Sue

If everyone who has had a problem complains to Collect Plus, maybe they will take him off their list. It only takes a moment via Facebook or Twitter (or probably other ways I don't know about!)

Ah, thanks. Fingers crossed!

Robert Poste's Child Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I didn't know that, Sue. Is it the kind of place > you can go and feel comfortable as a lone female? There are very few pubs I feel comfortable going into by myself, and The Ivy House is one of them. On the other hand I am a community shareholder in the pub and run gigs there, so I do know people there, which makes a difference. But it's very friendly, and there are quite often women in there by themselves. Depending on the time of day there are also usually quite a few dogs, and probably children, too. If a fire is a must, you might want to phone them first, because I don't know whether they light them all the time, however there are three rooms (front bar, ballroom and refectory) and the last time I was in there there was a fire in at least two of the rooms and possibly the third, though I didn't notice the third. In terms of friendliness, all I can say is, I came briefly out of our Singaround (which we hold in the ballroom) on Sunday night into the front bar, because somebody was about to sing a song which always upsets me and I didn't want to listen to it, and a table of complete strangers asked me to join them (not in any kind of way that I felt awkward about it). ETA: If you like to hide away, the refectory has some little closed off sections, some quite near the fire. But there are also corners in both the other rooms where you could sit without being too conspicuous. The ballroom (as its name suggests) is larger, but people do sit in there by themselves as well, but it's a bit lonely when the pub is quiet! What I would say about The Ivy House is that it's used by a real cross-section of the community, and I think it has quite a different vibe from the East Dulwich pubs. People are quite likely to smile at you when you come in, for example! And it does have a good range of ales, craft beers, wines etc plus tea, coffee, all the usual stuff - and food, though the food isn't served all day every day. You can check it out here: http://www.ivyhousenunhead.com/

Great minds, I was about to post the same, anyway the link to the thread is http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/list.php?5 and on the face of it, the treatment of grieving people by those running the cemetery has been absolutely appalling.

I wonder if James Barber has seen this thread? I'll copy the link onto his thread on here. ETA: Ah, I saw you had just told him about the thread! Anyway, I've copied the link, though I'm sure he would easily find it.

Pitcher plants? I was thinking of the Venus Fly Traps. Much more Sci Fi :)) But I can't imagine they each eat more than one or two largeish flies a day, so I'd have to have a whole windowsill of them :))

The Ivy House has real fires!

This is terrible. Why would local residents object to looking at memorials, if presumably they knew the cemetery was there? How insensitive, to remove items from graves, and without even any warning or notification, I assume? Appalling.

Definitely not too old. Go for it! Good luck!

Kebab and Stab (do they still have the bouncer on the door into the back room? Haven't been there for years ....)

OMG how awful for all concerned :(

apmuso Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > None of the 40 odd Xmas cards that we sent arrived > before Xmas, having been posted on the 15th and > when I went to the sorting office at the beg of > Jan to complain, I was told that two vans had been > held up - one at gun point, the other at knife > point - on the 16th Dec and all the post was lost. > Don't doubt other posters' bad experiences, but > clearly not all of their making. Mercifully, > neither driver was hurt during the robberies. Crikey, was that in East Dulwich?

sidebirds Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Same here! I'll take a detour and a friendly human > interaction over convenience with a side-serving > of rudeness and incompetence every time. Yep. It's a bit further for me to go, but definitely worth it.

Yes, the man in Barry's was so nice I bought some stuff in there I hadn't intended to :)

I contacted Connect + via Facebook, and had a prompt and polite reply, however it said that "it sounds like this store may have had a surplus of parcels and were awaiting our driver to make a collection to grant them more space." I have pointed out that as I was told that they never take parcels in the afternoon, this wasn't a one-off situation. Anyway, they are passing on my comments to their stores management team, who will contact V7 to see if they can "improve their storage capacity moving forwards." (presumably as opposed to moving backwards :))). I shan't be using V7 ever again so it's irrelevant to me, however hopefully things may improve for others. ETA: If anybody else has had problems with Collect+ at this shop, it might be a good time to let Collect+ know. I couldn't find an email address or contact form on their website, but you can contact them via Facebook (as I did) or Twitter.

Robert Poste's Child Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > redjam Wrote: > ---------------------------------------------- > > get a haircut. > > Risky. What someone I know calls 'giving yourself > something to cry about'! Maybe they should change their hairdresser :))

tomskip Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I put spiders out when they come in from the cold > ... but flies?? Aren't you being a bit of a softy, > Sue? > > How about getting some fly eating plants if you > don't want to use chemicals? I don't want to use chemicals because of the effect on me, not the flies/moths!! Fly eating plants are a good idea, but given the number of flies they'd have to be very hungry plants :))

I'm pretty sure they are cluster flies which have been hibernating. They are very dozy indeed. Also the vast majority are in the kitchen and I can't see how flies originating from a corpse could end up there.

Since at least one other house in East Dulwich has had this fly problem, I'm wondering how common it is in this area.

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Fruit flies or drain flies (or dead body flies) > or just house flies. > > Can't miss the small fruit flies that I get loads > of in the summer (especially if a potato rots) These flies look like ordinary house flies, though I'm no fly expert. Though apparently you can get cluster flies which are the size of fruit flies. Googling cluster flies mainly brings up pest control information, and a lot of rather disheartening facts :(

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Siduhe Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Thanks DF. This one did not fly, just scuttled > > off to hide in the cracks in the shelving. I > may > > have got it, but not sure. Am going to take > > further steps this evening..just frustrated that > I > > didn't even think to check there before. > > moth balls ? You get strips these days, which do not have the hideous smell of moth balls. I have found them very effective, though they do have to be changed quite frequently, and it can work out very expensive. I also use sticky traps for the males - I don't like doing this because I think it's very cruel, but I don't want to use a chemical spray and in any case that depends on actually spotting the moths. I diarise when to change the traps/strips, and I keep a note of where I've put them all (many many places .....) Each time I renew them I google to find the best price, but it's still very expensive :( I have just found three more effing very dozy flies on the kitchen window. I imagine they are going to die once they are out in the cold, sorry flies. ETA: Re moths, it is amazing how fast those female moths can move, and how quickly they find somewhere to hide where you can't reach them. I have to admit I do sometimes use a spray in that case.

I have had a PM from someone who had the same thing, and they are most likely Cluster Flies. This would explain the drowsiness as they have been hibernating. It is also potentially bad news :( I've just googled them and evidently they return to the same house year after year, hiding away in crevices. If so, this must be their first year at mine. Bleurgh. I've just found another one drowned in a vase of flowers :(

Sorry but if they aren't willing to take in parcels then they shouldn't be part of Collect Plus. Edited for typo.

Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm afraid a dead animal under your floorboards is > a likely scenario. No smell though

In the last three days I have had ten flies in my kitchen, at one point three at a time and another point four at a time (all were put out of the window). Plus at least one more (possibly two or possibly the same one) in other rooms. I can't trace any source of them within my kitchen or the rest of the house. There's no food left out anywhere. Just wondering whether anybody else has had any or whether it's just me? ETA: Some of them seemed quite dozy. ETA: I'm just wondering whether they could come down the chimney? I don't have any windows open, though I have had over the past week, but surely so many wouldn't have come in the window?