Sue

I have PMed you.

Does anyone have a paper shredder they no longer need? I gave mine away thinking I could use the soaking method, but then found it isn't suitable for large quantities of paper, for various reasons. The Library of Things is supposed to have one for hire, but it's been "coming soon" for weeks. ETA: A kind person has given me one, so thanks to them and to this forum!

I was quite bemused as to why the leaves on my black bamboo were apparently dying and it had weird things apparently growing on it. Then I came across this: https://inspectaslr.co.uk/black-bamboo-flowering-a-rare-worldwide-phenomenon-spotted-by-inspectas/ I was fond of my bamboo, which has grown in my garden for years, and the sparrows liked to perch and swing on it, too. Has anyone else locally had this happen? Presumably anybody with a black bamboo. Looking on the bright side, I will be left with a lot of useful bean poles.

Don't tempt me. I like barking. I'm good at it. I score points if the dog I'm barking at looks round. I don't need a dog mask to do it though. But I might get thrown out of the pub 🤣

I think all these stupid people should be forcibly moved to America. They would like it there. They would probably have voted for Trump.

What, a Brie tasting? I'd rather have an animal mask than have to eat Brie 🤮

Sounds like you've had some interesting evenings 🤣

SIXTEEN WEEKS? At all three of those locations? All at once? Or a bit at a time, presumably, as the roads are connected? What on earth are they doing that is going to take sixteen weeks? 😮😮😮

Sorry Mal, the Palmerston is already booked 🤣

You would have to speak to Rob, the manager, and see what he says (and if the upstairs room is free on the nights you want, whether it's suitable for you.) Other than that I can't advise, except that he asks that everyone attending buys at least one drink during the evening, which seems completely fair! I wouldn't have thought the room would be big enough, but you could try. The Lordship and The Palmerston also have upstairs rooms, but I don't know if they'd use them for orchestra practice. Also, how about East Dulwich Community Centre in Darrell Road? That has a big sized space which might be more suitable for you. https://eastdulwichcommunitycentre.org.uk/ Your orchestra looks fantastic 🤩

Yes, I was bemused to see that notice in Barry Road. It seemed a strange place to be having a drop off point.

Anyway, along with most of the (many) things I'm presently worrying about, it will all sort itself out one way or another when I find myself doing something about it. I have to remind myself that I'm not starving in Gaza or being bombed or living in America. Thanks everyone for your help, all your comments have been very useful, I have read and "liked" them all, even if I didn't acknowledge individual posts x

Wouldn't it have been in a side road? They surely wouldn't close part of Lordship Lane for that purpose, that would be madness! Maybe change your heading?

Thanks, I will investigate. But how does this work if you want to drive out of London and leave the car somewhere else? And then pick.up another car a few days later to drive home?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/16/campaigners-win-court-case-that-could-ban-festivals-from-london-park-brockwell?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I think you are confusing quite a few issues here. The garden centre wasn't particularly nature friendly. Much of it was indoors, stuff like plant food and tools. And the relatively small outdoor space didn't sell particularly bee friendly (for example) plants. Sainsbury's is not a stone's throw away from M&S. It is quite a long walk from the station, much of it uphill, and not at all convenient for people wanting to buy food before or after their train journey. It does however have a quite large nature friendly park in front of it, certainly more nature friendly than the garden centre was. Surely the convenient location of that M&S for many people outweighs the occasional inconvenience of a few large delivery lorries? The issue of cars being parked on the widened pavement has been discussed elsewhere. There certainly needs to be something done to prevent the cars parking, but that's a separate issue to the increased benefits to pedestrians of having more space.

Your link doesn't work 😢

Unfortunately I spoke too soon. TW said they had finished. Then sent another communication shortly afterwards saying they hadn't. They are now saying they will get the water back to normal "as quickly as possible". Not their finest hour. Sorry for the misinformation.

Work now finished. Water will be back to normal soon.

That ULEZ check is not necessarily accurate, as someone pointed out above. I did it ages ago. I don't cycle. I got a bike, had a space in a bike shelter (in fact requested one on our road), had a disastrous lesson from someone who appeared to think I was about nine years old, fell off and gave up. A refugee now has my bike and someone else has my space in the shelter thing. Our tent is too big to easily take on public transport, let alone all the other stuff. If you travel light, good for you, but my backpacking days are long gone, as are my days of happily sleeping in a tent I can't stand up in! I didn't know about this zip car point to point option. Is that to anywhere in the UK? Thanks but I did all the sums when I decided to keep the car, and the convenience for me outweighed the obviously considerable annual cost. I don't think an Uber driver would be very happy to convey things like bags of smelly compost to my allotment 🤣 Which I can take on the bus but it's somewhat embarrassing 🤣

Yes, En Root are excellent.

It's the whole road. It's running with water! PM me if you want to be added to the road What'sApp group, where there is more information (though you wouldn't see posts made before you joined). A number of people have reported it to Thames Water. It's supposed to be being repaired today. Engineers are on their way, apparently.

At least one used to post but stopped posting, I think because he was given a really hard time on here, quite unfairly in my view. He had only just become a councillor, and to his great credit was trying to engage with the community, or at least that vocal part of it which posts on here. James Barber also used to post on here, but I think unfortunately he is no longer a councillor. He was a very good one.

I thought that re ULEZ, but actually other places do have similar schemes, eg Bristol. I got caught by this a couple of years ago when Google maps sent me through Bristol en route to somewhere else. Though I did manage to get the fine waived. And other places are apparently going to have them, eg Oxford. As I found when I was considering selling the car in Oxford. Which I think is a very good thing, but not helpful if your car isn't compliant Also in order to sell it I would presumably have to get it into working order, so I'd have to buy a new battery anyway. I use mostly buses and trains already, for travelling both within and outside London. That's why I rarely use the car except for transporting bulky/heavy items, or going to places which aren't easy to reach via public transport, or giving people a lift who are not very mobile. The problem with hiring a car to go to a festival, for example, is that I'd be paying for it to sit in a field for several days. And it would be impossible, or at least very difficult, to transport a tent and camping equipment there by public transport. Not that I've been to any festivals lately. I think I'm talking myself into keeping the car. I did do sums when ULEZ came in. I've had a Freedom Pass for over fifteen years, gulp 😂 This is all true, but you have to factor in my age, convenience, and the waste of money in hiring a car if you aren't actually going to use it once you've got to your destination until you need to drive home. If there was a system like zip cars where you could drive somewhere and leave the car for someone else to use, then pick up another car just to drive back, that would be different. And hire charges are greater for older drivers (even though apparently the stats say we are safer) even assuming you can find a company which will hire you a car. Thank you, that's useful. I keep meaning to check for ULEZ compliance. A mechanic once told me I should do this, because his son had a similar issue and then found his car was actually compliant, and I never got round to it. It's a Micra so I probably need to contact Nissan (or could a garage check NOx output? Is this part of the MOT?)

Really? I'm sure when I checked previously there was an upper age limit for zip car! I will look again! I have no wish to spend ten grand on a new car! But yes I might consider the new battery - lesson learned! I doubt I could sell the car, it's worth very little. And I probably wouldn't use another one much more than I use this one, tbh. I'm leaning towards keeping it at the moment!