DulwichLondoner

micromacromonkey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Us and Them. > > Why don't we have a standard forum template for > this type of anger, then we can all save ourselves > a lot of typing time? I agree. Indeed, this is why the point of my post was not to present one category as inferior or superior, but to convey that all categories are (almost) equally guilty. My gripe with cyclists is that: 1) without a plate, they can easily get away without getting caught, unless they are stopped/fall/etc. No realistically feasible alternative here. 2) no training is required. No, having a car licence isn't enough, just like it isn't enough to ride a motorcycle. A 'pushbike licence' isn't realistic, but at least some compulsory training in schools might go a long way. Sure, there are car drivers who behave like idiots despite their 'training', but, still... I know the forum is full of sensible cyclists who always behave responsibly and don't need any kind of training, but unfortunately London roads are full of way less sensible cyclists.

andynic Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Really good of you to indicate when you're turning > left. There's probably even something in the > Highway Code about it. Please forgive my typo. Clearly I meant that, in addition to signalling with the indicator, which of course I always do, I often signal with my *hand* because otherwise cyclists tend to ignore the signaling light. I am not aware of any obligation to signal with indicator AND hands. I would however suspect that accelerating furiously to undertake a vehicle which has clearly indicated its intention to turn left would most likely be classified as dangerous driving or dangerous cycling. Not to mention utterly stupid when the cyclist has more chances of hurting himself than me. > From a cyclist's point of view you wouldn't > believe the number of car drivers who don't > bother, or who indicate once they're half way > round the corner. Oh, no, I do, I totally do, hence my comment about all road users, of all categories, including motorcyclists.

EE sent me a small femtocell for free because they recognise that the signal is poor in the East Dulwich area. This was about a year ago. A femtocell (signal box) is a small box you connect to your router with a LAN cable so that it sends a 3G wireless signal. Vodafone used to charge for this (no idea what they do now). EE doesn't charge if they recognise the signal is poor. This thingy has improved the signal, but it's still not perfect, i.e. sometime I still get issues even when calling landlines.

The first thing you learn as a motorcyclist, which, AFAIK, you tend not to learn as a car driver, is to ride defensively, which means riding assuming there are only 3 categories of road users: 1) those who want to kill you 2) those who want to kill themselves 3) those who want to kill themselves and you And by road users I mean everyone, pedestrians cyclists other motorcyclists car drivers cabbies lorry drivers bus drivers etc. Yes, I know, it sounds self-righteous, pompous and arrogant, but riding keeping this basic principle in mind ensures Darwinian self-preservation. It should be applied to driving any kind of vehicle. If I am about to turn left and there is a bicycle behind me, I signal with my end to make sure the genius has seen me and doesn't try to undertake me the moment I slow down to turn left (a constant occurrence). If I see pedestrians running towards a crossing, I assume they'll ignore the red man and jump in the middle of the road. If I see a motorcyclist filtering like crazy, I let him overtake and do his thing without the risk of hitting or involving me. If I am riding along a residential road with lots of cars parked on both sides of the streets, I always assume there will be a child or an idiot adult ready to jump from a parked vehicle without looking. Same if I am overtaking a bus which has just pulled over to let people get off. Etc etc etc.

I can think of a very simple solution: force the railway bosses to eat their own dog food and to commute daily on their trains! I suspect the Southern services would become excellent if the bosses were forced to commute from Brighton to Victoria. Every. Single. Day. :) :)

So someone heard the announcement, someone didn't - it makes sense but doesn't make it any less infuriating. How were you told? Was it an announcement in the station only? In big stations like Victoria they're not particularly useful. Aren't there loudspeakers on the train themselves, too? Were they used?

No worries, I understand. The fact that I wasn't the only one affected, but that at the same time we weren't an army of people taking the train from Bromley to Denmark Hill might suggest that the displays changed after I had checked them and/or an announcement was made but wasn't heard in the whole train. Let's just say that yesterday I wanted to buy a punchbag to vent some anger!

I recommend https://www.photograface.com/ near Wandsworth Town. We hired her for toddler photo sessions (not newborns). There was another one near Upland road who advertised at Gymboree; can't remember the name.

rendelharris Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > ETA Looking up a geek train website (too much time > on my hands) What website, out of curiosity?

