Growlybear

I had to collect an item from Argos at Sainsbury's in Sydenham at lunchtime. The queue outside was short, and it took about five minutes to get in. The wait at Argos was very short and very well managed, with 2m distances being enforced. The supermarket was well stocked, and I got everything I needed. There was a good supply of toilet rolls, a limited range of pasta, and rice, and also eggs. The number of people in the shop didn't seem too high, and people were generally keeping their distance. Checkout queues were also short, with no wait at all for the self check outs.

That is number that I've called over 2000 times since Monday morning. Sainsbury's were very clear when I spoke to someone earlier that they are not adding elderly, disabled, or vulnerable people to their priority delivery slot list. They will now ONLY add people to the list who fulfil the government's criteria for being EXTREMELY vulnerable. DulwichBorn&Bred Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This is the other number for Sainsbury?s: > Reminder: If you are elderly {over 70}, disabled > or vulnerable & think you should be on Sainsbury's > vulnerable customers list, please get in touch on > 08003281700. Pass this information on to a > vulnerable neighbour & make sure they're > subscribed to the support they're entitled to.

Just to give clarification on the Sainsbury's number. I have now phoned this number over 2,000 since Monday morning, and have not been able to speak to a human. It's either constantly engaged or you spend two minutes listening to a recorded message before getting cut off. There is a link on the Sainsburys website to check if you fall in the EXTREMELY vulnerable group, but when you go through the screening process, only a small number of very specific significant conditions are covered. Being elderly, disabled, having dementia, or other significant conditions doesn't qualify you as extremely vulnerable, and you can't book deliveries online through Sainsburys. Someone helpfully posted an alternative phone number for Sainsbury's this morning, and I was able to speak to someone. However, I was told that they will only accept people from the government's extremely vulnerable list for home delivery slots since Wednesday night. I questioned how every slot that had become available since Wednesday night could have been taken by someone in the extremely vulnerable group, which must consist of a fairly small number of people for each delivery area, but the person I spoke to just kept repeating that they could only deliver to the people on the extremely vulnerable list.

I've just had a call from the warfarin clinic and thankfully they have now agreed to do a home visit.

I've got a real dilemma and would be interested to get people's advice. My mum is 93, disabled, with various health conditions, takes warfarin, and has quite severe dementia. She lives an hour's drive away and has two visits each day by the District Nurse to administer medication. She is very stubborn and refuses to have any other help. In anticipation of the stricter social distancing requirements, I made sure my mum was well stocked up with food at the end of last week, and have managed to get a couple of grocery orders booked for her. My husband has COPD and so is reasonably vulnerable, so we had settled down follow the guidance and had only planned to drop groceries off at my mum's doorstep in the coming weeks if absolutely necessary. My mum was rushed into hospital on Monday morning with a major bleed (warfarin related), so I spent much of the day in hospital with her, keeping as much of a distance between us as possible, wearing a mask, gloves, and constantly using sanitiser. A&E were brilliant and moved her to a ward very quickly and I was extremely impressed with the measures the hospital had put in place. I had to collect my mum last night, and took her home, again being very careful with precautions, although there was nothing I could do to keep a proper distance between us in the car. My mum has to have her blood checked regularly to determine the amount of warfarin she needs to have, and in view of the bleed she had earlier this week, it's likely that she will need to be checked on Monday. I usually take her to the clinic, but have told the warfarin nurse that I'm very concerned about doing this at present for a number of reasons. The guidance is that we should keep a distance from elderly and vulnerable people and that it's OK to drop off groceries but not to enter someone's house, my husband is in a vulnerable group, and I'm also concerned that, no matter how stringent the hospital was with precautions, my mum or I may have been exposed to the virus over the last three days. However, the warfarin nurse is adamant that I need to take my mum to the clinic despite all of my concerns, and despite having to take her in my car. I have a very small car, and my mum couldn't get into the back to give us a bit more distance, so there is no option but for us to be in very close contact during the journey. Am I being unreasonable in insisting that the warfarin nurse makes a home visit (which she has done in the past and is still doing for other housebound patients)?

As much as I think it's a disgrace that they are charging ?1.49 per mask, if its an emergency, Kristals in Nunhead had a good supply yesterday.

I was in Kristals in Nunhead earlier today. They had loads of hand sanitiser and were charging ?4.99 for one of the little bottles that usually sell for 99p or less. They were also selling individual face masks at extortionate prices. The thin paper surgical masks were ?1.49 each (and I think they were only 1 ply) and the fold up masks which can be re-used a very limited number of times were ?5.99 each. Boxes 50 of the surgical masks were selling on eBay last month for around ?12. I realise that wholesale prices have probably gone up, and there is a huge shortage, but I don't believe the cost has increased by 500%. I've used Kristal for ages and really expected better from them.

Your experience doesn?t surprise me at all. I have had consistently wonderful service from the practice for the last 40 years and they have always gone above and beyond expectations when my husband or I have had a serious problem. I?ve also never had a problem getting an appointment quickly when it?s been necessary and don?t have a problem in waiting for a routine appointment for non emergencies. I?ve always felt very fortunate to be registered with such an excellent surgery.

I would seriously consider Forest Hill or Sydenham. Both areas are much cheaper, much nicer, and far less pretentious than East Dulwich.

