bawdy-nan

Don't know if they still do it, but when I loved on Bawdale Road, about 5 years ago, the people in Cheers would make season appropriate mini-scenes on the counter with small models of people ... do they still do that?

She and my husband swap culinary tips all the time. There was once much discussion about the purpose of bay leaves - were they for making tea, she wondered...

I second the vote for the lady in Val's - its an absolute pleasure to go in that shop and always worth asking if you can't find something. Despite her chilli fears she once went into her own house to get me a one because the shop had run out and didn't charge me. If she has unusual fruits on the counter she'll often hand a couple over for my children to try ...

I absolutely love Pretty Traditional - especially when I get Chris

and can be fun too

Ha!

Does anyone keep chickens in East Dulwich?

Louisa - I don't know when you go to Peckham but whenever I do I get jostled good and proper. Not necessarily only by buggies but certainly by everything and everyone else. Same is true there of the roads. My excellent driving instructor takes me there to practice because it is so mad and I get to develop "hazard awareness":)) The thing is that the 3 wheeled buggies are much easier to push and don't fall backwards when you try to load shopping onto it. We've had a few buggies in our time and the one that served us best and longest was a second hand 3 wheeler from ebay (bottom of the range from mothercare but very sturdy). The cheaper maclaren types just got knackered really quickly - probably because we used them all the time. I can see how its very annoying to be bashed out the way and ignored. Sometimes people with very young children are utterly knackered and distracted, so it may be that rather than sheer bloody-mindedness. Then again, lots of people are very rude. I often see groups of people pushing their way in front of people with buggies or older people to get their place on the bus. Oddly, although it doesn't feel like it, East Dulwich doesn't have proportionally more kids than Southwark or London. I;ve just been looking at some data-sets from the last census. It might be out of date now and there may have been an extraordinary baby-boom but roughly 6.5% of the ED population is 4 or under (any older and they really shouldn't be in a buggy in my old-fashioned "make-em walk" humble opinion.) There does seem to be some very anti-child feeling around. Its as if people feel that they aren't really human or part of our society.

What find of thing are you looking for - do you have any particular skills you can offer or things you want to try and develop? I'm a trustee of a local charity.

I would DEF go there if the staff dressed as badgers - or even just painted their faces

I'm not trying to provoke a fight. I'm genuinely interested. Both of my children are out of buggies now (aged 4 and 2). We don't have a car so they've been route-marching for some time now but I have encountered some very angry people. Once, an older woman at a bus-stop very angry that I was proposing to take a (small) buggy on the bus. She made similar points to louisa about how in times gone by everyone had prams and you had to walk. Just curious about why it makes people so angry... Louisa seems particularly focussed on certain *types*, as she puts it, and I wondered what her criteria were. Disposable income? Newspaper of choice? Level of education? Type of job? etc.

but "ordinary prams" are absolutely enormous

Louisa, do you really want a return to the days of the giant silver cross pram? Why are you so angry about children being seen on the streets? Is it that they take up your space? In which case, do you also object to older people and users of wheelchairs? I'm lost as to why you are so cross about parents being out on the street? Were you kept at home as a baby / toddler? Are you displeased with all children and parents? Whats your test? Y

I don't blame them at all. It seems perfectly fair to me. I wouldn't necessarily trust me with a car:)! But I'm going to be much worse at driving in a year without any practice than I am now! Good to hear its only a year though. I'd probably be happy to pay through the nose (to offset increased insurance rates) whilst I'm a baby driver. Am also embarking on Pass Plus after my test as I'm too scared of motorway driving.

There's not much to dislike though I find the constant hopping around dog shit down crystal palace road a bit miserable. (Though in combination with the fallen crab-apples and pears it does facilitate an excellent game of "Poire, poo or pomme". The shops are mostly great, and I think its wrong to say the locals are more expensive than the supermarkets. I find being able to buy the quantity I want and the kinds of things I want makes for much more economical shop; especially if you're after the cheaper stuff. William Rose is cheaper than Sainsburys for chicken thighs and organic chicken and you get the giblets to boot (excellent for stock and the liver is just delicious fried with some chopped anchovies and finished with a little sherry or vinegar and parsley then chopped and served on toast - yum). I'm no yummy mummy but I really don't want to east factory farmed chicken and buy less meat to make sure I eat good quality stuff. I love that we have a butcher here. They sell gammon knuckle / ham hock things for about 2 quid which make for splendid soup and a load of delicious ham too. The sliced ham is much cheaper than the supermarkets too. I wish the transport was a bit more reliable - more frequent and regular trains to elephant, for example, from denmark hill and peckham rye would hook us into the tube system. The worst thing by far, is the cost of accommodation - house prices and rents. I wish there could be more community interaction - everything seems very young family / young professionals orientated - older people seem very excluded as do teens.

I think its a great idea, but, alas not for me. I'm just about to take my test (yikes) and can't hire until after two years. It worries me slightly that as I don't really intend to but a car there's a distinct prospect that I could pass my test, wait for two years without driving, and then let myself loose on other people's cars ...scary. Must find another way...

