Caron

If you're considering a long-haul trip this year, you might want to consider the Kerala coast in India. I just got back from the best holiday I've ever had last week and want to share info. BTW, no bites and no upset tummy. It's only ?70 a night for a house that sleeps 6 (plus bunks for two kids) including three staff who attend to your every whim. There's a private beach, a lovely village, fabulous South Indian food, freshly-caught fish, freshly-plucked coconuts, etc. They arrange yoga, ayurveda, cooking lessons, boat trips, exploring up the backwaters etc. I'm just going to post my chap's blog about the trip so you can see what we did but they are super-accommodating and will sort out anything you want to do in the area (do click on the photo of the beach on the right to see the photos). Do PM me if you want info. http://blog.robmay.me.uk/2008/02/blissful-kerela.html

I agree that they're friendly and helpful. When a postie put a registered letter containing my passport and driving licence through my door without seeking a signature, I popped up to Sylvester Road to complain and the bloke behind the counter was horrified and I heard him go into the back and bollock the guilty party. I do get absolutely loads of post for someone who lives at 69 Ryedale misdelivered to me.

I went past it this afternoon and there are indeed many boxes of wine being stacked up in there.

Thanks Chavwivalawdegree! I'll give him a call in the New Year and see what he thinks.

Brilliant - thank you. I might go and give my smoke-ridden lungs a workout.

I've mentioned this on another thread but I noticed that the post is arriving later and later down St Aidan's Road. I saw the postman wheeling his trolley back to Sylvester Road at 5:30 tonight.

DC - great post and I agree 200%

Boosboss - good for you! Thank you for chasing some yobs off the cafe. Blighters.

?????? - what shops would you like to see in ED (do some blue-sky thinking or whatever it's called)? I would love a huge book emporium with a cafe like Foyles or that huge one near UCL. It would cure my addiction to Amazon. Totally off-topic - my post was delivered at 5:00 pm today. What kind of service is that?

(still on soapbox) the other thing is that I'd say you can't always tell what a school is like by the Ofsted. One school I taught in which got 2's ("good") for everything is one of the most badly-run school's I've come across (it was also a boys' grammar). And my current school which also got 2's for everything is infinitely better in almost every way imho

> > "a pack of disruptive, illiterate boys coming from anywhere > >to spoil our learning atmosphere." > To be honest I'm not sure I'd want you teaching my son with an > attitude like that so I feel fortunate that I only have a > daughter. Oh, and that I don't live in Sutton. I was harsh when I posted that top comment. DC, you're clearly upset by it and I apologise for that. One thing that I applaud about this thread is the fact that everyone is so passionate and concerned about education. I have taught in two unbelievably difficult, deprived comps; a good, large, country comp and now my current boys' grammar school. I have grave concerns about selective education because of the "failures" who have to find somewhere else to go to school (like indeed I did). It's not ability that's the issue: I am genuinely happy to fulfil my professional obligations to prepare differentiated lessons that cater to all special educational needs, all learning styles, all abilities and all interests. However, what is so, so, so hard is teaching children in classes of 30, when a determined few create disruption and conflict. I give all I've got to help people who want to learn (lunchtime and after-school sessions, see kids individually, provide tailored work for those off ill,etc) - but the one thing I feel a total failure in doing is engaging disaffected - often very able - children. It has made me question the whole notion of compulsory post-11 education. I often felt a total failure at the end of a lesson knowing that the 25 sitting there, waiting, attentive, and trying to learn were being thwarted by my attention being focussed on the 5 who were buggering about. And in case you think I'm a lily-livered weakling who can't control 15-year-olds, I have a reputation for good behavoiur managment. I've taken the easy way out and gone to a school where a desire to learn is a given, but it is not the answer. The majority of the teachers I have met really believe in helping young people and work damn hard to achieve this. When you have prepared a whizzy, interesting, interactive, differentiated lesson in accordance with the syllabus, the QCA, the scheme of work and with Assessment for Learning requirements and the class gets through about 30% of the work because of disruption, it is utterly soul-destroying. I couldn't go back to a school like that, although (thank God) there are lots of teachers who thrive on this kind of challenge. I put my hands up: I don't know what the answer is. Every Child Matters. I don't have a child of my own, and if I did, I have no idea how I'd educate it round here. In case anyone's interested and wants to look them up, the schools I have taught in are Hartcliffe School in Bristol, George Ward School in Melksham and The Blandford School in Dorset.

