prickle

Have you crushed all your plastic bottles? That can make a lot of difference in volume. Also perhaps need to start shopping with a view to minimising the packaging (which is really what this is all about!)

re: the report posted by James B, pls can someone explain how max/min occupancy rates are calculated? How can it be over 100%? Does it mean double parking? Elsie Road is down as being over 100% at all times. I live on Elsie Road and can't reconcile this with my experience. We have a real problem at beginning and end of school day with school run traffic. I guess this accounts for the 134% quoted. But 114% on a Sunday?? Also someone talked about in-coming commuters - a lot of people working in the Grove Vale shops park on Elsie - Rupert from the music shop, the man from the takeaway amongst others.

I also live in the proposed CPZ on Elsie. Happy with the current situation so I have filled in consultation with a NO.

James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Perhaps not a representative sample - people in on > a Saturday afternoon. Melbourne Grove (1-63, > 2-44)and Derwent Grove overwhelmingly in favour. > Elsie Road 50:50. Grove vale in favour. > I should say that the 10-12 mon-fri option was the > clear winner. Did you visit every house in these roads? I ask as I live on Elsie and was in all yesterday afternoon and no one came round?

Hi James, I wonder if you had any joy finding out how the option of paying remotely by mobile will work with the 10-12 CPZ? If you remember, this was discussed in a previous thread and you were going to find out. I note that payment methods including by mobile is not mentioned in the consultation document. Thanks

Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This is nothing to do with what residents want and > everything to do with revenue generation - the > area is precisely chosen to ensure that there will > be intended consequences - leading to more calls > for control by a few in the newly effected roads, > and extension of the CPZ and later on ramped-up > prices. All of you close to ED station - and soon > to be not so close at all to ED station are a > little pot of gold waiting to be dug up by the > council - you vote lib dem or Tory, so they aren't > going to lose any votes over it. It really doesn't > matter what you say in your feedback, you are > going to get a CPZ, it's going to be extended and > extended and you will end up paying through the > nose for what once was free. Agree that CPZ is a cash cow for the council but the Tory/Lib Dem coalition is partly to blame. All councils are looking for alternative sources of income as a result of the coalition choosing to freeze the Council tax.

There is already another thread discussing CPZ. Might be worth a read too if interested. The council has an incentive to implement a CPZ as it will be a revenue earner in these hard times. Particularly galled by the cost of the visitor permits ? ?16 for first book of 10 permits then ?32 for books of 10 thereafter. Apparently its to deter resale on the black market. Seems to me its a nice source of revenue, how much does it cost to print a book of permits? There is also talk of allowing payment by mobile phone which means that if the controlled time is say 12 to 2pm, the commuter can just pay for this by mobile from work?! I think James B is looking into this.

Agree totally Minkey. And not only trades but any other 'visitor' that may visit during the week. I think it is a huge assumption that visitors only come in evening and at weekends. For example, there may be house-bound people who depend on visitors for care and company during the week. I think that the prices charged for visitor permits are outrageous and disproportunate in amount. Residents should be given free visitor permits or at the most be charged a nominal amount. Frankly it is insulting to assume that we would hoard the permits and sell them on!!!

Does this mean that a commuter can park at 8am go to work and then pay for the restricted time 12-2 by mobile from work and then pick car up at 6pm? If that's the case then what is the point of having CPZ? Have I misunderstood something? Also why does it cost so much to have visitor permits? Why does the first book cost ?16 and subsequent cost ?32 (that's ?3.20/visit!!) It seems like a tax on having visitors. Are some 'visitors' exempt? Edited to add: Also why are we restricted to 100 permits/year?

peterstorm1985 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > James, I was interested in this sentence: "A > supplementary questionnaire will also be sent to > residents in Elsie Road and Melbourne Grove who > have a private driveway, on their preferred > parking restriction across their dropped kerb." > > What options are there for parking restrictions > across the drop kerb? I thought it was just a > matter of law that it is illegal to park in front > of one of them. Am I missing something? The consultation document says Why go to the trouble of sending out additional questionnaire? Surely the fact that a dropped kerb exists means that the drive way will be used? Is this questionnaire to gauge general opinion or is it to find out what each individual house wants? James, please can you clarify?

I bought one of the garden benches earlier in the year. I'm pretty gullible and was taken in by the patter :-$, but glad to say that am pleased with the bench. As penguin68 says, the furniture is good quality and the price is what you would pay on the internet. The fact that it was delivered there and then and that I got to see it before I paid was a good thing - or at least that's what I tell myself?

Agree with jollybaby. My children went to Dulwich Nursery many moons ago. The interior is very nice with a little play area and all purpose built. It's location is fantastic, with parking but also v. close to ED station and Sainsburys.

My second child doesn't come up for secondary for a year or two yet but am also thinking of possibility of sending her to a different school. I don't anticipate a problem as they make their own way to secondary school and generally are pretty independent on a day to day basis.

Talking of swimming aids, my children used a Polly otter swim suit that had pockets with polystyrene floaters in them. As they got better you take them out one by one. Not sure if they are still available but there are similar on market. Much better than arm bands.

Yes, agree its best to take pressure off. Take him on lots of trips to the pool yourself and have fun with him. Be patient and when he's more confident and ready, start the lessons again. Lessons can be stressful as he's with a relative stranger. One of mine was scared by water when little. By using this method she's now the strongest swimmer in the family! Good luck!

Not sure if it is quite XFactor but must say there was more than a hint of desperation (particularly amongst the parents) when my child went through this a few years ago. Surely something wrong with the education system when children are forced to go through these hoops - in the remote hope that they might get into an otherwise inaccessible school. Prendergast is another culprit.

I think focusing purely on baby/toddler/pregnancy you will be constantly looking for new customers. All those stages are time limited (by definition!) and you will find that your customers will grow up and move on quickly. Surely the holy grail for any business is to get repeat customers who keep coming to you year in year out without you spending a fortune on marketing? Whatever you decide, good luck!

That's all right :))

Great to see such good results from Southwark schools. Not long ago, Lewisham schools were said to be better than Southwark's, but no more! Think the local schools have worked wonders to turn it round.

Fair enough, FRM. I understand the pressure you are under. It is just frustrating that as a parent with a child coming up for secondary education, I can't seem to get enough information about the current situation in this school.

I beg to differ. A question from me just mentioning the said investigation was taken off this precise thread. I do not understand why just mentioning the investigation could be deemed libellous. There has been a complete news blackout about the investigation and its progress. I think it is not really appropriate when so many year 6 parents are making potential life shaping decisions about their child's future.

Has the exam cheating incident been resolved now? It would be good for parents visiting the school in the next few weeks to know where the school is regarding these allegations.

Good luck with your applications. I sympathise as I too am a freelance book designer with children. I was laid off a couple of years ago from a good part time job. In spite of being an industry dominated by (childless) women I find it quite unsympathetic to issues of child care (at least from the management). My advice is to network. The employers who have given me the most flexibility are those that I found through my contacts. For some reason they are happier to give me more leeway as a good word from my contact seems to make me more valuable.

Sunil, Kingsdale does music scholarships.

It looks like a wholesale culling of stations on our line. Interesting to compare with the superb Great Eastern Line serving East London. Can't see a single one of those stations on the list. Seems like it's Southern Rail's effort at cost cutting.