Sue

womanofdulwich Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Alan, don't be so coy, just open the letter up and > tell the source they have the wrong address!! xxxxxx That's what I'd do, illegal or not. I'd be extremely grateful to have somebody open a letter to me which had been wrongly addressed and gone elsewhere if it had some time-critical health or financial implication, and it's very easy for somebody copying stuff into a computer in an office to get a house number wrong. Or even the whole address ..... If it looks like an appointment, sounds like it could be time-critical, even if not urgent.

The Ivy House often has loads of kids, and does lunch (including children's portions of many dishes). It is also very dog friendly :) And near the Rye for a run-about and feeding the ducks :) http://www.ivyhousenunhead.com/

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sue - I thought lawns liked good drainage and > hated to be too soggy? xxxxxx Sorry, not sure what point you are making? I (and I thought the OP) was talking about "too" good drainage in her borders, where nothing will grow except daffodils? If the lawn is on clay, then it is likely to get very waterlogged in the Winter (which wouldn't help the moss) and dried out (as it is doing) in the Summer. I didn't think anybody had said anything about drainage re the lawn, though? Have I missed something? You can use a thing with hollow tines on a lawn to help drainage, and brush sand into the holes. Haven't watched this, but it's probably OK as it's on a BBC site: http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/basics/how-to-improve-your-lawn/179.html ETA: From the information given, there seem to be two separate problems: 1. The lawn (apparently laid on clay soil) which has moss, plus crevasses in Summer. 2. The borders (apparently consisting of nutrient-free very free-draining "soil" )

poppet27 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My lawn is in full sun but suffers from moss > creeping in from all sides. We even pulled it out > last year and resowed with grass seed, but this > year it's back again. > > The soil at the borders is also really poor: pale > in colour, terrible at retaining water and only > daffodils will grow. > > The thing I can't understand is why the lawn also > suffers from desertification in summer. Huge > crevasses appear across the middle and must be 8cm > deep. > > I have ordered a soil pH testing kit but any green > fingered advice welcome! xxxxxxx There has been a lot of moss around generally this year, I've noticed, even in sunny places. But if you don't remove absolutely every last bit of moss from a lawn, it will just grow back again. You can buy chemicals to treat it specifically I think if you are desperate, but usually people use scarification, as you would for getting rid of thatch in a lawn. This is quite backbreaking but I believe you can get electric lawn raking things these days (I'm an old school gardener :) ) Obviously you have to make sure you actually remove all the moss once it's raked up. Your border soil - possibly consists of c**p dumped there by builders in the past? If it won't retain water, it's probably very sandy, and since as Lynne says the London soil round here is clay, again, I suspect builders. Does it look the same all the way down? Could you dig a quite deep hole and see if there are layers? Whatever, you need to build it up with stuff like compost (not the stuff you buy in bags at the garden centre, the stuff you make from rotting down vegetable matter in a compost bin ......) to give it back body and nutrients. Worst case scenario, and depending on how much soil is in your borders, you could remove the top part and replace with bought-in (or donated) topsoil, however that will cost you. Your lawn crevasses in the Summer are almost certainly because this part of your soil is clay (which makes it even more likely that someone has f***ed up your borders). That's what clay does when it dries out (and goes horribly claggy when wet). The great thing about clay is that it's very fertile. Whereabouts do you live? I'll come and have a look if you like. If I can't help I have a friend who is a professional gardener who would probably be willing to have a look next time she's in ED. A soil testing kit will help to some extent, but it only tests for the presence of certain nutrients (particularly Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) and will also test the acidity, but you need to look at other things like texture. And in any case, if nothing will grow in your borders, you already know there's something wrong! The daffs are growing because they get their nutrients from the bulb. ETA: Free-draining soil, like sandy soil, leaches away nutrients with the water it is losing, which is why many things don't grow well in it.

reeko Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- Obviously cost > should not be the primary concern when considering > a referral, but it should absolutely be a > consideration. xxxxxx I can't imagine anybody would disagree with that ..... The symptoms should be the primary consideration, surely. ETA: Sorry didn't read your post properly