I love the cafe. I always sit outside, so I can smoke. It's quiet outside.

I was sorry to see the demise of Anterior Trading. Although the stock wasn't on-trend or updated, you could always buy well-priced presents there. As for baby shops, I'm not a mother so not interested in them, but we don't have that many, do we? There's Soup Dragon and the new one near Nero, but I think that's it, so there's probably room for another. Let's face it: shops reflect the residents. They only open up where they're going to get customers. I have to say I often feel like the only woman in ED without a baby.

God, that's really shocking and awful. YOu poor thing. Once you've been broken into once, you need to be doubly vigilant as thieves come back once the insurance replacements have been delivered, as I found to my cost while living up in NW10. We must all keep our wits about us. Thank you so much for warning everyone on the forum.

I have a tiny, tiny front "garden" which my bike fits into. I would like to install a small, low-rise shed in which to lock my bike to protect it from view, the weather, fox poo, from which its wheels suffer greatly while stored in my back yard, and which would save me wheeling it through the flat to the back. I cannot find a small enough shed for love nor money. The bloke atthe timber yard at Underhill Road/Barry Road said that to have one built to measure would be about ?300, which is about three times what I paid for the bike. Does anyone know of any suitable suppliers or services which could help?

Klaus wrote: There's a lot to be said for dirt-cheap bikes. I agree with this. My dirt-cheap bike's been locked to a tree for nearly a week and no one has taken so much as the saddle off it, thank goodness.

Seanmlo - get yourself as fast as you can to the Citizens' Advice Bureau, a wonderful service which will give you advice and check your lease. I had tons of help from them when I had a builder who charged me ?10,154 to install a bathroom which didn't work. Even if it is in your lease, how come your landlord didn't bill you before two whole years were up? I think the rest of us get bills twice a year, which helps spread the cost. Don't take this treatment. The website is http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ and there is one in Peckham. It works on a first-come, first-served basis so you need to take a day off work. Good luck.

Last year Adori (I think it was her) and some others had a secular carol service outside their house on Uplands Road. It was really nice. However, I love the churchy ones, despite not being a church-goer myself. Does anyone know of any lovely Church carol services round here before Christmas eve?

I never seem to find what I want in Chener so I go to Amazon marketplace but I would love to spend ages browsing in a big bookshop like that brilliant one on Marylebone High St.

Keef - the school is a state boys' school in Sutton but it's selective. *Bob* - you're right! If only I had thought of that.

Just been reading MLTeenie's account of public transport torture getting from here to Farringdon. It is totally unacceptable that people's daily lives are marred by this dreadful battle twice a day. What can we do though, other than change jobs/move nearer work/move out of London, which are really drastic measures to take? I actually moved away from London to Dorset four years ago because I could no longer stand getting from SE22 to W12 by public transport. In the summer I would ride, but once the evenings (and mornings) drew in, I was too scared to cycle. By the way, there is a petition you can sign to get cycle-awareness integrated into the driving test. If you want to sign it, click on this link http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/cycle-drive/

The burgers in the Herne are very nice although about ?8.50

> Trains will also be frequent enough to give a "turn up and go" > service like a tube station, so you won't need to worry about > following the timetable. Well the trains from Peckham Rye sure as heck don't follow a timetable! So are we really getting a tube, or is it just an adapted overground line from Honor Oak? In what way will it be better than 63 > Peckham Rye > London Bridge > real tube???

jocelyn It's not that far to Honor Oak station from Marmora, but it's up hill and exhausting. I'd cross the road and take the 63 or 363 to Peckham station if it were possible.

It's such a shame isn't it? I'm so, so lucky I teach in a fantastic boys' school. Tons of different races and religions and backgrounds, but all with a common value: education is good and it's valuable. All of us - the boys, the parents, the teachers - have the same aim and it makes school life cohesive and focused. I'm not saying they can't be lazy, annoying toerags, but generally they want an education. I wouldn't want a pack of disruptive, illiterate boys coming from anywhere to spoil our learning atmosphere. Even one rotten apple literally ruins an entire class, in my humble experience.