missd

i'd be tempted to go over for a day trip on eurostar

i agree muffintop in terms of it is worrying what kind of adults these kids are going to turn into. true the teaching profession is seen as a poor relation, however i still value education very highly - whether or not you come out of it with some debt. having one or two degrees means alot to me and as my dad used to say "no one can take that away from you" (bless him!) yes you may come out of it with some debt and it doesn't guarantee a prosperous life, but it helps, and also provides a lot more than just the qualification -you get the living on your own, managing money, social life, people you meet etc

that is a big problem now. teachers can't do anything. kids can talk back argue, and they know that teachers are not able to do a whole deal i'm not sitting here advocating caning etc etc but just saying that the respect for teachers has gone. when i was younger, if, at a parents evening my teacher said bad stuff about me -or my attitude etc - i knew that i would be told off by my folks when we got in the car/home (not hit or anything but told off, and know that they were really disappointed in me -which is so much worse than just getting a clip round the ear!) my parents had a lot of respect for education, and therefore the providers of that education, the teachers. some of my friends who are teachers say their hands are tied really as if they tell a child off or demand to see a parent etc, the parent sometimes comes in shouting or getting 'aggro' with the teacher instead of listening to the problems that child has and dealing with them.

maybe but surely every day shouldn't be a fight against fear! i mentioned earlier that i'd got punched on the train coming home on the train one night after work - i couldn't fight against that fear and i don't think my kids (when i have them) would hvae been able to either.

i think that would be my worst nightmare - moving to the suburbs. i love ED becuase it's 10 min on the train from central london. i like that proximity to a major city centre and think i would alwways need that -hence the idea of moving overseas rather than just out of London. i do love London and don't think i could live anywhere else in the UK, but i do have my problems wiht it. what i would hate to do (and i'm not saying it's wrong or right - it's just not for me) is to be sitting on a train for 30 minutes from LB to a suburb both ways every day. it's not what i want. i like the idea of being in a smaller city than london i think -maybe sydney or vancouver - somewhere that i feel my kids will have a better life, access to more free activities like beaches, mountains, activities that they can do that are not restricted by bad weather (ok not this week in london -it's been gorgeous!) and where i can live somewhere that is a 10 minute ride to the centre of that city, but where i feel safe - i lived in such a place, and i was amazed. being back here, i compare where i'm living now to where i was before, and in terms of my day-to-day life i wonder whether i should go back. my reasons for moving out of london and overseas (not to the suburbs) have a fair amount to do with the crime (and increase that i feel that i've seen) and the problems i think my kids could face growing up here, but also to do wiht other things like weather and access to beautiful natural areas which are probably only likely in a smaller city. it would be hash of me to blame London for not having what i want in this respect!!! i don't think that crime is any less prevalent anywhere else -there is always some everywhere, i guess i don't like the fact that i open the paper every day and there's yet another story about someone being shot/stabbed/robbed/murdered etc. it's really depressing - maybe it's just being reported more, i'm not sure, but it just seems to be more 'in your face' so to speak and i certainly didnt notice that level of crime when living overseas.

i am inclined to agree with Louisa on this one. I do accept that me and all my friends managed to grow up without getting into this kind of trouble, and not finding ourselves the target of knife/gun crime. however it was a different generation -when i was 9 i would head off all day with friends, on my bike and come back at 5 or 6pm . i dont think i would feel comfortable with my kids out all day long like we used to. i think most of the crime is gang/drug related etc however you do hear of kids who are maybe just passing by or defending someone and get hurt as a result. i know it's not very likely, but it is possible - and seems more apparent in London London scares me sometimes in terms of the amount of agression young people seem to have, the kind of people that are walking around on its streets sometimes makes me cringe at the thought of being British. Yes not everyone is like this, but its something i have noticed more and more. We can't tell teenagers on trains or buses that they should be wearing headphones instead of sitting there with music blaring out of their phone, we can't look some people in the eye- i was punched round the head on the train a couple of months ago, in between PR and ED stations because apparently i was 'eyeballing' someone. It does make me wonder whether London is a city that i want to bring my kids in and unfortunately, despite all of its positives - and there are lots - i seriously think a lot about moving overseas when it comes to kids.

the issue i have here is that james you came on to this post with the following message: "I do sympathise, however it's probably not quite as bad as having a group of local kids shout out "faggot", "battyman" etc. at me and my partner as we waited for a train a couple of years ago. " you know what? this post isnt about you - muffintop came on here to rant about comments she had heard about her. i don't think you were particularly sensitive in coming on here saying "well that's all very well but what they said doesn't hurt as much as what someone else said to me two years ago..." i'm not saying that what those idiots said to you was right (of course it wasn't) however to just pile on here and hijack muffintop's post and take it on a toally different tangent isn't on.

