any women with a career, own money and no kids in dulwich!?

[giggirl]

I?m finding this thread really alienating. Stereotypes diminish people. Are those the choices? Children or career? Do you have to choose one? What if you choose neither? What if you can?t have either? Is that it then? Angela, you say that freedom is important but the tragedy is that putting people into pigeon holes is putting them into shackles.

????????

Horror of horrors; just as I thought that this thread couldn?t get more alienating I read the sentence ?mothers??. are doing the toughest (and most important) job in the world?. Such arrogance. (No, I?m not anti-mother, anti-child, anti-couple, anti-men, anti-single person, anti-career person or anti-anything).

BTW Angela, ED on a weekday afternoon isn?t typical; it?s just one facet of the area.

[Jah Lush]

Best post so far. I think I love you GG.

[mattham]

Sorry to offend or alienate GG...I'm not a mother (or anti any of those other things you mention), and I don't buy those stereotypes either; plenty of mothers (including my wife) work at jobs too. I just think being a mother is the toughest gig of all.

[sillywoman]

Why arrogance gigirl? I thought everyone knew that and it kind of went without saying? Just fact. Nothing's harder. Nothing.

Mr SW (using Mrs SW's identity).

[Azul]

children are evil they are always trying to play with the nice colored objects you own which don't belong to them.

Personally I try to get away from them as they never obey when I tell them to move away.

Evil I tell you Evil

[karter]

hey jeremy, this week is half term so there are certainly lots more children about than normal.

[Cassius]

Motherhood may be hard but it is still a choice (usually). You do it knowing what it is going to be like. You didn't HAVE to do it except under very specific circumstances.

I think my friends who juggle career, kids etc do a great job and I admire them for it - but they wouldn't expect to be praised for doing what they wanted to do.

[Jeremy]

karter Wrote:

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> hey jeremy, this week is half term so there are certainly lots more children about than normal.

Aha... (sound of penny dropping)

[mockney piers]

Blimey.

Welcome to the forum and perhaps East Dulwich Angela, way to make friends and influence people ;-)

Frankly East Dulwich, like any place really is what you make of it. All the nappy valley nonsense is just overblown hyperbole (hmm, nice tautology). It's no more mumcentric than any town outside of London, and as a professional myself who'll rarely make it to the strip prior to about 6 (unless it's to watch footie in a pub) I rarely see the peak hours, but honestly, what can be so offensive about families and prams?

I'm not going to get into the whole kids/no kids debate, especially as it's been done to death here on many an occasion, but do have a heart girl, what ever happened to live and let live?

[DaveR]

Is ED a nice place to live if you don't have kids? Yes.

Is ED a nice place to live if you don't like kids? Maybe not

Are you going to piss people off by suggesting that women with kids (i) don't have careers (ii) don't have "their own money" (iii) spend all their time in coffee shops and/or baby yoga sessions? Definitely

[Michael Palaeologus]

I have always been impressed by the fertility and fecundity of the Mothers of ED and their willingness to procreate at a seemingly Leporidinous rate. Good for you ladies, keep keeping it up for Blighty.

They spend much of their time wandering between The Plough's Gin and Tonka Toy mornings and JoJoBeBeWannadaMoney with the beloved off-spring tucked into their 3x3 super-buggies. The fug of fumes sometimes to be seen above Lordship Lane is not car fumes but in reality is a heady cocktail vapour of Calpol and Sherry.

Having said that there are many career-Ladies in ED who have not thus far not been blessed. They are seldom seen as they gather in the Dulwich Constitutional Club to play snooker and talk about men they have known and the good old days.

[veryseriousgirl]

I had a career, my own money and no kids. I moved to ED last year and two days later, I found myself broke and up to my knees in infants. I am terrified to phone work (much less go in) lest they tell me I no longer have a job.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Blimey VSG, that is a cautionary tale and there is no mistakin'.

You could turn the children over the Salvation Army at Denmark Hill. They would then be looked after (albeit on an austere manner) and you could go back to the ways of a careerist social butterfly. Everybody will be happy.

[Keef]

As you can probably tell Angela, this subject gets a rise out of a lot of people.

East Dulwich is without a shadow of doubt, a nappy vally. It is a very very popular area for young families, and they are everywhere. However, there are plenty of people without kids and not in to the whole "yummy mummy" thing.

You will find some of the parents horrifically defensive should you ever say something along the lines of "I'd like to enjoy a drink in a child free pub", and you will quite likely be labelled as a child hater or something. These people are, fortunately, in the minority, and most of us just get on with it.

Equally, it's part of the area, so saying "I wish all the yummy mummies with their prams would p!ss off" (I know you never said that) seems a bit silly, as they're clearly not going to, and nor should they.

There are some horrific yummy mummy types out there, but I think the vast majority of mums in the area are just getting on with it, and are tarred by the same brush as this vile little brigade.

[PeckhamRose]

To answer the original question,

"Yes, yes, correct, no - Peckham". Which may be even rarer?

Ho hum...

[HonaloochieB]

Hello Angela, if you're looking to remain childless I'd steer clear of ED.

The men around these parts have such a high level of potency, they can impregnate a seventy year old with a handshake.

It's not worth the risk girlfriend.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Simply swapping a Personal Message with an ED Chap on the Forum is a surefire way of getting in-pig.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Golly MP - you must have farrowed a fair few litters then.

[HonaloochieB]

Merely following on from a bloke on the word association thread, and you can find yourself up the duff.

[Michael Palaeologus]

It must be said that there are now a number of Staffordshire Gingers rootling round Peckham Rye.

[Annasfield]

HonaloochieB Wrote:

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> Merely following on from a bloke on the word

> association thread, and you can find yourself up

> the duff.

Jeez Louise! I knew there was a reason I didn't bother with those threads.

[Moos]

Angela's got every right to ask whether there'll be people she'll want to hang out with in the area she moves to. The question could perhaps have been put more inclusively but I don't think there's any need to assume that she thinks all mothers are layabouts or unemployable or sponging off their platinum-card-waving husbands. And if it were to emerge that she does think it... well, it would be interesting to hear why, so that would be good too!

Realistically, you won't see many people in relatively costly suburban high streets except for mothers during a weekday - or, in fact, you will, but a person with a buggy is just that bit bigger and more visible. Try weekends and evenings for a more balanced view.

[TillieTrotter]

She certainly has but there are ways and ways of saying things.

[Asset]

Anyone fancy a coffee tomorrow?

[angela2711]

TillieTrotter, I was just getting to the point and asking a question about the area.