Sue

I've always wondered how people manage with charging, even if you have your own charging point. What happens if you can't park outside or very near your house? Do you have to run a lead down the pavement? Suppose you can't even park in your road, and you are running out of charge? These are probably very stupid questions, as I (clearly!) know nothing about electric cars, sorry, EVs, but I wonder this every time I pass one which is charging!

I'm sure they don't chop down trees just to get to use the chainsaws 🤣 I doubt the people making the decision to chop are the same people wielding the saws, but I might be wrong. Trees are normally only cut down if they are diseased or potentially dangerous, or both. Or if they are in the way of something, of course 😭

You can take your pick of surgeries you are in the catchment area of, grammar. You just register at your surgery of choice. You don't have to tell the old one you are leaving. The new surgery does all the paperwork (or whatever replaces paperwork these days!).

The 20mph limit is to protect pedestrians, and I guess to a lesser extent other drivers. If you don't stick to it, you can't complain if you are fined. I and probably most people have accidentally gone over it sometimes, but I wouldn't then complain if I was "caught". I have had fines for speeding in the past (in a 30mph area) but it just made me more careful in the future. I don't have the stats to hand, but I believe there is evidence that the lowered speed limit has reduced accidents, injuries and fatalities. I stand to be corrected.

You are probably right that bluebottles spread disease from the excrement. I will Google it. I suppose the consequences depend on what disease the excrement may have, where the bluebottles go next, and how and to what or whom the disease may be spread. I didn't say the bluebottles weren't spreading disease. I said they were eating the excrement. It's an important part of nature keeping things in equilibrium, otherwise the earth would be covered in shit. I don't see bluebottles around anywhere else, except on dog mess, so I don't know where they could be spreading disease to, but that doesn't mean they aren't. You may well be right, again, about a few people feeding foxes, but how do you know people are feeding these things you mention to foxes? Have you seen them doing it? Again, I'm not saying they aren't, but I've never seen anybody feed a fox, nor to the best of my knowledge do I know anybody who feeds foxes. Yes, obviously "urban" foxes were not here before humans, for obvious reasons. But foxes would have been, when it was woods and countryside, before London expanded. They have just as much right to be here as us. More, probably. And it's a forum. For discussion. If people agreed on everything or didn't ask for more information, there would be no forum. Why shouldn't I question what you and others say? I was taught to question things. Unquestioning acceptance has led - and is still leading - to a lot of evil and misery. If everyone just accepted everything they read or heard, as you seem to be telling me to, the world would be in a worse mess than it already is. There's a massive amount of false information being put around on social media and elsewhere, a lot of it deliberately. I'm not saying yours comes into that category. If memory serves, you also have quite a track record, but it's of posting statements on this forum which you can't back up, and it isn't just me who questions them. Apologies to everyone else for the long post. Back to foxes!

The bluebottles are getting rid of the excrement. I doubt many people are actually feeding the foxes. What evidence do you have of that? What do you think they are feeding them that disagrees with their digestion? I expect there were foxes in this part of London long before there were people here.

I'm confused. Are you answering me, or Pugwash? If me, my nail with fungus was only knocked off a few weeks back. So the nail hasn't grown back yet. I am not looking for someone to cut my toenails, as the podiatrist at the foot clinic cut them when checking the wound where the nail came off. It is Pugwash who is looking for somebody to cut their toenails, and MattGale has suggested Happy Feet as a cheaper alternative to Woodwarde Road.

Have an accident with a toe! I recently lost the nail of my big toe. It was weakened because of a fungus, I think, and I accidentally kicked the toe with my other foot. It bled a lot. I was directed from the nurse of my GP practice (who temporarily dressed the toe but said it needed an expert) to the Southwark walk in foot clinic in Bermondsey (the walk in clinics are on different days of the week in different locations, and the toe needed immediate attention). From there, I got a follow up appointment a couple of weeks later at the rather more convenient Tessa Jowell foot clinic. Following the wound check, I was pleased and surprised that I not only got all my toenails cut, but was given the very sharp clippers (the podiatrist having first ascertained that my eyesight was ok). I did ask if she could give me a manicure as well, but sadly the answer was no 🤣 ETA: As you probably know, these clinics won't just cut toenails, there has to be something else wrong. I had no idea toenail cutting was so expensive! I've always just done it myself!

