civilservant

Anecdotal evidence - interested to hear if this is borne out by research - is that the earlier you have chicken pox the easier it is to bear. So adults have a terrible time, but babies get over it fairly quickly. My LO has had chicken pox twice (and one of the carers at her nusrery said that she'd had it three times!) LO had bad eczema when she was little and I worried about whether she would be extra itchy when ill with the chicken pox, especially as advised not to use steroid creams while she was ill. But it turned out that her usual emollients (Diprobase and oIlatum) kept her skin comfortable enough to stop her itching very much at all

I'd suggest you chuck out all your books, whether for or against, and go with what you feel is the right thing to do. This is our experience, for what it's worth. We co-slept all three in a bed until LO was about 4. I'd gone back to work full-time since she was 7 months old and it was the only way of ensuring that we all got some sleep at night. The other plus is that co-sleeping is ideal for night-time breastfeeding, and quite often I'd half-wake to discover that LO was helping herself to a bit of what she fancied in the middle of the night:). And we too, and especially Mr Civilservant, wondered if we'd ever get our bed back to ourselves. (We tried controlled crying just once, but that was enough and we swore never again). But all well that ends well! LO is now in primary school and sleeps in her own room all night.

I disliked the wrist ones because of the possibility of jarring or spraining the wrist when the small wearer rushes off suddenly, which they tend to do such a lot at that age! IMO the harness-type reins are the best in terms of keeping the wearer upright and distributing the stress load (both for children and dogs :))) Reins seem to be a British thing, though - when we were on holiday in France, we attracted a lot of bemused attention everytime we went out for a toddle with Junior Civilservant in her reins!

Emily Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > though it is true that Goodrich has also slipped > down the rankings in Southwark compared to other > ED schools. It's very sad. A rising tide floats all boats. This would also happen if other Southwark schools improved and Goodrich had to work harder to maintain its place in the rankings. It doesn't necessarily mean that Goodrich is worse than it was. When we moved to ED, estate agents used 'in the Goodrich catchment area' to talk up properties because other local schools like Heber and Goose Green were struggling. Now that these other schools have improved so much (with the help of good leadership, dedicated staff and student/parent pride in achievement) Goodrich probably doesn't shine quite as brightly as before. I have no idea what the problems might be with Goodrich, but this forum is not the place to air them - it isn't fair on its children or on other parents, and will only serve to worsen the long-term prognosis for the school.

what sillywoman and sue said - appreciate your efforts although I might not always agree with you congratulations!

as Sue says Southwark council waived the cost of closing the street to have a Big Lunch street party, and we're hoping that they'll do the same this year. I've heard that we in Southwark are lucky because many other councils don't support community-building efforts in the same way. you do have to convince the council of course that you can make a go of it! lots of other things we can do to build a community - shop locally, use the library/local leisure centre/Peckham cinema, talk to neighbours, give up one's seat on public transport if someone else needs it, walk/cycle rather than drive, post on the EDForum :)) whatever...

just remembered that cheese, being alkaline, is good for neutralising fruit acids and the calcium in cheese boosts the teeth too - and also see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2076251 I don't think I need to remind anyone that cheese+apple, cheese+grapes, cheese+tomatoes (and cheese+wine!) are all winning combos!

Junior Civilservant has some decay - partly because of dodgy dental genes and partly because I was too soft to insist on proper toothbrushing twice a day when she wasn't cooperative in her younger days. Now she eats sweeties in moderation - once a week- and drinks water as often as juice and brushes with the expensive Sensodyne toothpaste that's supposed to reduce tooth erosion, but strong sense of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted My dentist also blamed prolonged breastfeeding! She said that bm is very high in sugars and is a prime cause of tooth decay in littl'uns. Whatever... I'm not sorry I bf-ed till she was 2. Got to weigh up the risks and benefits! I second Fuschia's warning about orange juice - gave Junior Civilservant cystitis (i.e. painful wees) until quite recently.

cinema suggestion already discussed here in last few weeks http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,595075,599751,page=2#msg-599751

very glad that you liked the RFH - it's our favourite stop-over in town BFI is great too, but feel I must warn you about loo and changing facilities there. These leave a lot to be desired, and always seem to be smelly and/or full of queuing people, even the disabled and baby changing facilities. If anyone needs a loo or a nappy changing on the South Bank, RFH or even the National Theatre is much to be preferred

definitely the Royal Festival Hall on the sofas, or in one of the nooks and corners on other levels where you can be quite private the place is usually full of parents and small children, especially outside concert times i used to go there a lot when Junior Civilservant was tiny

I appreciate that there seems to be only one councillor available to canvass the large area which will be affected by the market proposals. However, the proposals throw up access, parking and traffic issues that affect Crystal Palace Road. We already have big problems with cars speeding across the junction with North Cross Road/Upland Road or parking carelessly around the junction. Crystal Palace Road residents will also need to consulted at some point.

So what are the arrangeements for managing North Cross Road Market? Does it have market officers or does Southwark use a management comopany?

?700k is a huge deficit, even over a period of years, and indicates very poor management Re. costs. Of course there'll be short-term or temporary costs such as traffic/parking/ congestion, and even the cost of an extra dustcart (and street cleaner) and a bit of electricity. But friends who lived near East Street Market used to complain about the mounds of rubbish (especially perishables) generated by the market and the ensuing problems with rats and other vermin. Once rats move in and like it, they tend to stay! More generally, if Southwark can't manage East Street Market, or even consult residents properly, how can it guarantee that it'll be able to manage an extended North Cross Road Market? The great advantage of the present market's size is its ability to self-police. Once the market expands it will be much harder to keep tabs on individual stalls and the hawkers that the market will inevitably attract. I haven't seen any proposals about the kind of stalls that will be allowed, how applications will be vetted, how stalls and licence holders will be monitored, or the criteria for awarding or renewing licences for an expanded market with a wider variety of stalls. Or even about the extra policing that will be needed. If the council can't make it work in East Street, why should it work in North Cross Road? Re. nimbyism. Quite right too. The impact of extending the market will fall disproportionately on the people who live nearest it, so it is only right that they should have the biggest say about the proposal. I notice that the Village people never get upset about the limited commercial opportunities on their own doorsteps - what do they know that we in ED don't?

