aliceb

Oh no! It has to be up there in crazy ED street names (though my favourite is Troy Town)

Unless even more of the transport network is down today, you probably won't have to walk the whole way. I walked to Brixton, which took me nearly twice what it usually does, but was do-able, and reasonably pleasant. Then I took the Victoria line to Victoria, then walk to South Ken. On the way home, I even got the district line to Victoria.

I've tried a few alternatives but quite like the 185 route after Camberwell, though I sometimes get slowed by being safe around the bendys. At Vauxhall, you can go over the crossing with the pedestrians, then out on to the bridge with the 185/36/436. After Vauxhall, I go west up Vestry Road passed Pimlico school then by the river till Battersea and north over the Kings Road to Queensgate. I average on 50 mins, but that's from Peckham, and including taking the bike out of my house and dodging undergrads to get to my college bike park.

I want to second the best brownie and best corner shop ideas. Also, best coffee (in addition to best coffeeshop), tastiest bread and best grocer. I think a best stallholder (to include North Cross Rd and the ED Warehouse) and/ or 'most orginal business' would help include some of the less easily classified salespeople of SE22.

I think all the recent road works has increased the amount of pavement cycling. Something that should be mentioned is that there are parts of London (not many round our way, granted) where pedestrians and cyclists share the pavement. It is not always that well signalled - at best it looks like cyclists are somewhere they shouldn't, at worse pedistrians get scared because they aren't expecting things on wheels going around them. A lot of this is down to bad (or rather lazy) attempts at providing cycle paths, and really doesn't help cyclist/ pedestrian relations. It annoys me when cyclists cant be bothered to dismount (or stick to the roads) too, but there are occasions when a bit of responsible pavement cycling is the best way to stay safe. Ditto red-light jumping (though I'm always way too much of a goody two shoes to do that).

As has already been mentioned about the cycle maps - the best place to get them in Karavan on Lordship Lane. They have the best and most reliable selection in London - much better than TFL! On road rage, I had a bit of a nasty ride in yesterday. First I saw another cyclist hit a pedestrian on Peckham High Street. This turned nasty as the cyclist gave the pedestrian an earful (it was his fault, but he was only a kid, I would have given him a break), and peaked with a lorry driver shouting "I'm going to chop your head off in a minute" as the cyclist went off. Then, five minutes later, I was hit by a driver who wasn't looking where he was going at the junction in Camberwell. He was going very slowly and I just have a couple bruises (didn't even ladder my tights) but it did leave me feeling slightly persecuted with that lorry driver's voice ringing in my ears. That said, there were lots of lovely pedestrians who helped me at Camberwell and a great chap who intervened to stop a fight starting in Peckham.

How awful. Hope you are feeling better. Thanks for the warning.

Its moved to the Phoenix, Denmark Hill train station. (posts about it are in the whats on section)

It tends to depend on which member of staff is on coffee duty, how busy/awake they are and how clean the machines happen to be that hour. The place you are talking about is probably Green and Blue, and I have had great coffee there. I have also had very bad coffee there. The same could be said for any of the places on the Lane - from the EDT to the Horniman. That said, I never had worse than a mediocre cup in Liquorish, the Chandelier, Blue Mountian or the Thai cafe opposite the Horniman.

I've never had any Trick or Treaters round here. But that might be because our door bell was broken for four years.

That's horrible and plain silly on the part of the driver, especially as a Police officer had suggested it! I'm often scared of getting stranded with my bike in town and not being able to get it home because of that flat no bikes on public transport rule. I figure I'd just have to shell out for a cab. Defiantly complain - if only to make the point to the bus company as a whole, so all their drivers know that's unacceptable. (though still, no lock... kind of silly on her part too. I guess these things happen)

I'm another one. I moved to ED with another 20-something woman four years ago because we both wanted to take some time in our careers when we wouldn't earn much, and ED was (then) relatively cheap to rent. We're both still here, though we have moved from the south end of Lordship Lane to the badlands of Peckham Rye. I should admit we moved because we needed the space to accommodate boyfriends, but that's not because we're about to breed with them. I think the comments noting the differences depending on time of day are spot-on. Weekday-daytime, it's more an area for parents with buggies than freelancers with laptops (though there are still a fair few of those), but evenings are quite different. Even our knitting group is by in large childless professionals (and so far entirely women only, though that's not deliberate).

Yes, making your own cake can often be more expensive, but brownies should work out as less than ?1.50 a slice (or whatever the standard ED price is). Brownies often last reasonably well (if you let them) and most versions improve if you leave them a day or so. As well as Jamie's, I can also recommend this and this, from over the pond. Nigella's one in How to Eat is good too, as is her (very sweet) blonde brownie recipe. My flatmates all liked the batch I did from the Rose Bakery book, though I found it too eggy - like a chocolate omelette. Generally, I find too much sugar goes against the chocolate taste, and so always decrease the sugar (sometimes by two thirds), but that's a taste issue. I also tend to increase the cocoa suggested and prefer dark sugars which give a fudgey taste, though I generally just use whatever is in the cupboard. My brother always demands a chopped up Mars Bar added to the mix - this is sticky, but very, very wonderful. Most recipes work fine with soya-based marg substituted for butter (for dairy-free people), though use about a fifth less of the stuff as marg seems to go further. You use so little flour for a good brownie, gluten-free versions tend to taste fine. Do use good chocolate though, and melt it slowly. To keep ED-specific, SMBS often have the Green & Blacks cooking chocolate, which melts beautifully. A good brownie does need eggs, though there are options for the vegans... This blogger has hosted a few brownie 'roundups' (see sidebar) which links to a loads of brownie recipes - worth a look just for a drool. I'm thinking of trying spinach brownies for halloween.

