Lizziedjango

..and the kind soul who put them on a hanger and left them on the front gate. They were my mother-in-law's car and house keys and it could have been a major nightmare if whoever hadn't been so brilliant and hung them in such a prominent place. My mother-in-law traipsed around the park in a panic with my two little kids, and I had to leave work early. She doesn't live in London and had no idea how to get home etc. I rang the police station, park warden..and panicked like hell! I can't tell you the relief when my mother-in-law rang to say she had seen them hung on the park gate today...so THANK YOU SO MUCH WHOEVER YOU ARE. She is also amazed that someone didn't take the keys before her and make off with her car. It has restored her faith in human nature. :)

They don't look very nice to me. 'Luxury'? Pah! The windows are, IMO, way too big and hellish to get curtains for. You'd have all and sundry gawping through 'em unless you kept blinds or curtains drawn. The property developers could have at least got ready made blinds for these flats. Talk about being overly exposed! There's no way I would pay anywhere near ?200,000 for flats that are so oddly shaped and with such bizarre windows as these.

I was told by my friend who works in the Sainsbury's Head Office, that its Dog Kennel Hill store is the most lucrative one in the country, and in particular for organic produce which 'flies off the shelves'. I am not sure how Waitrose would compete with another store which is so lucrative, especially as Sainsbury's and Waitrose are not THAT dissimilar in terms of produce. I like Waitrose but it is very expensive, whereas Sainsbury's seem to be becoming more competitive in its pricing. It's not as cost effective as Asda, but is fairly similar in cost to Morrisons. However, I find the food quality better in Sainsbury's compared to both Asda and Morrisons. On topic, until ED gets a Waitrose, residents cannot truly consider themselves living in a 'middle class area'. Boo hoo. :(

Thank you, the beard. It WAS extremely time consuming. I had to try and get through to Peckham Pulse's manager (no mean feat) and tried several times to get hold of the person. In the end, I was successful and this person was very helpful indeed. She had had a fair few complaints from punters and her staff re. cars being ticketed and clamped unfairly, and had arranged a meeting with the relevant authorities at Southwark to protest. She asked me to send her a copy of my appeal letter, which I did. IT took me ages to write the letter, as it is stated that Southwark 'doesn't take kindly' to receiving harshly worded letters. The council prefers you to be polite. How ironic. I think you can only know about the stress of having your car clamped if you have had it done. I actually agree with it being done if you are to blame, and have parked illegally or in a way to cause danger. But in my case Peckham Pulse had reported the broken machine to the council 5 days earlier and it had done nothing to rectify the issue, continuing to clamp and ticket people, even though it was impossible to get a ticket. All's well that ends well though, thankfully.

To be quite honest, although I knock it, I honestly think Lordship Lane is a fab high street. If I didn't have two young kids I would definitely use its bars and restaurants more, and have a higher disposable income to spend at some of the 'organic' shops. Put it this way, if we had a high street like the ones in Penge, Sydenham or Annerley...and even Forest Hill...then we would have cause for complaint. Ahem.

I agree with you chica. It is appalling that a woman's cut is around ?40 in ED. It is just not worth it.

Oh my goodness - thanks for all the EXCELLENT advice you super dooper forumites you....I appealed and just got a letter from Southwark stating that its technicians had confirmed the machine had been broken, and I am going to be refunded the entire ?100 clamping charge that I had to pay at the time. Yay!!!! :)

Boots the chemist, Gap and a TK Maxx please. The indie shops look pretty, but I would like a couple of decent chain shops as opposed to ones which sell overpriced ornamental tat.

-- moved topic --

Thank you Gerritsmith and James. I appreciate your response and stating that the machine was out of order today too. God knows what the message meant that I have photographed. I am still really upset about it all!! Yes reetpetite it is the 19th but Gerritsmith says the machine was still out of order.....??? james, i am definitely appealing and will take this all the way if need be.

Turned up to a packed car park just before 6PM and went to get a ticket from the machine (you get a ticket but it is free parking for up to 4 hours). No tickets came out but a message read 'no parking 'til 19th May'. This seemed odd since the car park was totally full and I thought it must be an error message. Roll on 60 minutes later and I emerged after my workout to the depressing sight of my car covered in tickets and a big clamp. I wasn't the only one. There were at least 5 other people in the same boat. Had to pay ?100 to get 'de-clamped'. We all took photos of the machine, but I wonder if we have a leg to stand on when it comes to appeal. Has anyone else been in this situation in that car park? I am gutted. I can ill afford the money!!:(

* new improved non-offensive Snorky * LOL.

