tomskip

Thanks for replying. Well, I went on the Direct Line website and plugged in our data. There were no questions about level of cover or any details about type of contents (ours are all drearily average anyway) just address and type of house etc. Took less than 5 minutes. Computer said ?275! So we went back to our usual company, the ones who'd sent the renewal quote of ?450, and after about 10 minutes of umming and ahhing and "seeing what they could do" they gave us ?150 off. So, buns for tea!

Blimey, I feel like a right silly billy now. Just read first line of op again "A cyclist was sent flying by a passenger door ...". Sorry!

"The cyclist was filtering to the left of static traffic" I'm guessing that means he was cycling between the passenger side of the car and the pavement and so it was a passenger opening a door which knocked him off (assuming right hand drive car)? Since the near miss incident with my husband, I do take care when opening the passenger door onto the pavement but I guess lots of passengers wouldn't be expecting a cyclist to be coming up behind them? When cycling I never "filter to the left", also because of the near miss incident mentioned above. It's just too hazardous and I feel safer overtaking on the right. Of course that doesn't preclude drivers flinging their doors open with gay abandon! I hope the cyclist is recovering well.

Was the cyclist "undertaking" ie. cycling past between the car and the pavement? My husband nearly had an incident with a cyclist who was doing just this - even though I was indicating left and had pulled in (I thought) very close to the pavement to drop him at the station. I'm not victim blaming I hope but there are times when a passenger in a car might not think it was necessary to look behind them when opening the car door.

Does this seem like a lot or fine for an average family with average contents in an average SE22 house? Apologies for the most excessively boring thread ever.

Those tube-like ones are very good!

I put spiders out when they come in from the cold ... but flies?? Aren't you being a bit of a softy, Sue? How about getting some fly eating plants if you don't want to use chemicals?

I don't think this man's story is that different to countless other rough sleepers. The fact he is disabled no doubt makes life harder for him, but otherwise he is like thousands of others who live outside the system because of their addictions. I hope Streetlink and other organisations will continue to talk to him and eventually persuade him into rehab. The Salvation Army (much as people like to mock them or be suspicious of them) are absolutely brilliant in this regard and it's such a shame he is on their doorstep and not letting them take care of him.

My left is feeling fine lavender27 and I am very grateful for that.

And just because he chooses to reject institutional help right now, one has to hope he'll change his mind about that at some point. Because the way he lives now is not sustainable despite the efforts of the good people of ED.

It was me who said that enabling this man (sorry, I'm unsure of his name although I know it has been posted somewhere on the thread) to live in a makeshift shelter with cooking equipment and candles had not been a good idea. By all means give food, money and blankets if that makes you feel like you (collective you) are doing something. How he will keep blankets dry in this weather I have no idea - I'd have thought a really high quality waterproof sleeping bag and lots of hats, gloves and hot drinks would be more immediately helpful. It is quite preposterous to suggest that anyone who posts their concern that it's misguided to help him set up home somewhere open to the elements is uncharitable, uncaring and bothered about fecking house prices! Infact, the opposite seems to me to be the case. As Sabrina so clearly posts - she is worried he is going to die and I'm quite certain that everyone else who has posted about him on this thread feels the same way! I haven't seen anything here to persuade me that enabling this guy is in anyway helpful to him other than an extremely short term fix which is in no way sustainable. I don't have any wish to prolong the argument, I just wanted to defend myself against the "uncharitable" accusation.

I don't believe for one moment that sweetgirl is being serious. Surely not.

Charter 1 (the original Charter if you like) is almost next door to North Dulwich railway station and the catchment area is apparently less than 1000m. It is a very oversubscribed school with a long waiting list so your daughter would be unlikely to get a place unless you moved almost next door and there was no one living closer than you on the waiting list. Charter 2 is only in it's second or third year of existence and is currently on a temporary site. When it moves to it's permanent home in East Dulwich (the old hospital site on East Dulwich Grove) the catchment will overlap in great part with that of Charter 1 (go figure) so families who live on the East Dulwich/Herne Hill/North Dulwich border will be in catchment for both schools. The catchment for Charter 2 is very much wider than Charter 1 at the moment but it would definitely not extend as far as Crystal Palace. Perhaps Sydenham School? or you could try your luck with Kingsdale - which gives out it's places by lottery so definitely worth a shot.

What is or was Platform 1?

Pasta is one of those food items that is absolutely fine if bought dried or fresh from the supermarket. You need to be a dedicated aficionado to pay top dollar for fresh hand made pasta from a shop. Ime most people in the UK view pasta as a handy to make quick mid week meal, not something to have for the ultimate treat.

But that's what Residents Only parking usually entails. I'm quite certain that parking rates for non-residents is cheaper in the SE postcodes than almost anywhere else in London.

Yes. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. And all the time that well-meaning and kind hearted EDFs bring this man supplies and gifts and pots and pans and help him build a makeshift shelter with a hardboard door he isn't at the point of desperation that might possibly see him go to the Salvation Army (or one of the other several organisations for rough sleepers) for the night and possibly start to tackle his addictions. While he has meals, sleeping bags, wooden doors, cooking equipment and candles then he is being encouraged to subsist in inhumane conditions. Encouraged or enabled. Are Streetlink still going and are they in touch with him?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42322526 BBC link. What happened here is so incredibly shocking. I just cannot imagine it! I find it hard to comprehend that four different drivers hit this woman and drove on. How do the police know it was four? I do hope there were witnesses and all the drivers are already close to arrest.

Are you sure it wasn't the smell of earth? that stuff that vegetables grow in.

I think this is a good question, OP. How are people who can't get to the council dump several miles away supposed to dispose of toxic waste such as old paint?

goldilocks Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks for flagging this Saffron - think that one > of the disappointing elements of this is how > useless the CCTV footage is for identification > purposes. Absolutely. The images are just awful. It's really surprising that technology hasn't moved on in this area.

More details would be helpful. Do you mean on the common, OP? I thought the area surrounded by fencing (ie. the park) was locked shut at dusk.

No one is in catchment for 6 schools, those forms are very silly.

I can't imagine why you would walk past a very good primary school to go to another one further afield. Make your life easier if you can! It only gets more difficult and more complicated as your children get older.