Only me!

The wider pavement in front of the school is most welcome. Particularly on damp days when the overgrown foliage is wet. But maybe a good trim of the bushes would have been cheaper? But From a drivers perspective I still think it is absolutely pointless! & the raised hump probably going to be expensive for car owners, with suspension & exhaust repairs being made more likely.

It's part of my Community Service. I was told to fold out a new leaf! ::o

The screens are a bit quaint & as you say they do define the areas. Maybe an attempt at re-creating a period Victorian feel? As for the Air Con ....... Hmm ..... I noticed that the thermometer has been removed from the wall. As it only went up to boiling point .... it was probably just not up to the job in there! The "old" layout with entry via the front doors always had some sort of air movement (some say draught?) through the space. With the AC units chipping in with cold air. Which was usually OK. The new layout has in effect sealed the gym, so all the air movement & cooling has to come from the AC units & with the warm weather, glass roof, lots of people & lots more TV screens they just don't seem up to it. Let's see how it fares in the winter. Being warm/hot in summer is to be expected, but if it is also cold in winter .... then they do have a problem.

I've read that the unusual late Summer weather has been great news for all sorts of Autumn crops. Berries, apples etc are all supposed to be about in bumper quantities. Which your last post seems to back up. Unfortunately it also said that these same conditions are likely to contribute to a prodigious number of spiders as well! I will try to dodge the mass of creepy crawlies as i search out a berry laden Sloe bush! (For medicinal purposes only... of course!)

Was the Actor the guy who later became Darth Vader?

For such a small town Crawley really does have a very big airport! To get there .... Victoria by whatever means & Gatwick Express. Relatively cheap & once at Vic, very fast & very often.

or the boxed stuff you get is not quite as good as the sample seen. Just you don't find out for a few hours ......

Boris' Island would be good for us IF it took business away from Heathrow. With our proximity to Heathrow we would not be anywhere near the new airport's stacks or approaches. So it shouldn't impact us at all. But If it is just to provide incremental volume & the traffic to Heathrow is undiminished .... then we will be no better off from a number of planes over ED perspective. Apart from, as you say, being handy & easy to get too, when we wish to use it.

The wind direction over the UK is predominately from the West towards the East. Planes will always want to take off facing into whatever wind there is & then also land facing into the wind. It makes things easier, is safer & uses less fuel to do so. So usually the Planes landing at Heatrow will circle round East & Sout East London before lining up roughly in line with the river & fly due West (into the wind) to land. This is why we routinely have lots of planes over ED, they are dropping out of their holding patterns over Kent & Essex & swinging in to line up with the runway. Flying from East to West. The planes taking off, do the opposite they lift off the runway heading West (into the wind & away from us) climb quickly & then turn off towards wherever they are going, this turn off takes place quite near the airport. So we almost never see them over ED at all. This is all for the when the wind is from the West. IF the wind is reversed, or even a bit vague, it all happens the other way round. The stacks are out over Reading & Oxford (so we are spared) & the planes taking off, that are now coming our way, turn off before they get to us .... with the net result of a much quieter sky over ED. This is only applicable to the traffic from Heatrow. The lower planes are (as stated elsewhere) from London City & we get then whatever the wind direction! As we are under both take off & landing flightpaths. But they are usually smaller & have to be of a quieter design. Also with constraints on how long they can have their engines on full throttle after take off etc. As they are operating out of an urban/residential city location.

probaly means that the wind is unusually from the East, so the planes take off & land the other way round.

They did sound like parakeets. But whether actual or dubbed in ... don't know.

Good engaging film, with the added bonus of some local location spotting thrown in! Some of the long shots, particularly of Peckham Rye, are very good indeed.

Saw this at Greenwich last eve. Film is ok & well worth a watch. Funny, shocking & engaging in the right proportions. But an additional reason to watch is that it is filmed mostly in & around here. Lordship Lane, The Rye, Kings, Herne Hill, Overhill Cemetery ..... all have their part to play.

Having used the old version of the gym a couple of times a week for several years, I have to say that I am not aware of "reserving benches with towels"nor an anti-social level of "shouting encouragement" to an extent that inconvenienced others. So I think that making rules about such things is probably unnecessary. The client?le of the old gym were, on the whole, reasonable sorts, who were there for a reason & just got on with it. The fact that some train in pairs or small groups is not a bad thing ... I certainly train harder when paced by a partner & words of encouragement are genuinely helpful. On the dropping of free weights & the uncontrolled release of machines however, I am with you though. Such actions are noisy, irksome & positively damaging (primarily to the floor.)These should be discouraged by whatever means prove effective. Signs maybe?

