Monkey

I love The Peckham Peculiar and can't wait for the first issue of The Dulwich Diverter. Best of luck!

Work is starting on our kitchen next week and we chose quartz. Like you, the wooden worktop we inherited put us off wood for ever. We looked at acrylic but after seeing a nanny put a hot pan on our current worktop without hesitation (all the kitchens she works in are "heat treated" apparently) we thought the only thing that would survive the onslaught from childminders and our accident prone in-laws was quartz.

Transport (trains) used to be absolutely fine until the work started at London Bridge and Southern started using it as an excuse to provide an appalling service. If my husband was still working in the City, I don't know how we would be picking up from school (Goodrich) at 6.00pm. claphamMover Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Uh oh. We - family of 3 - are thinking of moving > to East Dulwich from Clapham and have been worried > the transport into the City isn't great. Is this > is new phenomenon or something recent?!! We have > been spoiled living next to a tube station but > can't afford the hefty price tags of houses around > here and you get much bigger gardens it seems in > ED. Does anyone cycle down to Herne Hill station > and use the Thameslink? Or is that just too much > effort?

Yes, you're right. Sorry, it's the 1750 that's cancelled today. Fury has impaired my senses!

And it is starting again-- the 1810 from LB to ED has not run once this week, which means no trains to ed between 1750 and 1828. I have queried it and will be posting the reply on this thread.

It's more common than I thought among young children. A year 6 came in with a knife at a Lewisham school where a friend worked. A charity I did a brief stint at took kids on a day trip to Westminster and a 10-year-old had felt the need to bring in a knife because he was leaving his borough. I'm not saying knives are everywhere but I'm starting to think they're more present than I initially thought among young children.

I'd be delighted to help!

Drewd, try The Gardens. They have shrinked their catchment area - details on their website - but well worth a try. I moved there from DMC and it's soooooo much better (they pick up their phones for a start!)

I agree there is a good range now in movies and also books (I lose count of the number of books my daughter has read which feature strong female characters: the worst princess, Maisie Hitchins, Ottoline to name just a few) and toys (Goldieblox, also check out the cool range of construction toys aimed at girls at Just Williams) We're definitely moving in the right direction. Looking back, there were few strong fictional female characters when I grew up and I spent my time playing with Barbies. But I had a strong-minded mother who never gave me long speeches on feminism but demonstrated it every day in her actions, her way of being, and I think it's had a bigger influence on me than anything else. Personally, what doesn't sit well with me is more what happens in real life: fathers "giving away" their daughters on their wedding day, the tradition - that my in-laws are so attached to - that parents should pay for their daughter's wedding, the constant references to working mums - what about the working dads?!...

No - not from what I can see. We are key stage 1.

Oh thank you, all. Lots of suggestions here, that's great.

i am lacking inspiration for my six-year-old daughter's bedtime reading. Any ideas? I am looking for books with not too many words per page so we can take turns reading. Books we've liked recently: Tom gates, Maisie Hitchins, dinosaur cove, Ottoline. Thanks in advance.

Yes, actually for me it is difficult! You don't know my life so keep your uninformed opinions to yourself.

Now that's probably not what you want to hear right now but, say you don't get in Goodrich in September, places do become available on a regular basis. When my daughter was at reception, a place became available at Christmas. So even if you get a place at a school that's too far for example, you're not stuck there for ever. Not ideal,I know, but something to bear in mind. Also new schools like Harris ed might well have a place for you. Things have markedly improved over the last few years. Wishing you all the best.

This concept of choice when it comes to schools is laughable. You don't have a choice, you get into your nearest school or if you're in a black hole, wherever the council can fit you. The only mitigating factor right now is that you have a few new schools which have just opened like Harris ed, which might have space and might be your best best if you can't get into or don't want st Anthony's. Like pickle says, the best way to judge a school is by visiting at the time of the school fetes, chat to parents and see what feeling you get. Ofsted reports and ks1 and 2 results are utterly meaningless in my opinion. I know people who have taught in local schools (All outstanding) where kids were constantly shouted at, behaviour was appalling and "sharp practice" ensured glowing ks2 results etc...but if you read the ofsted reports and look at the stats, you'd think you were in dulwich college... Don't worry about the results. Primaries are all much of a muchness in terms of what the kids get out. Personally, I think it's what you do at home that makes a huge difference. Good luck!

Please do complain: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

It's actually written by a the commercial innovations and projects manager but I do agree with you, Lowlander.

Interesting LJC56!

Here's the answer I have had from Charles Horton's assistant. Horton is CEO of Govia Thameslink Railway. Thank you for your emails dated 01st September 2015 and 03rd September 2015 to Charles Horton, CEO of Govia Thameslink Railway. Charles has reviewed your complaint and asked me to reply. I am sorry to hear that you have noticed a down turn in the performance of your regular service and I can understand this is deeply frustrating. To offer some background, we have had some challenges with our Driver numbers, and we still have some work to do in terms of recruiting to establishment levels across all our depots and then getting Driver?s fully productive across a range of routes. By April 2016 we expect to be over establishment at all depots in the metro area taking into account forecasted attrition and planned recruitment. Currently we have 76 Driver?s in training - however because Driver's take 18 months to train, there is no quicker fix to this. In addition to this we have experienced some very short notice sickness in both Driver and Conductor grades. On a daily basis our operations team are working to mitigate the impact of any known gaps in the roster, for example daily conference calls are held to identify duties that are not covered, the impact of this and then solutions are identified. This approach enables us to reduce the number of cancellations through a range of approaches. We do expect the situation to improve as we move out of the holiday season when there are a higher number of staff on annual leave. We are committed to improving our performance for customers.

Bonaome, they might just as well have told you to get lost. I would complain if I were you.

traveler2, I have sent you the details of their managing director. Please write a short email if you have a minute. I used to work in a retail bank, dealing with lots of complaints - it does make a difference! Was away abroad on Wednesday last week. Apparently the train did run according to the website but was 16mns late arriving in ED. in any event, that's poor!

Email address is correct and gets results. Also emailed [email protected] and a bunch of other people. Thanks for the very useful link. I wasn't aware of it. I got some cancellations and delays last week but not been organised enough to keep a record. Looks like I have to aim for the earlier train.

For the past two weeks trains from London bridge to east Dulwich (the 1810 in particular) keep getting cancelled due to staff shortages. I have just sent an irate email to Southern: [email protected] If you're being affected, please complain loudly so we can hope to try and avoid a repeat of the shamble from last year and early this year.

Hi sol, this staggered start really is a pain. Speak to the school first thing on Tuesday morning. If you don't get anywhere with switchboard, email the head and explain you find yourself in an impossible situation. Good luck.

Just came back from holiday and heard it this morning (I am on Dunstans)Had never heard it before. No idea what it is.