Nigello

Only the P13 on LL around 3pm today.

Queen Mary stopped off there once. She was on her way to see the rhododendrons in Dulwich Park (which she did annually, according to what I’ve read) and asked her driver to stop so she could speak to the owner.

How much pollution etc. blows in from outside any given area, in this case, ULEZ? How correct is it to say that X numbers of deaths or cases of illness could be avoided by expanding ULEZ? I think headlines are there to grab attention but not necessarily to inform fully (in general, not for anything specific).

I get a lot of window-envelope and postcards delivered at once which makes me think the individual postie or individual manager or the general management have decided on such a system to avoid a daily delivery. I will investigate. (I can’t believe I get seven postcards and two magazines one day as a normal occurrence.)

Expect congestion and associated pollution, safety hazards and argy-bargy on adjacent streets and no input from the school and/or local authorities to police these new infractions.

It is Dunstan’s that’s the school road. The cameras deter drivers but parents choose now to park illegally and hazardously in nearby streets. Given that the school hires itself out to summer schools etc. to make money, bad behaviour persists and congestion, idling engines multiply. (The council must have known that without physical attendants the problem would simply be displaced, wouldn’t it? Or am I crediting it with too much savvy?)

It’d make a better bank.

I’d like to see a bat in SE15/21/22 but haven’t yet. I did see, though, three cormorants sitting on a branch hanging over the water from the island in the lake in D Park this morning. Two were there yesterday when I walked past.

A walk down ED Grove into ED from the Village at what usually is rush hour this morning suggested to me that school traffic is mostly to blame for congestion/pollution around this area. No lines of traffic at all, just a handful of vehicles at the lights.

The restrictions on access to Dunstan’s have resulted in, surprise surprise, illegal and hazardous parking on Goodrich and Upland and Dunstan’s (the bit not restricted). The school does nothing to police this even though it has bought (with public money or money from PTA, etc.) portable bollards which it ought to use morning and afternoon to prevent parking on zigzags and DYLs. Basically, the problem has been shifted from one street to others.

Pedestrians don’t saunter in cycle lanes, so cyclists ought not to ride on footpaths. Not cycling on footpaths is polite, rational, reasonable, hazard-reducing and orderly so why is there support for pavement cyclists? It’s a vote for selfishness and inconsiderateness which we don’t need any more of. It’s endemic, which suggests to me that those who do it are indeed anti-social, even if they think that because they are helping reduce congestion and pollution, they can do as they please and disregard the rights of pedestrians and wheelchair users.

More and more drivers ignore the zebras - ie. when a passenger has set foot on one they still drive on. I wave like a loon at them for ages rather than shout or gesture. It works because they think “do I know that person?” before the penny drops and they realise they’re poor and dangerous drivers. Plus, it’s fun to have others stare at them.

Yes - I saw the first one I’ve seen this year more than a week ago. Lovely things

I saw a brown grasshopper, about 2” long, on my window frame today, which although is close to lots of foliage and not far at all from trees, is far from grass. It surprised me to see it there.

I read about this on a Southwark email but don’t know the process. I remember I matched the criteria. Please could someone provide a link or phone number.

They love bog-standard suet balls with seeds in them and also will take cheese rinds and stale cake/bread.

Four parents on (racing) bicycles on the footpath with kiddies riding beside on seen within five minutes on E D Grove this morning. When I pointed out that it was for pedestrians I got hard stares - pretty common to be angry once thry are told they’re in the wrong (especially when they always knew they were!). Also, two parents on Road on bicycles as their kids cycled very acceptably and legally on the pavement.

I was told by an employee of a DV business that a drunk driver slammed into it late one night, destroying it in part or wholly and it won’t be replaced - at a cost of 20k or so (according to this person).

Agreed - if part of the reasoning for the deployment of these cycles and scooters is accessibility and ease of movement then their poor parking has to be judged against these values also.

The signs say nothing about term time as far as I can see so yeah, the council would then stand to make money from fines related to restrictions that were put in to deal with school term-related concerns. Perhaps Southwark has a department of “and they wonder why they don’t like or trust us”?

The system at TJC is exemplary. The staff are efficient, professional and kind and patients rarely have to wait more than ten minutes before being called. Sounds like a “bright idea” thought up by faraway dullards.

Lots of the pillar boxes I’ve seen recently in SE22 each have a sticker saying that collection tiles will change to “no earlier than 09:00” on weekdays. It’ll be 07:00 on Saturdays. This is compared to the usual 17:30/18:00 now. So, seeing as most people send mail during the day and often in the afternoon, their sent mail will be take one more day to arrive.

So, do you stay up till 10pm then book your slot for more than one (maybe three or more) sessions and always turn up? This system is no way for a publicly-funded pool whose bosses (Southwark) pledge to make “sport for all”, etc. I just don’t accept that everyone who wants to swim should need to book at least a year since the Covid threat was deemed weak enough to lift restrictions in all other areas of life. People’s plans change, the weather puts them off (or propels them to swim). I just can’t accept that this system is the right one. It’s condescending and exclusionary and that’s the very opposite of what a council (of any colour) should be aiming for. I’m still waiting for my reply from the head of leisure so I’ll try and try again.

People abuse the system as it is. They book as soon as the slots open and sometimes don’t attend. It’s unfair - the diehards take a lot of the slots leaving fewer open for less dedicated swimmers, whose lack of zeal and military-style forward planning skills are punished, in effect. A review is needed to be able to compare the two systems fairly. There was no clamour for the booking system before the pandemic. It’s laziness on the part of the authorities that’s keeping it there.

I think the booking system should be withdrawn for at least two months so that comparisons can be drawn. That’s a fair way of doing it and it won’t cost a thing. It’s paternalistic and sits uneasily with me; as if there are not enough regulation and restrictions in life already!