Parker's Folly

Nothing wrong with the place, just the snotty, self-satisfied people that populate it now. The thrusting, preening, "Oh my God, look at us, we've arrived!" types, who pay over-the-top prices for very average, working class Victorian terraces stuck in a ditch in South London.

The 436 is the Devil's own bus, quick or not. I'd rather pierce my eye repeatedly with a rusty nail than be forced to climb on that bus.

I notice everyone is quite happy to go on about brilliant primary schools here, but very little is made mention of secondary schools. I can't claim to be an expert, but I think that is possibly one of the weaknesses school-wise in the greater Dulwich area - correct me if I am wrong.

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So if it weren?t? for the crows Peckham Rye would > be full of rotting fried chicken bones and donner > kebab meat. > > I was in Nairobi recently and nearly soiled me > britches when an entire flock of eagle/hawk like > birds landed around me. They each stood about 2 > feet tall! A local explained to me that they are > scavengers and feed off all the rubbish in the > city. > > I think I prefer the crows. They?re more poetic > anyway. I think you encountered Maribou Storks there chum. They are freakin ugly birds and bloody scary too.

London is great to live in if you are single, or a couple without kids, or if you have a lot of money. If you are none of the above, and have a family, I personally believe living out of London offers a better quality of life for young children growing up. I love East Dulwich and its probably the nicest part of London for me, but I worry about schooling around here. Unless you have ?20,000 p.a to send a kid to the better schools, once your kids hit secondary school age, there is a lack of quality around here, in my opinion. Of course, that could change over the next 10-15 years, but you don't really know that at this point in time.

Polly D Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Liquorice burgers are v v nice. Sounds digusting - aniseedy meaty burgers? Yuck...

Louisa - ho hum darling, your bigotted ideas about class are so enlightening. As if we have a choice over what accent we have. No matter what "class" you are, you will generally speak similarly to the way your parents do, and they in turn. Not much choice there. Speaking of accents, isn't estuary English meant to be taking over the whole of southern England now? So where do you get your ideas of bland middle class accent then? Listen to the BBC presenters for example - very few of them speak RP now, and even Her Maj's accent has changed over the years to reflect a watering down of its poshness.

It seems that 90% of the "famous" people spotted in East Dulwich are all out of Soap Operas - how sad. Where are the really famous people?

I'm amazed that no one has commented on how great the view over London is from the hillside just below the estate itself. I walk there often and hardly ever see anyone around, except the occasional dogwalker. Either people just don't know about it, or are put off by the thought of walking near an estate for some reason. In my opinion the views are better than those from Hampstead or Highgate by far - you have a panoramic view of the whole London skyline, stretching from Millinium Dome, Canary Wharf, the City, St Pauls, BT tower, Houses of Parliament to the Battersea Power Station, you name it. On a clear day you can even see the Wembley Arch and Harrow. And best of all, you don't have 1,000 tourists tossing frisbees over your head either....

Michael Popodopoulous and friends - I don't see why you should "care" so much about Peckham when you don't even live there. What is it to you if there are lots of churches there? Would you be making the same jokes if there were 20 mosques there as well? The people of Peckham are entitled to do what they like, including worship at a church, whether it is evangelical or not. Sorry if this is off topic, but then again, a chemist in an area which is not even East Dulwich is slightly off topic too.

Why don't we just recycle the plastic bags and make lego blocks out of it? Pardon my ignorance on such matters. I suppose someone will tell me now that the process of forming the lego blocks will release noxious gases into the atmosphere. Or maybe we could turn plastic bags into a type of breeze block for building new houses in the Thames Estuary?

This has been rehashed on here a number of times. If you want to know the answers, speak to residents of Notting Hill, Fulham, Hoxton & Shoreditch, etc. It's called gentrificationm and is a fact of life, anywhere in the developed world.

Lord Haw Haw aka William Joyce

The deep south of what? Kent or Essex?

The 363 bus goes all the way to Crystal Palace. You can catch it in Peckham, anywhere along the Rye and Forest Hill Road and then up past the cemetary and back to the South Circular junction with Lordship Lane and then on to Crystal Palace. Its actually a very quick journey most times - 15 to 20 min max.

