tarafitness

wow! That place is pretty special love the kitchen extension, quite similar to what we want to do... when we have the money! I dream of living in a detached property with a lower basement *sigh*

well put StraferJack. apologies, Chris, if I appear unduly negative, I'm just a bit apprehensive after the previous experience. will definitely be checking out the new Cherry Tree once it's opened :-) Regarding pub quizzes - Teacher you have a point. However, I think that pub quizzes are fabulous fun things that actual bring local people together (e.g. if your group is small and others join/you join others). The quiz at my old local in Herne Hill - The Prince Regent - is very popular. Also, if you have the quiz on a night where people are less likely to be after a pint (e.g. monday or tuesday) then I don't think passing trade would be that affected... in fact I think it would encourage new punters to participate, especially if the prizes were decent.

The guy we're all complaining about, the one who was rude to my friends and the rest of you - is he the previous manager or the actual owner of the pub? If it's the latter then from the sounds of things he's going to very much still 'be around'. if so, let's hope it's not in a physical sense and he doesn't feel the need to make his presence felt!

okay, that was pretty epic, hats off to you! Many thanks :-)

okay, fair enough, I'm not going to have a big crying fit about it, was just a bit miffed :-)

Huguenot - I can find nowhere that says that duplicate threads will be removed, and that wasn't the reason I was given when I queried the deletion. Admin - I appreciate that you must have an extremely busy job, and obviously without people to administer a forum there would be chaos. But the reason this forum is so successful is because of the hundreds of people who contribute to it. People like me who use it to offer opinions, share news, or recommend anything from tree surgeons to locally grown vegetable bags.. and to sell stuff or give it away. So when I post a message asking for advice and kindly receive it, only to have that advice permanently removed without warning, I find it unduly harsh and wonder why administration isn't buying into this give-and-take culture that other forumites subscribe to? The thread could have been moved, as you have demonstrated with this one, deleting it was very inconsiderate.

that was another post, I posted there and then decided to post in the other section as thought I'd get better responses, and I was right, really good ones, that have now vanished :-( boo

lol fazer ;-) well, it's definitely a very low point of an otherwise fantastic games

that's very odd, just an email saying You are receiving this email because you are following the thread: Re: any local hikers/trekkers/ramblers/walkers etc out there? but when I click on it I get Sorry, the message you have requested could not be found. most strange, any ideas anyone?

There are just too many people trying and the site isn't quick enough to update when the tickets are gone even if you are able to 'select' tickets for an event, there will also be thousands of other people doing likewise and it's luck of the draw who gets them it's been heartbreakingly frustrating for me, I'd give anything to go there and soak up the atmosphere! someone set up a twitter feed for when tickets come available... they shut him down last week but he was able to drum up enough public support for them to allow non-website access to the ticketing site. I know his updates have helped many people find tickets... I've just unfortunately not been on of those people :'-( ahh well

Oooh Cherry Tree, that would be lovely, hope you pick that!

yes, I agree about the change of name, otherwise people will still think it's under the old dreadful management

Fabulous news! Welcome Chris and Antonia :-) I'm unbelievably chuffed that you've taken over, have boycotted the pub since this dreadful experience but would love to go back love supporting local business. Plus the Vale has always felt like it could be so much more, it has bags of potential - and space, just felt a bit dreary with an awful manager. Look forward to visiting when you're properly up and running

We were fortunate enough to get our 4 bed house for ?450k, but it was previously used as a bedsit and needed a lot of work... still does 2 years on! I'd not recommend anybody do what we did - i.e. buy a fixer-upper, unless a) you have reasonable neighbours sympathetic to people who want to create a nice family home (we don't, one side is a really awful woman who inherited her Mother's house and can't understand why we'd buy a house that needed work... er, cost!), and b) a rock solid relationship and/or a love of a challenge. Some people thrive on living in chaos, I don't! Can safely say I'd never do the same thing again unless we were able to live somewhere else while the work was being done!! A 3 bed we visited on our road sold for only ?100k more than ours and that was really the finished article, beautiful place, side return extension, perfect condition. Now similar houses are going for ?100k more on the same road with same spec. If we hadn't managed to secure our place we'd have definitely moved to nunhead, we saw a few houses there that were lovely, really massive with huuuuge gardens (ours is postage-stamp sized!!). Forest Hill/Honor Oak look like nice places. We travel back via Forest Hill if we've been out late in the city, the east london line is very good and then it's a quick bus ride back down lordship lane... love how well connected ED is!

