redjam

Vanessa3 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi James, > > Several years ago I raised a question about the > safety of the Whateley Road / Fellbrig Road > junction. I am one of the many parents who walk > children to Heber Road & find crossing this > junction really dangerous. The traffic heading > down Whateley road rarely stick to the 20mph > limit. Since the opening of the new Harris Academy > on the corner of Whateley Road & Lordship Lane, > traffic has increased considerably. If the > junction is deemed 'safe' due to the lack of > accidents, could this junction be considered for a > 'lollipop' person during the school run? > > Cheers, > > Vanessa James, any thoughts on this? I agree that this crossing is pretty treacherous and heaps of primary school kids go across it every day to Heber and Harris Primary (and there will be both more traffic and more children on foot as the Harris Primary increases in size). A lollipop person would make a huge difference.

I heard that the women's clothes Mrs Robinson shop (not the furnishing one) might be taken over by a new cheese shop! Can this be right??? There already is one in ED so it seems a bit brave to take that on, not to mention M&S. But good luck to 'em - it'd be a nice little foodie corner if it's true. Though I'm sorry to see that Mrs Robinson move back into one premises as I liked the clothes offshoot. Incidentally I hope that council office rumour turns out to be true - always seemed odd that such prime retail space was used for offices. You never see anyone going in or out so it didn't really seem to justify a high street frontage.

Three weeks into the summer holidays and my kids are already veterans of three different holiday drop=offs with another one to go next week! Just wanted to particularly mention Dog Kennel Hill Adventure Playground summer scheme, which is great - really reasonable cost and run by lovely friendly staff. We are so lucky to have this on our doorstep and we will definitely use it again. Nimble Arts is also always brilliant (more for my younger daughter now as my older one has very sadly outgrown it) and we also tried Supercamps for the first time at St Dunstans, which I'd recommend for more sporty organised games etc. Next week Freedom Academy Film School! (My poor overscheduled children - they are having some relaxing time after all this, honest...) Thanks again for all the recommendations.

I'd also like to recommend Will Frost, who has recently landscaped our garden - removing the old rotten steps made out of railway sleepers and building a series of stepped beds from new oak sleepers, retaining walls made from broken paving slabs (to keep the cost down) and a new set of steps from brick and stone. They also laid a new lawn and sorted out our decking. Will produced a computerised drawing of the garden after our initial consultation, sourced all the materials at a reasonable cost, sorted out the skips and was very proactive about coming up with ideas for saving costs. The result is better than I could ever have imagined and I have been so happy with the whole process. Will and his team were a pleasure to have around and they stuck to budget, completed the work quickly, tidied up after themselves and did a great job. In short, I'd thoroughly recommend Will to anyone thinking of having their garden redesigned (he also does 'soft' landscaping too though I had already commissioned Donn Ehrlich to do that - recommended in a separate post!).

Thanks, both, I will follow up.

We're having some work done in our garden and the builders have accidentally disturbed a commune of mining bees that were living under our decking. What to do? Can anyone come and take them away, as you would with a regular bees' nest, or can you not do that with mining bees? (I know they don't live in proper colonies, like honey bees.) In an ideal world, I'd be happy for them to carry on living in our garden as I know they rarely sting, and I certainly don't want to exterminate them - but that decking has to go!

Have to say I do think micro scooters are actually worth the money, though I too did gasp when I first saw how much they were. But we've bought a cheap one in the past and it was heavy and swung round on its axis so was forever hitting me (actually cutting me) in the shins. Then it proceeded to fall apart when my daughter was riding it one time. The micro ones, on the other hand, are sturdy, easy to master and last forever - even with my kids attempting stunts on them. The only problem is that they're so good they're very attractive to thieves - we lost an almost brand-new one that was a pressie from grandparents. So if you do buy one, write your child's name on it very clearly in marker pen!

The London Wildlife Trust is inviting people to report any sightings of stag beetles. This is from their latest newsletter: Have you spotted a stag beetle? London Wildlife Trust is asking everyone to report their sightings of this globally-endangered species. Despite stag beetles being in steep decline across Europe, London remains a hotspot and the Trust is asking the public to report their sightings, to help researchers map their whereabouts and numbers. May is the start of the ?stag beetle season?, which lasts until late July, although a cold spring can delay emergence. The males fly clumsily with a faint clattering whirr, and are most likely to be seen on sultry summer evenings an hour or two before dusk. The females lack the males? antlers and tend to stick to the ground, waiting for the males to come to them. Stag beetles spend most of their lives as larvae (grubs) within dead wood such as tree stumps and logs, where they spend 4-7 years slowly growing in size. To learn more about London?s stag beetles and to report your sightings visit wildlondon.org.uk/stag-beetle-survey

My youngest is very 'strong-willed' (read: eccentric, stubborn, head in the clouds, given to sudden fury if frustrated). But funnily enough I was thinking the other day that there is far less drama in our house than there used to be these days. She is eight now. I'm not saying we never have meltdowns, but they are much fewer and far between and she is getting better at managing her emotions. Some of it is down to me understanding her better (realising that too much noise or pressure freaks her out: if I shout at her she retreats into lockdown mode) and some of it is simply her growing up. Plus when we were going through a tricky phase I made a point of having a weekly one-to-one trip to a cafe with her where I just focused on having a nice chat with her (not nagging her or telling her off) and that made a really big difference - to both of us. And yes, thinking about it, she was six at the time! Good luck - it will get better, I promise. Then it'll get worse again, no doubt. That's parenthood, ha ha...

uncleglen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It was interesting to note that on the subject of > the gender difference that was found as regards > pocket money this week, I caught some kind of > expert saying that the reason that boys get more > is that they will negotiate whereas girls will > just take what is given to them...this of course > spreads into the workplace where women do not > argue their corner...a psychologist friend said > that women will be labelled a negative 'pushy' and > men will be praised as 'assertive' in the same > circumstances.... > Good luck finding something Ha! That expert has obviously not met my daughter...

