Pengui

Danny is definitely missed by my family and especially my son. When my boy was younger he was a tearful troublemaker on the pitch but Danny really knew how to work with him and over time he flourished. But we've been going to the new sessions and like them quite a lot. I think it's good that they start with skill development games and that each child gets a ball or gets to play in small groups. The matches are smaller now too, giving more children a chance at the ball. Previously, when many more than 11 kids per side were playing, my son basically danced around with his head in the clouds. Now the numbers are more reasonable and kids pass the ball to him which keeps him focused on the match. Not that my son would have had the focus and confidence to stay in the match, taking wins and losses, without Danny's wonderful coaching for the last two years. I will always be very grateful to him for that. I look forward to hearing where he coaches next -- we'll be there!

Not since 2012 have I experienced the system DMC claims below. Three years ago I would hit redial for 20 minutes, wait on hold for another 10, then usually get an appointment. About 1.5 years ago I would hit redial for 1/2 hour or more only to be put on hold and eventually told there were no appointments. This has happened repeatedly, and I would usually be advised go to the walk-in clinic or wait until after 6:00 and call SELDOC. Never have I been directed to a nurse or pharmacist. Once a SELDOC doctor scolded me for using their service for an prescription refill that required a doctor check-up. I explained that I could not get an appointment for weeks and was advised by DMC staff to call SELDOC. The doctor said this was naughty of DMC! I have only received a callback from a DMC doctor once -- after begging the receptionist to give my son an appointment so we could get a referral letter to a private doctor! The DMC doctor who phoned was lovely and set up an appointment to treat my son. This is the process my family has used to get care for the last 1.5 years until last week when I learned they had stopped filling my child's asthma prescription because we had been mistakenly dropped from the practice. DMC Healthcare Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > From talking to patients we know there is some > confusion and irritation about the triage process. > Where patients phone in the morning, they will be > called back by a doctor and either be given a > same-day appointment, which we do in appropriate > cases, or directed to one of our nurses or > prescribing pharmacists. We are facing the same > systemic pressures as other London and Dulwich > GPs, as described by Dr Rosemary Leonard speaking > on TV this week. There will be new information > going up on the practice website. We find that > patients accept the clinical triage and the need > to red flag certain symptoms early in the morning, > once we explain it to them. Please be assured we > are working very hard to deal with the current > situation.

My entire family was dropped as well (I described this earlier in the thread), and the DMC receptionist explained to me that NHS, not DMC, had removed us from their list. She said it was happening so often at DMC that she called her own surgery to make sure it hadn't happened to her (it hadn't). Based on the posts here this problem seems to have been going on at DMC for months. It might be a software malfunction, and maybe it originated in a centralized NHS database (I doubt it), but that it remains unsolved is an administrative malfunction. I finally went to another local surgery to register and they had just run out of forms. Whilst printing out new forms I overheard the receptionists comment on their recent, surprising spike in registrations. Not so surprising to me. kristen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This happened to me as well Ms Crawford and I > think few others on here too. > > Thought at first trying to get rid of me as have > chronic condition but wonder now heard happen to > more if a software malfunction.

DMC, your text reminders have always worked well for us. In fact, I received a text reminder to schedule my child's asthma check up just two weeks before I received a call from you saying that his asthma prescription could not be refilled because we had been mysteriously dropped from your practice. I applaud your text reminders, but the impossibility of scheduling an asthma check-up and now having asthma medication denied remains the problem.

sorry -- posted in the wrong place.

Apparently if you are registered at DMC you should call (lolz, I know) right away to check if you have been dropped from the practice. Today I received a call from DMC about my son's repeat asthma prescription -- it could not be filled because my child had been mysteriously "dropped by NHS" according to the receptionist. As it turns out it wasn't just my son who had been dropped -- my entire family had been "dropped by NHS." Not by DMC, according to the receptionist. Apparently someone at NHS is randomly dropping people for reasons she did not understand and DMC cannot control. She said this is happening to many patients enrolled at DMC. The only solution is to return to the practice and resubmit registration forms. Perhaps there is a good reason for all this. Perhaps unicorns are real. If I wasn't in such a hurry to get my son's asthma medication I'd find another practice. I think I'd better anyway. As it is I've had to go to SELDOC or the occasional mobile clinic in Dulwich Park for all my basic medical care.

This is the 3rd school alert of a local attempted child abduction since June 2012, the last two involving a man in a blue van. Can they not find this person? I hope a better description of the van and the man is circulated -- as it is I'm now staring down the driver of every blue van I see.

I just had my first visit to Busy Bee at her space on Lordship Lane, and she threaded my eyebrows perfectly. For the past 10 years I have only had my eyebrows threaded (after a waxing disaster!), and I can say with confidence that Busy Bee listened carefully to me and shaped my brows exactly as I wanted them. She was also surprisingly gentle -- usually my skin goes beet red after threading, but this wasn't the case with Busy Bee. And while she didn't apply lotion after, I've been turning that down for years. In the past those lotions have irritated my skin. I did read Kubikrubik's posts before I went to Busy Bee, and while I don't agree at all with her/his opinion of Busy Bee's work I can see where she/he is coming from to a certain degree regarding the space. Busy Bee rents a room at the back of a gym, and whoever runs that gym could be a bit more courteous to Busy Bee and her clients by tidying up better. As for Busy Bee's room, I found it to be clean, comfortable and perfectly adequate for the job. I'm glad to be another satisfied client of Busy Bee! I will certainly go back and will recommend her to friends.

