sallyfran

Just had a charming young man knock on my door with a 'helping hands' badge. When politely told that I didn't do business on the doorstep he told me I was an ignorant c***. Lower end of Upland Road behind Harris boys school. Tried 101 to report but unable to speak to anyone, will try later.

Keep going with the nigella seed Sue. We regularly get one goldfinch on every perch (6 in total) of our nigella feeder and over the summer had at least two families with young birds coming to feed. At one point there must have been 12 or more in the garden. I think they have become very common around here now.

The Stuart Road allotments come up for renewal each year in September so they may open the waiting list again then. There are more than 200 whole plots, many of which are becoming divided into two (to allow new members in) and I think they cap the waiting list at around 150 (if a committee member is reading they may be able to confirm or correct this) but there is a fair degree of turnover and it is worth getting your name on the list if you are able.

There are trains to Oxford Parkway (north of Oxford) and Oxford city from Marylebone and from Paddington to Oxford city. I love the Marylebone train and would not go back to using the coach, but it depends where you want to end up. For me, visiting my parents who live a few miles north of Oxford, average journey time door to door with the coach is 3.5 hours and with the train, 2.5 hours, partly because I can get out of the train on the right side of Oxford. The train is much more dependable - I have had some horrendous coach journeys getting stuck in traffic. But I'd probably use the coach if I was going to Headington or that side of town.

This is interesting but there is a lot to unpick, particularly because it bundles together 'SEN' as though it were a discrete category and implicitly, it seems to refer to children who are able, with support, mostly to access a mainstream curriculum. My experience is of primary so I can't speak for secondary. Primary schools now are working with an incredibly diverse population, some of whom will go on to Special Education at secondary. I think there is a real issue with who is responsible for the curriculum and teaching of (for example) a child or children working in Year 5/6 whose skills are at Reception/KS1 level or below. In some cases the situation is worse than described because they may be taken out of class for much of the day by a TA who themselves makes up what they do, on the strength of little training or experience. But the pressures on teachers, especially at Years 2 and 6, are enormous and they are already planning for at least 3 ability levels within the class. The curriculum becomes ever more formal and so focused on maths and literacy and if the topic is fronted adverbials or using advanced conjunctions, and the child's spoken language skills are at a 4 yr old level then they will completely zone out of the exposition and examples. Yes, there are ways of, for example, acting out 'Suddenly' or 'With a sigh ..' to bring it to life but when it comes to all the written examples and you have children who are at the stage of matching sounds to letters and reading the simplest 3 letter words, then inevitably there is much of the curriculum where their needs diverge massively. In my view, there can be real benefits to children of a similar developmental level sometimes working together when their needs are very different to the rest of the class because it can give them the experience of working in a group with others doing similar work at a similar level, which otherwise they would miss out on. The worst of all is that they sit through something they can't possibly understand and learn the lesson that there is no point even in listening, they don't develop a sense of themselves as learners and then the only learning is how to manage boredom. They also benefit from time spent with their age-matched peers in class and yes, they need qualified teacher input. The best teacher/TA teams each work with all the abilities within the class.

I hope this doesn't sound defeatist - I am a passionate advocate for children with complex needs but I also have a lot of time for teachers and see the pressure they are under and the hours they work, and how much work can be involved in including a child whose learning needs and abilities are very different from most of the children in the class. I think we may have invested too much in the TA model when it might be better to have fewer, but better qualified staff who specialise in SEN who can help with devising a balanced curriculum for these children within a mainstream setting, one which brings together teaching at the right developmental level - ideally in a group with developmentally matched peers at times - with multiple opportunities to work within the class. This last will often involve working with classmates to create the right support and environment.

I was really sorry when they stopped selling St John bread, which was just outstanding. Apparently not enough people were buying it but I always found it curious that their marketing was so low key as to be almost non-existent. It took weeks for them even to put a board outside saying what they sold - I think from the outside you would have had no idea that they sold bread.

There is a good book called 'The Kid's Guide to Staying Awesome and In Control'. It was written principally I think for children on the autistic spectrum and is quite American but it is full of practical strategies to help adults support children to regulate their emotions and behaviour, and for children to learn to regulate themselves.

Re therapists, I don't know of any locally. I do know, however, that when my nephew went through a really difficult time (aged 10) a child and family therapist helped his mum and him a great deal, and she felt that the expense was very much worth it.

No,you get no interest on any of your balance if the account goes above ?2000, for as long as it is above. I didn't find out until I carried out a transaction on the phone when the TSB guy told me that I wasn't earning any interest because I had (barely) more than ?2000 in the account. I thought he must have got it wrong, but he was adamant and I looked on the account description on the TSB website and yes, the interest rate table does show 0% interest if the balance is ?2000+ A bit sneaky I think because it is ambiguous - it would be natural to read this - as I did - as interest on up to ?2000 and nothing on balances above that amount.

Hi Sue

Be aware that all of the time you have even a penny more than ?2000 in your account you get no interest whatsoever on any of the balance. So you have to watch it very closely to check that it doesn't get above that sum. I was caught out by this for some time - it is very much in the small print.

The universal free travel for over-60s doesn't make much sense to me (and I say this as as somebody whose partner benefits) as a means of putting more money into the system and helping those on low incomes. There are now so many people who are affluent and/or working in their 60s and it doesn't make sense to me that they should have a free commute to work when others struggle to find work because they can't afford to travel. Maybe set the age for universal free travel at 70 now that people are living and working longer.