"a few minutes late" may have been 12, not sure, didn't count that. What I do recall distinctively is that I checked the display on the platform: it did report 'calling at Denmark Hill'. I then checked the display that's inside the train: it reported the same. You're welcome to have doubts of course, I appreciate memory can play tricks, but two clear and vivid memories which are so recent? I wasn't the only one affected. Other people in my carriage saw the display reporting a stop at Denmark Hill, and they hadn't heard any announcement. I wasn't wearing headsets or headphones, in case you're wondering. As you might recall from other threads, my contempt for the trains (not) serving the area is huge and I have, in fact, been househunting elsewhere because I have had enough. Like I said something similar happened 2 months ago. And also a year ago: the train was supposed to go to Denmark Hill. Then there were two contradicting announcements, one saying the train had been cancelled, the other saying it hadn't. We asked a SouthEastern person on the paltform, she said it would go to Denmark Hill, and we ended up in Herne Hill, where we had to wait about 20 minutes for the efficient bus # 37.

Yesterday the 19.34 Southeastern train from Victoria to Gillingham did not stop at Denmark Hill as planned; it went straight to beautiful Bromley South. I had checked that the display on the platform and that inside the train both reported Denmark Hill as the first stop. The train was a few minutes late, then ... magically went to Bromley South without any intermediate stops. I asked the other people in my carriage and they hadn't heard any announcement, either. This is the second time this happens to me on that line; two months ago I ended up in equally beautiful Lewisham. Now, while of course Bromley South and Lewisham are terrific locations, possibly the top 2 touristic destinations in London, and I am very happy to visit them whenever I have a chance, ending up 6 to 8 miles far from home, and taking 90 minutes instead of the ca. 13 the Victoria to Denmark Hill journey should take, is not exactly how I prefer to end a working day. The fact that this crazy **** continues to happen on the commuter lines of the Denmark Hill / East Dulwich area beggars belief.

Opening car doors with the "Dutch reach" should be taught here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/the-dutch-reach-how-opening-car-door-like-the-dutch-could-save-lives-cycling/ It's about opening the left door with your right hand, and viceversa, as this forces you to look at the oncoming traffic.

Yes, I have read all the previous threads on this topic, but I was wondering if anyone has more recent recommendations or experiences to share, since the market has definitely slowed down over the last 12 months or so (not just in Dulwich but in the whole of London). Any comments via private message by people who wouldn?t want to name names publicly would be most welcome ? I know I wouldn?t as I?d be afraid of complaints, libel and what not. I am basically undecided if I should try to hire: a bigger agency, with multiple branches across the city and hopefully a bigger book of potential buyers (i.e. people who are willing to consider multiple areas), or a smaller one, with maybe only 1 or 2 branches, possibly family-run, that knows the area better, but that will have a smaller book of clients. Looking to buy elsewhere myself, I have been left totally speechless at how the one and only thing most agents do is open the door, and at how they are totally incapable of answering even the most basic questions, e.g. how long the lease is, how much the management charge is, etc. I also appreciate that it is hard to generalise, as estate agency may have a high turnover, with employees moving from one agency to the other relatively frequently. At the same time, I know a couple of people who failed to sell via online agents, and only sold once they hired a traditional agency; ah, without lowering their price, so it was either a coincidence or accessing an agency?s list of potential buyers does have some value. Thoughts? Thanks!

I'd also guess that 2-bed properties sell more easily than larger ones. Quite banally, 2-bed appeal more to first-time buyers, for whom the alternative is renting. 3+beds tend to be bought by people who are trying to upsize. It is easier to find arguments in favour of renting over buying, than in favour of upsizing vs staying put! It will also be interesting to see if there will be waves of forced sales as amateur buy-to-let landlords struggle to refinance their interest-only mortgages, with the new rules on affordability, new tax rules etc., and may be forced to sell.

Thanks. It will be a cold day in hell before I use gmail, mostly because of the privacy considerations outlined here: https://androidforums.com/threads/email-which-apps-keep-it-private.935578/ but of course YMMV and I appreciate I am a minority, since gmail is so widespread. AquaMail recognises the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kman.AquaMail&hl=en_GB and is privacy-friendly. Thinking about it, I wonder if removing the "<" characters might cause the text to be broken across multiple lines in other clients. Mmm...