My sentiments exactly Robbo. Does anyone recall 'Bird Flu' a few years back, and all the scaremongeing surrounding that....and then it just seemed to 'disappear'... Tamiflu is the drug most commonly used to ward off influenza if you get it, and it is ineffective. The CDC (Centres for disease control and Prevention) reported in January that influenza A (as opposed to influenza B, which isn?t as severe as the A strain) wasn?t responding to Tamiflu, but the most recent news is that Flu A is about 100% resistant to the drug. The Japanese health ministry has now forbidden Tamiflu's Japanese brand being given to people aged between 10 and 19 due to serious side effects, these are serious neurological and psychological effects that are not being shown to the patients, there is also a very high incidence rate of people committing suicide who have been administered this drug. In 2007 the US FDA amended under pressure its advisory on this drug to include: delirium, hallucinations and other linked psychological and psychiatric disorders, before that the FDA dismissed any claims to such stating there were no causal links to these claims. The Japanese health ministry also reported that between 2004 and 2007 out of a 128 serious cases of adverse psychological reactions, some 15 of the 128 reported cases attempted suicide with 8 of them dying in these attempts. Tamiflu has serious side effects- but to save us from this 'Pandemic' our government has bought enough of it for 50 million people. And the media says nothing, and does nothing to tell us the full story. I suppose there is just too much medical / chemical industry advertising in our media to allow honesty. Perhaps people need to think outside the box. Swine flu in this case is clearly related to unsanitary conditions of intensive pig farms in Mexico. Anyone who says otherwise is probably an apologist for Smithfield - the company responsible.

Thank you U.P. this is very helpful! :)

Between 36,000 - 40,000 people in the USA and 20,000 in the UK die each year from 'normal' flu related deaths......yet all this scaremongering over 'swine flu' Methinks it is all beneftting the pockets of the makers of Tamiflu, who'll be raking in the billions in drug sales.

It's no wonder we get an outbreak at one of the local posh schools. Guess the parents' kids at the local comps wouldn't have been able to afford to jet set them around the world, thus avoiding getting contaminated with this wretched Swine Flu.

For a minute I thought they might have been hamming it up. Snout funny about this whole palaver. I was going to suggest an oinkment ...... This pun malarkey is getting a bit boaring now.

I am feeling rather insowcure now. Are you sure someone's not telling porkies? Trust Alleyns to want to hog the limelight! :)

When I added my complaint about me being regularly overcharged in the DKH Sainsburys - not to mention the empty shelves (especially those which have'offers') I certainly did not expect so many posts in agreement!!!! I think this really does need to be addressed with the store manager, and something be done about it. I was behind an American sounding woman at the weekend. She held me up in the queue as she had been overcharged by about ?4 on her bill, and was livid at the till operator. I was annoyed as I wanted a quick getaway, but I sympathised with her and told her so.

I am fed up of being overcharged for items which have signs on the shelf offering a reduction. PLus the till operators sometimes put an item through 2-3 times and don't cancel the item, so you end up being overcharged. Funnily enough I have never been undercharged. I also find that when I shop - often late afternoon Saturday like today - there is much stock sold out which isn't good enough (especially baby/child stuff). I have never to my knowledge seen the manager on his/her rounds. Does this person remain in their ivory tower?

Sue - actually your point towards Cassius DOES appear 'flippant', and rather rude, especially under the circumstances. I just drove through Elephant & Castle and saw the yellow boards and flowers marking the spot where it happened. Hopefully there will be a 'ghost bike' there soon, as it will be a reminder to all drivers to take care at such a hazardous roundabout.

Hi Cate - I got mine from Morrisons Peckham. It cost about ?1.20. I'm really fussy about good quality bread and this is amazing!

All this is very interesting but quite what it has to do with that 'organic' bakery in Lordship lane...I don't know. I haven't been in there since, and have opted for massive loaves of Polish Rye bread which are really inexpensive. They only have about 5 (natural) ingredients in them and are delicious. In these credit crunch times I just can't afford to pay loads of money for a tiny loaf, even if it is 'organic'. I am much less 'prone# to getting organic stuff at the moment (apart from carrots, milk, yoghurt) as I can't afford it.

There was an feature in last night's Evening Standard where Meryem's husband speaks of his family's grief and devastation. He says they are finding it very difficult to cope.It must be awful for them.

Some of you are clearly a dab hand at this, but I've haddock nuff of it.