Nigello

All I would say is have as much insurance as you can afford and take as much time as you can as the distances are large and there is so much to see and experience! Sausalito is nice to visit and Alcatraz is very worthwhile as a day trip.

The huge puddle near to the Court Lane gate had this morning largely disappeared, and the grids where it had been had evidence of someone having scraped them out. Big puddles on the posh gravel on the way up to that lovely blue cottage had shrunk but were still there. The local councillor said this was the remit of the Dulwich Estate (without saying that she would contact it).

Is it too much of a stretch to say that we can show our thanks and support by doing more to keep ourselves healthy, even outside times of pandemic? We are mostly a self-indulgent lot, so if we all ditched the chips/booze/fags/hazardous sex, etc. at least some of the time wouldn't that be a good way of showing support? Some of us do this, many don't, thinking "it won't happen to me". A fair bit of illiness is, if not completely avoidable, then aided and abetted by certain choices.

Yes, I get that - but the grids are usually totally blocked in the park and the sand on the horsetrack gets loose and clogs it up (that's not my supposition but was told me by a park officer). Crappy tarmacking that splits at the first opportunity (see also in PR park and Dawson's Hill) doesn't help.

I have not seen my usual postie for at least a fortnight and have had two deliveries by two different people. Both said it had been very busy with piles of letters, mainly, that are being sorted and delivered as and when.

Both PR and D Parks are full of really rather large ponds, not puddles. The one parallel to Peckham Rye (at the boys' school) is massive! Also, as usual, L Land has its annoyingly frequent and deep-enough-to-wet-your-shoes puddles opposite the Picture House, and the obligatory ponding at practically every dropped kerb. (I have notified the local councillors, the park people and Helen Hayes, so not just whining on here like is the usual.) If you are cheesed off, please email the relevant councillor and CC the MP, including your phone number, home address and email address if you want the MP to even consider reading it.

If you look on the boards near the car park/tennis courts at the Dulwich Picture Gallery side there are SOuthwark information posters with phone numbers for park officers, etc. If enough of you sent him or her a text, askign for warden presence or better signage, etc, it may work. Otherwise, not much will change.

I agree - please address your justified concerns to Thames Water and post back their response.

Re public questions - how and where can you place these?

Without taking any action = unlikely. They may well have not been able to do anything physical and/or visible ast night but I am sure they will have taken action to solve it but behind the scenes, ie. taking notes, pictures, lining people up to do the work today.

I think a lot of it is due to the staff. Some have a chippy attitude - it's nothign to do with me, I hate the boss, I don't get paid enough, whilst others are just dim. M and S and CoOp on LL have a fairly substantial minority of staff who don't wear (or wear badly) their masks (and yes, I did point this out to the managers at the time, which is what I encourage others to do who see the same).

I think trees in teh past were not always chosen with future growth, below ground especially, in mind, but now that isn't the case. I have to say that, on the whole, Southwark's rather good when it comes to parks, trees, litter picking, etc. It is the residents (some of them) that are rather crap when it comes to litter, at least...

Conway are out spraying where new trees will be planted. I?ve seen about six pits-to-be in SE22 but the man said there were to be three hundred new trees ?around? here. Good news!

Are the stallholders exempt from any of the government payments? If not, then I can see why they are dead keen to make money. If not, then they ought to not open and turn attention to take-away via phone or online order. Also, I do expect stallholders to instil some confidence at least by enforcing (yes, enforcing) distanced queueing and card only payment etc. I woudl prefer to shop at a stall whose owner is telling customers to stay six feet apart, etc. than one that turns a blind eye and take the cash. Most people sans masks are young men and, strangely-to-me, middle-aged women, in my experience.

Many parents will not cycle or walk to drop off and collect their children, so an already severely congested road will become even more so. 150 children is a very large nursery. Well, if people will have children, what can you expect? I am all for new businesses, especially ones that are conducive to building/improving a sense of community. If you live in Nappy Valley you're going to need all the things that come after the nappy stage, and this is one of them.

I keep stamps (always with a border of envelope, never ripped) to RNIB and other charities once I have about fifty. https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/a34891519/used-stamps-donate-charity/ There are bound to be more. It could be a lockdown activity for kids, even adults (assuming the post starts to trickle through)!

I don't see why a council needs to be involved. It is just another layer of bureaucracy, which costs money and gives more opportunities for snafus. We all have NHS numbers and nearly all registered with a doctor and pharmacist so it is a case of waiting. I feel confident I will be contacted in due course, as is the case with my flu jab. Meanwhile, I plan to stay inside and see hardly anyone at all, and then only outside and six feet away.

I think it has a conservative take on things, yes, it did lend support to Trump and Pegida and LePen. Equally worrying is the fact that some investigations pointed out that staff members were not trained journos and would take things at face value without challenging anything. Some elements of HK and Taiwan politics are so anti-CCP that they adore Trump for his having stood up to China and this bleeds through, it seems, to this paper.

Oh dear - imagine the new job opportunities, the new money being pumped into people's pockets, the new taxes raised, the new chances for parents who need nursery services. It is TERRIBLE! (Parents can walk and cycle - there, I've fixed the problem!)

It is, according to some, linked to the Falun Gong - a harmless method of meditating (according to its practitioners) but, according to the Chinese Communist Party, a splittist and anti-revolutionary enemy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times#Relationship_to_Falun_Gong

I just walked around the Village and thought how peevish and unimaginative it is to have closed perfectly functional streets 24/7 and do nothing else at all with them. I agree that LTNs are useful but agree that some ought to be timed, as in Court Lane/Village junction.

It's the wood ones I mean. Nary a one but a fair few trees lying horizontally across teh footpaths, which I removed, of course! If you (meaning "a person in general, not a contributor to this thread" leave a tree like that you could be causing a blind person a nasty injury or preventing people with mobility problems from getting about.

Where have all the Xmas tree bases gone? Most trees I see in the street (often stood up but sometimes prone and trip-friendly) have not got the round bases. Does Southwark stipulate removal pre mulching? They are good when dried for firepits etc.

Pugwaah - great questions. Please address them to the right people to ensure at least the vague hope of a result.

Veg risotto - leek, celery, stock, frozen peas, mushroom, pecorino (cheaper than Parmesan) Frittata - eggs, leftover potato, onion, cheese Fish - leek, oil, butter beans, place fish on top once the former are warm