I'm looking for recommendations please for someone to lay new vinyl flooring in my kitchen at the very end of this week or some time next week.

I've been with Forest Hill Road Group Practice for over 40 years, and can't recommend the practice highly enough. The support I've had through a number of health issues in recent years has been amazing; I've always been treated with the utmost respect, courtesy, and professionalism by all staff, and have always been able to get an urgent appointment when I've needed one.

Guava Kitchen in Forest Hill is a vegan and vegetarian caf?. It gets really good reviews.

I heard the fireworks on Saturday night, and from what I could see of them from an upstairs window, they were lovely. I can't understand why anyone would think that a ten minute firework display at 10.30 p.m. is unreasonable? It's not exactly late, and if anyone's children are woken up for ten minutes, they don't have to get up for school the next morning. Like many people, I've got animals, but because I choose to keep pets, I really don't expect that to stop other people from enjoying a very short firework display. The world's gone mad!

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience JL, and very surprised by a couple of the responses. I hope that your mum is OK now - that her eye has healed and she is over the shock. There really are some truly awful parents around, and it's very unfortunate that you and your mum ran into one. I can't imagine the circumstances where I would ever have let my daughter run round on a train platform, and can't imagine what the woman was thinking. I'm sure the child didn't hurt you mum deliberately, but I would have been mortified if my daughter had ever hurt anyone like that whether accidentally or deliberately, and I would have made sure that she was sanctioned and made to apologise properly for what she had done. It must have been obvious to the mother that your mum was in pain, and to just dismiss what the child had done, and blame it on him being excited at attending the climate change protests, is appalling. Nina Melania's suggestions do seem rather bizarre to me. Whether or not the child was autistic is irrelevant - at the very least the mother should have apologised properly even if she couldn't get the child to do so. I also suspect that it's unlikely that any parent would take a child with a brain tumour or who was terminally ill to a protest, or that they would go to an event like that if a parent was dying. Unfortunately you just got unlucky and came across a selfish, self absorbed woman with a spoilt brat. If attending the protests caused the child to become so over excited, perhaps the mother should consider whether he is old and responsible enough to attend events like that. But at least it's some small comfort that the child's absence from school that day was highly unlikely to have been authorised, and his attendance record will now show that he was absent from school without permission.

It's only a ten or fifteen minute walk from the multi storey car park in Catford and there is never any difficulty in parking there.

Whatever the person concerned may or may not have done, surely you can't publish their address on a public forum!

I became self employed just over a year ago and will need to file my first tax return in the next few months. my accounts will be very straightforward and I had planned to do this myself but am finding it a bit baffling, and wondered if anyone could recommend a good local accountant please?

I've been with the Forest Hill Road practice for over 40 years and couldn't have been happier with the service and care we've received. I've seen posts on here complaining about the wait for appointments but if you NEED to be seen urgently, they will always fit you in. My husband and I both have chronic conditions, and are always able to get appointments when we need them either booking ahead for routine consultations, or on the day if it's urgent. About a month ago, I rang the surgery for advice in the middle of the afternoon; a GP rang me back within 20 minutes, and gave me an appointment 20 minutes later, so I was seen in less than an hour from my first phone call. There has been quite a change in staff over the last couple of years, but the new doctors, as well as those who have been there for a while, all seem to be excellent.

I stopped using the Dulwich branch of Pizza Express a couple of years ago because of the appalling slow and offhand service. The last time we went, we had to sit upstairs, and after very slow service with our meal, they didn't bother to bring the coffees we had ordered, forgot to bring our bill, and turned the lights off upstairs. We didn't get a word of apology when we left. By contrast, the Herne Hill branch is very pleasant with polite and efficient waiting staff.

Another vote for Michelle at AnyPetSittingAndWalking. She's looked after my very difficult cats several times, and has even watered my plants for me. She clearly loves animals and spends time on each visit to talk to cats and try to play with them. I resisted using a cat sitter for years because I was worried about security and having someone turning my alarm on and off, but I couldn't possibly trust Michelle more.

I've had one of the little food waste caddies for several years sitting next to my recycling boxes, which I've never used and never will. Another one arrived today, which I didn't order. What a waste of money!

No, just one! Rosetta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Growlybear Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > No, I live in a house. Both stickers have the > > same number and I've definitely only been > charged > > Do you have two brown buns?

No, I live in a house. Both stickers have the same number and I've definitely only been charged once!

I can never understand how the noise from aircraft can have such an impact on people in this area. I have lived in East Dulwich/Forest Hill for over 40 years, and whilst I agree there seems to be an increase in the volume of flights, I can't remember ever having been really disturbed by the noise. I used to love sitting in the garden watching Concorde fly overhead, but even the noise from that wasn't intrusive. The planes often fly low enough to be able to make out the airline, and regularly fly directly over my house. I'm also a light sleeper but have never been disturbed by plane noise. I find the traffic far more bothersome during the day than any plane, and the worst noise of all has to be the foxes when they start shrieking in the middle of the night.

I've received two stickers, both identical, and in the same post delivery. I have always been under the impression that you had to leave your bins with the handles facing the road ready for collection each week. And most of my neighbours do the same.