fl0wer

Dear James, the whole point about the fly tipping is that it happens in the middle of the night, when offenders believe they won't be caught. This is why grotspots need security cameras. As I said before, your own teams will be able to tell you exactly where they are most often called to pick up the trash. And the whole point about Letting Agents is that it's their job to oversee the quality of the work being done for their clients, but they can get away with the sort of abuses described, because nobody is adequately supervising them. Trading Standards? or another department? needs to set off round the borough and get all local branches of Estate Agents back on their toes IMHO.

Dear James, may I draw your attention to the discussion on a thread here in the EDF http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1278691 My note (at the end) is about getting the Trading Standards officer if that is the right person? - to work through all the cleaning firms being employed by estate agents in our area. It appears that a large proportion of the fly-tipping we endure comes from vacated flats which means that cleaners and maintenance firms, staff perhaps not understanding how to clear up efficiently even with the Council's free service, are pocketing the estate agents fee for going to the tip, and instead dumping again and again in the same sites....a security camera should be installed on Dunstan's Road beneath the Dawson Hill footpath to act as a deterrent and I am sure the Council waste teams could name several other regular tip places. It's a fact that in ED many private tenants move into flats that have been inadequately cleaned & repaired. Even though local estate agents promise "the highest standards" on their literature, it's a lie which distant landlords never find out. By employing cheapest-of-cheap cleaning firms, the property middlemen maximise profits and probably sponsor the shadow economy = illegal terms of employment etc.

It's time the Council prevailed on all the Estate Agents round here, ALL the profiteering and opportunistic property persons making ????? as London house prices and rents soar, to inspect their cleaning firms & see that they use the Council's own free services or pay at the tip as contracts specify. Also that cleaners and janitors get a living wage and understand this country's law about waste. Would this be Trading Standards?

Up in Pimlico there is a shop which might give you a price for a whole bundle. They will want things which are in good repair, it's worth your while ironing and mending them first. http://www.pimlicopeople.co.uk/shopping/charity-and-secondhand-shops/pimlico-kids/business-9873250-detail/business.html

1. Hoover it on the reverse as well as on the pile. 2. Take it outdoors on a dry day, and cover it in talcum powder (work talc into the pile) 3. Roll it pile inwards and store it for about 48 hrs under cover. 4. Shake it out as hard as you can. Finally hoover it again. (Technique quite effective esp if wool starts to smell like a wet spaniel!) Dry cleaning should really be a last resort = chemicals not good from an eco point of view. Your rug might be washable, if so it will be labelled. After hoovering front and back take it outdoors on a sunny day to shampoo then totally rinse it, using garden hose. Every hour or so turn it the other way up in the sunshine and it will look great once it's dry. Being Ikea maybe it is not washable, unless it was fairly expensive to begin with.

.....or even by the cleaning contractor, who charges the letting agent a regular fee for taking clear-outs to the tip - and then doesn't go further than your street corner. Have written elsewhere in EDF how upsetting I find the flytipping on local green spaces as well. In our experience letting agents are just as complicit as cleaning firms. The landlord might be far away, in another city. The agents turn a blind eye and constantly re-let neglected apartments. Because the incoming tenant (who has trekked the length and breadth of suburbia looking for somewhere remotely affordable) accepts the spiel 'all our properties are maintained to the highest standards'. Cleaning firms notorious employers in twilight economy as well. It's a racket.

Modern day slave trade - tear-jerking 11 minute video. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/video/2014/mar/01/tetley-tea-maids-real-price-cup-tea-video

More fly tipped waste at the footpath's lowest exit into Dunstan Rd. Have just reported it to the Council. I wish we could catch the offender. It's the 4th time this spot got chosen, and the type of litter is always the same - junk left behind in temporary accommodation, clothes and broken furniture scrap.

Yet more reasons to choose fairtrade. Unacceptably harsh conditions for plantation workers, enable certain UK supermarkets to sell at 68p/kilo. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/25/how-much-cost-growers-bananas-68p-per-kilo

.

Dear Andrew, thankyou for giving folk the opportunity to contribute. In ED there are quite a few sad, closed-down shop premises dragging down the terraces like bad teeth. In general private houses and flats fetch such high prices they are occupied and extended whenever possible so we are in something of a bubble here. There is a distinction to be made between 'derelict sites', 'brownfield sites' and treasured bits of wild land in everyone's interest to protect as safe havens for biodiversity. Article about Europe's 11 million empty homes and economic background. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/23/europe-11m-empty-properties-enough-house-homeless-continent-twice

New tarmac. 25th Feb. Job completed. Surface now perfect for a few skateboarders BTW.......

