ruthmct

If anyone needs to contact me, this is my own forum account. Ruth

The Gingerbread lady who comes to our end of Underhill Road is called Linda. She's just been round (my stuff was collected this afternoon). The same lady has been doing the collection for years. Ruth

I wondered why a 185 was heading along Underhill Road about 6.15pm Ruth

I'm pleased to report we have a large family of blue-tits - there were 7 teenagers feeding on the suet balls and peanuts this afternoon. Ruth

I hadn't realised the Lambeth one had changed to recycling only - a bit daft if you've got stuff that isn't recyclable. I went to Manor Place about a month ago, and they definitely take real waste as well Ruth

In my experience Manor Place is better organised, with more recycling, and the staff are more helpful than at the Lambeth one. To answer Musowriter, they aren't just for recycling - you can dump virtually anything there.

Our next-door neighbours in Underhill Road have previously had cellar flooding which turned out to be an underground spring. We've had a spring in our garden, which caused no end of trouble when we were having a path laid as the concrete wouldn't set! But since the dry summer a couple of years ago our spring hasn't reappeared. (We're near the junction with Belvoir Road).

My favourite is to cycle to Greenland Dock in Rotherhithe and catch the Thames Clipper to Canary Wharf. (I then continue along the canal to Bow). Ok, so it costs, but the ferry beats the tunnels or Tower Bridge anyday, and only takes 5 minutes. You can take bikes on the ferries, no problem.

I can do buxom - a bit old for a wench though R.

I went to watch last year, claiming I'd never be able to do anything like that. But I've been going to ESPH during my career break, and can now jog over a mile, albeit rather slowly. So my target is to join the rest of you and actually run/jog the Barry Road race this year. And Barry the station manager, I agree - you're a star! Ruth

I was just thinking how awful the potholes in Dunstans Road were as I cycled along it. Glad something's being done about it. Anyone who thinks they have a hard time with speed bumps should try it in my Smart car - the backwheels are going up one slope while the front wheels are coming down the other, and of course there's no way it's wide enough to straddle the cushion. And Smart cars have "firm" suspension at the best of times. The speed cushions in Underhill Road are worst, as they are particularly tall :-( R.

The iron stretchers in the fence look just like the one we used to have when I was a St John Ambulance cadet back in the 1960's. You have to know what you are looking for though - it too kme a while to spot them when i first heard about it. Think of a tubular rectangle, with four V-shapes bent into the long sides, which acted as the feet when the stretcher was put down. (haven't been able to find a picture on the web yet) Ruth

Our green collection should have been Monday 11th but was postponed for obvious reasons. The Christmas tree disappeared from our drive today. Ruth

I abandoned my car in Goodrich Road (well, parked it at the side of the road) after discovering every road with a hill seemed to have a car stuck on it. Except Underhill Road close to the Dunstans Road junction which had a bus slewed halfway across the road near the bottom of the hill. Basically the roads are like icerinks. I skidded 4 times on Goodrich Road in the space of about 100 yards, and finally gave up when the car in front of me skidded into the back of the car in front of him! Ruth

We get long-tailed tits occasionally, usually arriving in a gourp of about 5 to raid the bird feeders, then they disappear for a month or so. We live on the border of East Dulwich, almost into Forest Hill. Ruth

The singers were good, weren't they? We got this put thorugh our door early Sunday afternoon. I don't know any more than that Ruth

I went in today for a parcel that hadn't arrived (posted on 9th September). No sign of it, and the delivery office man said they are currently delivering parcels which were posted on 20th September, so the backlog seems to be down to 8 days. Don't know what's happened to my parcel though. Time to go back to the supplier Ruth

Emily Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It was good, the dogs were cute and the tea-ladies > in particular delightful....but the NOISE! The PA > was way over-amplified and the music made it > impossible to talk to or hear your kids or friends > or hear the punch and judy. Deafening and > oppressive. Agreed! I enjoyed the whole fete, but the fancy dress competition was spoilt for me because the music wasn't turned down when the announcements were made about the winners - it was impossible to hear anything the judge was saying. It must have been disappointing for the children who took part and their families. Ruth

Curmudgeon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ruthmct Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Dropping parcels over the 6 foot high back gate > is > > my least favourite technique! One amazon > parcel > > got heavily rained on - mind you that was a > > courier service, not the postie. > > > > Ruth > > a courier company called "Home" by any chance > -they do that to me and I complained - they've > stopped now Some time ago, so I can't remember - sorry Ruth

Dropping parcels over the 6 foot high back gate is my least favourite technique! One amazon parcel got heavily rained on - mind you that was a courier service, not the postie. Ruth

Yes, i got a letter yesterday from Switzerland which was posted on 9.9.09.

I gave up on the first question I'm afraid. I do the majority of my grocery shopping online, and you didn't have that as an option. Ruth

and twenty minutes later I had a visit from a police officer and colleague from the Safer Neighbourhood team who have taken down as much detail as I could give them, and will be talking to my neighbour as well. They also felt that the photography thing was rather strange. Ruth

Thank you all for your comments. My elderly neighbour, who was the one who saw the photos being taken, was looking out of a bedroom window on the first floor. She said the men were standing on the pavement immediately in front of our paved front garden (we don't have a gate). She thought the camera appeared to be pointing towards the house, not the scooters, which were near the front and to one side of the garden. They definitely weren't taking photos of the street environment. Unfortunately she couldn't see a registration number. This seems the most convincing explanation so far and it could be my neighbour was mistaken as to what was being photographed. But this was what was going through my mind.... I wouldn't actually object to people taking pictures of my house - after all I do similar things when I'm on holiday. It just makes me nervous when it's 7.30am and it's two guys in a lorry. I'd rather let the police know and they can decide whether it's part of a pattern and when to worry. We've got the house pretty secure as our insurers insisted on us meeting certain levels of security. There was a message on my answerphone today from the safer neighbourhood people, who are going to call round to discuss my report. Ruth

Very odd event this morning. I arranged with the council refuse service to pick up some bulky rubbish this morning ( actually 2 terminally broken mobility scooters), and as requested put them out in the front garden last night. My elderly neighbour told me that this morning about 7.30am, she saw a white lorry outside our house, looking much like the one that the council use for such pick-ups, and two men wearing reflective jackets got out, and one started taking photographs of our house. The scooters were actually picked up by the council this afternoon, and when I spoke to someone from the environment dept on the phone they said there was no record of them having been round in the morning. I've reported it to the police. I wondered if these guys were "casing the joint". Has anyone else seen anything like this? We also by the way got 3 separate rings on the doorbell from guys with vans wanting to know if I'd like them to take our "scrap" away. Ruth