Sue

My frog has woken up and laid a load of frogspawn! How can I stop it being eaten this year? I can't net the tub because the frog won't be able to get in and out The spawn is right at the top. Should I move it to the bottom somehow?

Had a look in there today I really like what they have done to the space. Massive improvement in my view. Lovely room upstairs, too.

Have you asked your energy provider? There have been cases where people have been charged for other people's usage etc

But Sainsburys opened some time after 1991 didn't it? If the mural was painted after that, it can't have been there 25 years before it was then painted over? Because it was painted over years ago? I'm still confused because I remember a totally different mural which more or less covered the whole side of that house! Wondering if I'm mixing it up with another mural somewhere else!

Annasfield Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My gas bill was huge too. > > It's working out at about ?75 a month. I live in a > one bed flat (with 4 radiators, no bath and and an > electric shower) and its hardly ever on. > > Can't be right surely? Xxxxxx Bloody hell, I pay less than that for both gas and electricity for a three bed house Though I do mostly wash my clothes in cold water unless they're really dirty. Have you got a combi Boiler? Have you tried to get a cheaper energy deal? Would it be cheaper to pay by direct debit?

Oh dear :(

If you know your consumption, or your bills, there are loads of online sites where you can compare different energy providers and find the best one for your usage and location. If you then lose the will to live, you can do it on the phone (though the help I've had in the past has varied from excellent to crap). Some places used to actually pay you to switch to a cheaper provider. Maybe they still do.

LondonLogCo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > Any advice ? xxxxxxx Yeh, have a day off tomorrow :))

numbers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > indiepanda Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > If someone is spending ?80 on wine I think it > > would be reasonable to give them a cheap canvas > > bag. > > > > It's all very well having an environmental > policy > > but if it puts people off shopping with you > it's > > hardly good business. > > ^^ > This! > > (esp for impulse buyers like me who don't always > take their shopping bags out with them and/or who > decide on spur of moment to pick something up > later in eve on way home - that was my exact > experience.) xxxxxxx Same here - except I wasn't spending ?80! If memory serves, they didn't even sell bags at one point - I asked them how I was supposed to carry the wine home and they more or less shrugged their shoulders. Can't now remember how I did get it home without dropping it :( Environmentally friendly is all very well (and great to encourage people to use their own bags, as for example SMBS do), but not when it positively inconviences your customers.

Shouldn't you be putting this in the business section, reflexchick? You're asking for trouble putting a thread about reiki in the lounge .... you will attract the derision of everybody who thinks it's a load of bollocks (not me, btw)

the-e-dealer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Very Clever meeting when everyone is at work. xxxxxx Well people have already have the opportunity to comment if they want, and maybe the council people concerned want to have the meeting during their normal working hours!

intexasatthe moment Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I've just had a phone call from "on line fraud " > or somesuch querying suspicious activity on my > account . > > Quoted 2 transactions taking place today on my > Visa account - flat screen tv and a camera . > > Asked me to go and check if the card was still in > my possession ,when I said I knew I hadn't lost it > he asked me if I had it in my hand . > When I said no ,and that that I wasn't going to > get it he hung up . > > Apart from a very fake posh accent he also > fleetingly referred to a Mr Intexas ( my partner > has different surname ) so I was suspicious from > start . > > Thinking now perhaps I shouldn't highlight the > errors in his call .....they might read and learn > . xxxxxx Whilst not suggesting that wasn't a scam in your case, when I did in fact have my card stolen from my purse without my knowledge the bank's fraud people did phone me and more or less say exactly that (though without mentioning a Mr Sue, but then there isn't one :)) )

What a terrible shock for all of you, but how lovely to have some good news on here in a thread about an accident!

I used to work at Dulwich Hospital many moons ago, and I sometimes saw Great Spotted Woodpeckers from my office window, which was at the back and overlooked the wild ground by the railway. Well, only one at a time, so maybe it was always the same one :)

The wind may have been re-distributing litter, civilservant, but there is still noticeably more of the litter after the bins/recycling have been collected, wind or no wind. In my road, anyway! As far as litter after the North Cross Road market is concerned, I know there are already a few litter bins in that road but I think there should be more. I don't know how often they are emptied, but sometimes I have seen them overflowing. Of course people shouldn't just drop litter, but I guess for some the temptation is just too great if there's nowhere immediately obvious to put it.

ianr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I've spotted the occasional early house moth in > the last week or two. xxxxxx Sadly so have I. Keeping a close eye and making sure my stocks of moth repellant/killer are plentiful! Don't know where they've come from as thought I had solved my moth problem!

