Muttley

It's a bit like blokes listening to Woman's Hour, isn't it. Admit it, we all do it.

I agree that there seems to be a new surge of regeneration at the moment. On the whole, it feels good, though in the back of my mind is a fear not so much of what kind of stores might move in, but what stores we might one day lose and never get back. If Dulwich DIY or A J Farmer were ever priced out by higher rents, I think it's unlikely they'd ever be replaced by a shop of their ilk. And that would be a sad day for East Dulwich culture.

Zooming past on the bus just now I spotted an empty shell of a shop that until days ago was Sema Thai. Has it given up the ghost or is this another 'refurbishment'?

Which was the tree on Peckham Rye in which William Blake saw visions of angels?

:)

I wonder how many gallons of petrol were expended to go and buy these "eco-friendly" shopping bags from Sainsbury's.

Shoot who, the peeping toms?

And wasn't that art gallery on northcross road once Selfridges? Oh hang on, memory playing up, they used to sell fridges, second hand of course.

This is the future. I hope.

I think I'm right in saying that before it was Iceland, that store was...wait for it...a Sainsbury's freezer centre. (Can anyone verify that, it must have closed in the mid 80s?) There were three stores clustered together competing for grocery customers, Sainsbury's freezer place, Gateway (?) (the predecessor of Somerfield), and across the road where Woolwich is now was the Co-op. Those were the days. Not.

I call her Miss Haversham. Shop's been shut since the 70s I think. It had a "facelift" a couple of years ago, i.e. the peeling paint got a new coat of black.

Wow, nice one Mockney, can't argue with that. Anyway, need to get to Blackheath by 9am tomorrow, so I'll just pop down to East Dulwich station, if I catch the 8.35 that should leave me plenty of...oh dear :-S

The glossy brochure from Hamptons shows the train journey times from East Dulwich to a range of destinations, including Blackheath in 17 minutes. I defy anyone at Hamptons to find a way of getting from East Dulwich to Blackheath in 17 minutes by train, even with a quick hop across the platforms at Peckham Rye.

Thinking about it, Springers was where I introduced my parents to my in-laws, which has to say something. Definitely one of my East Dulwich favourites, in fact I feel another visit coming on.

jim_the_chin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > muttley, > > i was thinking it was north of peckham road, wells > way perhaps. cracking house it was. Turns out it is in Consort Road after all. The address is actually 15-and-a-half Consort Road. If you are into dancing the tango, you can go there for lessons since the owner is a dance teacher and has a studio at the front of the house. The alternative venue for tango is apparently Thomas More Hall on LL. No contest.

My in-laws' favourite is Franklins, though you sometimes have to look through the menu a couple of times before you find meat that isn't offal (as opposed to awful, which it never is).

Maybe the new regime will realise that, against decent opposition, Flintoff just isn't good enough to bat no.6 in Tests (and probably ODIs too for that matter). He got away with it for a while, but those feet are made of lead. It's Botham all over again.

Did anyone see tonight's Grand Designs episode? It was a recap of an old project, a couple building a 'bungalow' in a narrow strip of land in 'South London'. That road looked familiar - was it Consort Road in SE15? Before long we'll be able to do a local tour of Grand Designs projects. Tonight's ended up as a fabulous home by the way.

There's an ad for Surma in the latest edition of Glossy Advertorial (aka Living South) where they invite readers to "find out what makes them officially the best Indian restaurant in East Dulwich". They say Officially because it was "voted for by the registered users of the East Dulwich Forum". Since when were we official? This kind of status could go to people's heads. For what it's worth, Surma, I voted Coriander.

Thhhrrrrpppp!!!!

I, too, fell for the "I'm your neighbour, I need ?10" scam a couple of years back. The line was that the guy was locked out of the house and needed a cab to get back to his office to get his keys, or some such twaddle. He came across so naturally, and I was so gullible, that I handed over the tenner, even though alarm bells were ringing in my mind. Afterwards I warned the neighbours, yet he still had the nerve to try it again about a week later on a house a few doors down, and again got his tenner. If that scam is ever attempted again, it's easy enough to say "don't worry, my brother is a policeman, he'll be able to get into your house, I'll just give him a call he only lives in the next road...". If the person is genuine, they won't have any objection to this line.

This crowd sounds like the same bunch that have been operating for years. If it is the same lot, then they come in by minibus from Essex, and are dropped off to cover all the streets in the area. The operation is not legitimate, the people behind it use it as a chance to make undeclared cash. The teenagers that they get to do the door-knocking are almost always well coached in how to do the patter, but invariably rude, bordering on aggressive, when told you aren't interested. I've found the best way of dealing with them is to stop them before they get a chance to launch into the hard-luck story, tell them we had somebody come last week, and there's nothing in their selection that we want. "Thank you, good luck" and close door. (The excuse 'sorry, the baby has just woken up I'm going to have to go' usually works too, though I prefer using that one with Jehovah's Witnesses. Needless to say, there doesn't actually have to be a baby in the house to pull this one off.)

Not necessarily the wrong sort of type, but probably a much narrower range than in the past. Mrs Muttley briefly taught at a school in Kensington. One day, the author Michael Rosen came in to talk to the kids. In one bit of audience participation he asked the kids what their mums and dads did. The answers were...lawyer, banker, banker, lawyer, lawyer, banker...zzzzz. Rosen was dismayed at the narrowness of the children's backgrounds. I fear SE22 is going the same way.

Doesn't Caffe Nero have two Fs? It seems like everyone wants to get rid of the F'in Caffe Nero.;-)

Alan Dale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Totally agree about stamp duty. It is a very > unfair tax but if anything it does restrain the > house price inflation that you object to. > In Ireland, I believe stamp duty is nearer to 10%. Doesn't seem to have done much to damp the insane house price inflation over there. Talking of the Irish, there used to be quite a contingent in East Dulwich (frequenting the Castle, EDT). Have they been replaced by a new breed of Irish, the overseas property investment type? Irish landlord anyone?