Tony Rabbit

Are East Dulwich schools becoming better or worse? Where would you recommend (or not) a parent to send their child? It seems that even those schools that are better recommended may have some shortcomings. It also seems that some schools that were failing have very much improved while others are now giving cause for concern.

Broad-bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign lies East Dulwich 4 square on the London Bridge line. We enter East Dulwich through the verdant grasslands of Dulwich Park or Peckhan Rye, a rose red garden half as gold as green, matched by no marvels seen in eastern cheam. Lo stands a church clock at ten to three and is there honey still for tea. East Dulwich, gateway to the south? (Inspired by words from D. Norden and F. Muir). - 'oneys off dear. - 'Balham Gateway to the South' Peter Sellers 1958. (Not much different to ED?)

(since 1966) There used to be two in Woodvale (+ three guest house) also Overhill Road, Sydenham Hill and Camberwell Grove. They all ended up taking in DHSS and HO Immigration before they were obliged to close. The Queens Hotel, 22 Church Road, Crystal Palace (Upper Norwood) have had several changes in fortune but seem to be ok at the moment.

Has anyone seen my brother Peter? He hasn't come back from the Tandori. Three days ago he went looking for Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton Tail.

Thanks. Discovered only the original posted link worked. All the others just give the login page.

I'm a new member of FaceBook therefore a bit of a dork - can someone please give me the FULL link for the photos? Thanks.

Oh!!!! RosieH. Why did you have to choose THAT word? It's made my hearing smell of oranges.

Students Union Activist (co-ordinator) - retired. My daughter is a failure. She is not a member of the Students Union and can't throw squashy tomatoes. She did carry a placard but forgot to throw it (I hoped she might burn it but forgot the matches). Will she ever graduate - to flour bombs?

Please see the Lounge - Don't Advertise to Criminals.

Snatedawg (Mon 13/12/2010, 8.20pm Blackwater Street) found a hand wrapped in a handkerchief through her letterbox. Suspect black male apparent age 50 who smokes. NEVER NEVER NEVER open the door in these circumstances even if you are a strong male. Suspects who may be under the influence of drink or drugs do not feel much pain and are very very difficult to overcome. It is easier for them to force the door open than you inside trying to close it which will be impossible if part of their body on an implement is pushed through. They may have a weapon. If you MUST open the door for your own reason always put on a strong chain or restraining device to prevent the door coming fully open. Do not trust the fixing screws normally provided with these chains they can be pulled out. Replace the fixing screws with a long strong screw that will hold deeply into the door frame. UPVC doors usually have an internal metal support frame. If this is the case secure through the plastic into the metal frame. ALWAYS USE YOUR DOOR SECURITY CHAIN.

headache (as in I don't have one tonight).

When you dispose of your cardboard packaging don't advertise to criminals that you have just bought a new expensive TV / hi-fi or anything else nice and appealing. Always fold the cardboard boxes inside out and hide the name of the contents. Tape it securely so that it doesn't spring open. Thank you Snatedawg for warning us that criminals are in our area NOW by your urgent posting.

Thank you James. The aquisition of these maps will disclose an absolute intrigue of underground services. Many of them are not mapped fully and it's only by excavation some are found and others make their presence obvious when they burst. As computedshorty has very interestingly posted (thank you shorty) we can expect to find several of these very large 42" pipes in ED and also in most other parts of London. Computedshorty relates his schoolboy story c1943 (during WW2). During the blitz severe damage was caused to the water infrastructure and as a result there were observed several serious shortcomings. The major one was that water services to the hydrants (for firefighting) couldn't be maintained. There was a limited system of redirecting resources which inevitably resulted in low pressure and an inability to provide sufficient volume demanded when several major fires were being fought. The then Metropolitan Water Board determined to remedy this by installing a system of major water ring mains (42" pipes) (and smaller capacity local water ring mains) enabling very large volumes to be redirected in the event of serious disruptions from bombing. The electricity supply companies also engineered their supplies in the same vein. Because these services were installed during wartime some records were not properly recorded and others have been destroyed due to enemy action. Due to the constaints of wartime the quality of these pipes was not the best. The majority of ED water piping is Victorian. How long can we expect common metal pipe, exposed to mineral erosion from the soil on the outside and erosion from water on the inside, to last. One of these 42" pipes did burst during the 1980's in Marmora Road (if my memory serves me) and the damage to housing as a tidal wave roared down the hill was considerable (front and back doors demolished along with the ground floor, people to be rescued from basements, fences / walls swept away, Peckham Rye Park and Holmstall Road totally flooded. (Now reminded I'll have to look this up in SLP archive). Dear James. A smaller pipe bursting can be disruptive. We don't want one of these monsters to burst again. However no excuse for not observing notices and procedures and destroying a brand new road surface (at great expense). Thank you for your continuing observation.

