Pugwash

Both my daughters, having had degrees from Central Lancashire and Brighton ( Psychology and English with Education Studies)found it difficult to gain employment after they qualified and did work which did not require a degree for a while, they eventually settled into the careers they have now, although eldest daughter took a 2nd degree and got a first class honours in Occupational Therapy. It would appear that if you have a 'professional' qualification i.e. OT, Social Worker, Nurse, Physio ,you have more chance of employment than if you had for instance a Business Studies English or Sociology etc degree. Speaking to Granddaughter today, she was saying that there were no apprenticeships in Art or Science related jobs, and she will just carry on with her A levels next year and take pot luck and may have to take a year out to test the job market. I have encouraged her to attend a few local colleges/University's open days just to get an idea what is on offer and there maybe courses which she would not have considered. I am in a career which I wanted when I was 18, but did not have the academic qualifications for it ( 8 O level and 1 A) I finally achieved my dream at the age of 45 having a degree and a post grad professional qualification. It is a stressful job, but interesting, thought provoking and I have a great team of people working with me.

The East Dulwich Community Centre, Christ Church and Dulwich Library have been Polling Stations for years in this area. All venues must have disability access which could rule out some places like the Baptist Church in Goodrich Road which could possibly be in the same catchment area as Heber.

British heart Foundation Old kent Road

I have been looking up possible courses for her and sent off for a couple of prospectus for course which she could use her Art for, and another for science where she could do a diploma or BTEC and then convert to a degree If an apprenticeship came up in an area she was interested in, she may take this to get work experience. She dreads the thought of being unemployed - not so much the loss of money but how it would effect her self confidence as a naturally shy person. The citizenship thing may give her an insight into voluntary work. She does not fancy going into professions that the wider family are in i.e. social work, OT,education support worker, Plumber, advertising.

She is spending most of the summer doing this Government Citizenship award thing -one week on a uni campus and the rest of the time doing community work. Is in 2 minds re university - the financial pressures ( myself, her mum and aunt all went to uni when there were either grants or low tuition fees) NHS sponsorships are gradually being phased out ( the latest idea is that Nurses should pay tuition fees). Her Mum did a degree in Psychology which she did not use in employment, but in her late 30s trained as an OT with NHS. I spent 5 years in my 40s doing a degree then and professional qualification She would be happy to do an appropriate apprenticeship especially if that could lead onto further advancement re studying etc.

My granddaughter is sitting her AS levels from next week in Art, Biology, Psychology and Physics. In her mocks she was predicted As in all but Physics. She is trying to think of a possible career post A levels. She loves both Biology and Art - was able to combine her love for both subjects in her GCSEs (A *) and in her current AS work. She is unsure whether to continue with physics next year but could see that it could come in use (but unlikely to get a high grade). We have suggested radiographer, speech therapist, Physiotherapist (hard to get in Uni as over subscribed) Lab technician (would need chemistry) - it looks as though she wants to go down the science route (not teaching) She enquired about being Art Therapists, but needed degrees in both Psychology and Art plus sponsorship Has anyone else got any suggestions? Apparently not a good careers adviser at her school. She does not mind doing an apprenticeship She has 11 GCSEs with all but one being A or A*

The rooms in the ED Hotel are said to be very small. A builder friend was asked many years ago to do some work in this place ( prior to it opening as a hotel)by the now deceased owner. He refused to do work as he felt that the property was not suitable - ie owner wanted to put a couple of bunks in the equivalent of a single room.

Not going for the 2 front runners as too much hype.

Try Christ Church Barry Road - they have something called Little Pups. If you ask Elaine in the Bread of Life caf? she will be able to tell you more

I always check my receipt as especially with the reduced goods, they do not always put a new barcode over original price. if a great difference I take receipt and goods to customer service and they refund .

having worked in ED Hospital - my team were moved out and it was discovered that the rooms we occupied, the floor was about to collapse. Much of the hospital is in poor condition and would be cheaper to pull down rather than repair.

In most cases your responsibility is the right hand side looking at house from road

I walk with a stick and usually on the bus I get offered a seat, normally by a woman. I sometimes take the seat but other times the seat is so low I have a job to get back up. I thank the person and state that having only a few stops to go, I would rather stand. When I was around 7 months pregnant (many moons ago) I worked in Westminster and usually had to stand on the bus from Dulwich onwards. I got fed up having to stand the majority of the journey so made sure that my bump nudged a seated male passenger until he got fed up reading his paper and gave me a seat.

