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Thanks Hoopoedi - no, not planning to go today!

Planning to head over to the gallery to see the Eric Ravilious exhibition, but don't get out much around Dulwich any more and wondered if anyone had any good recommendations for lunch. What's near and nice? Thanks in advance.

Don't you think you should choose someone based on competence rather than age?

Have you had a bad experience with security in the past, or do you own a lot of valuable stuff? Just wondering why anyone would be keen to take such drastic steps.

Zebedee Tring Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm not going to reiterate at length what I've > said already on this thread in case someone > insults me again. Let me make it clear that I > would be very pleased if Picturehouse paid the > LLW; indeed they seem to be moving in that > direction. But I still don't see why they are > being picked out for attack when there are so many > other local businesses currently in existence who > don't pay it. This is such a depressing argument. You seem to be saying that people who want all businesses to pay the LLW *must not* highlight individual failures to pay LLW. Instead, they should limit their campaigns to general statements that all employers should pay the LLW. What they certainly shouldn't do, in your view, is focus their attention on a large employer with employees who are engaged with this issue and loudly arguing for the LLW to be paid. Instead they should (presumably) be flyering all businesses in ED (or South London, or the UK). Only once they've done that will you permit them to highlight specific failures to pay the LLW. Instead of asking "Why Picturehouse?" (which seems to be what you have been doing throughout this thread - and yes, I have read all your posts), how about you ask yourself "Why not Picturehouse?"

Also can get trains from Peckham Rye to Farringdon these days - don't know if this also counts as a 'London Terminal'...

Sympathy to those affected, it is a really annoying thing to happen. I always have a bit of a dilemma about whether to bother taking off the front of my radio given that it's a 10 year old tape deck model - surely not worth stealing? But you never know.

I had a bad offer experience on some printer paper despite carefully selecting the discounted recycled one rather than the full price alternative. It's all very well to say go back to the customer services desk, but this is a lot of hassle for a pound once you get home. It just seems like it should be so simple for them to program the offers they put on their shelves into their tills - don't understand why this keeps happening.

Steele is another vale personality. You would really think they would learn not to try this after it backfires every time!

Just thought I might stick up for the self scans a bit - I don't see why we can't have the choice. They are not flawless but I find them very quick as there is rarely a queue for them (they can fit more in after all, and lots of people don't like to use them). Authorisation for alcohol is obviously necessary so I'm not sure why it's the source of a complaint. Sainsbury's have cunningly improved the system offered by some other supermarkets (e.g. co-op) by moving the authorisation point to the end of the transaction rather than when you scan the booze which makes things easier.

That sounds good to me, although am I right in thinking that takes you through the congestion zone? Guess there isn't really an alternative to Earls Court without going through the zone.

...from East Dulwich. I normally go the obvious Vauxhall Bridge, along the river, Earl's Court and then meet the A4. But this is often very congested/slow and I suspect a better route might be possible crossing the river later. Anyone got a favourite route? Thanks

I've seen those etchings - sounds wrong to me that they are advertising what they don't have. That said, the two times I've been to Hisar I was very impressed by the food (deliciously smokey grilled meats) and the prices...

Thanks for that ktm - very useful! I went over Battersea Bridge in the end but your route after there was invaluable. Ended up taking me more like an hour each way with my risible fitness. Still, suspect it wouldn't be that much quicker on public transport!

Hello all, I have to cycle to Hammersmith (the tube station) for work tomorrow and wondered if anyone had any advice on reasonably direct but cyclist-friendly routes - I am a reasonably robust cyclist but would prefer not to end up doing most of it on A roads for lack of knowledge! Alternatively, if anyone has any advice on how to get to Battersea Bridge then that would be a very good start... Cheers! Edit: From ED-ish, obviously... basically from the corner of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye. Edit 2: Oops, have just found Horsebox answering almost exactly the same question very well - I'll post it here in case anyone else finds this thread in a search: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,148653 Sorry to bother you all!

Interesting. Definitely the same woman - I remember her white sunglasses. She feigned willingness to leave me her passport and bank statement as security for the money - I wonder what she would have done if I'd taken her up on that? When I said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you." she immediately backed down. Found that a bit surprising, I thought she would put up more of a fight.

This character just tried to scam me! I was too shocked by her stupidity to say anything rude. She's changed her story slightly now in that she asked me if I lived alone and tried to imply that my flatmate had told her he'd give her the money if she came back with her passport, and the taxi seems to have gone down to a flat ?38. Mother still dead though. Anyway, beware the residents of Fenwick Road...

Sue: have you considered train from Herne Hill to st pancras (30 mins) then tube one stop to cally road? Shouldn't take more than an hour door-to-door I would think although the change at St P is probably a bit of a treck. Alternatively get train from Denmark Hill/Peckham Rye to Blackfriars and connect with the herne hill one there, or even bus to E&C and connect at that point. I guess it depends where you live. Or cycle - I do this to near Angel from Peckham Rye and it takes 30-40 mins depending on how energetic I'm feeling - quickest public transport time is 45 mins door to door.