Wow, quite overwhelmed by how many responses and suggestions I've received, thank you all... this is why I love the EDF (forum that is, not energy firm ;-) ) Knomester - good idea re charity shops, will get him to ask around, there are at least 3 nearby I think, more if you include Herne Hill :-) Otta, thanks, have downloaded their application form so will get that filled in tonight, I think it would be perfect for him. Marmora Man - great idea! I think it would be a very useful qualification to have, he can get a job pretty much anywhere that has a pool then, will look into it though, as womanofdulwich pointed out it's a bit pricey so may be something we consider for next year. Definitely worth getting though I reckon. RosieH, no, you're quite right, it's not far to go, not sure why I thought that particularly as I sent my son off all over the place last year doing various Futureversity courses as they had none nearby! He went to Ealing, Tower Hamlets, Tottenham, essex...! Futurversity is a great organisation/charity, unfortunately the dates available this year clash with The Challenge that he'll be taking part in this summer. I was just hoping that he could get some actual work experience before starting college in September, I think volunteering is the way forward. Cora, my son does plenty of dreaming... I think he dreamt his way through secondary school!! ;-) Fortunately he's got a place on a media course in a great college so will be very much pursuing his dreams. Last year he worked at Sony Playstation Europe's headquarters for a week... testing games, writing reviews, creating graphics... that's his dream job it seems, it's good that he's got something to work towards! The community summer play scheme idea is a very good one and one we've considered, the only thing would be that he's going to be spending a chunk of the summer hols doing The Challenge so wouldn't be able to commit to working all the way through the holidays.

Thank you very much Renata, we'll look into that youth club, that is a bit far for him to travel though (we're near goose green) and he's not really into football - more into film-making, reading, writing etc. I'll take a look at the southwark website now, thanks :-)

Otta - great idea! He has been involved in their youth panel in the past, sounds perfect!

Thanks cosmonaut, will look into that Tara

That's an excellent idea Ondine, thanks for suggesting it, will have a look at what I can find out. My son didn't go to school in the surrounding area so wouldn't have been able to organise something through them, but he an excellent reader and very patient with younger children so that seems like a great idea. He used to do some sort of mentoring of younger children at his secondary and I know he read with reception kids when he was in primary so this might be ideal.

Thanks for your suggestion Otta :-) Unfortunately we've already asked there twice! First time we gave in his CV and then, on Monday we asked again at customer services only to be told that they've recently had a big recruitment push and taken on about 80 new staff members! Missed the boat it seems :-(

My son has just finished his GCSEs and we're keen that he not spend from now until September sat on his backside doing nothing (although I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with this!). We've got his CV together and distributed it round local businesses without success. I also tried to get him some voluntary work at the Centre for Wildlife Gardening in Marsden Rd but was told that their insurance wouldn't cover under 18's. My son's quite willing to do paid or unpaid work - including manual - but there isn't any available - nor does it seem are there any places for him to go and hang out should he wish. So what can teenagers do during the summer to keep them busy and out of trouble? What can they do to either earn money or gain valuable work experience before they start college/university? Does anyone know if East Dulwich/Southwark provide any local youth club/activities/work schemes? I seem to be drawing blanks and this article from the Guardian pretty much sums it up! Tara

oh fabulous PeckhamRose - which plants are these? I need to make my garden more bee-friendly, it's very small but I'm sure I could find some space for flowers and the like :-)

Great to hear that your colony has calmed down a bit :-) we got our bees this week and transferred them from their nucs to their hives yesterday: see album here. We had quite a few to choose from and unfortunately one of the women in our bee committee thought it would be good to go for the fullest travel box of bees (despite my saying right from the outset to steer clear as they were buzzing angrily and audibly!). As I expected, they are pretty aggressive... hopefully they'll calm down at some point and I guess it'll be good experience to have a 'lively' hive to cope with as well as the calmer other one! It's very exciting now we finally have them :-) Tara

enar1948, what picture is that supposed to be? Can't see it in my browser My garden is very teeny and planted mainly with evergreen bushes - and some green beans, tomatoes etc in our veggie trough. I'm not a massive fan of flowers but I am a massive fan of bees so I'd be quite willing to plant some flowers in pots and scatter them around the garden... which flowers should I buy though, can anyone advise? Cheers

I'm so sorry that Pat is still missing, I have shared the facebook page and tweeted too. I hope he's found soon Tara