I cannot believe that a GP would deliberately not refer somebody to hospital because of keeping down costs. I know there are publicised cases in some areas where particular very expensive treatment is refused on the grounds of cost, but I cannot believe that somebody would be refused expert investigation and/or diagnosis on the grounds of cost. I would have thought in the case Pugwash quotes that it was 99% likely that it was poor judgment on the part of the GP/s concerned (or alternatively that the rareness of the symptoms played a part). My daughter was not diagnosed for months even after being referred to hospital, because she had/has something extremely rare which was not picked up when it should have been.

Pugwash Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > A friend of mine developed cancer and she had a > terrible time trying to get the GPs to take her > symptoms seriously and refer her to hospital where > she was eventually diagnosed with a rare form of > cancer xxxxxx Whilst that is awful, surely that is nothing to do with the running of the practice. If she thinks there was negligence, she should make a complaint against the GPs in question, not least to prevent the same thing happening to anybody else. My daughter has recently been in a similar situation and she lives in Oxford. Unfortunately it could happen anywhere, but it is down to individual doctors and not what practice they work in, surely. People should insist on a second opinion, which they are fully entitled to do (or change GPs). Sadly my daughter had totally misplaced faith in her GP and refused to believe that he could be giving her poor advice, even with much evidence to the contrary.

Could you attach a screenshot of the message you are getting? That might help people identify what it is (not me, I wouldn't have a clue :)) ) ETA: When the message is on your screen, press the "Print Screen" key, then open a new file in Paint (or similar) and copy the screenshot onto it (Control V). Then save it somewhere, then you can attach it to a post on here.

bobbly Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I am not stressing sue xxxxxx No, didn't mean to imply you were, but somebody else posted on the thread to say that they were still stressed about a burglary which had happened years ago whilst they were in bed. Understandable, obviously, but if you've done all you can security-wise, there's nothing more that you can do really, so being stressed just makes things worse :(

Is he the one who announced his terminal illness in a crossword?

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- I don't think it > will be much longer before Adventure Bar move out, > every time I walk past it seems half empty. > Whereas the ones in other areas are rammed most > nights. xxxxxx My God, there are Adventure Bars elsewhere? What a hideous thought.

bobbly Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- there have been a spate of > burglaries and attempted burglaries carried out > this way. xxxxxx Although this may well be true, do bear in mind that because we have this forum, we are much more likely to hear about local crimes such as burglary and muggings. They happen everywhere in London, but unless you are directly affected or know someone who is, you will usually remain in blissful ignorance. If you've done everything possible to make your house secure - whether you are in or out - then try not to stress about it. I was burgled whilst alone, and in bed, in a house in a quiet part of Devon in the eighties, so this kind of thing can happen anywhere. I heard noises but thought I was imagining it. Luckily I didn't go downstairs as they had used a kitchen knife to cut through my TV cable which was running through a hole in a shelf. Also luckily, they didn't come upstairs, so they must have known someone was in :( Sadly it had the effect of my neighbour buying two guard dogs and installing them in a kennel in his garden, where they barked much of the night just below my bedroom window (so a bit useless if there was another actual burglar, as everybody would just ignore them) :(

SebsC Wrote: So where was the person who was > meant to be there from 8? At first the computers > weren't working so we all stood waiting (all 23 of > us!). I asked, "So, whilst we are all stood here > waiting having queued for over an hour, all the > early appointments are being given out over the > phone?". She told me, "No, don't worry, there's no > one here to answer the phones so you'll get the > first choice of appointments!". xxxxxxx This is all absolutely appalling. I have always defended DMC in the past, but SebsC's whole post is just unbelievable. Are the GPs there aware of this chaos? I recently had to wait nearly three weeks for an appointment, and I did say to the person who answered the phone "lucky it's not urgent" - seems it was more lucky than I realised. :( I don't want to move from there because I've always found the GPs very good, but if I've got to queue an hour in the cold when I'm more urgently ill, I shall be thinking again.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not the funniest episode, then... xxxxx No actually it was a bit poor wasn't it? The "Brian Griffin: Yeah I, uh... I got into the garbage and ate some chocolate." would have been much funnier. Not even much pathos really. Hey Family Guy people - Must Do Better. (Oh, and bring Brian back... )

Looking forward to it :)

:(

El Pibe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Sue.....he's not real!!!! xxxxxxx Nothing's real !!! He's as real as anybody else !!!!!