Right then. As one of the more critical posters about my Locale experience I feel I ought to respond. Alan Dale Wrote: "The truth is that in spite of being expensive, Locale is popular and I suspect it will be succesful. If one of you more eloquent amateur critics could explain why it works, how it works and why it is such an asset to this aspirational area of Peckham then I'd be glad to read it" It's too early to say whether or not the new 'East Dulwich' (I agree with you that it's more Peckham) branch of Locale will be successful, and certainly too early to say whether or not it is popular. Any new restaurant launched well will attract a decent level of custom in its first weeks because people will be keen to try it out. So it's really not up to any critic, amateur or otherwise, to analyse the 'success' of this venture (yet). In any event, is restaurant criticism really about identifying why commercially successful establishments do well? I think most people would agree that commercial success does not always mean good value, tasty food. Secondly, I do not buy your premise that it is easier to be negative than positive. Take your supporting evidence for this: "You can rely on just detailing events, errors, omissions and comparisons to superior experiences. The ease of preparing such criticism attracts allcomers. Anyone who's had the slightest complaint about a meal can attempt restaurant criticism with confidence and gusto." You could equally say that it is easier to be positive than negative by relying on comparisons to inferior experiences and things that went right with the meal. It's clearly the case that people are more likely to report a negative experience than a positive one - but it has ever been thus, and that fact simply makes business owners more eager to please, which can hardly be a bad thing. "I believe that where livlihoods are at stake people should be reluctant to publish anecdotal negative experiences for fear of excessively tarnishing reputations. Any such a post should be heavily caveated with 'perhaps I was unlucky but' or 'I don't know that this is always the case but' or something to that effect. " Any report on a forum such as this is clearly a description of a single, personal experience. I don't think it is up to the poster to make this explicitly clear with each post. The value of 'citizen' reviews is in their aggregation - yes, one should be more hesitant to rely on a single negative review on e.g. London Eating/EDF than a national paper before writing off a restaurant, but one can take fairly seriously 10 negative views saying more or less the same thing, especially if no-one has a good word to say (not the case with Locale). I think you are being unnecessarily defensive of the poor quality dining experience available at Locale. lenadee: I think you are totally wrong, and your comments are pretty offensive. Would you be happy to pay the same for the food at Thai Corner Cottage as e.g. The Fat Duck (not that I've eaten there - just an example of a michelin-starred place with prices approximately 20 times as high as TCC)? Value remains important in dining no matter how rich you are. You seem to suggest that unless you're rich enough to pay any imaginable restaurant bill (very few are) you should eat at home 365 days a year. Are you completely mad?

I'm also with Be (although on the New Cross exchange) and have found them to be excellent for speed, price and customer service. The wireless router works fine for me - not the fanciest but does everything I need it to! Edit: There's a speedtest here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html which tests the speed of your actual connection at the moment you do the test rather than the theoretical maximum speeds possible at the exchange. Obviously this is subject to time of day/your use of the connection as you run the test.

nutty Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The thing is - I'd call the Palmerston and > Franklins a "bit pricey" also. But in general I > think their food/service/setting is worth it. > > I think there are a few posters on here who just > haven't adjusted to the new "gentrified" ED > restaurant prices.... > > No more pricey than equivalents in Clapham or in > town (and not having to go into town for a good > meal is a plus in my book!) I'm not objecting to the concept of a restaurant (in East Dulwich or elsewhere) costing as much as Locale - I'd happily spend that much (albeit quite infrequently) on food if it was worth it. I just think that Locale falls far short of the quality you would expect for that money.

Bang on 8 track. Glad some people share my views on this place!

Thomas - I have never said that everyone was of equal intelligence, and this thread is evidence of how wrong that assertion would be. What I am saying is that people are of equal *worth* and it is not fair that some get to go to vastly superior schools (at least in terms of academic achievement) than others because of what their parents can afford. This also doesn't help the state sector as a whole portion of bossy middle-class parents who would make a fuss about issues that parents care about opt out of the system. People who go to Dulwich College aren't necessarily any cleverer than those at the academy@peckham, say - they just have necessarily wealthier parents. You remind me of Michael Gove who, when challenged on the high proportion of Cameron's shadow cabinet who went to Eton, said that this merely meant that the parents of those politicians thought them worthy of the investment. Because of course parents of state school kids have just decided that the money's safer in an ISA since Jake's not too good at maths. Don't mention scholarships - however many people at DC are on scholarships it WILL be a tiny percentage on anything approaching full fees/fully means tested. E.g. Eton College often boasts about how 1/6th of its students are on some kind of scholarship (I believe this is very high for the sector) but conveniently forget to point out that nearly all of those are pupils who could afford to go there anyway and have just been given a discount because they are very clever/musically talented. The actual number of people on means tested scholarships at Eton is something like 1%.

Thomas. Whether your house was owned by the council at one point or not and whatever sacrifices your parents made is irrelevant. The bottom line is that if they can afford to spend the ?13000/year on fees that Dulwich College charges they are some way above the bread line. Private education is bad because it is unfair that the children of people who can afford to pay that amount of money get a better start in life than those who don't. It is also bad because it breeds division in society. What your parents choose to do and what you do does 'interfere' with other people because we all live together. Surely you can understand that? If the only price you pay for the advantages private education gives you is a bit of teasing on a forum then I think you're probably still winning...

I'm on the New Cross exchange with Be There internet and I've not had any outages since getting it installed in September. I only use on the evenings and weekends though! Can't recommend Be enough - one of the cheapest (except for those bundles/freebies you get) and fast.