Caron

> The selection criteria will exclude most working class boys. > Very few of the pupils will be from North of Peckham Road/Peckham > High Street. Many parents will be those who can't afford, or won't > pay, the fees for Alleyns or Dulwich College. The property prices > in the East Dulwich Bermuda Triangle will double. The school will be > renamed "Honor Oak". Let's hope so. Seriously, the other Harris Academy is full of working class girls and the middle class parents haven't taken it over, despite its amazing facilities, and I don't think the property prices near it are any higher than anywhere else round here. So I wouldn't worry. You need a critical mass of the middle classes to bring a school "up".

You just get used to the bit you live in. If you're on the east side, you enjoy the park, the Herne and the quiet; if you're on the west side you enjoy the public transport, Lordship Lane's facilities and the bustle. A very good friend of mine actually sold up her place 3 mins from the station and has moved to the top of Forest HIll Road for the views, quiet and fresher air. Even living near Peckham Rye, I'm only a 15 minute walk to Lordship Lane.

I wonder if the person who fought back has died of his injuries, in which case it would become a murder investigation. God, I hope not, the poor thing.

I pay ?12 a month with the Halifax for a one bedroomed flat.

> Time for another round of applause for Mr Administrator for doing this whole thing.... Indeed!

Hello MLTeenie My bike's still going like the clappers after your service! I need Manor Park Road in Sutton. Happy to cycle along the stationary traffic through Carshalton and all through Crystal Palace/Thornton Heath on the way there, but once I'm on that big bit of Purley way past Ikea my nerve fails. Thanks for any ideas.

I loved your post Luddite > abut arent you glad you dont live in peckham like me where there > are at my last count 23 halal butchers , ten fish shops six pound > shops , and ten or more very cheap clothes shops Ah, but at least they're independent! I do take everyone's point about clone high-streets and would hate LL to become one, but would really like there to be more useful facilities. I ended up in the chain Sainsbury's to get the preserved lemons I was after a few weeks back, after the independent SMB Foods and the lovely Turkish place on Forest Hill Road failed to deliver. Both have a place and dismissing a shop just because it's a chain seems a bit of a broad sweep. While I'm on my soap box, aren't Winkworth, Acorn, Bushells, Ludlow Thompson and Haarts chains? Isn't Budgen's a chain? I'm glad of it when I want something last minute at 10:00 at night when the independents are tucked up in bed. Steps off soapbox.

> We live near the butcher's/ new gym so it's a similar problem > with parking etc. However the benefit of a great butcher on my > doorstep far outweigh the negatives of my street being a car > park on a saturday. I agree with Captain Birdseye. I live near the Herne Tavern and sometimes can't park and have, on occasion, been disturbed by drunk chavs bellowing "knees up Mother Brown" or lying in the road, but the benefits outweight the inconveniences. It's all a grey area. I think the Warehouse's benefits to the entire community probably outweigh the inconvenience to the residents. We aren't living in the Dorset countryside and have to expect things about London that hack us off. I can't see that a warehouse of independent retailers is any worse than a derelict warehouse on a residential street. I know what I would prefer.

For years I used to ride to Television Centre on Wood Lane and it took an hour to go the 11 miles each way. Luckily the BBC Club has showers. I was doing a bit of running too, and lost two stone in seven weeks. However, I'm now working in Sutton and just cannot face the A23 so I'm driving. It's usually about 45 mins in the morning and longer in the evening (an hour and ten tonight). I'd love to ride if I could find a good route that avoided the A23.

What's the ED Warehouse?

I like shops that let me get what I want without having to get the car out and don't care if the people opening suchlike are independent or chain. Very happy with Nero plus the independent cafes and bars we currently have. I don't want any more independent knick knack shops. A good stationer and/or much bigger bookshop with a Nero at the back would be great, imo. At this time of year I'd love a TK Maxx for the Christmas shopping (joke). We could do with Somerfield moving to Forest Hill Road in place of the perennially understocked, queue-ridden Co-Op and then maybe Waitrose on LL in Somerfield's old premises.

I was wondering what had happened when I was diverted on my journey home this evening. They seem to have been there a long time.

Not important, but just wondering ...

Gosh, I'm moving back to ED after a three-year sojourn in Poole and I'm already nervous/exhilarated by all the goings-on (#40 window-smashing, etc). A few years ago I lived in Pimlico opposite a cabinet minister and there were always police stationed outside. Very helpful and tolerant of our drunken cone-stealing they were too.

I had problems with the conveyancing on a property and found legalcomplaints.org.uk unbelievably helpful. NOt only did they sort out the issue with my conveyancer, but also got me ?300 compensation, which I had neither sought, nor even considered. Give them a go. They'll sort you out.