woodland Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > They are parakeets. xxxxx Parakeets don't have red tufts on their heads - not the ones we get round here, anyway :)) Green woodpecker: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/Images/uploads/Content/Birds/GreenWoodpecker.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/Information/54/Green_Woodpecker-C-_Identification-C-_Habitat_and_Food.html&h=635&w=400&sz=21&tbnid=pVjh7bsyR-W5YM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=64&zoom=1&usg=__5aBclCI7jWn8XONRNtVPSwsFMF4=&docid=2BlFzcdSJRp-nM&sa=X&ei=y0RkUYblLISX1AWKo4CAAg&ved=0CDcQ9QEwAQ&dur=1796 Green parakeet (I think this is the right one?): http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.free-pet-wallpapers.com/free-pet-wallpapers/free-pet-desktop-backgrounds/554152970.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.free-pet-wallpapers.com/Birds-pet-wallpapers/Parrot-birds/Aratinga-holochlora-green-Parakeet.html&h=1003&w=1254&sz=192&tbnid=ipzogWpf_rv3-M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=116&zoom=1&usg=__DuI0Gy7jb0wUYuwwKid9SQDMLXg=&docid=KHYxS-jAnaJtXM&sa=X&ei=_0RkUcWHCeWa0QWhwYAY&ved=0CD0Q9QEwAw&dur=1749 Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Green_Woodpecker and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_parakeets

KidKruger Wrote: - > One day my Dad, when emptying my pockets for > laundering my trousers and coat, found acres of > sweet wrappers xxxxxx You must have had extremely deep pockets, KK!! Sorry to hear of your traumatic experience though.

I expect other people have received a letter from councillor Rosie Shimell asking for views about the local dirty streets and the cut-back in street sweeping from fortnightly to monthly. I've just replied on the following lines, and I'd be interested to know what other people think. I live on Ulverscroft Road, and I think that the litter problem is not so much to do with the reduced frequency of street sweeping (which I was not aware had been changed as long ago as 2010) as to do with the bin men (and they are all men so far as I can see) dropping litter. I may be wrong but my perception is that after the rubbish has been collected there is a lot more litter lying about. A little time spent by the refuse collectors (or whatever their official title is) in picking up what they have dropped would surely be more cost-effective for the council than changing street sweeping back from monthly to fortnightly. The council could also consider a campaign asking people a) not to drop litter (good luck with that) and b) to keep the pavement and road outside their own home clear of litter, even if they have not dropped it themselves. The council could also provide extra litter bins. If I pick up litter elsewhere than outside my own house, I may not want to cart it all the way home, but I also feel embarrassed putting it into somebody else's green bin.

Ann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > On another subject is anyone else disappointed > with the (lack of) daffodils on Goose Green this > year? > > We know we've had a harsh winter but the daffodils > in other public places seem to have survived; you > can count the blooms on Goose Green! xxxxxx I haven't seen them yet but it's possible they're a later-blooming variety, or else there is some other reason why the ones on Goose Green are flowering later. I doubt very much whether the weather would affect daffodils so much that they wouldn't flower at all. Some of mine are only coming into flower very gradually, with only a bloom or two as yet and mostly still buds. ETA: After much googling (mine not the frog's), it seems that the frog in my tub is hibernating. I never knew that some types of frog hibernate under water. So much for my creating cosy potential hibernation places at the back of my garden. I just hope I haven't caused him to expend too much energy in having to re-hibernate :( I can see him spread-eagled at the bottom of the tub, now I know he's there (apparently he will be a he and not a she). He looks very dead but apparently that is indeed how hibernating frogs look. If the water starts going manky I will know I have killed him and he's decomposing :( so let's hope it doesn't. Good news about the woodpeckers! Lovely to hear a blackbird singing again at the end of the day, despite the cold.

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Interesting one Alex K / nashoi :) > > 'They' to denote a singular individual of > indeterminate gender has been in use for at least > 500 years. > > I continually catch myself on it because I'm > unsure whether I'll be understood. So sometimes > it's s/he and sometimes just 'they'. > > Good quote from Shakey: Arise; one knocks. / ... / > Hark, how they knock! ? Romeo and Juliet > > Popular usage would signify it's acceptable, and > I'd we can accept 'thou' (singular) being replaced > by 'you' (plural) then we'd have to accept 'their' > referring to the possessions of an individual of > indeterminate gender. > > So I think Sue clears it on that one! xxxxx I think "their" is far less clumsy than "his or her" in the sentence I used - but really, does it matter? I assume that everybody knew what I meant :) Which was exactly the point I was making ...... :)

Louisa Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Think we need something more practical like a > Greggs or BK. xxxxxx There's a Greggs-like baker just over the road already ..... ETA: Sorry to take the bait :)

That was worth venturing into the drawing room for!

Thanks all. Fascinating thread!

Ta. I won't enter into a discussion of relative merits! As promised I will leave your thread :)