civilservant

Katie1997, I too am a bit perplexed about why I've been lounged for trying to re-unite ED-ers with their pie dishes and spoons. I can't imagine that this is less important than venting about chuggers or hairdressers on Lordship Lane. Admin - can you throw light on this issue?

a few plates and dishes, as well as some odd bits of cutlery and Tupperware, still unclaimed if it's yours, please PM me

Manic Monday - The Bangles

>>Who Drank My Beer (While I Was In The Rear)?: Dave Bartholomew >>Town called malice - The Jam Beer Town - Session Americana

err... the South Bank fox is actually Sis Fox - unless of course he's a Boy named Sue admin, please please don't lounge this!

isn't it, Sue! She's also called Susan and will be there until 4 September, I gather - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/21/festival-britain-anniversary-southbank-centre

Bonniebird said 'the average lifespan of the urban fox is 18 months'. Given that a fox's lifespan could extend to 18 years, that's a sad reflection on the hazards that animals face in cities. We've lost other animals in cities - hedgehogs, voles, frogs - because we chop up the landscape into small enclosed city gardens separated by lethal roads (habitat fragmentation), lay down 'baits' and other stuff to help maintain our tidy urban lives, keep cats that massacre small birds and other wildlife out of boredom. The anti-fox mob might like to check this out -

Junior civilservant slept in a cardboard box in our bed for the first few months of her life. It was one of those glossy white glazed cardboard gift boxes, but a cardboard box for all that. We lined it with cellular blankets and covered her with some more blankets, so that she had her own independent little nest between our pillows. Even after she outgrew the box, she stayed in our bed on and off for the first four years of her life. When the kicking and taking-over got too much and she had to be banished to her own bedroom, she had a full-size bed so that I could get in with her if she woke at night. I'm sure that this is what preserved everyone's sanity and helped everyone get a decent night's sleep. She sleeps on her own now and can go back to sleep on her own if she wakes at night.

Johnny Come Lately - Steve Earle

hey hey, my my (into the black) - Neil Young

I've been a pc-pusher but now that my shin-whacking days are over, I have a question on ED bicycle etiquette. My question is this - my child is graduating from a pc to a bike. Is it OK if I ride alongside or behind her on the pavement on my own bike? Just thought I'd check, although this seems to be routine ED behaviour on the part of nice middle-class mums and dads...

you are my sunshine - The Soggy Bottom Boys

Back garden this afternoon - starling with two youngsters almost as big as her (him?) both of whom kept chivvying her (him?) to be fed. Lots of cheeping from inside the honeysuckle, out of which an anxious blackbird pair hop in and out frantically, looking very harassed indeed. Loads of tiny finch/tit types sitting in our tree stuffing bits of buggy suet ball into the mouths of their babies, who are also nearly as big as their parents.

Here's another chance for a street party - this year's Big Lunch will be on June 5 For info about the one on Crystal Palace Road and how to get involved with it, see http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?6,665813 There'll be live music - organised by The Goose is Out - from Chris Sarjeant, to start it all off gently. Chris will be followed by Fran McGillivray and Mike Burke (who also played the Crystal Palace Road Big Lunch last year) and Sly and Reggie and the Middle Class Sound System. John McClean and band, who played the last set at the Goose Green Fair the other weekend, will wrap up the day again. For info about other Big Lunches, check on the Big Lunch website at http://www.thebiglunch.com/

aaahh - re-use and recycle! even our tadpoles are doing it! seriously, sue, I do so hope you find them all hiding beneath the lettuce leaves - that's where our five or six hang out and prefer to stay unless poked (kindly, of course) to see if they are yet recyclable lousmith, I thought you'd attached an image of the mysterious lesser spotted flapjackd., and clicked on the link all agog... before we get lounged, add in haste that one of our blackbird couples may be nesting!

Erk! Thanks for that lousmith Had assumed that tadpoles were clean-living vegetarian types that with a fondness for lettuce. Clearly not. Shall try the chicken menu as soon as I have chicken to feed them with. Given that I was relying on Sue's pond to top up our own domestic taddie population, the news of depredation by cat/magpie/lesser spotted flapjackdavius is seriously bad news :(

no probs townley green, much as i love john cale, lets get on with it so, let's go fly a kite - sherman and sherman

I don't see how your post works, Townleygreen?

Dying on the Vine - John Cale

No school's out until the Tuesday after the Royal wedding (but some schools are closed for a training day on that Tuesday). Then there's another 4-day weekend and then some schools are closed for the AV poll on 5 May! Good luck with your search for a venue. Have you tried the church at the end of Barry Road? There's also St John's and St Clements - both the school and the church hall - and the Darrell Road Community Centre.

my daughter aged 7 would be very interested. She asked me just yesterday if she could do yoga Push studios would be fine for us (although 9 may be a earlier start than we're used to at the weekend!)

it's a pity that people are getting hot under the collar about this A household is defined as living in poverty if it has an income that is 60% of the median household income - what this means is (see http://www.poverty.org.uk/01/index.shtml) that ... "The latest year for which household income data is available is 2008/09. In that year, the 60% threshold was worth: ?119 per week for single adult with no dependent children; ?206 per week for a couple with no dependent children; ?202 per week for a single adult with two dependent children under 14; and ?288 per week for a couple with two dependent children under 14. These sums of money are measured after income tax, council tax and housing costs have been deducted, where housing costs include rents, mortgage interest (but not the repayment of principal), buildings insurance and water charges. They therefore represent what the household has available to spend on everything else it needs, from food and heating to travel and entertainment." This definition of poverty holds across the country, from London to Liverpool, regardless of the local cost of living. and the statistics quoted by alice need to be qualified. For example, if we take out all the children in Village ward who attend private schools, I bet that we'll find that the percentage of children in state provision who are eligible for free school meals is quite a bit higher than 8%.

a hedgehog in ED - hooray! I hope Herbie meets a nice girl hedgehog and has lots of babies this year

Thanks for the update, Longlad. I was hoping this story had a happy end! all credit to you for being so caring

I do hope the dog found his family - was he micro-chipped?