Environmental Health are about as helpful as tits on a tortoise in my opinion. I had noisy neighbours partying until 4am, and EH took more than an hour to get to East Dulwich (they're based near London Bridge it seems) and then phoned me again to ask for directions, as they were lost. When they finally arrived 1.5 hrs later the noise had died down and they said they could find no justification for our noise complaint.

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well this being my business an' all... > > The biggest challenge with ED wouldn't be the > right brand, but how many people would get to see > the message. If you just wanted to get a message > to the residents, you could probably put up some > temporary bunting for not much more than a couple > of grand. At that price Foxton's would probably > take it. > > The killer execution would have to generate media > coverage - maybe a couple of dailies and London > tonight. Remember the village in dorset that > banned plastic bags?? > > For that you'd need someone for whom the local > community embodied the aspirational character of > the community as perceived by outsiders - it > wouldn't need to be an accurate relection. > > So Audi wouldn't work on it's own, but I'd pitch > for a three week period for a hydrogen powered > Audi A3. Audi would bid for residents within the > SE22 area to give up their cars for a week, and > replace them instead with free use of a mini fleet > of say 10 eco friendly sample vehicles. They'd pay > 150k for the poster coverage across the 3 weeks, > with the central week having the sponsored > no-drive. They'd also offer 500 quid for each > household that gave up car use for the week to be > paid to an environmental charity of our choice. > > The 150k would go to the removal of all parking > spaces on upper LL, and additional disabled spaces > outside Somerfield ;-) Ho hum - good thing I'm not paying your salary or your fee.

If this is an ED forum, why do you all meet up at pubs that are in Camberwell and Peckham?

SimonM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Been there today. Much bigger, gratifyingly wider > aisles, and what looked like an wider range of > food goods, as well as clothes and electricals. > expanded DVD/CD sections etc. The meat counter is > attractively laid out but the beef - all cuts -is > more expensive than William Rose and my guess > still inferior quality. Bakery/cakes also a lot > more spacious. The self-service check-out is > amrvellous if you only have a basket-full (as I > did), although you do need to remember to feed in > yoru Nectar card first (as I failed to do) > > Also (strictly in the interests of consumer > research :))) gave the Starbucks a whirl. It is > about twice the size of before - more tables and > chairs but they are mostly too close together, > given that so many customers want to negotiate a > full shoppin trolley in with them. They still > serve espresso in a paper cup and the blueberry > cheesecake was expensive and inferior in every way > to the version sold on Northcross Road market.... The only beef I like from Sainsbury's is Jamie Oliver's vacuum-packed aged steaks. In my opinion they consistently beat most of what is on offer for steaks in supermarkets, even though I know some people hate the idea of vacuum-packing food, but I think it works well with aged steaks.

MadWorld74 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cleaver! yes! terrible. > > There isn't another decent coffee place in ED. Too > busy in Blue Mountain. Coffee in the Drum is > always burnt and well, haven't tried anywhere > else. Coffee at Mon Petit Chou is usually very good, I find.

I'd agree Louisa, and they can extend that smartening-up to East Dulwich Station whilst they're at it - not the most welcoming feel to ED stepping off those platforms, down the grotty tarmac path and out onto GV.

bald marauder Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > While obviously suffering from many of the > problems that generally beset the industry, I have > to say that Foxtons were actually more realistic > in pricing our last property (we used them when > moving from Bethnal Green) than most of their > competitors, who overvalued the property just to > get it on their books. That's not to take away > from the sharp practice that they indulge in, but > I do wonder if they are unfairly vilified amongst > their peers. Are any of the other chains really > that much more honest and transparent? No, not really, we despise them all.

A3 to the M25, link to M4 that way.

God forbid I should mention this, but I have bought fresh fish from the Seacow's counter to cook at home, and it was very good. The guy serving me was able to tell me where the fish was bought, and that it was landed that day. It was certainly very good and extremely fresh. A few days later I bought fresh fish from Moxons, and although they are clearly knowledgeable, the lemon sole I bought had not been gutted or scaled properly, and it was old - it smelled like ammonia when I unwrapped it, which is clearly not good. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt though, as everyone seems to love Moxons in this place.

Actually, tar and feather me and put me in stocks on Goose Green roundabout, but I actually like Northcote Road and still go there from time to time.