PS K@mail hasn't been updated in over a year. I am trying Aquamail, one of the few privacy-friendly email clients for Android, and it's displaying links correctly.

Yes, I did look at the open issues on the k9 github page. This was first reported in November, and the case hasn't been assigned (i.e. AFAIK no one has even acknowledged it ): https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/issues/2922 I also tried with Maildroid, and I get the very same behaviour. I am reluctant to try other clients because most other clients store passwords or messages in some way ( https://androidforums.com/threads/email-which-apps-keep-it-private.935578/ ). What is the experience of other forum users? Do links in email work on mobiles? If so, with what app?

Champ Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The housing market has without doubt stagnated > over the last few months. Could we please, please pretty please, at least for a moment, stop pretending that ever-skyrocketing house prices are good for all, and adjust our language accordingly? How about 'stable' prices rather than 'stagnant', for example? If you have a 2nd property you wish to sell, or if you want to move somewhere much cheaper (eg abroad), you want prices to go up. So do you if you need your LTV to come down in order to get a better rate on your mortgage. But, in all other circumstances, 'stable' prices is not necessarily a bad thing. Let's not forget that one reason the previous generations managed to buy more easily is that inflation eroded the real value of their debt.

The Albrighton centre off Dog kennel hill. The softplay near the Peckham library (same building as the swimming pool). Most churches in the area.

Email notifications about new replies show links to the forum in the form of: , i.e. the address is enclosed within the "" characters. This means the link fails to be recognised as such (i.e. it is not clickable) in some email apps. I have seen it with the popular k-9 email on Android but I understand it also happens with other clients. Could you please remove the "" characters, so that links are recognised correctly? Thanks!

Average price indices are utterly unless you know how they are constructed and how they adjust for property size or characteristics: with a flawed methodology, the ?average? may go up simply because more large detached houses than one-bed flats were sold in a given period. For example, the ONS uses a geometric mean and adjusts for a number of characteristics. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/about-the-uk-house-price-index/about-the-uk-house-price-index Southwark is also a very broad area; London Bridge, Borough, East Dulwich, Gipsy Hill etc are all in Southwark but are all very different markets. My impression is that, for 2 to 3 beds below the ?900k mark, prices have stopped rising but have not plummeted. Maybe gone down slightly but not plummeted, whereas volumes have collapsed ? i.e. considerably fewer properties are being sold. However, this seems to be true in most of London. It?s hard to tell how much is Brexit, how much the stamp duty, how much the new tax treatment of buy-to-lets, etc. I have also seen quite a few properties, in Dulwich but not only, that go on sale for a certain price, get reduced a few times, then get pulled from the market altogether; checking the land registry after 4-6 months shows they have not been sold. This makes me wonder how many of the properties advertised as ?sold? may have, in fact, simply been pulled from the market. It will be interesting to see how many units in the two newbuilds in the area (one next to the gym on Crystal palace road, the other next to the ED train station) will be sold, and at what price. I seem to remember asking prices of ca. ?600k for 2-bed flats, whereas most 2-bed flats seem to be on sale between ?480 - ? 520k. Also, no first-time buyer would ever pay, say, ?510 or ?520k, because by going above ?500k they?d lose the discount on the stamp duty.

Thermomix is very expensive (ca. ?900, I believe), but very good. It saves loads of time for all those preparations that require lots of continuous stirring: risottos, sauces, bolognese (the real, dry bolognese sauce - note that spaghetti bolognese is a foreign invention seen as an abomination by the good people of Bologna!), etc. Whether it's worth the price only you can know. I have seen it in wedding lists, precisely because it's so expensive, and I know of people who have had it for decades.

Every time I go to Herne Hill or Brixton I always pass by this: http://theillusioneer.co.uk/ No idea what they're like, though.

I have an old motorcycle helmet I want to get rid of. I heard that some bikers donate old helmets to hospitals and emergency services, so that first-aid teams can train. Does any one know if there is any such service in the area that would accept an old helmet? I have tried contacting a few email addresses of King's College Hospital, but I have had no reply. The helmet is still perfectly functional, no accidents, but I find it heavy and with poor ventilation - despite the pinlock, it fogs up way more than others. Understandably, there is no market for 2nd hand helmets - I would certainly never buy one.

"as and when funds become available to achieve this" could well mean when hell freezes over.