When attending school swimming sessions at ED baths, (late 60's early 70's) as you walked down the long corridor to the back pool, the doors on the right of this corridor were sometimes open revealing cubicles each containing a bath. Seemed odd at the time. Even then they looked all dusty & stained ... but this was i guess, part of the building's initial purpose. I have seen (somewhere ... Internet?) a price list for the bathing services available. Along the lines of: Bath, 1 towel, 1 soap 2d. Bath, 2 towel, 2 soap 3d. or similar ...... with separate days for Ladies & gentlemen.

On the weights point. Used the gym last eve & it seems that free weights are available up to 18kg. (may have been a set of 20kg... but didn't see them.) Decent layout (few tweaks maybe needed, with proximity etc.) plenty of space, everything is new & changing rooms pleasant. As hinted at above, higher %age of CV machines than previously. Resistance machines all seem to work heavier than before if required, overall..... all good. Shame scales are broken & appear to be vastly over-reading! (6)

Jimbo Mr Boult's daughter was in my class at St John's. (old building on Northcross) lovely family, most welcoming, even to a group of urchins like wot we was.

Concur with Sue Near North Cross Road. Bottom end. Blackbirds very much in evidence in our back garden. Singing beautifully, unfortunately being worried most days by Magpies & foraging under the nut feeder, collecting the bits dropped by the Tits.

Having driven through this section most days on my way to work & also having walked there on many many occasions as I make my way to the station, can I make the following observations. Driving. Apart from the bus lane, there is only a single usable lane along the whole route from Goose Green to railway bridge, so pinching the width will probably not slow the flow. But the complications & danger occur regularly when buses stop. Often not against the kerb, due to poor or inconsiderate parking adjacent to the stops. This causes the overtaking scenario, which IS dangerous. Especially as it happens on a bend, with parked cars & a filter lane, giving a queue in the middle of the road also in the area. Any combination of two buses, two HGVs or a combination of the either, frequently cause this "fitting three lanes into a space not big enough" scenario. Which is problematic. I was hoping that these plans were designed to alleviate this. But I'm not sure how they will. Walking. There are already three designated places to cross Grove Vale between the Green & the station, yet from the number of people who choose not to use them, it would seem that they are not in the most practical or wanted places. Some of the planned extended pavements may actually help with this, making the road safer to cross. But is there not a risk that this may actually encourage more people NOT to use the crossings? So I'm afraid I just can't see what this plan is designed to achieve. Smoother traffic flow? Safer crossing? Safer traffic flow? If anything, a ban or even just tighter enforcement of the existing parking near the bus stops will probably help, but this could also be counter-productive for the shops. The layout, as is, has problems. But I'm afraid I can't see how this solution will help with any of these. So why is it being done?

Well my Voda phone works everywhere ... except ... outside the barracks up near Horniman's. But: When at home it always tells me that my local area code is 020 7!!!!!!! I am so upset .... labelled as Inner City ...... by my phone!

Only if the "real" occupants are in the car! Could be a body double in the car & midst the curfuffle Her Majesty The Queen slipped past unnoticed, upstairs on the 63!

Lovely new building. But unfortunately: Last night the queue at 6.30 - 7.00 was huge. With 1 person trying in vain to cope. Despite several other members of staff milling around in & out of the back office, trying (& succeeding)to NOT serve customers. There seemed to be confusion about the "Quota" allowed into the pool at any one time with people only being allowed in in batches & as for the gym ..... one small room with @ 20% of the previous equipment but no quota or head count system, resulting in a mobbed room with several people queueing to get on the few machines. Not good! The pool may be cold, which can I'm sure be cured. But the gym is a joke & unless you can attend at very very quiet times, looks like it will be best avoided for the next 6 mths. I asked for a refund last night & left. Very disappointed. Think I'll give Seven Islands a try. (Also a much better pool for swimming in case anybody interested.)

We have a Wren flitting about & darting in & out of some shrubs. So tiny ... no bigger than a ?2.00 coin. With a beautiful song, out of all proportion to their size. Hope their nest can avoid the attention of the Magpies!

I've always thought that the Postcode made the distinction. SE15 = Peckham SE22 = East Dulwich SE21 = Dulwich SE23 = Forest Hill etc.....

A polite decline to give money but a genuine offer of food, assistance or even a lift ...... will usually show the true intentions of the requester. (is that actually a word?) Never, so far have the people begging outside Peckham McDonalds taken a ?2.00 burger & Chips, rather than the ?1.00 cash they requested.