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Calling all new market-visiting dog walkers. The Horniman has a lovely spacious designated dog exercise area of grass, just below the market terrace. Dogs are NOT permitted in the wild woodland area between the lower footpath and Wood Vale, which is a nature reserve. There are so few genuinely wild bits of London we can forget how protective we need to be. Please circulate the info, or the management will lock the gates again. Thanks in advance for understanding and co-operation.

Please could you clarify where the caf? is, sorry Nunheadfamily, need a map or an address. xx Good cause xx

...and there are the everpresent coffers of the Barry Road refugee centre to fill.... Nothing against the St Christopher's but if I were a refugee it might help reduce the pain if someone had been nice enough to donate totally new, unworn items instead of dowdy emergency supplies.

They are deciduous, so expect leaf colour change gradually over coming weeks. Your plant won't like frost around the outside of the pot. Can I suggest you plant it in the ground soon, choosing a rooting site anywhere (can be a cool shady foot of a wall) you can train the new branches towards southerly sunny light, as soon as it begins to regrow in the spring. A greenhouse / conservatory can have roots of a vine outside, and the main stem is grown through a hole in its wall to give you trellises of grape-bearing branches inside. Professional growers attend to their pruning system. Good page here => http://www.cornishgarden.com/grapes.html The main stem of a vine can last 100 years & more, only the top branches are new each year. They are notorious for being extremely tenuous plants capable of thriving even in thin stony topsoil.

Penguins, very sorry you are having to go through this. Can still remember the effect of sleep deprivation - during daytime we adults would feel as if the dream world was trying to get us back, from so many interrupted hours. We'd be unsteady on our feet, desperate for an unbroken night of rest. I think if I could reorganise that time I would accept tips offered in those 'Baby Whisperer' books, about short simple routines and cues to sleeptime repeated whenever the child is put in its cot, (not the same as cues to feed times, N.B.). I would take one side off the child's cot or cotbed, for it to be open alongside my larger bed, to reach across easily without having to get chilly, and to give us all more actual room. One problem with co-sleeping is losing space as a couple together. In sleep we need to turn and move around freely too. But as commenters wrote above, children do want their own room before long, they mainly need to know you are nearby. Whoever has responsibility for most of the daily childcare needs to get soothed themselves by gentle attention from another adult, partner/friend/mother/masseur. That is the other thing I would change, if I could, - that body chemistry of exhaustion and then the adrenaline-tension which is our natural response to sleep loss.

A film about letting agents, many who work to end racial discrimination will want to watch this. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/14/london-estate-agents-discriminate-black-people-bbc-investigation

A relative [lives in the West Country] had this done replacing an unsound tooth, one of the top 2 front ones which had been re-crowned for years so he knew ahead of time it would need replacing & took out an insurance policy. Cost over ?1,000 to get done and treatment was spread carefully over quite a few months, didn't suffer pain or infection of any kind. Between whiles the jaw has to settle down and at some point early on there is a compulsory course of antibiotics. Result, tooth itself is immaculate. The work made an almost imperceptible difference to the nerve/muscle on that side of the upper lip, slightly altering his smile. Reflecting on the depth of the operation, I would say spend the money and go to a dentist someone recommends personally, you want a senior UK practitioner with plenty of experience.

If in doubt about infestations, I would definitely delay arrival & unpacking until the place has had its deep clean and can be aired, empty for a few days. Could you possibly allow a few days to perch elsewhere, while the place is made more hygienic?

Scientists from a world class centre of research into aluminium, issue statement at odds with FSA and govt advice. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/10/formula-milk-babies-aluminium-health

Junction of Upland Rd and Friern Super tall pear tree there, hangs over the wall, householder never seems to pick them. Now autumnal winds are with us and the pavement is littered. Some are usable. I think it would always be better if fruit wasn't windfall though, because some carefully handpicked could be stored, useful over the coming months.

Get the tortoise to the vet PDQ as cat scratches nearly always get infected from dirt beneath their long claws. Tell your neighbour you are going to have to do this as I think someone reasonable would offer to help pay the veterinary bill. Also, about getting their pet 'done' be warned, neutering doesn't invariably stop them spray-marking territory or being aggressive with other animals nearby, so it might have already been tried.

What has been happening in the clothing industry since the Bangladesh factory disaster? http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/06/ethical-high-street-clothes-supply-chain-bangladesh

Have you tried standing on top & treading down the contents? Under someone's weight the twigs soon compress & you gain space for more. *comic incident with kitchen chair, bystanding teenager and balancing act*

Let's reframe this & shape the vagueness, it allows movement towards whatever anyone wants to say. E.g, in the 2nd question might I point out that many in this area are renting short-term then moving away again. Comparing perceptions of the biodiversity 10 years ago had better be addressed by long term residents. I think if opportunities like this are offered by Southwark staff, it is up to members of the voting public to use them - or lose them. The parks mean a great deal to ED. They vary in their amenities, but the generous allocations of trees and green space make it a much pleasanter part of London than nearby postcodes. I notice on the Forum that local people have strong feelings about the Council's tree and turf maintenance decisions, rightly so. If they spend taxes on butchering the plants and thus reducing wildlife, we will all be the losers.

