Pugwash

The other day in Barry Road, I was behind a bus that indicated it was pulling out, I waited and waited, the idiot behind me could clearly see the bus indication, and decided that he did not like my caution and over took me and the bus and was 50 yards down the road in seconds.

The green crossing indication at waist level is very common in cities other than London, in fact recent trips to Nottingham and Liverpool have shown vertually all crossings there were of this type.

In terms of varying hours to suit needs reminds me of Selsey where my father and stepmother gave kived since 1975. Up to a few years ago when we visited them the only restaurant, not in a pub, closed at 6 pm in the summer. This to me was madness as Selsey has a number of caravan sites with several thousands of people being accommodated and not everyone wanted to stay on the camp site. For an area whose income depended on tourism 5.30 closures of retail shops and 6 pm of the only restaurant always seemed odd. However the last few years, they have seen sense and close the restaurant around 10 pm in the summer. The retail shops still close at 5. 30 and they still have half day closing. It is an area where more couples are living due to the cheapness of housing and large number of teenagers and young parents. There is a ready labour market for part time workers if the shop hours wee extended. The same could be said of ED

Must admit to 85% supermarket shopping. Also get milk and occasional odd things from milkman, sweets and papers from local shop, eggs and some meat from local butcher, Some fruit and veg from local shops. Rarely purchase anything down the main part of LL - as usually have only Saturday free and get fed up trying to dodge all the prams etc around North Cross Rd. Agree the fish stall in NX is good especially towards the end of the day you get some good bargains. During the week, I rarely leave work before 7 pm and most shops closed. I have purchased some meat from Wm. Rose - chicken usually as everything else beyond my price range. I find most of the shops too expensive for food, including the green grocers in NXRd. Farmers have good choice of stuff reasonably priced, as does the pet shop. The East Dulwich Deli very expensive.

I heard of someone who had a property to sell, she contacted local colleges and hospitals and put an ad either in their works newpaper or on their notice board. Got alot of enquiries and eventual sale. If there are any large employers in Bromley i.e. Churchill Ins? they may be worth trying. I am having to sell my father and step mothers home now that they are both in care. Contacts in Sussex got 3 estate agents valuations which put the property in a ?160 -?165 k price range. We heard via the grape vine of contacts in Sussex that someone was interested. I calculated price of estate agent fees (2%)on both upper and lower prices, and got a private sale within 2 days.

Just to support the above poster's plea. Social Work students are also required to do child observation but usually for one term and for under 5's. This is a national requirement for the SW Degree course. They also will have enhanced CRB check and letter from Uni.

Any male.however innocent, is always seen as a perpentrator. A child got left behind on a bus - her mother had got off thinking child around 6/7 was behind her ( she had got caught up behind passengers coming onto bus) bus set off and child tells us 2 stops later that her mum had got off without her. A number of people offered to walk back with child, they were mainly men with their wives and children.The women had shopping and babes in pram were reluctant to let their other halves walk back with the child as they feared they would be classed as abusers. Hubby and I were going to get off when the driver decided to ring the police and explain what had happened. The mother, had phoned police in panic about situation, in the end the bus stayed put and waited till the police with Mum pulled up along side. The POlice advised everyone on the bus that both males and females could be seen as perpentrators and that the driver did the best thing. I would report this guy to the police as nobody in their right mind would offer a child a lift.

Hubby's father spoke to him exclusively in Polish, his mother in English. First words were in Polish. Went to english speaking school but did Polish Saturday School and Polish Scouts. In adulthood spoke a mixture of Polish and English to his father. We went to POland for a holiday and although he could speak language fluently, found it difficult to read in Polish. Still speaks in POlish to friends and aquaintances. Our daughter knows a few words of Polish, hubby decided that she was more english than polish so did not push the lanaguage.

When we were clearing out my in laws house, we contacted some waste removers who assured us that they were taking odd bits of furniture, old broken books etc to a licensed dump. A few weeks later we were sent a letter from Lambeth Environmental Team saying that they were taking us to court for dumping stuff on Peabody Hill. They had found some broken books with my father in laws name in them ( He had an unusual Polish name) and traced the house via council tax records. We rang them up and informed them what had happened and we still had the flyer of the waste removal firm with us. lambeth took the flyer, sorted out some' marked' rubbish, and contacted the waste disposal people and caught them in the act of dumping.

I too work at Kings, but mainly seeing people on the wards. In many ways Kings offer a superior service compared with other hospitals (mainly out of London) but like most work places, poor staff attitude and care can sour people's experience. I am glad you got all the positive and caring staff.

With all the empty shops in LL surely the police could get a lease for a few years to have one of these premises. I had to go to the Seeley Drive one the other week, not ideal but better than nothing and it is right in the heart of the estate. I was surpriused to see how many empty shops on the Kingswood Est. a bit of a ghost town. The chair of the East Dulwich Society (Stan Hardy) wrote to the local press some weeks ago and suggested that if new buildings are put up on the Whateley Road station site, then the ground level should be commercial with the police having a long lease there. This would keep our coppers in our local community. I think people should campaign for this suggestion with the shop lease for the immediate future. How can our beat officers have a visable presence if they have to hop on and off buses from Peckham all the time. I know our ED Councillors habve been fighting hard to retain police presence and also Robin. Thhe ED Hospital site is a good alternative, but the original suggestion of the porters lodge is probably not ideal as it is very small.

