Margot

Well why don't you buy my book - then you can have a good laugh at all the crappy managers. Thanks for your interest Margot. PS If you have any stories, let me know as I'm doing a blog.

Not all the managers are based on ones I have worked with. Although I have had a lot of managers due to working in the charity sector where people are on short term contracts. I envy you being your own boss and not having to put up with crappy managers. You're obviously a good manager which is why people are loyal to you. I do have a good manager at the end of my book - the kind we'd all like to work for. Thanks for your interest Margot

This is a good ploy for enduring long waits. I went to Dulwich for my blood test, took my ticket, and I had about 20 people in front of me. I calculated how long each person took and realised I had around 30 minutes, so I went off and had a delicious coffee at one of the many coffee houses in ED, came back to the waiting room, timing it to arrive with only 2 people left in front of me, only waited five minutes or so, had my blood test and went home

This is a good ploy for enduring long waits. I went to Dulwich for my blood test, took my ticket, and I had about 20 people in front of me. I calculated how long each person took and realised I had around 30 minutes, so I went off and had a delicious coffee at one of the many coffee houses in ED, came back to the waiting room, timing it to arrive with only 2 people left in front of me, only waited five minutes or so, had my blood test and went home.

Collect all the money lying around your house or borrow it, pack your bags, and get in a car, plane or train, and get the hell out to a place with proper sunshine and a view of real beauty.

I went to visit the Charter School for my kid and found it completely depressing. It looks like a prison from the outside and inside the reception area reminded me of a minicab office. I couldn't bear the thought of my kid in that miserable environment for several years.

You're right Cicely. we must do something. I used to love living in Nunhead because it is so quiet - we have no cars passing in our street - it's actually much quieter than a lot of people I know living in country villages which have a lot of traffic going through the main road. And then the planes which have now disturbed my quiet idyll, which is really annoying. Although they are a bit quieter at the moment. Earlier in the year I nearly went insane at their loudness and frequency. And you're right about stress levels - I can feel mine going up when the planes fly over all the time. Also I've noticed that Myself and my children have so many more problems these days with sinuses and blocked Eustachian tubes etc - I bet you aircraft pollution is contributing to that. God, it makes me so pissed off. Now I'm wishing Idid't bring my kids up in London. Maybe I've given them a lifetime of health problems. Don't get me started on mobile phone masts.

The plane flight noise has got better recently. I was noticing them all the time the first six months of the year even when i wasn't thinking about them and every time i looked at the sky i could see 3 or 4. But I think it must be true that they change flight paths every so often because i am hardly noticing them at the moment. Thank bloody goodness. But I'm sure they'll be back. If Boris moves Heathrow to the Thames Estuary I'll love him forever.

It's true. I went for a walk in Beckenham Park and heard planes. Then another time went down to Kent and still heard planes, and when I went to an open air theatre production in Hertfordshire,I could also hear planes, although not quite as loud. Where can you escape them? If you move to Suffolk, you have Stanstead, down to Brighton and you have Gatwick, off to the west country and you have Bristol and Exeter airport. The only way is to move to the middle of nowhere, but then the silence and boredom will be deafening. I used to feel sorry for people living in Hounslow - now I feel sorry for myself.

I've become obsessed with the amount of planes flying over ED. I sat outside yesterday and in a 15 minute time frame there must have been 25 planes. There were 4 in the sky at one time. And they are much louder and lower than they used to be. I live in a really quiet street and I used to love the early mornings when you could hear birds, like being in the country. Now all I can hear are effing planes. In fact they are all day - if you can for a walk in the park what do you hear - planes. You can be sure that whoever gave the go ahead for so many planes to fly over SE London doesn't live anywhere near here. What can we do - it's so depressing? Where can we go to escape it?