Louisa

be careful what you wish for. On the one hand bemoaning being priced out of postcode after postcode presumably as a result of gentrification, and then on the other hand settling for an area you hope is becoming gentrified is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Gentrification is great if you already own somewhere and want your house price to keep rising and rising, but the long term damage it can do when whole swathes of this city become unaffordable to the next generation of home owners are frightening. Nice areas do not have to be gentrified to be nice, they can be made nice by the community living in it without having fancy coffee shops popping up on every corner. Louisa.

Nor Thomas Crapper who lived at 12 Thornsett Road (c1897-1910) and invented the flush system on a toilet. Not crap jokes now EDF, it's beneath us nearly 8 years in ;-) Louisa.

RPC indeedy! I've been as far from here as almost physically possible on a road to places like Penzance and Inverness and I still see London as the main destination. Says it all really. Louisa.

I'm with Otta. Who could possibly compare Dartford or any other Medway town with suburban London? That's almost blasphemy. Louisa.

Haha. Louisa.

Costa Coffee have no interest in ED. They've been looking at Forest Hill and Brockley station areas for some time though but are yet to find a suitable location. So fear not chain-free warriors, they're not taking on the former deli site. Louisa.

Where sea cow currently resides I thought? Louisa.

Two threads now talking about the ED deli. My money is on a cat shop, seeing as we have a dog shop, for equality purposes. Louisa.

Penge/Beckenham..... East Dulwich/Peckham.... We all have a view on our neighbour and they often tend to be quite dismissive. But if you live in an area you're probably going to be more knowledgable than an outsider. I've personally always found Penge a decent place good butcher on the high street, functional shops which serve a purpose and not overpriced. But I don't live there, I don't see the area as often and more especially at night as maybe parkdrive does. Louisa.

Still old working class London values that's why Otta. Who wants to replicate a false homogenised Middle England view of the world by colonising an area with a set of culturally elitist ideals (East Dulwich circa 2014). Penge is real, it is what it is, it's not pretentious and it's far friendlier than ED. Louisa.

Probably another much needed gift shop/estate agent/Indian restaurant. Louisa.

http://deserter.co.uk/2014/09/streetlife-lordship-lane-se22/ Not sure if this has already been posted? If so my apologies. Louisa.

Penge was the aspirational step-up for the folk who lived in the slums surrounding Bermondsey and docks in the 1920s and 30s. It was a quiet suburban spot which technically was still part of Kent, with a strong rural heritage. Here we are less than a century later and Penge finds itself the inner city rough around the edges suburb needing some tlc, with Bermondsey now the pricey and unaffordable former slum. How times and places change. Louisa.

My bark is more ferocious than my bite. Louisa.

Shop next to Moxons Tortilla allegedly, former haus of wood black lab coffee was the rumour. Louisa.

I see all sorts when I'm on the juice. Never seen a monkey, but I once saw a pink cow on landells road. Louisa.

I want to know if Nicola Sturgeon is going to get that independence bouffant hairstyle sorted now. The consequences of a NO vote are profound. Louisa.

A comfortable victory for the union in the end. Any less than 55% would have raised questions. Louisa.

As expected, the silent nay sayers had it in the bag all the long. 58/42 to no so far. Louisa.

This referendum isn't about the SNP, it's about Scotland and the future for its people. So I totally agree that comparing the huge yes/no life changing vote in a nations history to a right wing fringe political party is sneering at it's worst. Louisa.

Absolutely agree. It does seem a shame that so many individual politicians and celebrities are using this debate as a platform for a personal moment in the sun rather than for the good of the people (I refer to both yes and no camps here). Louisa.

Yes voters have been portrayed as being loud anti-English despots, when in fact culturally it's not unusual for Scottish people to be fired up by pretty much most things, and for it to be politics is great for democracy. These people obviously for a whole variety of reasons feel an independent nation could do better than one connected to the union. I don't agree, but I do understand why and if the scots vote for independence I wish them all the luck in the world. I just wish Salmond was not connected with any of this stuff, his smug self righteous politics are more about himself than his country. Louisa.

Although I despise the politics of the SNP and other nationalistic parties, I do sympathise with the anti-westminster sentiment. A staunchly Labour voting central belt, once dominated by industrial might has suffered at the hands of governments they have tended to vote against in the past. The patronising tones of westminster politicians who've never lived on the bread line dictating from more than 500 miles away from within a nation state that claims to be democratic when in 2014 it's head of state is an unelected member of the aristocratic elite, who occasionally spends time in remote castles in your part of this 'Kingdom'. If I were a progressive Scottish socialist I would see the opportunities that would arise from ditching London and going down a new route where you could eventually leave behind the old guard of fading British imperialism and create a fairer society that gets what they vote for and has control of it's own affairs. It's all rather painful hearing the London elite singing the praises of the union when it's tended only ever to benefit that city anyway. Swathes of the union are deprived and crying out for redistribution of business, power and industry. It's about time the whole country re-evaluates it's political and constitutional makeup and I'm hoping this referendum allows time for reflection, after we've hopefully scraped hope with a narrow NO victory. Louisa.

I reckon Cameron et al know something about a $hit load more of yet to be drilled for oil in the North Sea. Can't see why else he would be so desperate to keep the jocks happy? It surely benefits the tories if scotland leaves the union anyway doesn't it? Louisa.

M&S is food is genuinely no better than any mid-range supermarket. It's packaged and marketed for people to believe it is a premium product, and yes the price certainty is comparably premium, but the quality certainly is not. Iceland attracts people for basic produce is a damn site cheaper than the Co-op for bread, milk other basics etc. the older population of those on a restricted income who shop here will suffer to an extent, but it's about more than that. It's about the second largest retail spot on the lane falling to gentrification when as pointed out previously, the area still has a large proportion of the population close to the poverty line. Louisa.