catgirl

Ha ha and quite about the letters Ant. Inbetween getting though that huge backlog she may find time to navigate her way south to actually visit the constituency. You never know! And macroban, my tessa savings scheme has been underperforming almost as much as ms jowell

I believe there is a tumble tots in Herne Hill. There is also 'mini gym' at Crystal palace which is on most days at 10am and another one around 1 - 2pm I think for 45 minutes. Has some structured exercise / roly polys / jumps etc at the beginning and end and the rest of it is free time for them to play on all the apparatus - beams, bars to swing on, trampolines, various things to climb on and through etc. You can then always take him for a run around in the lovely Crystal Palace Park afterwards if he still has energy to burn.

Sorry to be unclear - I was just referring to Primark with the child labour comment, not casting aspertions on white stuff or top shop. My poorly made point being that sometimes it is better (in my opinion) to pay higher prices for goods as these tend to reflect (up to a point) the wages of the person who actually makes the garment / item. Thanks for the link ladygooner although I am still sceptical. Have they implemented this code and changed their suppliers since being exposed for using sweatshops along with Tesco and Asda at Christmas? A friend who works in retail told me that retailers will often use supplier A for their clothes who then outsources to factory B, C and D, some of which may have dubious practices / wages but the retail chain is one step removed so able to claim innocence of the conditions under which the clothes are actually made. To my (tiny) mind, the lack of staff and pack as many clothes as possible into the space policy of Pimark still can't totally account for such low prices?

They may be selling similar clothes to Primark in Peckham at higher prices but as Primark clothes are made by 6 year olds in Bangladesh earning 5p a week, I'd rather pay a bit more not to contribute to this particular economy.

Thanks tea girl - will try Claudette directly next time. Ed_pete - the environment@southwark email is the one I've had no reply from 3 times..... I agree, best course of action is to relay your complaints to those who are able to address them but having failed to get through on the phone or an answer to my emails, I am reduced to 'getting it off my chest' on this forum. Maybe next time I will go up there (on foot or by bike of course) and demand an audience with someone helpful. Actually, I have had a pretty good experience with them so far, my previous gripes have been to do with non collection which is annoying but they do usually turn up at some point.

I usually check the southwark website recycling section every so often for what can be put out but I must say, I do assume that everything I put out in good faith will be recycled - I thought they would leave behind anything I put out that wasn't appropriate. It appears this may not be the case? It maybe more helpful of the council (or the collectors) to leave stuff that they can't recycle and have a 'you left out stuff that we can't recycle, please check the website' sticker that they can leave on your box. At least this way people would be educated and can therefore change their habits. Believe there was a hoo ha in Lambeth not so long ago when whole recycling bags were just being thrown into rubbish trucks when they had maybe one incorrect item in. Have tried to contact southwark recycling section 3 times before with various queries / complaints, each time filled in a form on the website asking to be contacted but so far they have never got back to me.....

Surely the point in recycling is to actually do some environmental good, not just to make yourself feel better. So if you know the council aren't going to recycle it, what is the point in leaving it out for them?

Well I think it's great. Agreed, the fish dishes aren't great but the meat and veg ones are always good. And while it isn't the best tapas I've ever eaten (also think Meson don Filipe is probably the best I've had in London), I think the friendly service and buzzy atmosphere along with the great wine list (and all available by the glass) makes it overall a very enjoyable evening out.

I think that is a great idea although people who don't reply may not necessarily be unfriendly.. I myself have been embarassed on more than one occasion when a smiling stranger coming towards me has said hello and I have responded with an equally large smile and loud hello, only to hear the person behind me saying 'oh hi Simon, haven't seen you for ages' or whatever. So now if a stranger says hello I usually assume it is directed at someone else. Having said that, if it becomes more commonplace to pass friendly greetings in the street then this wouldn't be so much of a factor.

Slightly ironic that a 'green fair' caused traffic chaos! Particularly when the ads (and agree there were hardly any of them, we just spotted one on the park gates last weekend) did say to leave the car at home and get there by bus or public transport. Obviously too far to walk from the outer reaches of Dulwich Village, best pop the small child in the 4 x 4 and do battle with all those terrible muddy tracks one has to negotiate en route to the park.

Yes, I must admit I actually gave up reading it about 1/4 of the way through as I just couldn't bear it any longer!

Ah capt_birdseye. not only do you make smashing fishfingers but you have great discerning taste in authors. I am a fellow loather of Ian McEwan and think 'painfully contrived' an excellent way to sum him up. Reading his books I feel as though he's sat there with a thesaurus and looked up the most complicated word possible to drop in every other sentence in order to make the reader feel humble 'oh I'll never be as clever as you Mr McEwan' arh! The best (worst!) example was, I think, in A Child In Time and rather than saying something about his drink being half empty had some ridiculous phrase about the meniscus in the glass being too prominent or something.

Just found this on the web: http://freegan.info/ On a similar note, I tried to join freecycle recently but there is currently no southwark group. It appears that you have to agree to be some kind of moderator in order to start up a new group which I don't really want to do (yes, I know, somebody has to be bothered) but was surprised / disappointed to see that we don't have representation currently. Am I missing something on the site or, if not, is anybody interested enough to set up a group for us?