Nigello

I see scores of abandoned trees, blocking pavements and parking spaces, and no evidence of collection, either by the standard refuse vans or the ones that used to patrol the streets looking for the trees. I have complained online about ones near to me but they are everywhere. If you have a collection of trees on your pavement or in your road, please do complain under fly tipping on the website. If they get a lot they may finally understand what is (not) going on! https://www.southwark.gov.uk/street-care/fly-tipping

I am not switching on the heating till later in the day, and only then for about 90 minutes downstairs before putting it on again in the early evening. My gas engineer said it is best to set the thermo low and not switch on upstairs rads. till needed, and keep the downstairs ones only at 4, not 6, on their individual thermos. at least until it gets warmer. I think the gov. will go with helping those who most need it (elderly, on benefits, etc.) rather than dropping the VAT so most (not all) of us here, I reckon, will be taking a hit. Put that extra cardi on!

James has been helpful in dealing with the process of collecting the full bins but not picking up spilt litter around them, in Dulwich Village. (Perhaps the bin-bag collectors and installers are forbidden from picking up litter that was already there, likely from crows and squirrels? If so, this is lunacy!) I wonder whether it is a good idea to approach the chains (Costa, Gail's, etc.) to ask them to supply a worker a day (not in their own time, of course) to collect stray cups and wrappers in a 200m distance from their shop? McDonald's do that.

They are coming to LL also - I think there will be a bay near to Superdrug.

I have two councillors. One nearly always responds to emails and follows up. The other does not even acknowledge them, so I now only go to one of them. Other councillors in the area who are not for my ward (but they do not know that when I email them as I do not put in my postcode) have never replied. They are either rude, stupid, high-handed or dead.

If you are away and your bins are being left out, ask a neighbour to put them back inside your front yard, etc. That way you will be doing something to deter those who are marking houses for potential burglary but also keeping the footpaths clear for those who are less able to see or negotiate them. (And fit deadlock/alarm!)

But that is eradicating history, whether it is good or bad. Think about it - you are helping to erase actual facts when you get rid of street names and the like. That could mean that the future generations, and probably only one or two down the line, could have fewer daily reference points from which to learn about the bad and the good. Talk about defeating the point! Life is not that black and white so leave things alone, on the whole, and provide context and use it as a pointer to a wider discussion so that the supposed righting of wrongs doesn't end up erasing the history that the righters are so concerned about being exposed.

Is there a reliable and local (2 miles or so) testing place for travel-related antigen tests? It is for travel to a country that takes either PCR or antigenr or LAMP. Cheaper the better. Thanks

I think it is a bit small, but who knows. Also, what about deliveries and the like? We all know we need more mid-range dining options lest we starve and start to go mad with boredom...!

The old ones seemed not that old and fit for purpose - providing shelter and bus information - so how come the need to spend more on new ones? Our local riffraff will still spray and carve their names on them in a bid to seem big and important...

The old ones outside the post office on LL and on Barry northbound, after Whately, are being removed and new ones put in.

The absence of the final "ed/d" in words that have, until about four or so years ago, very definitely had them.

Please don't leave splayed out on the pavement, nor prop up with the vain wish it will stay like that: people who are blind/poor sighted, have children/prams, etc. etc. can find it hard to navigate our footpaths at the best of time. Best practice is to strip the branches off and put in the brown bin (ask a neighbour if you have not got one), remove the wooden base.

The dry cleaner on Forest Hill Road has a collection tin for foreign money. I think it?s for air ambulances.

I heard on R4 that two tests a week is sufficient. Some people over test - morning and evening on the same day! Don?t waste them.

Maybe they are short staffed. Everyone is affected. You cannot expect doctors to be immune from illness, even if it is frustrating. I agree that phone consultations are a good way of using their time well, hope y ou get one

Re the litter, I sent you an email showing worst practice at Dulwich Village, where bags were left on the ground and ripped by fox/es. It is perfectly possible the wily fox could pull a bag off the top of a bin but it is not a given that it will succeed in ripping it open, unlike if it is left at fox level. The bags were cleared an hour later, it seems, but the spillage was left there. (I put some of it in the now empty bins). Is it because picking up spilt litter is not in the remit of teh bag collector's contract, or they simply CBA? Eitehr way, it is not a good look for anyone, including Southwark which does pretty well on the environment, to be fair, at least in my experience.

They cannot reasonably discuss results online or send via text, etc.; they have to know who you are or they could be divulging private health records to a stranger. Be reasonable. By speakign to a human they have done as much as they reasonably can to check it is the right person, by asking for full name and DOB, etc.

As much as it is disgusting, shooting men for wiping a crow on a seat of a train (because only men act in such a way, of course) is rather an overreaction. Would women be also subject to such a penalty...?! As for the filtration - it is unlikely to take flight, simply due to cost of installation and maintenance. Best to concentrate on ventilation, use of allergen-free cleaning chemicals, more greenery (eg. the excellent mini-forest at Goodrich School) and making sure ill kids and teachers stay away till they're better. Now, if ebola were to take root in British schools, I may change my mind... Also, there is no such thing as safe. Using such a word again and again suggests to people that there is somehow, somewhere a hazard-free world. Being safer is more realistic, but even that doesn't mean public money should be thrown at every method that claims to be able to achieve such a state.

A few weeks ago they were practically throwing them at you at Dulwich Library. Shows just how little people were aware, let alone doing the testing, even as winter approached. Omicron is less than two weeks old (in terms of our knowing about it) so all those people now scrambling for supplies shows, I think, how little attention they were paying to a really effective way of self-monitoring and helping to keep infections down, and that is a pity.

There is a litter bit that often has other refuse placed outside it. COuld it be that?

There are new laws coming in on 29/01/22 that are to do with respective responsibilities of drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/motoring/dvla-new-driving-laws-rule-6364886 - other sources available.

It took ages to be installed and then when the workmen arrived, there were long delays. I am sure it was worth the wait, just about, but I would prefer the trees/plants to be planted up as part of one big task. They are a right mess and people will just think they're there to let their dogs crap in and/or a place for fly tipping.

On the whole I think Southwark's street cleaners do a great job, not helped by the litter louts who persist in our midst. Some, though, don't put the bags on top of the litter bins, which means they are more likely to be ripped by foxes. Also, leaves need collecting more often and drains need de-clogging to stop the massive puddles we get (cf. Adys Road at Goose Green). If you can stretch your remit to frontages, please be inventive when it comes to ways of getting people to remove scrawl on private business's property - persuade them to act in their own best interests?

Dulwich V just had workmen putting in fibre for something like Community Fibre. They had pink and white barriers - how pretty and a change from corporation orange.