indiepanda

There's some rather hysterical comments about hostels here. I stayed in youth hotels in shared bunk rooms plenty of times in my twenties, it was a cheap option on hiking trips when funds didn't run to a hotel room. We certainly weren't running around creating a crime wave in the towns we visited. We were usually tucked up in bed by midnight ready for the next day's hiking and rarely that drunk as it spoiled the hiking and I don't remember having lots of problems with other guests at the hostels either. My former lodger who is 40 is currently off travelling round Europe staying in hostels and she definitely isn't wreaking a crime wave across the continent or finding herself caught up in one and I have a friend in East Dulwich who is regularly visiting different European countries to see as much before Brexit as possible and I don't think her and her son who she travels with are like that either. I have reservations about whether a hostel somewhere as far out of the centre as East Dulwich would really have much of a market - we are quite a distance out of the centre for tourists visiting central London and it's not like you can say it's a lovely picturesque journey here by bus or walking. I suspect a budget B&B which could be used by friends and family visiting people in the area who don't have spare rooms or for people coming to weddings in the area would be more successful.

I live near the Forest Hill Road end of Peckham Rye and I do like it here, but if I had my time over I would find somewhere the other end of the park to be nearer to Peckham Rye station for the transport links. I do use the station from time to time, but it's about a mile and half and it would make a big different to travel time being a mile closer.

Andy came out at very short notice to put up some blinds and take apart / move and reassemble a bed in a different room for me. He made sure he cleaned up after himself and went beyond what I had asked him to do (has asked if he could give me a hand moving mattresses and he did them on his own - how I do not know as one of them was very heavy!) Am already planning to get him back to do more jobs around the house.

embracefinancial Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Definitely East Dulwich Test Centre on Tyrell > Road. Had several MOTs / services done there and > they are quick, reasonably priced and very > helpful. Seconded, I've always found the guys in there really helpful and they don't try to rip you off by making you spend money before you need to. My last MOT and test my back tyres were getting worn but still good enough to get through the MOT and they said that given the low mileage I did, they thought I would be able to wait until next MOT to change them and just told me to come back sooner if my mileage went up compared to prior years.

Pretty much all insurance companies punish loyalty, just like energy suppliers, mobile providers etc, if you don't shop around they will hike up the rates year by year. Best rates reserved for new customers (or really stroppy existing ones they think they are going to lose). I got about ?150 off my car insurance (with Admiral) this year by doing a quote online and challenging my current insurer to beat the best alternative. The only thing I struggle to move is home insurance as lots of providers are convinced this area is a high subsidence area and either won't quote or quote silly rates. I even tried a specialist company recommended on here and found they tried to slap a ?40k excess on subsidence and hid it in the small print even though I had specifically said I wanted to make sure I was covered for that given how anxious the insurers seemed to be about it. However, even here I tend to whinge about the renewal quote most years and stop my insurer increasing the premium too much.

I saw a presentation on IT security recently that said the Android system is far more vulnerable to hacking than Apple's as Apple are much better at ensuring updates get rolled out - the ugy that did that talk said he used iPhones for this reason. Was a bit alarmed as I use Android phones, am now thinking about changing my personal one when I get a new one this year. Where I work we are all switching to Apple devices when our phones come up for renewal - and I work for a partnership so the people that own the company are the decision makers as well - doubt they are putting us on Apple just because they think it will make staff happy.

If they are good quality then the Mary Portas Living and Giving shop on Lordship Lane is probably the best bet - believe the money goes to Save the Children. Otherwise the Mind shop or St Christopher's Hospice shops take clothes.

First Direct. Been with them over 22 years, never think of switching. Website is good and on the rare occasions I need to ring, the staff are brilliant.

La Gomera is pretty quiet - have been on a hiking holiday there and if walking is your thing there are lots of great well marked paths. You can't fly there from the UK though - fly to Tenerife South and then get the ferry across, so it makes for quite a long journey - ferries aren't that frequent so you will probably end up having to hang about in the port town of Los Cristianos for a few hours. (As a resort that has little to recommend it)

Thanks for the replies. It was a hairline crack when I bought the house but it's definitely grown to something that looks like it's more like a couple of millimeters wide, maybe a touch more, and my lodger has now admitted she noticed it growing. She'll be moving out very soon (which is why I was in the room, getting a quote for some work on it) so I guess I can get on a ladder and investigate a bit closer then. I want to renovate the room but there's no point doing anything else until I know what's going on with the ceiling as if that needs to be fixed it should be done first.

Got a crack in a bedroom ceiling which seems to have grown - I hadn't been in the room for a number of years as it's been rented out to a lodger. Concerned it might be more than just a cosmetic thing and want to get an expert to look at it, but not sure what kind of expert that is - but was wondering if it might be a structural engineer. Any tips and recommendations of useful contacts gratefully received.

rendelharris Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Remains critical" according to Standard eleven > hours ago. Awful testimony from his friend, > sounds as though the perpetrator was determined to > stab for no reason: > http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/dulwich-park- > attack-man-arrested-for-attempted-murder-after-ita > lian-national-stabbed-in-the-head-in-a3527606.html Yes, this doesn't sound like a standard mugging - if this article is accurate he stabbed the guy in the head before he even had a chance to get out the phone the attacker demanded.

