round about with interesting tales to tell and who would get on with kids interviewing them. eg, I'm wondering about the chap from Rye Books who could talk about his favourite books and make recommendations etc.

All and any ideas very gratefully received. (You'll get a shoutout on the podcast as thanks!)

Cool. That looks like a possibility, I'll look into that. Thanks Renata.

Still in the market for any other recommendations though of course!

My seven-year-old son has got a bit of a thing for chess after trying it at Dulwich Library's Thursday afternoon board games session (yay for libraries!). Is there a chess club for kids in Dulwich or surrounds?

(And if not is there any chess teacher types out there want to start one up?)

We've been to a lot of parties at the church on Forest Hill Road in our time. Never actually held one of ours there but I'm assuming it's fairly cheap to hire and it's a good space for y our own games or if you want to get an entertainer.

Yep, another recommendation for Aria. We had some leaks last month and he came round and sorted them. Not cheap but not expensive either. And well worth it given the speed and efficiency with which they fixed the problem.

Yep, another recommendation for Steve. Our washing machine was leaking but he came round straight away, diagnosed and fixed it which was magic.

Looks like someone has, I?ve just seen posters on Friern Road about it. Sad face.

I just got followed down Etherow Street by one.