Vilmos

Your slip is showing the e-dealer. I said people on more modest incomes, not the 'poor' as you label them. People on more modest incomes means people who are not earning 60K plus a year. That fact alone does not make people on more modest incomes any better or any worse than the professional classes, it just means that we have a mix of income brackets living in the area, which is a good thing. People on more modest incomes for example would not choose to shop at a Marks and Spencer food shop, or at any of the specialist shops in Lordship Lane, on a regular basis, and I count myself among them. I don't see how that stigmatises me, or anyone else for that matter, in any way.

We need a selection of shops that cater for people who are not affluent middle class professionals, but who work for more modest wages. Iceland in Lordship Lane is lost, where else are people on modest incomes to go for their shopping? I am not against having professional classes living in the area, but the surest way to run it down is to have an East Dulwich where only professional classes live.

Its been going on for years. In the early 1950s when I was a child, my elder sister and myself made our own Christmas tree. They didn't sell them on street corners in those days, and even if they did, with everybody living hand to mouth as they were we wouldn't have been able to afford one. Anyway, I digress. We took a straight branch around four foot long and tied sprigs of holly tree to it. It looked very realistic, but we were missing some holly (red) berries for it. We scouted around and found some, problem was they were all adjacent to the back doors of peoples' houses. Not to worry, that evening we went carol singing to the said houses, snatching all the berries we could to the strains of 'Once in Royal David's City'. We did feel a bit guilty when the people in one house invited us in and gave us a drink of pop and a mince pie for our labours. But we had our berries to put on our Christmas tree, that was the main thing. Now we had something to put the Christmas presents under. What did we get for Christmas in those days? Don't ask!!!

There used to be a cinema but people didn't attend so it became an Indian Temple, then it became a factory, then it was pulled down and now there are flats. Also, there used to be an electrical shop, but trade was not very good owing to DIY stores, so it closed down.

There used to be a shop that sold and repaired second hand Reliant cars and vans next to the EDT. But there again, you don't see many around these days, so I don't suppose there would be much call. Just a thought though.

Thanks macrobana You don't say how it is being funded. If you invite donations on this site I feel sure people will gladly put their hands in their pockets to cover the cost.

And there are still no plaques to show where the worst of the bombing took place. I have in mind particularly: 1) The site of the Coop at the junction of Shawbury Road and Lordship Lane which was struck by a V1 bomb on Saturday the 5th of August 1944 at a quarter to five in the afternoon. People were doing their weekend shopping when the bomb struck and 23 were killed. 2) The junction of Ethrow Street and Friern Road where at 13 minutes past five in the morning of the 1st of November 1944, a V2 bomb struck. It killed 24 people, totally destroyed 23 houses and badly damaged another 80. A V1 bomb had struck the same area on the 26th of June that year but thankfully no one was killed. At the very least these two incidents, two of the worst to strike East Dulwich, should be marked with a plaque explaining the tragic events that took place and the widespread loss of life inflicted on the residents of East Dulwich.

No one has mentioned wearing visibility clothing so you can be seen when you are riding a bike. If a car driver hits a cyclist then it is very difficult for him or her to explain that they just didn't see the person. If people riding push bikes insist on wearing dark clothing then they stand a very good chance of being hit by a driver who just didn't see them. I shudder when I (quite often) see people on bicycles carrying toddlers and wearing no visibility clothing whatsoever. For myself, I wear both a safety helmet and a large reflective waist/shoulder band that I used when I rode a motor bike when I am riding my push bike.

It happens all too frequently I am afraid. Mostly it is done in the early hours by people who are drunk out of their minds. There was an instance when I saw two young men, one with a piece of rod, walking down the street trying to smash windscreens. They tried it on with my car but the glass held, so they moved on. Short of going out to remonstrate with them (which I would not recommend) their is little you can do except pay up and hope it doesn't happen to you again.

I live on Barry Road and it looks as though World War 111 has just passed through. Couldn't they have been just a little bit less robust in their pruning? And what of the golden hue of the trees as we enter Autumn, that is gone and all we are left with is stark looking clumps of tree that will take forever to recover. Does anybody know whether or not they will be back at the same time next year?