Thanks so much for all these replies. I will definitely be booking some days at the DKHAP scheme and have already booked a week at the Supercamps place mentioned above. I've also found a drama course at the link Saffron posted above that sounded great. Thanks EDF!

See: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/20/west-norwood-south-london-property Worth reading the comments section afterwards too. Hope this is helpful - must be tough to try to sort out a house move from overseas.

Thanks for the info about the DKHAP playscheme - but what is the upper age limit for it? I had got the impression it was mainly for younger kids.

Saffron, thank you so much - that link is really useful. Lots of great ideas. And thanks for reminding me about that science camp - also sounds great. Starting to feel a bit less panicked about the summer now!

Oh, this looks great, slh2009, thank you! Have you had any personal experience with this camp? Is there a good mix of ages?

Try applying for a Cleaner Greener Safer grant - it's exactly the kind of thing it would fund. I applied for a CGS fund for my kids' school garden project a couple of years ago and it was a very straightforward process. Try emailing James Barber (is GG in his ward?) for more details. See also: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/cleanergreenersafer (looks like you've missed the cut-off for this year though).

The annual summer childcare crisis is looming larger than usual this year. My kids are veterans of the various playschemes around East Dulwich - Nimble Arts, Gumboots, Artastic - but my oldest daughter is 11 now and seems a bit old for some of them. I was wondering whether anyone could point me in the direction of summer activities or courses for slightly older children? I'm hoping I can find something that my (soon-to-be) 9-year-old can also go to at the same time, but I realise that might not be possible. I know there's a sports camp at Jags but my daughters aren't keen on wall-to-wall sports. They are more into drama, music, arts and crafts, cooking, coding, creative writing - that kind of thing. Ideally I'd like to find something that offers a mix of sporty activities and more creative/arty stuff. Any ideas? I need to be able to get on with my freelance work on at least a part-time basis over the summer and don't want the kids vegetating on screens while I do so!

Rendelharris, not sure where you've got the idea that the day lost from polling is made up elsewhere in the school calendar - I checked with the head of Heber and that's not the case. The kids lose a day of schooling (and parents have to take a day's holiday/arrange childcare) each time there's a vote. Unfortunately the School House in Heber's grounds can't be used as a polling station as it's not wheelchair friendly. And you clearly can't have members of the public traipsing through the playground while the school is open, even if it's cordoned off, in this day and age of DBS checks for anyone who sets foot in schools. But I don't really understand why the school needs to be used at all when there are so many other existing polling stations nearby that always seem half-empty (I was in both the Darrell Road one and the library on polling day and there was hardly anyone there). If it gets busier in the morning/evening, surely the solution is just to have more polling officers at those times? For most people the difference between going to the Darrell Road community centre and Heber School is hardly worth consideration - they are five minutes' walk from each other. It is annoying but ultimately I think it's the school governors' decision to continue to allow it to be used in this way (don't know if they have much choice in the matter though).

This thread might be of interest: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1608187,1608420#msg-1608420

We really loved Blossoms on Dunstans Grove too. Julie who runs it is just lovely. Good luck with your search.

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Our daughter wants the solar system for her > birthday (not asking much then). > > Sorry, I don't have a useful contribution but that just really made me laugh!

Sorry, honaloona, don't think anyone is attacking you for your OP. I guess it's just slightly unfortunate phrasing that you asked for things people 'can't live without' in their kitchen and the replies included a second dishwasher and Quartz worktops. I freely admit this all boils down to jealousy: sadly I will have to struggle on living with my Tupperware being un-revolutionised a bit longer. But good luck with the refurb and don't let a bit of mickey-taking stop you enjoying it!

This thread is depressing me. Has no one else in ED got a bog-standard gas stove, electric oven, microwave and normal fridge? And (whisper it) laminated worksurfaces? God, I'm going to have to move; I'm singlehandedly bringing down house prices what with my single dishwasher and lack of breakfast bar. On the other hand, I do have a husband that cooks like he's on Masterchef and does all the food shopping and cooking, which means I don't actually have to spend much time in the kitchen. So perhaps I'm the lucky one...

We did a treasure hunt for our daughter's birthday last year (age 8). It was really good fun - took LOADS of preparation which frankly I'm not sure was fully appreciated as all the kids whizzed round the clues in about 10 seconds flat, but I actually rather enjoyed coming up with all the ideas and I do think they all had a good time. The one thing I'd say is that it did take much less time than I thought because they were all literally racing from one clue to the next (we went round East Dulwich in a circular route) so when we got back to our house we were a bit shocked to see the party still had an hour and a half left to run! We hid clues around the route rather than an actual scavenger hunt so we did a variety of picture clues, word puzzles, secret passwords to say to shopkeepers, that sort of thing. I'd pitch it quite hard just to slow them down, otherwise the ones who get to the clue first just race off to the next one immediately if they don't have to stop and think about it a bit. Have fun (and pray for good weather)!

See my (old) recommendation for Paul from the Art of Cast - he made our made-to-measure front gate from black metal and does railings etc too. Three years on, it still looks great. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,1159432,1298449#msg-1298449