You think you can approach the roundabout as no cars indicating from outside Just William side that they want to go round to east Dulwich Road, you are half way over when some idiot drives up fast without indicating and you have to stop dead to prevent being hit

Caroline Pidgeon is also an East Dulwich resident so will have an extra interest in the Police Station.

fantastic shopping areas in the city centre and an easy bus ride to Derby

September/October is the time that many of our children ( now teenagers) leave home to Uni or else where, whether it is Halls or private rented accommodation. Can they change a plug, fix a crcuit breaker, locate the main water stop cock? The Barry Area Residents Association is holding a free workshop on Tuesday 18th September 10 - 1 pm at the East Dulwich Community Centre in Darrell Road to cover these items. The workshop will also cover avoiding accidents in the home. Any age group is invited to attend Jim, has many years experience in running training workshops. Ideally Jim would like to know how many people will turn up so he can get enough biscuits etc. Please either reply here or pm. If you have any other ideas for workshops BARA would be interested to know as we have various members who have specialist knowledge.

This is a very difficult area - those of us who work in the public sector are very conscious of cuts in staff which implicate on resources. I along with my colleagues went on a one day strike last year, the first time in my long working life I have ever done this. We did have some concessions around pensions, which UNISON accepted. The next round of cuts in Southwark are coming next financial year. My section have already been told that we are being reduced from 14 staff to 9 from January, but the incoming work will be the same or greater. Like teachers, my team do not stick to their 36 hours a week, it is becoming more frequent to find permanent members of staff working (unpaid) till 7.30 pm in order to process our work as we are dealing with vulnerable people, and our professional pride will not allow us to cut back on this, and also our Code of Conduct and Professional registration require us to meet certain standards or be struck off. In West Sussex last year, schools were increasing class sizes and cutting back on both primary and secondary teachers. In the college where my daughter works in Sussex - they are cutting back on lecturers. Class sizes when I grew up in the 50s and 60s were 35 - 40 kids, there are some areas where this is now becoming the norm. Many of my teacher acquantances spend at least 2 - 3 weeks of their summer holidays, preparing material for the next years curriculum, many of them bring marking home to do and sit up after their own kids have gone to bed, marking work - especially those who are secondary teachers. Although as a parent, I was annoyed when strikes closed schools as this meant losing a day's pay or finding child care, and I did not have sympathetic employers. This is a difficult decision to make and support - education will suffer during the strike period, but if nothing is done now, education in the future would deteriorate and class sizes increase, and lack of parental choice of schools. The only thing I can suggest that each school has a group of play leaders who could care for the children for a normal teaching day based in the school so that parent who cannot get childcare have an alternative option.

My grandchildren had a choice of white or red polo shirts for primary school - available from most chain stores, only logo was on sweat shirts, purchased from the school directly, grey skirts or trousers. no trainers (to avoid those who would wear designer brands)black shoes, tights grey/black.Most primary schools have had a policy of no crisps in packed lunches for many years and have prevented the school tuck shops selling them.

Kate Start is a registered dietician and previously worked as a paedatric dietician at Guys Hospital before she became freelance.

Sure Start, if I recall correctly, was originally set up as a means of educating parents in child care. They were traditionally set up in 'deprived areas' where mothers could meet with their children, others in similiar situations, and have access to professional help. These centres taught child development, diet, social integration, and at that time, most of the parents would have been described as coming from 'dystfunctional families', or had a lack of parenting themselves. Social Services frequently referred families to these centres as a 'preventative' measure - often to reduce isolation/depression of mothers and to socialise children. Sure Start over the years have developed considerably and became, in many ways, the victims of their own success. In most outer London areas, Sure Start is limited to specific groups - i.e. preventing family breakdown.

Karen, who played the teacher in Johnny Briggs, is a long term resident of ED and a friend of mine. I am sure she will be surprised to be recognised from that role still.

I have a mobile and the only time that was stolen in 8 years was when I was mugged in Sainsbury's car park where the thief took both my work bag (thinking it was a computor bag) and my handbag in which the phone was in. I rarely use my phone in public and when I do so, check out the area first - i would nver walk with it in my hand.

As a careful driver, coming from Grove Vale end, this zebra crossing can be a nightmare. Frequently you are caught half way over it by build up of traffic at the roundabout, you are concentrating on traffic coming from the right so that you can edge forward, and you do not always notice the pedestrian who has worked their way behind/in front of the cars to your left and they suddenly appear in front of you. I am usually very slow approaching the zebras at the roundabout as so many people just walk out without checking the traffic - usually they are texting or talking on phones, have their music on, or just assume that cars will automatically stop once they step out onto the zebra. So many adults with prams risk their children's lives by pushing the pram out onto the zebra without waiting for cars to slow down. Yes there are and always will be those drivers who approach zebras too fast and recklessly, but some pedestrians do jaywalk.

As part of my job, I have to drive to all parts of Southwark, if I am going anywhere off Lordship Lane, I try and get a early morning or very late afternoon appointment and leave my car in my drive as parking between 8 and 6 pm is a nightmare between Townley/Pellatt Road down to Melbourne Grove/Grove Vale

Just to remind everyone that the Vauxhall City farm will be at the Community Centre between 10.30 - 2.30 pm on Tuesday 11th Sept. See rest of post for further details

There is a large Polish Community in ED. My husband is dual language (English/Polish) but was born in London. We have several Polish friends but they are 50 plus. Sorry do not know any younger Polish speaking Mums.