Count me in too! I'll have my 2-year-old with me, and she would love to meet new playmates.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your comments and the Aha link. Since I am certain my child has no knowledge of what happened I'll just wait to see if the subject comes up. Part of me wants to protect him from the news, or prepare him for it, but I think Mrs TP is right -- this impulse probably has more to do with my own strength of identity with this situation. Fortunately we are here and far away from the endless coverage this story will get.

I hate to even bring up this nightmare on the forum, but I do so because I'm at a loss as to whether or not I should prepare my Year 1 child for playground talk about the shooting. My child has not heard the news. We are from the US and the same general region as the crime scene, and if we were still there I would definitely say something before Monday (I suspect every teacher in the US will speak to their classes about it). But do I need to bring this up to my child here? Have you? Will local school children be speaking or thinking about this on Monday?

The other day in Dulwich Park... Admittedly the dog was old and sweet, but I felt for the cafe employees. They were clearly annoyed by the blatant disregard of their sign.

Thanks very much for the helpful suggestions! I'll share all of these with her, though I suspect she'll also agree with sandyman regarding the 176. Taking the bus will give her a chance to look around.

A good friend is flying into Heathrow tomorrow late morning and would like to get to ED by public transportation. She's a bit of a world traveler and doesn't mind the hassle. Any suggestions for how to best do this? We're relatively new here and I have yet to figure this out... Thanks!

first mate Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I do think that if owners could keep dogs on lead > along walkways, enclosed gardens and around the > cafe we would see a great difference, but other > park users need to be more considerate too. I'm > thinking about the dog that was sitting outside > the cafe offlead. I completely agree that it > should have been on lead and tied, but this would > not have changed the fact that it did not feel > comfortable being approached by children - this > does not necessarily mean it is vicious or > aggressive. Many children today can treat dogs and > other animals like toys and view them as readily > accessible for their entertainment at all times. > > The dog owner was also at fault though because if > her dog is stressed enough by people/children > approaching it to lunge and snap (the dog's way of > saying you are making me nervous) the owner should > not be leaving it outside on its own. I couldn't agree with this more, First Mate. Your solution is easy, simple and would work if people chose to comply with lead signs (and respect dogs in designated areas). And I do take full responsibility for allowing my daughter to approach the dog outside the cafe. My daughter is small and gentle, and she only managed to say "hi doggie" before she was knocked on her back, but in retrospect I should never have assumed that a dog is approachable just because its owner trusts it enough to leave it offlead and alone in a public space. Clearly the dog was stressed.

I'm sorry to hear about Tilly -- how terrifying! I'm glad she is recovering! I am also very interested in this discussion for the reasons 73jem cited. My 2 year old daughter was lunged upon and snapped at by a large shaggy dog left off the lead outside the cafe in Dulwich Park while the owner sat inside with her friends. I made the foolish assumption that the dog was friendly because it was off the lead and sitting nicely by the cafe windows in sight of its owner (I'll NEVER make that mistake again!). Several other children attempted to approach the dog after my daughter was knocked down, so I stood by to warn them. The owner, who witnessed some of this through the window, wagged her finger at her dog and mouthed "no" -- but she never bothered to get up or come out of the cafe, and she only shrugged when I glared at her. Clearly this woman felt she could trust her dog to behave, but it was obvious that she couldn't (same goes for the owners of Tilly's attackers). As the previous owner of three well behaved dogs, I always kept them on the lead in public areas out of consideration for others because dogs make some people nervous. I loved my dogs, but people come first, including the owners of other dogs who worry about the safety of their pets. And who can really guarantee that a dog's instinct to behave as it might in the wild won't occasionally override its training? Keeping my dogs on the lead in public areas never had a negative impact on their health or experiences outdoors as they always had plenty of time to run free in designated areas (this was not in Dulwich Park, so I admittedly do not know the designated areas). I am now even more vigilant about my children when free roaming dogs are about in Dulwich Park, but since we can't always trust dog owners to be good judges of their dogs it seems to me that lead rules should not be optional.

Clearly this man has knocked on countless doors in ED over the last few days. Imagine the money he would have if he actually brought a bucket and cleaning supplies with him!! Is it really more profitable to just scam?

Well, I remain here with dirty windows and a ?10 note burning a hole in my hand. He didn't show for his scheduled appointment (thankfully).

Thank you -- hopefully he won't turn up again. I will search this site for reputable window cleaners!

I'm relatively new to ED and based on previous threads I think I was approached by window cleaning scammers... A man just knocked on my door (which my young son opened!! Another issue entirely), said he planned to clean windows on my street and offered to clean ours. They are quite dirty so I said yes, then he asked for advanced pay for several months of cleaning. I told him I didn't need months of cleaning, so he said he'd come back tomorrow but asked me to pay in advance. I told him I'd pay after the job was done, so we scheduled his return for 3:00 tomorrow. He left talking into his mobile about "booking another appointment", though I didn't see him dial anyone. Anyone else speak to this person? Am I correct to think this is a scam? I suppose I'll find out if he shows up tomorrow, but based on previous threads I hope he doesn't...

Should have searched the posts first! Just saw an earlier thread and Oak Tree sounds lovely...

We're new to ED and just saw a sign advertising open spaces at Oak Tree Nursery on Tell Grove -- would love to hear what other parents think of this nursery. Thanks!

It was too much to hope for, I suppose.

I'm an American happily living in East Dulwich although now the calendar has turned to September, I find myself mising US football. Are there are any pubs or bars in the area that show games?

Thank you Ed_Pete and Red Devil for your helpful suggestions! Will try the pansies again, this time with pellets. And I especially love the idea of ornamental cabbages, kales, and the autumn flowering crocuses. Thanks again!