If you are going to be there in the summer, find out about all of the local Heurigen places - farms that sell the new wine with big plates of bread and meat and cheese. Generally cheap and a really nice relaxed atmosphere and several are within cycling distance of Vienna. Also I would go to Tuln, birthplace of Egon Schiele and take a look at the Egon Schiele museum.

Hi Oxalis

I would highly recommend as a luthier Anette Fajardo in Honor Oak, on 07950 399 439. Lots of professionals take their cellos to her and she is a thoroughly nice person and charges reasonably. For teachers there is Kim Mackrell on Scutari Road who has worked as a professional orchestral and chamber music player as well as a teacher. Even if you do not go with her as a teacher, make sure you get on her Chamber Cellos mailing list for fantastic cello ensemble courses, some in St Stephen's Church Dulwich over a weekend and some slightly longer residential courses in beautiful settings around the country. There is a Chamber Cellos website which gives Kim's details and details of courses. Another great teacher is Gwyn Pritchard (has his own website) who teaches in Camberwell but I do not know if he is taking on new students at the moment.

Good luck with the playing and hope to see you on a course!

We are planning to go to Manchester to see the newly refurbished Whitworth Gallery. Does anybody have any good recommendations for places to stay and/or eat, and any other good ideas for things to see and do? We are not clubbers (way too old) but have a wide range of interests and like wandering around cities.

I'd support a campaign to overturn the decision, and I'm a very local resident (adjoining the school).

Saw a bullfinch in the garden for the first time ever - v exciting. Also a greenfinch, which I haven't seen in the garden for several years. Seems to have been a bumper breeding season for birds too - we're getting baby sparrows, dunnocks, blue and great tits, goldfinches, blackbirds and robins at the feeder and birdbath. I'm spending way too much time looking out of the window when I should be doing other things.

My experience has been that exercise and bendy positions tend to form part of most kinds of yoga though if you can tolerate some of that and find a style that suits you it can be a very powerful tool for supporting you to become more calm and resilient. I stumbled upon Kundalini yoga through bidding for lessons in a charity auction and after now practising for almost 5 years can't recommend it highly enough. It is at the more meditative end of the yoga spectrum and involves some singing and chanting as well as a different set of physical practices each week, some very dynamic and others more focused on breathing and stretching. There is a brilliant class every Saturday morning at the Friends Meeting House, Sunderland Road, Forest Hill, taken by a very warm, friendly supportive teacher called Lila.

Just outside East Dulwich, I can recommend a fantastic Kundalini yoga class on Saturday mornings at the Friends Meeting House, Sunderland Road, Forest Hill. 10.00-11.30, led by the wonderful Lila. It is the highlight of my week and a wonderful way to start the weekend. Just turn up. ?12 per session or ?50 for 5 sessions.

A friend of mine did this for a hen party last month, was tackled, and broke her leg really badly. She is currently off work for 2 months with a minimum of 8 weeks non weight-bearing on that leg.

I actually agree with much of what you say henryb. The Southwark proposals for regimented ranks of gravestones and wide tarmac paths are ugly, 'municipal' and anachronistic and will not be ameliorated by planting the odd native shrub. They show a woeful lack of imagination as well as a crass insensitivity to landscape. But equally, I do not agree at all with the no change/no new burials argument. I like the idea of opening up a wider area for quiet walks, through re-attaching zone Z to the cemetery and creating a wider network of paths. I think there is plenty of room for increasing the number of burial plots across a wider area and thinking more creatively about how they are arranged and what they might look like. I think that a half-decent landscape designer, working with expert advice re habitat/ecology/biodiversity could come up with something really quite beautiful and imaginative that increases public amenity, meets some of the demand for burials, and preserves (or even enhances biodiversity and a sense of a green oasis in the city. I think we should be lobbying Southwark massively to raise their game, not just resisting change.

What about elderly local people who want their relative to be buried in a place accessible to them to visit? Or families who want a spouse/sibling/child buried with other family members? These are choices that should be open to people and it is not the Council's job to tell people how to treat the remains of family members. I am not sure what the alternative is. That is not to say that a cemetery should be a place of sterile landscaping. I would have thought that there was scope for compromise with many more burial plots (for which there is clearly a demand) but accompanied by sensitive and naturalistic (with native plants) landscaping. Lots of churchyards are beautiful places.

Winter, drizzle, silence.

For special diets of many descriptions, Tesco at Surrey Quays has the best selection of gluten free and dairy free of any local supermarket and also a huge selection of ingredients (different grains, oils, flours, herbs, spices etc.) from all over the world, which you might only find otherwise in delis or specialist shops at much higher prices. A bit surprising maybe, but it is quite unlike any other Tesco I know and a bit of a treasure trove (also good if you are looking for obscure ingredients in Yotam Otolenghi recipes!).

I had one that you had to put in the freezer and never used it. I then got one (second-hand off this forum) which has its own in-built freezer and use it a lot to make great ice-cream and sorbet in just 25 minutes. It is a Gaggia gelatiera and makes about 0.7l at a time. The only drawback (apart from the price - I got mine at half-price) is that it probably needs to sit on a worktop as the refrigeration fluid needs 24 hours to settle every time you move it. If you don't mind the type where you put the bowl in the freezer, I think that the Andrew James was a Which best buy. And I'd recommend 'A Perfect Scoop' by David Lebowitz for recipes!

Where are the classes held?

Has anybody tried the low FODMAPS diet for IBS? Did it help? Any tips?