Reference my earlier posting (Thames Water - Essential works) I did have a telephone conversation with Thames Water and I understand that Dunstans is only part of the work. Lordship Lane is to be excavated with alternate lane working (temp traffic lights). This large main (42") I believe constitutes a main supply to the Nunhead Reservoir. I haven't withdrawn the OS documents but locally it runs north from Dulwich Common along east side of Lordship Lane then east into Upland road south side continuing along Dunstans Road to Colyton Road, Holmstal Rd then NEE at the edge of the playing fields to the pumping station configuration at Nunhead Reservoir (Aquarious Golf Course). This pipe lays deep and under other major utility services including other water services. If they are going to dig it up and replace complete the amount of excavation is going to be considerable. They may be choosing a liner in which case the pipe needs only to be excavated at key points and the liner pushed down it. (We have already witnessed British Gas using this method). In any case to what extent will Thames Water be directed to restore the area on completion? I wonder if James could table a question to detail the work in hand and the extent of the disruption. Work has already commenced in Lordship Lane 10/12/2010.

Thank you to the parents who 'park' their dogs outside my child's school whilst they take their children in. The considerable amount of excreta that accumulated was very promptly pressure cleaned and disinfected by Southwark Council after complaint and Community Wardens (intent on keeping the area clean and probably seeking finacial redress from the offenders) were apparent on occasions. The problem has been resolved for the time being. Don't mess with dogs' mess. Offenders will be prosecuted. Southwark Council and local residents take this seriously. If you are a RESPONSIBLE dog owner thank you.

Whatever you want it to be the old launderete can't be anything until it has been washed, cleaned and pressed into something new?

It didn't seem to happen on Wednesday as promised but today the contractors have decended like vultures of doom on Lordship Lane and have torn their first hole. (The fact that vultures usually open their prey by thrusting their heads up a rear facing orifice and pulling the insides out is not meant to be derogatory to anyone living in Lordship Lane)(A friend told me this. I said,"Rectum?" "No!" was the reply, "Just missed 'em. I can still have children").

I thought ED would be doing better than that overall considering we have an exchange plonked in Lordship Lane. Just used three speed testers (@1730 9-12-2010) 19372kbps down 1075kbps up. BT Business Broadband.

Thank you Penguin68. I have found this most interesting / informative and obliged to you for understandably untangling the web of corporate interests. However interesting it is to us I hope the original post in this forum has not been completely frustrated in his bid to determine which service provides the best cover. Corporate interests aside I think that any reply to the original forum can only express personal experience of any particular network. In that respect in reply to the original forum I can only comment that my business uses several BT supplied Blackberry and as a phone they are A1. My more basic backups are with O2 / Tmobile / Vodaphone (PAYG) and I have no problems with reception on these networks. Regards again to the above responses.

Thank you for reminding me Ted. Do I remember on day one (era of the 'brick' telephones) Voda had the premier infrastructure and BT were sharing then eventually disposing of their sites to Voda and the liason has continued hence some Voda sites are situated on BT property. I think BT took over the trunk cabling and trunk microwave structure in return. I should also have used the term aligned or alignment not 'beamed'. I think at the moment between the big companies it is more of choosing the correct 'package' / 'phone deal' because , depending on area/region (in particular urban areas) they all tend to share sites to some extent and the total result is that all coverage in the UK can be termed to be good or better and the comments earlier in this forum re reception being variable is probably because the users are inside different types and structures of buildings which have a strong influence on the quality of signal. When it comes to the quality of the device they are using we would have to open another forum to find the space and time to review that issue. Regards for your comment.

Thank you James. It's hard to object to a mast in a commercial / business area and the argument for same is also foreshortened if the (unnecessarily ugly) arrays are mostly hidden from view due to the large roof area and angle of view. However erection of masts within the residential areas and in particular on our schools (already refused planning due to strong local objections) will continue to be very strongly objected to and we hope that as Lib Dem spokesperson you will support that.

Not Somerton Road (so don't panic). I think the same person chose the road names SE22 / N22 there are several the same. My counterpart in north London gets dozens of parking tickets for his van in Holloway Road. I hope he is not expecting me to pay them.

Thank you for the welcome. I am not your brother I didn't have a sister last time I looked. I am not your 'Rabbit' either sad to say, only Rampant.

I'm new to the forum and I'm grateful to learn that the strange whirring noises around Dulwich is not a helicopter about to crash rather it's a woman taking off.

Planning permissions for mobile masts in Dulwich has been very strongly opposed by local residents that's why we don't have any. As a result reception, in particular on Orange (whome I understand was one who was refused), is poor. The major suppliers BT/O2/Voda have 'beamed' additional arrays to the area from outside (example from Norwood BT exchange) and my BT reception is full bars. I have business package (several Blackberry from BT) no trouble with phone and internet connections. My brother has iPhone with O2 also excellent.