Carol

I was away for five weeks over the summer and used a flat-sitter through Mindmyhouse.com. Rebecca fed my cat and looked after the place and was absolutely fantastic. She's a 40-something single woman with a grown up daughter who is taking a break from working for Disney and spending some time abroad. She was quiet, clean, totally reliable and very respectful of the neighbours. I'm just recommending her to anyone who may be going away for some time over Christmas and is looking for a trustworthy sitter. She's also very good with dogs. Message me if you're interested, she has references that can also be accessed through the site. Carol

Thank you, your help with UCAS has been amazing, Looking forward to working with you on my exam.

True, with the right gear a thief can steal any bike, all you can do is make it harder for them. I use a mini Abus and Kryptonite, about ?120s worth (if bought online). These are gold and silver rated and to get through them would take five or six minutes with an angle grinder - but that's quite a long time in terms of theft. There's absolutely no way a bolt cutter would get through, or a hammer - they'd damage the bike first. Also they're too small to get a car jack in. I put a cable round the front wheel, and at worst that could go fairly easily but at least I know the bike and back wheel are safe (as they can be). It's also better to have two different locks, should thieves discover how to pick, or any other weakness with a particular make.

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not that I want to see any libraries close, but if > it came down to a choice, I'd rather see a poorly > used library close, and the home service be > restarted. It needn't even come to this. The Homebound Service can be run pretty cheaply if they only keep one van, and even when I still worked there they were cutting back on staff, as they still are. What's awful is that this was the first service Councillor Ward decided to cut, in spite of the fact that there are four libraries in Southwark that are barely used. Nobody wants to see libraries closed, but many of the 500 Housebound customers are isolated and vulnerable and have little else each month than a library visit by a member of staff who cares. Also they have as much right to a library service as anyone else. It's a shame the Councillor didn't visit or consult any of this customer group, but at the end of the day they were given all the statistics so they could see how poorly used some of the libraries were - which suggests the decision was more political. Hardly anyone actually knows about the Housebound Service and few of the recipients are in any fit state to complain. Also it doesn't fall into any single Councillor's ward. An easy target?

Thanks for this, and sorry about your bike. I always assumed it was pretty safe there with the security guards and so on. I'll be using both my Ds from now on.

Well, I hate to admit it but I think I have been conned, and I'll just put it down to experience. What a shabby way to make a living. Next time I'll suggest calling someone...perhaps the job centre.

Thanks, that's the nicest way to look at it I think. And I'm honestly not convinced he was a con.

I wondered if anyone was approached by a young man in a grey suit on Grove Vale over the weekend, asking for money (enough to get to Sevenoaks) and claiming he'd lost his wallet. To be honest, when he approached me he was drenched and upset, and I believed him, so I hope I haven't been conned.

post deleted for being personal, rude and unnecessary - The Administrator

There are quite a few Checkhov books in Southwark Libraries - I'm at work now and just had a look on the system. And I do hope I'm not the "glum" one. I always thought I was quite friendly. In my 10 month cover at Grove Vale I helped a lot of people with a lot of things...but it IS an easy library to miss, on account of it being as big as a toilet. I think the move over the road will be a very good thing..."if" it happens. Nobody seems to know. Not even the staff...which is me. And thanks, Snorky. I'm back up on the hill at the big fat glam now, but Grove Vale is a lovely, harmonious little library and very child friendly. And it does have a pretty good stock for the size.

Clinker, that's a good rule of thumb. It's true, you can feel quite powerful on a bicycle, because of the height, speed, etc. But of course it's false, and if you're pushed off it puts you in such a vulnerable position - it's really disorientating and just coming off alone can leave you with injuries enough, and you're hardly in a position to get up and try and defend yourself. I refuse to be put off cycling because I adore it, but I'll always stick to that rule of thumb now, religiously.

I have to disagree about The Chandelier - I had a cappuccino there recently that was crud. The cup was so small you needed a microscope to find it - and there was literally one cm (I'm not exaggerating) of liquid at the bottom. When I queried it I was told cappuccino's should be "mostly froth". Which is wrong...it shouldn't...it should just have froth on top. Making it mostly froth means you save a lot on milk and I suppose save a little bit of money. Thought it was a bit of a rip off, really, especially given it's the most expensive (and smallest) cappuccino in East Dulwich. Petitou is great, and does the best marmite on toast EVER. Jacks is also superb - and again, really good toast. And they're friendly and easy-going, to boot.

Ratprincess Thanks for that, it looks like a better route. I think after dark I'll stick to main roads (around E&C) from now on. It's a shame that we have to. Old Kent Road is so wide you'd think they could stick a separate cycle route along it, where people couldn't park. It would be easier to put a cycle route there than it would on Walworth Road. Perhaps we ought to be campaigning for more of these. If there IS an existing campaign I'd love to get involved. Thanks everyone too for the kind concern and responses. I'm completely fine - no lasting physical or mental damage. Just had a sore kidney for a bit. But I still have my beautiful bike, and I WILL be investing in a helmet now...

You should be able to get free cycle maps from the Sustrans website - I managed to get a few. The back roads behind E&C are quiet but see my new post "Cycle danger area" - I was attacked there, so I'd be very cautious. It's a very easy place to nick a bike. As for road rage. I try not to get sucked in, but sometimes you can't avoid it. A young bloke cut me up horribly and dangerously a while back as I was doing 30mph (yes I have a computer on the bike) down the hill towards the Harvester. All I did was LOOK at him to express disapproval for the fact that he nearly had me off - so he followed me up the road, eventually caught up with me at the Plough traffic lights, gobbed out of his window at me and screamed that I should be shot. Yes..."shot". Nice. Very rational. Not at all disturbed. *Sigh*. What can you do?

I was attacked a few weeks ago on my route from East Dulwich into town - I take the cycle route behind Old Kent Road (or used to, I should say). There's a point where Oxley Close goes into Chaucer Drive and you have to slow down to go through quite a few cycle bollards. As I was coming out the other side two men knocked me off the bike and kicked my head and back quite a bit before running away. I think it was an attempted bike-jacking - they tried to grab it but I was making a hell of a lot of noise and was lucky that they probably thought it wasn't worth it. This was 7.30 at night, but frankly the place is a hotspot, I'd say, and best avoided, even in the day. It wasn't until afterwards that I realised how vulnerable cyclists are there. I suggested to the police that they put up a camera/warning sign...but they just sort of gawped blankly back at me. I didn't take that as a "yes", so I'd advise everyone to avoid this route - even in the day it's quiet, and the residents have shown a certain reluctance to intervene if there is an incident. Please don't use this route. I suspect it wasn't the first (and won't be the last) time someone gets attacked there.