civilservant

barbecues?

... or even just say 'hi!'

my edit cross-posted with PokerTime

seconded and here I was thinking that the climate had changed enough for people to be able to finally come forward with their story and expect to be given a fair hearing - but not, it seems, in parts of ED. As for a focus on celebs, a bit of a red herring, steveo. Many of the oldest men in prison at the moment are serving time for crimes similar to those committed by Rolf, Stuart Hall, Gary Glitter, Jimmy Saville, Cyril Smith... although no doubt on a smaller scale. So why should celebs be exempt from justice? Edited to add - according to a Ministry of Justice publication from 2012, "since 1993 the sentenced population for sexual offences has risen by over 7,000. (...) Following the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the numbers sentenced rose by 31% from 2004 to 2011. Over the same period the average custodial sentence length rose by over 13 months (particularly driven by increases in sentence lengths for the most serious sexual offences). Higher volumes being sentenced, and longer average sentence lengths have combined to drive the increase in the prison population for sexual offences."

very sorry to hear this - we often wondered about the funny little Grumpy Cat with the pirate collar that we often encountered on Ulverscroft or Fellbrigg and once shared a table with in Blue Brick Cafe

Sue, found this on RSPB website - posting from 2007 http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/expert/previous/hedges.aspx "We do not recommend cutting or removing hedges or trees between the months of March and August. Light pruning to neaten up a hedge from straggly shoots should not be damaging to nesting birds but the use of power tools and vigorous cutting and can be very destructive. ...The best time cut a hedge is generally autumn or if it is a berry bearing species, early spring but no matter when you do it, always check first. Blackbirds can start breeding as early as February if the weather is favourable. It is normal for a blackbird to have up to three broods in a season, this activity can go on until late summer, sometimes even into autumn. Other species like the robin, song thrush, dunnock and wren are also common hedge nesting birds among many others that may be vulnerable from hedge cutting."

"mentee"

done (pleased to see a well-designed experiment and questionnaire for a change!)

Some stories have happy endings after all - we are very pleased at the good news

see this post about some ferrets whose owner lives near CP Road http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?31,909090,909113#msg-909113 I've tried the phone number listed and it's not accepting calls, though edited to say I've PM-ed the poster in case it's her ferret

This is a long-term solution, and you would need the space to accommodate it, but could you plant a tree to the south of your house? Short of that, I'd second others' suggestions to keep curtains/blinds firmly closed against the sun during the day and to encourage a draught through the house after dark by opening front and back windows - but also think about the security issue!

I don't understand - can someone please explain to me why rats and pigeons in the park are a problem?

Good to know they're still going - DD was an infant scientist 10 years ago! Highly recommended from me too.

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I love cutting through Green Dale on my way to Denmark Hill, but haven't ever seen/heard quite such a variety of birds. Maybe it's the Bank Holiday that brings them all out! Speaking of nests - I leave the combings from our dog in the garden, and by the end of the day, it's all been taken to line nests. It's very funny seeing a tiny blue tit flying off carrying a ball of dog-fluff amost as bit as itself!

if you don't want to buy a ticket every time you travel with him, you need to get him his own child Oyster photocard - I think forms are available in Post offices. The rules on ticketing for children are quite complex, but to summarise - although he will probably need to pay child fare on trains, he will travel free on TfL i.e. Underground, Overground and buses, IF he is travelling with an adult. He will need to pass through the gate with the adult, though, because if he swipes his own Oyster card on a Tube ticket gate, it will assume that he is travelling alone (it won't obv know that he is only 5!) and will deduct a child-travelling-alone-fare from it. When our daughter was little, she wanted to show that she was a big girl and could pass through the gate on her own, and we didn't realise for some time why we needed to top up her Oyster card so frequently! More info on http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/help-centre/travelling-with-children.html

John Grant at the Roundhouse earlier this month

another letter on its way to Dame Tessa thanks for the heads-up, DF

The herons who hang around the lake have been known to snack on the rats. They drown them first. The owls (see other thread) eat them too. If you don't like rats, though, maybe you should just stay away from the lake.

what aquarius moon said more generally, fwiw, we get a lot of the stuff we need from the NXRd market - cheese, bread, cake, pasta, meat (if Mr Sparks is there), dogfood and salad from the stall for Saturday lunch. It's all excellent quality stuff and at a decent price. We've got a load of stuff from the plant stall, in the right season, and from the furniture stall as well. The book stall run by Rye books is great. This Christmas, we preferred to spend our money locally and got a lot of our presents from the market - all of them were much appreciated by non-ED folk. And even if we were into over-priced cupcakes, we could get them from NXRd market. So, we don't think it's bad at all.

Thanks AtC, I didn't manage to phone anywhere myself today so good on you. I'll pass on the Crisis info to Neil, who was there again outside Londis this eve with Cocoa.

No, not a figment of my imagination! I don't know Kelvin, who must be the man outside the St Christopher's shop during the day. Neil tends to be outside Londis in the evenings. You certainly won't miss him or the dog if you go past around 7pm most days. And then there's the woman who sells the Big Issue outside the Co-op. Overall, I seem to have noticed an increase in the number of people needing basic support. There are more people sleeping rough around the Elephant and Castle now (I pass through there every day) than I have seen for years.

Ratty and all, thanks for the suggestions for investigation. Jonny v, I'm sure they would appreciate the chat. Very sobering to think of the maze that many people have to navigate just to fill a few basic needs.

Thanks, atc, that would be great. I note that Crisis may also take dogs and will phone them to find out.

ratty, I've PM-ed you