Confused re Roxy - landlady or cinema?! The main bar of the Royal Oak is packed on one day every December for the "Sheffield carols". As is (on another day) that tiny little pub up Richmond Hill, on the left as you go up, whose name escapes me.

The Seven Stars in Holborn. Don't know if the cat still wears a ruff and sits on the bar. The original cat must be long gone. You have to go up extremely steep wooden steps to reach the loo, and upstairs is quite ....weird. https://www.thesevenstars1602.co.uk/ Frequented by lawyers, for obvious reasons given its location, but off the main drag.

They are very much in control of my very small garden. They have dug four massive deep holes, and every time I fill one in they just dig it again. Chilli powder does not seem to have deterred them (it just stained a dress I was rather fond of), nor have prickly rose branches. I'm trying Scoot next. I like foxes, but this is bonkers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3v37plv2edo Interesting article about Denmark stopping letter deliveries.

Does anybody have a very large corkboard or pinboard in reasonable condition?

Ah, OK. He sounds like a right bastard, then.

Was it flying over, or actually in the park? I usually see them perched on things in the middle of the Thames! I rarely hear blackbirds these days. There used to be one who sang every evening from the top of a tall tree in a garden a few houses down from mine. It was really lovely to hear it. Then the tree was cut down 😭

Post deleted due to a misunderstanding. DUH. Indeed. No evidence has been produced on either side. I sometimes drive up Sydenham Hill when there is no traffic in either direction. I don't take that to mean that no vehicles ever use it, apart from me, and so there shouldn't be a road there at all! I often don't see pedestrians, either. So according to some people's logic, there shouldn't be a pavement. In any case, I'm not sure the actual numbers matter. Forgive me if I'm wrong, as I haven't been following the discussion closely, but wasn't the cycle lane supposed to be for safety reasons?

But if they had a no under 18s policy, that was fair enough, surely? You can't have a rule then start making exceptions? Even if it's below zero outside? I imagine that was before the pubs round here became child friendly, after which you couldn't have a quiet pint without hordes of screaming kids rushing around you.

Crikey! I've occasionally seen cormorants on the Thames, but never in a park. Lucky you!

❤️❤️❤️ They are my favourite birds! I had never seen any round here before, then I suddenly spotted some in a tree across the road when I was walking down East Dulwich Grove. I got talking to a passer by as I was gawking at them, and she said they were often around there. I think she said that a man in a nearby flat fed them, but I may have misremembered that. A cat with a bell comes and sits very still next to my bird feeders. Once he is there, you can't hear the bell. I don't know whether the birds can still sense that he is there, as I chase him away whenever I see him. I get loads of other cats without bells, who also sit very still waiting for birds 😢 I do like cats, but there is definitely an issue with them and birds. But it's nature, I suppose. The only bird I've definitely seen killed in my garden was a starling, carried off howling piteously by a bird of prey. I've never seen a starling in the garden since. I used to get loads, years ago.

What is a "culture warrior"? What "facts" are you referring to, and why the inverted commas? Yes, the "garden" is big (I can use inverted commas too!) Yes, it has seats. Are you a fan of AstroTurf and artificial plants? How would you define a "garden"?

Well, nobody else has yet said that it ISN'T the alarm outside the dentist! Nobody else has said "oh yes, I heard that beeping when I passed the dentist, but that wasn't the beeping I hear". And nobody else has said "Well I passed the dentist when the beeping I hear was going on, and it deffo wasn't coming from the alarm outside the dentist." I rest my case!

We weren't eating there, just having a pint after a walk in the woods. Can't remember the price of a pint or what we've had, but I've never liked Young's beer. Apart from the Winter Warmer (unless I've misremembered and that isn't Young's).

It's even worse than it used to be. The only vaguely good thing about the garden is that at least you can see some real foliage from trees in the neighbouring gardens.

There used to be a flock of long tailed tits in the area up East Dulwich Grove past the health centre (going from ED) . No idea if they are still around there. Herons in Peckham Rye Park near the pond (and various ducks and geese) . I agree Merlin is a great app, better than other bird identification apps I have tried . You could join the RSPB? They have a good and informative quarterly magazine. If you have a garden or a balcony, deffo put out feeders if you can. Different kinds of feeders and food suit different birds. Vine House Farm is a great source of bird food (and feeders), particularly if you have space to store it (guarded from mice!) in bulk. Good quality, and speedy free delivery with no minimum order requirement. I don't have any connection with them, in case I sound like an ad! https://www.vinehousefarm.co.uk/