What sad news, I never met Ingrid but I love the street art round here and I show it off to friends when they visit the area. Condolences to her family.

rendelharris Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > titch juicy Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > People that go searching for their oyster cards > > once they've arrived at the oyster card reader > > rather than having it prepared in advance. > > > > Might as well turn this into a moan about > > commuting: > > > > People that leave bags on seats next to them > until > > someone asks them to move them. > > > > Able bodied people that refuse to go upstairs > on > > buses causing congestion downstairs (see also > > refusing to move down the bus). > > > > None of these are irrational are they? > > Yes to all of these, but also, slightly on the > other side of the coin, the people on the railway > platforms who scream out "move down inside, people > are waiting to get on" when it's quite obvious > that every available inch of the carriage is > filled with people, sometimes there just isn't any > space unless people are going to climb up on the > luggage racks. Yes to all of these - although I've seen plenty of times when the bit by the doors on the train is rammed but the people in the corridor between the seats have plenty of room and could easily bunch up and let the people nearer the doors move down. I'll also add able bodied people who insist on sitting on the outside seat on trains and make you clamber over them to sit down and people who when they are sitting outside you on the bus don't get up to let you off but just swing their legs sideways. And in the latter case I am talking about people who have managed to make it upstairs so clearly capable of standing up. Also what's with people playing music out loud rather than via their headphones on public transport? Never the kind of music I would want to listen to either.

I would have preferred Peckham, but for the times I want to get into town using the Bakerloo line, it would still be helpful to be able to get on at Dunton Road rather than having to stay on the bus to Elephant and Castle.

Yes, I've not seen anyone on site for a while either where at one point they were always working when I went past to go to the bus stop in the morning. Seems they got as far as getting the roof on and then stopped.

Nigello Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Would still like to see (and ride) an extended 63 > service to HOP station to be able to use the > Overground more easily - the holy grail of bus > transport! I think the view is that there's nowhere for the 63 to turn round at the end of the route in Honor Oak Park, so whilst I would like this too, I am not holding out any hope of it happening any time soon.

Zebedee Tring Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Some people aren't physically capable of going > upstairs in a bus, either because they are > disabled, suffer from arthritis or are elderly. > Nigello, you may be lucky enough not to be in any > of these categories but spare a thought for those > people who are. And your time will come .... True enough - but these people aren't usually the ones standing up blocking the stairs or doors and not attempting to get out of the way to let other passengers upstairs or exit. When I've been on a busy bus downstairs (which isn't that often as I feel as I am able bodied enough to use the stairs I should do so) there are usually enough considerate passengers that the elderly or young people on crutches etc. get given a seat.

Thanks all for the replies - very helpful, will be using these suggestions to shop around on my day off.

Anyone had any luck finding an insurer that isn't put off by the subsidence issues this area seems to be known for? I tried to shop around last year but left it a bit late and the companies I phoned weren't interested in quoting for buildings insurance due to known issues with the area. My survey suggested historic issues with subsidence in my house but nothing recent. Is this par for the course round here or have any forumites had subsidence claims recently?

I can't believe this is being seen as an issue of selfishness on behalf of business owners. And I say this as someone who doesn't own a business of any description or work in anything to do with food. If Co-op are frequently selling out it is sheer incompetence on their behalf - it's surely one of the first rules of retail to have enough stock to meet demand, and especially of something as basic as bread. If cafes were saying to customers that they couldn't make them a sandwich at lunchtime because they had no bread people would think they were idiots for not having gone and bought enough and if it happened often enough they would run out of customers pretty quick.

rendelharris Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Will have a look round when I'm up there, let you > know if I can see a good route! thanks very much :-)

Starting near junction of Underhill and Ryedale.

rendelharris Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Southwark courses are brilliant - turned Mrs.H > from a keen but nervy rider into a thoroughly > confident one. The cycle routes are absolutely > superb, from Peckham library to the City there's > only one short stretch on very quiet streets, > otherwise all off road and safe as houses. I've > heard the bike trains are excellent too - good > luck and enjoy, the privilege of being in control > of your own journey instead of relying on > traffic/public transport/strikes cannot be > overestimated! Thanks for the encouragement - yes, the lady who runs the bike train has sent me the details of that too which sounds like a great idea. Just got to find a safe route to the Peckham Rye station - am definitely not cycling along the bus route down Forest Hill Road and Rye Lane.

63 has been my usual route to work in the city for years after getting fed up with unreliable poorly timetabled Thameslink services, but it's been getting slower and slower in recent years so I am seriously thinking of getting into cycling. I can ride a bike but never done so in London, but am told that it's possible to get into town without having to dodge too much traffic now what with some segregated cycle lanes and so forth. Southwark do courses to help you get into cycling and my office has secure bike storage and showers etc. Might leave it to the spring when it will be light when I leave work though - not best to do in the dark when am a bit nervous.