prdarling

???? if you are in East Dulwich and in reach of the Oakwood or Brierley midwives (I think there is one other team beginning with A?)it's like having an independent midwife on the NHS. I had both of my boys with the Oakwood midwives but gave birth at Kings. The midwives work in a team of 3, all routine appointments while pregnant are held in your home and the 3 midwives take turns in seeing you so you get to know them all, then one of them delivers your baby either at home or at Kings. I can't fault them. I know this is a thread about Kings so i will add that you don't need to come across hospital midwives if you use the above system as the Oakwood midwife (or similar) stays with you until baby is born, but you will meet the Kings midwives on the post natal ward which is beyond a joke for all the reasons already stated. If you have to stay on a postnatal ward, sort your own food and painkillers out, it's a lot quicker, but ???? the midwives in ED are amazing - private atyle care for no extra cash.. pretty incredible

I got a fine for turning onto Rye Lane from Bournemouth Road because you can only do so between certain hours. Maybe this was the issue? The sign telling you this is back on Copeland Road, not bizarrely at the end of Bournemouth Road where it would be useful. I contested it and won

The builders have just told my Mum it'll be a coffee shop, patisserie and organic bakers??? I'm all for this.

OK Bob I'll take that back... I'm all over the sliding door, I just can't get any further with a double buggy and i'm not too keen on leaving my little boys alone by the entrance while i go in search of non existent basic necessities!

Virgopunk get off your high horse. No-one is saying it should be a Waitrose, just clean, tidy and containing food would suffice at the moment. I went in yesterday and they had no bloody bread or potatoes. The outside of the shop looks like the contents of a skip and the inside is like the last days on earth... but oh sorry it must make me a bit 'Notting Hill' not to want to live surrounded by crap. I agree with susyp and bob - the service is poor and the queues are permanent. I love to support a local shop, but not a rubbish one. I also take exception to being referred to as a stupid. Is it unreasonable to expect to shop locally now I have 2 children. It's bloody difficult to support your local stores when you can barely get in the door. Like it or not, this area is now populated largely by young families and there is not much on offer for us at this parade of shops ... a skanky bookies, a launderette (albeit quite snazzy) and some shops that have been dead for at least 4 years... brilliant. Surely it's not bourgeois to want a parade of shops that actually services the local residents?

seanmlow - tell me you are joking about the co-op!!! It looks like it has been burgled it's such a tip on the inside and don't start me on what an eyesore the outside is I can't get down the aisles with my pushchair as they are 1)not wide enough and 2) always littered with half empty boxes. They are always out of bread, milk, potatoes etc and the assistants are generally so surly and unhelpful it puts a cloud on my silver lining I wrote a letter of complaint about them as i was so pissed off, telling them I would never darken their door again..what do you think I got in return? A ?5 Co-op gift voucher. Ha ha ha. Turn right out of Ryedale (for that is where I think you live) and go up the hill to the little shop next to the Forest Hill Tavern... much wider selection of everything and service with a smile - oh and it's WAY cheaper