savvygirl

That's interesting. I'll give that a go with the bedroom windows. My bay window, which is sash, hasn't been opened in an age. I'm not going to risk that as it's too near the road! No further sign of the pigeon. It will be interesting to see if he turns up tomorrow.

This is the risk when leaving a door open while you're elsewhere in the house. I think a fox would freak me out big time! I know they don't like cats, so maybe my cats are useful after all. They were bog all use where the pigeon was concerned! Haha!

Thank you too Jenny.

That's great Sue. I daresay they might have a bath in it too!

Yesterday I had a pigeon come into my living room. He was perched on the fire guard. The French doors were open so he obviously thought he'd come in. I tried shooing him out, but he hopped from there onto the sofa and eventually made his way out. He was not a racing pigeon nor a wood pigeon, just a common grey garden pigeon. This morning, there he was again outside, perched on the rung of a garden chair. The cats (I have two) took no notice of him, all pals together it seems! I sat for a while in the garden chair and talked to him - he just stared at me with his beady eye! He's disappeared now but I'm wondering if he'll be back. I'm now concerned to leave the doors open if I'm not in the room which isn't what you need or want in these hot temperatures. I've now put water in a dish for him in case he was thirsty. You can easily forget about water for the birds when it is so hot and dry.

How does this work? Is there a target to reach? What happens then, is it brought to the attention of the Minister for the Environment? I assume that would be the purpose of the 38 degrees petition. Can someone enlighten me please.

Well, I'd feel sickened. It would have been an act of kindness to have kept it safe. Too hard lined in my opinion.

Ok, so the OP is at fault for leaving the scooter behind but surely it wouldn't have hurt the shopowner to have kept it safe for a few days in an out of the way place. Don't they have a storeroom or some space behind the counter. It seems a bit mean spirited to dump it outside especially as it belonged to a child. A lot of people leave things behind, if they didn't we wouldn't have such a thing known as "Lost Property". This was a very mean spirited act on the part of the shopowner and he sounds a bit 'holier than thou' if he said that as a parent he would not have left it behind. "Oh Lord it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way"! Just saying .......!

Perhaps The Woodland Trust should be made aware. It needs proper inspection and investigation by a structural engineer before such drastic steps are taken. Felling two mature oak trees in my book is a crime and if possible an alternative solution should be sought.

I think it is proposed that there is direct access from the old boating lake area onto the nature trail. The nature trail itself is an area of biodiversity, a place of tranquillity for varied species of wildlife. My concern is that if it is used by parents, their kiddies and their dogs as just another cut through to London Road that peace and tranquillity will be lost. I really think the nature trail should be protected and access onto it restricted within certain hours, which I believe is the case at present.

There's a book called "Sh*t London" which is very amusing and where a picture of this would not be out of place! London is edgy in the sense that it can be a bit scruffy and unpredictable. I would hate to see all parts gentrified to the point of uninteresting blandness. Not sure about phallic graffiti on the path though although it's an obvious upgrade from the lavatory door!

I?d love to see something like an old fashioned haberdashery selling fabrics, embroidery silks, tapestry items, sewing threads and knitting wools. John Lewis used to have a fabulous department at one time. I know there is Stag & Bow in Forest Hill but another in Ed would be good. It appeals to my creative side! I remember the joy of looking through pattern books and choosing materials. Rolls and REM?s in Lewisham is extremely popular, so there seems to be a revival of things homespun or maybe I should say home made!

The high street shops are dying because lots of people shop online or in supermarkets. I have great admiration for those shops that survive, for example SMBS and The Cheese Block. As for what will replace Jaflong, it may be stipulated in the Lease that it has to be an eatery of some kind otherwise a change of use is required. It's hard to think what could take it's place as we have our fair share of cake shops, coffee shops, bakeries, garden shops and pharmacies. A nice hat shop maybe! (I say this tongue in cheek), or shoe shop, although we had one which didn't survive. Any suggestions?

Goldilocks, why on earth did you choose to live in London and raise a family here if this is such a major concern? If you want to change things you have to start with yourself and if living in London doesn?t suit you, maybe you should consider moving away. Also, I did not mean to imply that you were a zealot, just someone with a bee in her bonnet as I believe you may have posted on this topic before. I also apologise for using the word crusade - it was not my intention to offend. As far as a gas fired burner is concerned, I had one of these originally. It was totally ineffective on a bitter cold day and had nowhere near enough power to heat the room ? they are more for ascetic purposes and can be very costly! The woodburner I now have is powerful and, as I said, I burn smokeless fuel and dried kiln logs. Newly chopped wood is a definite no no as it hasn?t dried out and will cause masses of smoke. It needs to be stacked for at least a year, preferably two, and fully dried out before burning. When you have a woodburner, you have to be a responsible owner!