Can I draw commenters attention to the following post which has been tucked away in the Drawing Room since 27th September, not apparently receiving any replies: from helenlaker@southwark: "I work for Southwark council, and regularly seek out opinions from the public about issues which will be included in the topics of debate in their Council Assembly, which is open to Southwark residents to attend. Next month, they are going to talk about Sustainable transport and the environment. Is there anything you would like to talk about with me on that subject? I have a few questions for you - What would encourage you to walk and cycle more? Do you think Southwark is more biologically diverse than it was 10 years ago? What do Southwark's parks mean to you?"

Get ready! http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/01/landlords-pickle-tenants-charter

Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm. Do send the link around to friends as well. Can I add to the other commenters' commiserations for you, gwod. Respect.

Topic resurfaced on the TV News today. An extensive chart appears below news item, showing you where in the UK has least/most room left for burials and gravestones. Permission already exists in London for re-use of gravesites after 75 years, and over most of the rest of the country, councils are applying for similar strategies. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24283426 Unfortunately the broadcast did not add a reminder that cemeteries are valuable for biodiversity. This point was made in the various nature programmes recently, but I believe it needs emphasis, because many of the alterations being proposed by councils, e.g. to reduce cemetery trees & make room for a few more graves, and to use fast growing, monoculture commercial turf, will have predictably adverse impacts on wildlife. To prevent needless loss of habitat, all councillors and planners need to study the way these environments can be designed to offer maximum provision for biodiversity. Councillors also need to be dissuaded from signing up for Nature-blind contractors and all the extra fossil fuel and man-hours that wrong decisions re trees and grasses will cost taxpayers decades into the future.

You can add your signature to a petition linked in the text, if you agree with its writer. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-womens-blog-with-jane-martinson/2013/sep/26/kick-bounty-out-maternity-wards-parenting-clubs

A few gorgeous Orb spiders around at the moment, webs showing up perfectly in foggy a.m. The 'miracles of engineering' are species clues, so this is a good time to observe. Spiders being part of life cycle essential to small garden birds it is excellent to see them flourishing. Resident flock of Aegithalos caudatus takes cobweb for nest building next spring, a reminder not to be too tidy in your garden. I don't see many Robins around, they need spiders as part of their diet. A note about windfall fruit. Unwanted on the pavements beneath the council's ornamental trees but we can leave garden supplies somewhere sheltered and sunny for the late butterflies and other insects, definitely this encourages the biodiversity back.

chick pea, something is not working quite right with the link, I will try another route. Need to report a large armchair flytipped at the Dunstans Rd footpath on to Dawson Hill nature reserve.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/22/london-super-sewer-cheaper-projects

Yes, echoing what the others have said. I missed reading this thread last week and I would like to add my sincere wish that all is going better for that little family already. The way the Child Protection law changed in recent years puts the child's wellbeing ahead of all other considerations. It means that even if one would rather not "get involved" the priority is the child. The law was also meant to make different branches of the caring professions liaise over vulnerable children, so it doesn't really matter where you start, the GP, social worker, nursery helper, teacher, health visitor. What does matter is that parents get help to better understand what a baby's language indicates & that any violence stops at once, whether it is physical or emotional. There are some good commonsense policewomen around ED and if the man of the house is someone known already, it will show up on the records. They would then help contacting social services with more urgency, because, as anyone who was maltreated in childhood would tell you, time and gentleness are of the essence for a little child in pain.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/07/invasive-species-fightback-plants-animals

I think the difference is how sterile a finish you're ordering. When people talk about 'deep cleaning' I think of hospitals and catering kitchens. However, getting the flat clean is the right thing to do. I wish the rental agencies were as good as their word. They promise absentee landlords to get places properly done between tenants. We have noticed they do the very least they can get away with. University accomodation is often a disgrace. What if the place housed people who carried TB, Hepatitis, HIV, etc? Careful landlords recoup the cost of deep cleaning by writing it into each tenancy agreement. Tenant arrives to a spotless place, and signs the agreement knowing there'll be one charge for a cleaning firm hired to do the carpets at the end of the contract. This can be non-negotiable. Steam-cleaning is good for tiled floors and carpets. Curtains & sofa covers -> laundrette service wash, or dry cleaners. Bathroom and kitchen should be, well, germ free - tiled walls & ceilings as well as the suite. London water makes regular lime scale removal worthwhile. A professional would take your order & arrange all this for you, plus clean things like mirrors and windows and skylights, lampshades & light switches, plugs and handles, the fridge, oven and hob and drains, front doorsteps and bins. Cheapie firms: a warning. 'Normal' cleaners are sometimes people whose passports are being held by a middleman while they work for peanuts in this ideal, hidden, black-economy job, paying off those who smuggled them in.