If councillors are out canvassing opinions about North X Road, they should cover the bit of Crystal Palace Road near the junction with North X Road as well. We received the original consultation and responded to it by Surveymonkey. We were intrigued by the presumption in the consultation doc that the extension to the market would be a good thing - add to the 'weekend vibe of ED' or some such tosh. We were never told about any follow-up meeting though. Then last week I took a petition door to door to houses around the Crystal Palace Rd and North Cross Rd junction. The petition was organised by people living on Lacon Road who'd be directly affected by the proposed road closure (and it looks like Ulverscroft got missed out :'(.) Based on a tiny sample of course, but some interesting results about half the people I spoke to refused to sign the petition, the vast majority of these being younger people living in what I know to be private rented flats on NXRd itself. every older person signed the petition, quoting quality of life issues (noise, disruption, traffic, parking etc) as their reasons. Most of these were long-term residents of houses on CPRd. Worth noting that the antis were resigned to the Saturday extension of the market - they just didn't want to put up with the same on a Sunday as well. Not one of these people, pro or anti, knew about the Council meetings, James Barber. It does look like Southwark's set on pushing this through on the QT.

As Sue (who was crucial to making it all go with a swing!) points out, we had a Big Lunch last year on Crystal Palace Road - see - and on a number of other roads in East Dulwich and Peckham. The date of this year's Big Lunch has already been set. It's Sunday 5 June - see http://www.thebiglunch.com/map/find-a-big-lunch.php - and we'll certainly be trying to organise a Crystal Palace Road Big Lunch again this year.

I've read many of the posts and none of them convince me that we need a Waitrose or M&S. I haven't got any deep-rooted objection to having one, but the main problem with LL seems to be lack of shopping choice for the later shoppers, and I don't see how a Waitrose or M&S would solve that - anyway, I'm sure they've cased the joint and worked out whether it's worth their while. A word of support for the much-maligned Co-op. I've always found what I needed there, or a close approximation, and their special offers are always good value. And the shop assistants are genuinely helpful. As Twirly points out, it's chicken and egg - you don't shop there, they reduce their stock in response, and so it goes.

Thanks to you lovely ED people for your support and good ideas (but beaver14uk - consider yourself excluded. Some people!) The house is finally losing its resemblance to a Horrible Histories set (pre-plumbing and sanitation era), thanks to the lovely Gary from Actual Gas Services, who turned up as promised and fixed the problem. The problem was a frozen stopcock out on the pavement - so actually Thames Water's business. It was all cemented up from the pavement work over the summer, and too close to the surface, which was presumably why it froze up so fast. A kettle of hot water might just be the answer if it ever happens again, or JessKat's hairdryer...:))

indeed, DJKQ! but being a sissy civilservant, I need a specialist to help and all the plumbers we know are out in Kent or Kennington and won't come out to lovely East Dulwich in weather like this do you know of one we could call before it really becomes Thames Water's problem? we would love to be washing and flushing again!

Having just tracked my Amazon parcel delivery status - I followed a link in an email sent by Amazon apologising for late deliveries - I discovered that some of my Xmas pressies are currently "Out for delivery" from a depot in Glasgow Lanarkshire! So still stuck in someone else's snow, presumably But it also turns out that you can't track a parcel if it's been sent by Royal Mail unless it's Express Delivery or Special Delivery. This is what it helpfully (not) says on the Amazon website "Royal Mail 2nd class * No online tracking available. Please wait for possible late delivery until 8 days after dispatch. If there has been no delivery attempt within this time, please contact Royal Mail delivery depot for more information regarding delivery. Your Royal Mail Hotline: 08457 740740. * If the parcel cannot be located by the carrier after this time, please contact Amazon.co.uk Customer Service. Royal Mail 1st class * No online tracking available. Please wait for possible late delivery until 6 days after dispatch. If there has been no delivery attempt within this time, please contact Royal Mail delivery for more information regarding delivery. Your Royal Mail Hotline: 08457 740740. * If the parcel cannot be located by the carrier after this time, please contact Amazon co.uk Customer Service."

thanks for the helpful suggestions - yes we think that its our supply pipe that's frozen Thames Water's suggestion was to turn the stopcock on and off a few times, because the valves might be screwed:-S But it's very stiff - and anyway needs a special tool? And ours is in the pavement outside and it's rapidly disappearing under the promised six inches of snow So, dear JessKat, that's us too resigned to lovely greasy hair and dirty dishes for the mo (let's not discuss toilets)

It's snowing prettily outside but inside is a scene of squalor and dirty dishes because our taps have run dry! We can't check with our next-door neighbours because they're all out for the weekend, but neighbours three doors down and across the road have got water. Thames Water say not their problem, but keep them posted! Has anyone else had this problem?

went to Liverpool - out this morning and back again today - without a problem all trains running pretty much to time even though it snowed all the way then waited... and waited... and waited... at London Bridge for a train back to ED!

walked past today and it looked like it was closed while having major building work done does anyone know?

thanks, kindaha! and loads of good luck with whatever decision you make.