But they do tend to bush out at the base when they are stripped back. They have been stripping the trees back like this for several years now and in my humble opinion they have totally ruined them.

Up in Yorkshire where I come from you just get men armed with pick axe handles knocking on your door and when you answer they just walk into your home and help themselves. You can tackle them if you want to but you had better be sure you can beat them. Compared with that London is a relative haven of tranquillity.

We live in Barry Road and have kept push bikes in out front garden for years now. They are folders and quite cheap and perhaps that is the reason no one has bothered with them. I have two wooden posts bolted into footers which are concreted in. The bikes are locked via a motor cycle lock that feeds through the frames and under a metal loop also concreted into the ground. Both bikes are also locked via front wheels round the posts and rear wheels to the frames. They are then covered with a large plastic sheet. They have been 'investigated' on occasions but so far no one has made any serious attempt to steal them.

This thread has reminded me of when my son was a child. He saw a film where a lift tore away from its cables and plunged to the bottom of the shaft. We went through several years thereafter when he just refused to ride in lifts. I definitely used to avoid the Elephant and Castle underground station I can tell you!

Penguin68: No, I didn't specify a doctor, I just asked for an appointment to see any doctor. Health Involvement: I suppose I could complain but then I would be possibly jumping the queue over people who needed to see a doctor more than me, people in pain for instance, which I am not suffering. So I will patiently wait my turn. I must say the NHS is looking more and more like wallpaper by the day. It looks the business but it is actually more of a threat to peoples' health than a help. The fact of the matter is there are just too many people today for it to cope and the template for a welfare state of the 1940s just doesn't fit today's needs, and I say that as someone who is approaching his three score years and ten.

Went to the Dulwich Medical Centre to make an appointment to see a doctor. I have to wait for fifteen days. Can you better that?

Were the new owners to declare that the pub was a dead horse, never to make a profit, and applied for planning permission to demolish it and build flats in its place, they could make a very tidy profit.

Lived here since 1970 when a good size house would set you back around 50K. Never seen Lordship Lane, or the Market in North Cross Road so vibrant. For my own part I have never wanted to live anywhere else.

I had a dead fox in my back garden once. As it begins to decompose it will smell! If the council are prepared to take it away then fine. Otherwise bury it as quick as you can.

But this is what people do, and have done since time immemorial. Lock your things away and double lock your door and windows every time you go out. Don't leave things outside unattended that people can lift easily, otherwise lift it they will.

There are hundreds of us, maybe thousands, who mourne the loss of this popular, pleasing sculpture. Dulwich Park will be the sadder for the loss of this treasure and isn't it a shame that we are slowly being drawn into a world where nothing is sacred. There is a class of people who have no culture, no sense of decency and no moral values. They are dragging us all down into their pathetic drab world which only has self destruction as an end.

My small food recycling bin was stolen, then it suddenly reappeared. I feel certain the only reason it found its way back was because I had painted my street number and street on it.

Look for bars on the windows and metal barriers in front of the doors of the houses. Also look for barbed wire on top of the fences at the rear and for graffiti. If you have a car you could also check on the density of the parking.

I remember in the seventies when I was working in Bermondsey, I saw a young child at the far end of the street jump off his bike, lean it against the fence and run into the house. I stood spellbound as a flat bed builders truck pulled up (he must have been following the child) a man jumped out of the cab, picked up the bike and threw it on the back of the truck and they were off. Such things have been going on from time immemorial. When my son was young he was always leaving his bike leant against the fence outside the house. I remembered what I had seen in Bermondsey and always told him to be more careful with his possessions but it was so much water off a duck's back. These things do happen and the people who are the perpetrators are a real pain in the neck. The best you can do bawdy-nan is replace the scooter and keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't happen again.

I started under Dr Gupta Senior, the present Dr Gupta's father. He had a small surgery (a converted house) just below the junction of Crystal Palace Road and Upland Road. There were no practice nurses in those days, nor were there any other doctors in the practice. When you went to see Dr Gupta that is exactly who you saw. In his prime he was very efficient but a kindly man. Later on he developed heart trouble and had to retire but occasionally you saw him at the DMC. I came to know him quite well and thought very highly of him. I am still with the practice and have no complaints whatsoever.