i've just checked out the website too and James i think you're being a little unfair -you didnt post the whole thing "Modern anthems from Razorlight, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and Scissor Sisters, all the way back to classic tunes by Queen, Michael Jackson, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones." i don't know about you but i quite like razorlight, the rolling stones, michael jackson lets give them a chance....?

ok spangles - i'm sure you've done your research, out there questioning people about having their scooters stolen!! You're clearly the authority on the subject...

it certainly is a bit of an assumption to straight away say someone did it on purpose (and btw spangles30 how do you know lawnmower man isnt talking about a ?10 one from Argos?) if it was on purpose, i would guess they would not have left one behind. i hope it is a genuine mistake and that you get your scooter back -be it ?40 or ?10 worth (Edited for spelling)

"No offence Louisa but what a load of ball. "

Agree seamow - i really like Oglander and Everthorpe as roads to live on, they're lovely. For me,that little section between ED station and Bellenden Road is great: its in between the two stations (ED and PR), so you've got the best of both it's a five minute walk to Lordship Lane You're not paying extra to live off Lordship Lane, or in SE22 postcode Unrestricted parking around our house (for now -think this might be changing) 10 minute walk to The Rye Hotel -great pub, Ganapati, The Montpellier, The Gowlett, Bar Story and a cinema on your doorstep Granted I dont think i would wander around PR too late at night on my own but then i don't think there are many places in London that i would wander around too late at night on my own! I know my neighbours, we live on a lovely quiet street which has a nice mix of people on it -some old folk who have lived in the area all their lives, some young couples, and families - i love it. what's not too like?

mockney piers me too - re-read it twice and still thought 'what?' and then read yours and yes made much more sense. funny!

Thanks for all the replies guys - Ratpack, it was a private parking company called UKPC. I received a letter in the post today from them and even they have referred to it as an alleged incident. Rhodesy thanks for your comment there - VERY helpful indeed....! If you're not meant to park there, put some lines on the road, or clearly mark that this street is for private residents only. Yes from what i've seen, the general consensus is that they have to prove who the driver was. ok will draft them a letter today - thanks for the help

thats the most you can do i guess, for now, esp while they concentrate on exams. you never know, his parents might not be overly responsive to the concerns of another parent and then you're in a different sort of trouble! i think for now, you're doing what you can and the important thing is to keep that eye on them to see who they are hanging out with etc. my parents were very strict with me - prob more than they needed to be - but it worked. finding hte balance is tough though.

i#ve been busy trying to find a cottage for a group of us over NYE - amazing how so many places are booked up already!

charlie i was thinking about this earlier. do they feel bad that they put their mum at risk, becuase of who they invited into their home? if they feel at all guilty about it, then, like you say, they may well have learnt theselves to be more careful about who they make friends with and invite into their home?

its a tough one - this is the dilemma of raising kids in london. the parents of the boy who was stabbed in lee (i think) said that he had never wanted to teach his son to run away from things, and that he should stand up for what he thought was right. the boy did, and was stabbed. this is what i would be scared of, that in trying to do the right thing, ie stand up for themselves, or someone else, that my kids could get hurt, potentially fatally. i think the most importnat thing right now is that your kids get through their GCSE's without this kind of distraction. you could obviouslty monitor the situation more closely if, and when, they go back to their mum. if you can tell that htey are being bullied even more so by this other kid, then something proactive like self defence lessons, might be useful. so that they know what to do if the other kid shows them a knife etc. i think though that my main concern now would be the GCSE's and getting them through that. then you can deal with whether the other kid tries it again etc?? good luck and best of luck to them too in their exams

i just received one of these parking tickets today - maccers how did your situation end up? as i'm about to appeal. thanks

Dulwich Park Fairy -that just made me laugh out loud at my desk! VERY good point!

mmm off there tonight methinks

Yeah i think you're right Jimbo1964 Claire used to annoy me a lot but think she has taken the criticism on board well and has made some changes. liked when she said that she is trying to regulate her talking and AS saying she had a moouth the size of blackwall tunnel shame about lucinda whinging so much yes -she would have got more credit had she just got on with it. although having said that i think she's a better manager than a do-er, and definitely a better manager than lee and alex.

no, sorry i meant in order to buy them fresh so that i can pan fry them at home.

yeah i thought so too, as have had them here before, but maybe now more readily available?? i think someone from tesco was quoted this morning i have looked for them before but couldn't find them, which meant i was always going to brindisa to eat them (which is no bad thing!) would be interested to know where your bro has been getting them from before this though, especially if its somewhere closer to home

I was very pleased to read in the Metro this morning that the padron (Russian roulette chilli) has just become available on the high street in the UK. It's a Spanish pepper, of which a random one in ten is hot, while the others are nice and sweet. Really good. Brindisa does a tapas dish with them, jsut pan fried with salt -beautiful and kind of dangerous as you don't know which one will be firey. yum