Just to say that I became a member in 1996, my husband, daughter and grand daughter are also covered

As long as you initially try NHS for treatment or consultation first and if there is a long waiting list, your GP can give a letter of referral to the Benenden who will find a consultant for you. It also uses BUPA facilities- the consultant claims fees directly from the Benenden. You can also get in patient treatment at one of their private hospitals ( For London the hospital is in Tenterden).

I have a semi private insurance Benenden. Hubby used it when with chronic back pain- waiting list for Kings was 6 months but via Benenden a couple of weeks. I had to see a dermatologist - waiting time to receive a letter for an appointment at Kings 6 - 8 weeks, appointment date another 6 - 8 weeks, GP gave me name of consultant at Kings - Seen at the London Hospital by same consultant within 3 weeks, now under consultant at Kings for all follow ups.

Once upon a time it was managed by Tilt Estates and it's office was opposite the Rye

Brad will be decorating my kitchen and bathroom next week. He previously decorated a bedroom for me several years ago

There is a Little Pups session at Christ Church Barry Road. Pop in there and speak to Elaine or Mary in the cafe

I think this has been blown out of all proportion. I/Mum would not have qualified for a disabled parking bay on the grounds that the car owner did not live at the same address. My mother was also on dialysis and the ambulance collected her 3 times a week to take her to Guys for this- if there was an 'empty' disabled bay ( there was one in the street further down) they would park in that otherwise they had to double park on a busy side street, This bay was about 100 yards from the flat and when I visited at weekends was always occupied. There is no way I would have expected a disabled bay for Mum - I see much abuse of blue badges and it annoys me very much.

At the moment we have 2 green, 2 blue and 1 brown bin in our garden and we are the only occupants of the house. One blue bin appeared overnight - hubby went up and down the road checking our neighbours to see who was missing a bin. Took blue bin down to a multi occupied house as they only had one of each colour and bins always overflowing. Next collection day we had 3 green bins and 2 blue as refuse men just put them in our garden, multi occupied house got their green bin back and we gave up trying to find owner of the blue bin You can purchase flowery covers that stick on your bins to make them more 'attractive' if the colour offends you. In Bromley - they only have open recycling boxes, all other refuse is in black bags, and collection is fortnightly. My daughter's front garden always looks untidy as foxes have ripped away the black bags and the recycling gets blown all over the lawn. Food waste is collected from small brown caddys. daughter tries to keep black bags etc indoors until collection day but does not have the space (we could not use her downstairs loo as had several bags stored in there as refuse had not been collected that week which meant 4 weeks of rubbish to put out next time. She often talks about taking one of our bins home with her and painting over the southwark logo. Bromley charge for wheelie bins ( thought to be around ?40 per bin)

If you wish another smear to reassure yourself of a possible medical problem, would it not be better to mention this to your GP who could do another smear or give advice where to contact.

Are all the other leaseholders happy with the Management Company as I believe you have to have consent from the majority to hire a Management Company. One of my old work colleagues had a Management Company which the leaseholders were not happy with, and held a meeting and all agreed that they could do a better job themselves. I believe they went through a solicitor to sort it out. The freeholder was happy with their choice and raised no complaints

Quote With all due respect Pugwash, and I accept that this was a pain for you, it sounds like you wanted a disabled bay set aside for your mother in what was obviously a crowded street so that you would have somewhere to park for a few minutes once a week? Not sure that would be a great use of the system No I did not want a disabled bay for my Mum, just pointing out that had there been a 'empty' disabled bay near her flat, I would have used it for the few minutes I required to get her in and out of the car. Frequently once I had returned her home, I parked where ever I could (frequently 10 mins walk away from her flat) so that I could spend time with her. When she died, I returned her Blue Badge to Lewisham Social Services who were very surprised at my action as many relatives keep the badge for themselves to abuse the system. Sainsbury's in Bell Green did a trawl of their disabled bays and put a parking ticket on those cars in the bays without a Blue Badge. 2 doors down from me there is a disabled bay and this was applied for by the Housing Association which owned the property. At the time there were no tenants in the property owning a Blue Badge and they were equally surprised why they had this bay outside the house. Turned out that the cleaner employed by the HA got fed up trawling up and down the road with her hoover, that the HA requested the bay to enable her to visit weekly to do cleaning. This was several years ago, the bay is still there and local church goers use the bay .