It is my intention to upgrade my woodburner and I will definitely do my research on the best eco-friendly one to buy. However, I will be looking for one that is efficient as well as economical as my house was built circa 1870 so not entirely sure cavity wall insulation is possible. As with many old Victorian houses, there are big bay windows and my house in particular has a good deal of glass as I have French windows in the sitting room as well as the bay. This is the reason for the woodburner which does the job of heating the room efficiently - the radiators alone come nowhere near doing this. I have always burned the correct fuel, particularly kiln dried logs and smokeless fuel and in doing so, thought I was being responsible. I think goldilocks you should be lobbying the Minister responsible for health and safety or the Minister for the environment which may be more effective than airing your views on this forum. Take some positive action which may make you feel better. As far as I know the Clean Air Act is up to date and there is a hefty fine if it's not complied with. Not sure where you can take it from there! You seem to be on some sort of crusade!

I thought I was making a valid point and I took the thread seriously - sorry goldilocks' but I find your above analogy somewhat flippant.

I've had a woodburner for about 40 years. I was inspired to get one after visiting friends in Cornwall. I seem to be healthy enough and don't believe I've suffered any ill effects from having one. I only burn smokeless fuel or dried kiln logs (these are used initially with kindling to get the fire going). The woodburner is very efficient when it comes to heating a room. I find I can often turn the central heating off, even on the coldest winter's day! So in their favour, they are very efficient and fairly economical. I also had a register plate fitted which stops heat escaping up the chimney and debris falling down it . As well as being aesthetically pleasing they are extremely functional. On the downside, it does necessitate having the chimney swept on a regular basis and this I have done yearly around the end of August. A woodburner needs to be maintained properly which does mean replacing faulty parts but this has amounted to very little in the 40 years I've had mine. You just have to be a responsible owner, keep it properly maintained and not fall foul of the Clean Air Act!

Is Dr Tom Boswell still there? I found him very professional and efficient. Same goes for Dr Liz Main. Two very good doctors. I hope they stay.

I managed to get an online appointment today for a date in March. It was a second attempt as the original slot that was available had gone in the time it took me to check my calendar! You have to be quick. Advise anyone booking to have their calendar beside them - mine is a paper one hanging up in the kitchen so necessitated a trip!! I'm definitely a bit of a dinosaur who needs to up her game! I think I'll check this appointment with the receptionist as I'm so amazed to have got it that I feel it may just be a mistake!

I found it very difficult to get an appointment by using the online facility. I eventually gave up and decided to call in at the surgery. The receptionist said that my contact details were out of date as they had an old email address for me which was the reason I couldn't make an appointment online. The fault was remedied and my details were updated and an appointment was made. However, it turned out (once I was home and able to check my calendar) that I had a prior engagement that same day. I phoned to cancel the appointment and was told there were no alternative appointments and to ring back on Monday morning after 10am. Usually at this time of day the recorded message will tell you where you are in the queue and I've always found it to be 8th or 9th! It's a long wait. Round and round in circles we seem to go! There was no chance of making an appointment online, as again that just informed me there were none available. I had been requested to make this appointment by the doctor, so that makes it even more bizarre. The whole system is a nightmare. It never used to be like this. I have been with this practice for over 40 years and even at its busiest times it was always quite efficient. It's just got worse and worse over the years and I've never known it quite as inefficient as it is now. It's very frustrating and extremely time wasting.

I am slightly confused as Robert Poste's Child wrote "And to the poor people who work in the shop and apparently tried to stop an argument. A horrible thing for them to have to deal with." Not sure whether this means the victim and assailant were arguing in the 24 hour shop prior to the attack. That would make the staff key witnesses. I hope they catch the assailant soon. It's a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to the victim's family.

So the gist of this thread seems to be that the man did nothing wrong in placing grocery items straight off the shelf and into his personal shopping bag before going to a check-out machine. Unbelievable! This is wrong on so many levels. Firstly the baskets/trolleys are there for a reason, so that you can place the items you want to purchase into them. Secondly, if it would cause some sort of problem toting said basket/trolley around, then I'm sure a member of staff could be made available to help. For the life of me though, I cannot see the difference weight-wise in carrying it in your own bag rather than the store's basket as any weight difference would be negligible. Surely we're not all so gullible as to believe this is acceptable behaviour, because it isn't! However, if the staff had been alerted to his behaviour and then did nothing I can only think there must have been a reason for that. Maybe they knew him and accepted the way he chose to shop or maybe they just couldn't be bothered. Maybe he was someone famous, like an old 70s pop star! Who knows! I do think that the OP is being treated as the villain of the piece here which I think is wrong. What I do think is that she should not have challenged the man but immediately alerted the staff and left it at that.

I can't help it - I positively frighten myself sometimes I'm that sensible!

This is the correct procedure when shopping, unless you're royalty and the rules don't apply: Enter store, pick up shopping basket/trolley, put items in shopping basket/trolley, take to check out, empty shopping basket/trolley, pay for items, put in own personal shopping bag (calico or otherwise) and depart store.

I hadn't heard of a Paulownia tree but have looked it up on the web and see that it is a most attractive looking tree. It appears to be fast growing and has beautiful clusters of lilac foxglove-like flowers in the Spring. I think this tree would be a very fitting tribute to John and a bit different from the usual plane trees and sycamores. John was pretty unique and something a little bit different and special would be ideal.