I was going to get a tee shirt with Brian on! Don't know whether I can bring myself to now :( Apparently there's an online petition to bring him back, but it would be a bit pathetic to sign it, wouldn't it? Oh dear, I'm off to look for it :)) :)) :)) ETA: Oh dear oh dear, here it is: https://www.change.org/petitions/seth-macfarlane-and-fox-broadcasting-company-bring-brian-griffin-back-to-family-guy ETA: It's got over thirty thousand signatures so far!!!!

How could they? I only just found out they've killed Brian in Family Guy! He was my favourite character! That's totally ruined my day :( :(

They missed a great opportunity last week when they were featured in Time Out (page 26) and the piece gave their website address. I'm sure many people seeing the words "Sustainable Gastropub" would have wanted to find out more - but the website is currently just a white page with five blank rectangles at the top of it :( and doesn't even have a couple of paragraphs to explain the present situation or what is holding up the restaurant opening :( OK this will also be construed as "negative comment" I'm sure, but - the Time Out piece says that The Patch's hydroponic growing system "will use 90 per cent less water, fuel and fertiliser than conventional planting." But I'm sure I read somewhere that they imported it from the States, so if that is true, doesn't that rather cancel out the local sustainability thing? Is this system really that much better than what is available in the London shops selling hydroponics equipment? And doesn't the sun (free) usually fuel the growing of veg? Or is this system going to be in a heated glasshouse or under lights indoors? Interested to see how this will work. Just googled hydroponics, but life is too short to read it all! Good luck to them if they make a go of it, and I see they will be getting "extra fruit and veg from gardens and allotments" (though I wouldn't have thought allotment holders would be allowed to sell or even give their produce to a commercially run restaurant, especially given that most allotment sites these days have very long waiting lists of people wanting to grow fruit and veg for their own family's use?) Edited for crap grammar.

ianr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How long was it before the police arrived? I > assume, with a crime definitely in progress and > perps there for the taking, they'd give it high > priority. I'm wondering about the strategy of > keeping shtumm for as long as possible after > calling them, to increase their chance of making > some arrests. xxxxxxx I'm not sure how long I'd be willing to keep shtumm if there were a load of burglars climbing into my house :)) I'd have to have a lot of faith in the ability of the police to arrive within - oh, ten seconds of my call to them :))

Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Either which way waiting for an hour in a queue to > be answered by a GP's receptionist is wholly > unacceptable xxxxxxx Of course it's unacceptable, but if as stated above they have had two staff leave at once, presumably at short notice, it's (a bit) understandable? What they should do is put a message on the answering system explaining that there will be a longer wait than usual and suggesting the best times to phone?

StraferJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Cheers for the update mr b > > Any reason we can't find this info out other from > someone we know on edf ? > > Checked the website. Disappeared > > Facebook. Nothing > > Twitter. Nothing > > > Engagement with potential punters seems to be from > 1985 xxxxxx According to a comment The Patch posted on Facebook on Saturday (in response to somebody trying and failing to book a table) the restaurant is opening this Wednesday. Another comment by somebody else says the manager told her it had a "kitchen gas issue". ETA: But they don't seem to have tweeted anything since the end of October.

otter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Old ladies having to walk around looking for their bins. xxxxxx And everybody else having their bins miraculously return by themselves?! Out of interest, how do you define "old ladies", as I fear I may be one :)) Already I can scarcely lift the lid of my bin, being so old and decrepit. Where will it all end? :))

So Lordship Lane will now have two Italian restaurants within a few metres of each other??