I wasn't involved in it I was just there and only trying to buy something. Maybe he's great usually, I don't know, that's why I was asking. The original post got a mixed response so there's the answer - some people think he's great some people think he's rude. Probably the same as all human beings. The customer wasn't much more attractive in her steely determination to have her way. The whole thing made me feel a bit tainted.

Hi James - this is the one I use to Elepephant - it was posted in another thread (serach for "pushbike" if you wnat to read the whole thing... professordingo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Doggy mountain's good for the leg muscles, but > frankly a girl doesnt want to end up with Arnold > Schwarzenegger's pins!!... you can log onto the > TFL website and they'll send you a free > cycle-route map of whichever London areas you > choose - really handy. > > the route towards russell sq from here is (Crystal > Palace Road)--> Adys Road then Bellenden and onto > the 1-way system (lyndhurst way - appalling road > surface, wish southwark would get themselves into > gear on that one) --> turn left onto peckham rd > then 1st right into southampton way, cut right > onto coleman rd, follow round to end, then right > onto wells way; at end of wells (corner of burgess > park) turn left onto albany then 1st right into > portland street - follow this up past east st > market and then towards the end you turn right - > it's all signposted (blue signs showing the cycle > route). from there you need to get onto the new > kent rd (cycle path along edge of pavement) in the > direction of elephant, where there;s a pedestrian > crossing signposted for bikes and it takes you > onto meadow row then rockingham which then takes > you via cycle crossing over newington causeway and > you go straight over down the side of south bank > uni (keyworth st) - i then go right on borough rd > and 1st left into lancaster st - cross straight > over blackfriars rd up webber st brings you out by > old vic... after waterloo bridge just before you > start going round aldwych, you can cycle over the > pavement (cycle route) onto wellington st - i then > go right on russell st onto drury lane and then > north north north and you come out opposite > british museum. > > Maybe you can adapt this one. At the elephant you don't need to go round the roundabouts as there are cycle routes and toucan crossings...there's an alternative route via an old canal path (behind peckham pulse) which brings you out at burgess park which is et out in nic's post above ...

I completely understand the locking of the door, I said as much in another post, its pretty standard practice, I think. Fair enough to reprimand me for being rude about your staff. I've done my time as lowly wiping assistant and my description wasn't intended to insult the person. They were clearly not in charge and they were wiping. They were also clearly as embarrassed as I was by fella-me-lad's absolutely rubbish handling of a difficult situation and a customer who was spending a lot of money... Certainly my references to his Napoleonic stature and attitude were rude and I was poking fun and laughing at him. It is sometimes difficult to remember a forum is a public place. But so is a shop and I'm not trying to sell anyone any cheese or ham. I'm not bitter at all. I'm allowed to hold and express an opinion and I think I made a fair comment based on what I'd seen. If you don't want people to make negative comments about your shop (which if you read what I wrote, you'll see I didn't) then perhaps a slightly more customer focussed approach would help, especially if you're trading on the "we're locals and proud of our community" stance. I suspect that you're delighted your business is thriving and can simply make the choice to piss off a few people if you so wish. Long may you thrive, long may rising house prices continue to bring the people you need and long may rising interests rates stay low enough to allow your customers enough disposable income to spend on treats.

oh excellent idea with the cycle routes ... I'm new to this cycling lark and love slipping in with the shoal of cycles on my to the Elephant of a morning. I found my current route in this forum and I'd love to see others ... post, post, post away ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6582791.stm

I've heard the sweetshop people are in bed with EDD and the newly founded "trendy ED WI" and have formed the ED Enid Blyton Experience consortia. Hark back to the golden age of penny sweets and shite customer service. Pay your guinea at the door (poor renters can just push their noses to the glass) and step inside. Ladies, spend a while with Anne in the kitchen baking scones for Julian and darning socks for Dick; or hunker down with George and her sewing circle. Come rant with Noddy at the problems of a CPZ but watch out for those naughty gollies ...

arrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhh You really want to talk about cakes and fashion and shopping?! I'm aghast. Get a grip girls, you'll be setting up a surrendered wives group next. (edited for punctuation and indefinte articles lost in my horror)

You've got a lovely shop, but you must see that calling disgruntled customers "bitter because they are renting" is an odd approach to marketing. I started this thread because I couldn't believe what I'd witnessed and wanted to hear from other customers to find out if it was a one off. At the time I put the weird behaviour down to end of day tiredness on the part of your manager (if thats who he is) but it was a truly ghastly experience and genuinely made me think twice about going in again and, please remember, I only witnessed the incident. If I were you I'd be a little worried. "Unusual" approaches to customer service make for rapid word-of-mouth notoriety but as you say you are happy for your customers to "vote with our feet". I'm shocked to hear that you have such disdain for your customers, but if this is your attitude then I can see why some of your staff take a similar approach. I lived here before you set up shop and the high street had lots of great shops then. Which is not to say that your shop hasn't been a welcome addition. You're clearly upset by the comments but people on this forum haven't slagged you off consistently. They've got lots of good things to say about your shop (and the others in the area). Why not use this as a bit of useful feedback, unless you truly think you've got the whole business sussed and don't need to listen to anyone.

Perhaps its an Enid Blyton themed experience centre?