civilservant

not just 'mummies' will scream! very few children have a journey to school that doesn't involve crossings and it's not really about children being old enough and responsible/intelligent enough etc. I - a (definitely) older and (presumably) responsible/intelligent adult - often have trouble getting across roads at school dropping-off or picking-up time, although to be fair, some of the people driving like arses seem to be dropping-off or picking-up 'mummies' and while I'm here - there seemed to be some indiscriminate Lounging of threads around the middle of June, including one of mine. I'm sure Admin had his reasons, but it was disrespectful and inappropriate to Lounge this one - http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,686594,686966#msg-686966

for those who - like me - were wondering, diligent Googling has shown that the image behind Morrissey was a still of Tony Franciosa from Senilita (1962) directed by Mauro Bolognini and based on a book by Italo Svevo. The female star was Claudia Cardinale and the film was marketed in France under a title meaning 'When flesh succumbs' - surely some subtext here?

Days - the Kinks

It's always amusing to find Little Englanders finding common cause with French/Greek/Italian/you name it nationalists! But gloating over the rumoured demise of the eurozone has a touch of cutting-off-nose-to-spite-face about it. Staycationers aside, the eurozone (and Schengen) still mean something to those who suddenly found easy access to a whole continent opening up before them at the end of the last century. You surely don't have to be a Euro-idealist to not want to go back to the days that you had to change your currency (and pay charges and be at the mercy of fluctuating exchange rates) every time you crossed a border 'over there' and then come home with a pocketful of assorted loose change?

Heart of Gold - Neil Young

I think sambless may just be trying to be ironic - not true, sambless? junior civilservant has been reading the children's classic A Little Princess, in which one of the few friends that the heroine (aged 10 or 11) is left with after she loses her fortune is a common house rat that she names Melchisedec. Junior civilservant has been been hoping for a tame rat friend ever since...

RIP Thaddeus, lone tadpole occupant of our salad bowl 'pond':'( We had such hopes for you, you managed to outlive your brothers and sisters for so long! Sue, congratulations! may you have see many more froglets frolicking in your tub!

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?