That's just what I was thinking duchess. I watched a bit of TV about criminals operating in central London tourist spots, doing all sorts, pickpocketing, street gambling scams etc. When caught they tried the 'sorry, no speak English' response but it took the policeman no time to show how untrue that was. I think one little boy had a lucky escape. I think the security guard might have been crooked and nobody dare say so out loud, in case they break employment law. Very sorry for the family.

fluffy you are probably referring to rubbish facilities up at Dawson Heights? I've been looking at several other "mansion" blocks of flats, these are dotted around, along Dunstan's Rd and Upland. One or two look like they are getting very run-down.

So relieved to read this fitch. Well done for the rewilding efforts over the years. The cherry tree suckers might stop coming to the surface if you cover the treeroots more deeply. Perhaps they regrow where a mower/strimmer has scraped at the main roots in the past. Having said that, as you probably know already, nursery-garden fruit-trees /ornamentals are often grafted onto a different rootstock to give them more vigor. The suckers won't make more trees which resemble your cherry, their top growth will be from this [wilder] species. In wild situations blackthorn always increases as its roots extend widthways - ideal to anchor soil and create hedging in former times. Instead of barbed wire, boundary thorn thickets = great for small birds and mammals. Worth considering this to help reduce streetside vandalism here? Fixmystreet got back in touch with me for a follow-up comment, as they usually do after 1 month. Walked around this week. Heartfelt thanks, Council for attending to the litter, and to anyone else who has been helping. An unpleasant job but how wonderful if it helps bring the beautiful hillside nature reserve back into everyday appreciation. FUTURE VIGILANCE. Who actually does the flytipping? A guess that unprofessional landlords/maintenance staff in adjacent apartment blocks are responsible. Do they know Southwark's policy of collecting bulk waste furniture free of charge? Do they let their tenants know? For concerned residents & groundsmen, ongoing alertness to this problem will reap rewards. As soon as one person dumps waste it attracts more, as every wildlife trust officer in the city discovers. It's time to publicise again this simple care for green spaces, teaching children, & if we see petty offending. Take pics if someone is unloading household waste, - especially vehicle registration plate.

Chunky neighbour! You're polite and naturally averse to having a falling-out. This kind of near-blackmail appeals to certain people. Having once been a victim of it I would say: don't just give in at this point, but get ready to make a compromise. OK so how do you progress? Before it gets to any legal stage (costs ??? and *polite cough* solicitors relish a nice lucrative dispute rather than promoting harmony).... Ask your builder what he would charge for all the new wall you'd need there if starting from scratch? What can you afford right now? Find out, preferably over a glass of wine, what amount of money is the neighbour looking for? Is there a reasonable amount you can now agree upon?

Ban Ki-moon writing today describes recent successes worldwide [useful links in article] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/18/ban-ki-moon-education-ending-fgm-female-genital-mutilation

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/musicdocs/musicdocs_20140211-1027a.mp3 Gorgeous music, history of famous song.

Pugwash Wrote: " at the time of the delivery, she did not want to see her son and the child was buried/cremated without his parents being there." What hospitals do now if the parents feel like this: they take a few photographs and tell them, "If ever you want to see them we are keeping them safely for you," because they know how later regret follows & also curiosity - how the child looked (always something beautiful about it that can be admired and acknowledged).

Informative article about how Oxfam turns the waste from those kinds of collection bin into fund-raisers. http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/feb/15/what-happens-to-oxfam-donations-sorted

If I might suggest, the way to see whether it really suits you ALL is to hire one for a shortish holiday. There'll be a hire cost - but much less than an expensive mistake.

Grief comes in waves and not always when expected. For instance welling up in a supermarket aisle where all the lovely nursery things are. Yet finding it not at all difficult to celebrate another family's newborn bringing joy. The main difficulty bereaved parents report, is that their friends & neighbours cross the road rather than speak. I think just saying how sorry you are to hear the news, and sending the gentlest card you can find, is about right. Many cards and people employ forms of words they would want to hear if it were them. They project on to the situation whereas as others write above, a real gesture of friendship is to allow space for your friends to be the way they are, which might sometimes seem numb or intensely private, or perhaps - especially if they have other children to look after - they will try to recover quickly and that is some folks style. No one ever forgets the birthday though.

A generous handful of salt in daily bath water gets the spots healing up quickly. Also keep your toddler's fingernails trimmed, so that scratching does less harm.

Yes, Saffron has a good idea there. Maybe Trading Standards dept

Didn't take it as one, srisky, because over 1300 people have read the one in the Family section and I count that a successful addition to both the publicity and potential signers. .....more than 200,000 names on the petition at change.org at the time of writing......