If you really want brownies, it has to be Flour Power City Bakery at the Peckham Farmer's market on a sunday morning! Though I think they've gone downhill in the last year - too dry. I tend to make my own though. After many years of experimenting, I go for Jamie Oliver's recipe (on his website) but with a LOT less sugar and a bit more cocoa, substituting for some of the flour (I like them chocolate-y). I also do them milk-free, but that's a personal lack of lactase thing.

DKH - Nothing wrong with the hill in itself, just not an especially easy cycle (up or down). I mean, ok once you get used to it I'm sure, but not soemthing I'd put on a 'journey planner' style route (often used by people who don't know the area themselves). Maybe I'm just being a wimp. Walworth Rd - Don't worry. It can be quite nice even. No one goes too fast and the tend to keep going in the one direction. You do have to keep an eye out for people crossing the road without looking and all the buses, but if you are sensible, it's fine.

I'd second the advice to go for free cycling training. They are great. The instructor said that for more experienced cyclists they also offer assisted rides where they ride a route with you so you have an expert to talk over your style or route planning. I've recently started go from Nunhead/ Peckham to either Bloomsbury or South Kensington. I'm playing with routes still, but I think I've come to the conclusion that sticking to long straight roads with decent surfaces is a lot safer and quicker than playing around with the side roads, even if you do have to think about the buses. To South Ken, I go through Peckham to Camberwell and then up the Camberwell New Rd and over Vauxhall Brige (i.e. the route of the 36 bus). You can use the pedestrian crossings to go under the bridge at Vauxhall rather than fighting the scary roundabout/bus station, and I sometimes find that its good to get off and wheel it for a few meters there anyway, if the lights have been with me, I need a breather! On the north side of the river, I either turn left through Chelsea and up to South Ken or I keep going up to Buckingham Palace and through the Royal Parks. The latter has the advantage of cycling through some of the nicest parks in the world (by the water, trees, no cars!) but the disadvantage of dippy tourists as well as slightly crazy traffic around Victoria and the Palace. I have also played with going through Brixton and Clapham over Chelsea bridge, which is quite pretty and has a load of cycle lanes, but takes longer, involves a bit of a hill, and the road surfaces were shocking. To Bloomsbury, I either go up Camberwell New Rd as far the Oval, then right up Kennington to Waterloo, coming out near the Old Vic. Or, I go up the canal path and then through Burgess Park onto Walworth Road (but the park has spooked me a bit - not at night). Then, there is an ace little circuit around Elephant which is basically bike only (or very little traffic) I found from the cycling map - you go in by the university accommodation on the Walworth Road and come out opposite the Technopark by the Bakerloo entrance to Elephant tube. This is quick, but you do have to deal with St George's circus. Then I'm over Waterloo Bridge, through that cute little cycle lane by the Lion King theatre and up Dury Lane (road works allowing) and around the British Museum. Are the journey planner routesreally that good? I swore off it when I was still living in East Dulwich and it told me to go up Dog Kennel Hill...

I've taken the 197 to & from East Croydon a few times. I'm sure it depends on where in E Dulwich you live and what the traffic's like at time of day you are going, but it turned out to be a really quick, easy and cheap option.

We were in on sunday and thought roughly the same. Though, to be fair on the staf, they were were having to deal with a few rather rude/ dense customers when we were there. Generally, I've noticed the service at the Plough is patchy, to say the best, and has been getting worse since they opened. Still, they are generally friendly and it is a lot nicer several other local options. We'd been on a walk up to Crystal Palace park and back and the Plough, despite its problems, was a welcome place for a post-walk pint and sit-down. Plus, we'd ended up there after failing to get served at the Crown & Greyhound in the village. I didn't look at my watch, but I think we were there a good ten-fifteen minutes, with no sign of having got closer to the front of the queue. They were SHOCKINGLY slow and after that, the Plough could be forgiven a lot.

NOoo - that is so sad. El Panzon was perfect for food before or after cinema in Brixton - much better than waiting ages for service for Ritzy Pizzas. There is always speedy noodle in Brixton I suppose. Not Mexican though. Boo. There is a good little shop on a pedestrian road off Goodge St now though (the Starbucks). Again, not local but it does ok-priced burritos that are very good. Busy at lunch times. Last time I was there an odd break when they are closed between lunch ending around and dinner starting at 7 and they didn't have a license (yet).

Nowt wrong with knitting. But hobbies are always a matter of personal taste. As I don't know you, I can't really suggest specifics, but its worth looking at noticeboards in the library or on one of the shops on Lordship Lane - they advertise various groups and classes. One might appeal to you.

>>The former I'd say....."Beauvoir" would be "Beaver" I always say Bell-vwhah, but apparently it is Beaver, like the castle. Someone taking down my address once said there are probably loads of other streets locally named after castles. Which explains why someone would call a street Barry.

I walked passed it last night and the sign on the door noting the other office now has a felt-tip note saying 'relocated'. I've not actually seen anyone in the shop for years - I'd guessed it was a sort of holding office, only used when people were viewing properties up that end of the Lane.

The coffee stall on North Cross Road - where's it gone? Or have I just been unlucky the last three times I've looked and she's happened to take a day off?