Alec John Moore

Another, much more recent, underwear story. One of our neighbours - we live next door to a house of bedsits - stomped past when I was at the bus stop at Barry Road yesterday morning, apparently on her way to Barry's shop. As she went past, I noticed that her skirt was stuffed quite firmly in her knickers, exposing her underwear. Expecting that she may return to the bus stop before I got on the bus I turned to the only other person at the stop who had noticed this, a woman, and asked if she should tell her or should I, saying that it would be better coming from her. I also remarked that I'd only ever read about that sort of thing happening and had never actually seen it until then. The bus came before the unknowing "flasher" got to the bus stop so at least my embarrassment was spared a bit.

A bunch of students sitting in a semi circle, waiting for a seminar to start. One of them asked Paul why he had a pair of underpants sticking out of the bottom of his trouser leg. It transpired that they were yesterday's pants and had remained in his trousers when he put them on that morning, working their way down his leg on his way in to college until they emerged for his fellow students to observe.

sideways

suit

dip

Funnily enough if you hold the toast upside down the jam will fall off.

A bit off topic but we got our first egg from our new hens today. This is remarkable since we only got them yesterday and they are supposed to take a week or two to settle in. They even spent the night huddled together in their run, apparently not aware that they could sleep inside their eglu! Apart from that the beans have been good and the blackberries. I also made goosebery jam a couple of weeks ago with a bumperr crop of the red gooseberries. This despite the leaves being stripped by gooseberry sawfly.

Fold

I find the petty squabbles between 2 or all 3 of them really winds me up. But that's partly to do with my expectations of them - that they will play nicely together! I know how unrealistic that is for anything more than a few minutes sometimes. I travel a bit for work so I have to leave it to my wife for a week or so now and then. I've started using my TOIL from these trips to pick them up individually from school or nursery and spending a few hours one-to-one with them. That really is quite special in an ordinary sort of way. Just going to one of the many lovely cafes that we have in ED and spending a bit of time with them when they are not squabbling or competing for your attention reminds you how good it is to be a parent.

The riposte from the Wanted in East Dulwich section: 'Crochet'

I think you probably mean "ceilidh". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9ilidh I hope "Spell the word, "ceilidh"." doesn't come up in the pub quiz. If you are thinking of a Burns' Supper type event at the end of January then I may know a Scottish pedant who could be prevailed upon to read from the bard but not sure if the audience would get it. Best wishes, Alec

The Palmerston The Clockhouse Peckham Rye Park with the kids on a sunny afternoon

Well done for coming out with that truly moving testament. I respect you and am humbled. I've been following this thread with interest and your story confirms that it is wrong to condemn behaviour that we don't understand. That makes us judgmental and, as many have said, who are we to judge.

I think it's better than the telly but also quite similar. I'm thinking Big Brother and other car crash TV. It has a fascination that is really tempting. I've noted one or two poster who have tried to resist contributing but to not no avail. It has made me think about why and how we express our views. Motivations have been questioned and misinterpretations abound. It's just like real life.

Some seem to think that both jrussell and Ligaturiosity (sp) are beyond the pale.

Because the dominant use of language in these discourses id England-centric. There is a "north/south" divide in Scotland, too. The word "sassenach" was used by Highlanders - northerners in Scotland - to refer to people from the south of Scotland, Lowlanders.

They can be quite mesmerising and time consuming. Back to work, until the next one.

I got told off twice by two people on a 37 bus a while ago because I allowed my kids to stand up on the seats and look out the back window. Both people looked and sounded African to me. I'm confused.

He was really good as the "Company man" in Pirates of the Caribbean.

A big boy done it an' ran away.

helpful

I understand that the top part of Rye Lane is referred to by some as Little Lagos.

Having just been through the innocently named "secondary transfer process" as an ED parent I found it very complicated, stressful, political and confusing - I'm not even sure if it's over yet since I haven't had a letter from the LEA offering our son a place at the school I've just registered him at. It seems that may not be necessary since they only do that for primary schools. Anyway, we live a few streets away from Harris Boys ED but they weren't on our list of preferences when we applied last year because they prioritise taking children from certain feeder schools in Peckham (our son is at Lyndhurst in Camberwell), he wanted to go to a mixed school and I'm not very sure about the Harris ethos. And, if sibling policy prevails our 2nd born, being a girl, would not benefit from her big brother going to a good boy's school, directly at least.

handy

land