Nigello

I remember the salt banks dotted around Southwark years ago but they seem to have disappeared. - There are a few, still - outside Goodrich School, for example, and on the corner of F Hill Road/Dunstan's Road. Don't have to wait for the officials to come - just take some and spread it if you think you are doing the right thing, I'd say.

I saw one heading north on Walworth Road about 0545.

A bus - double-decker - has got into trouble just opposite DKH school. I was there about 0530 and had to make a diversion in my black cab, which then got caught up in snow on the hills behind the school. (No gritting on the main road, on a hill = ??!!) It may well be rectified now, but it would be best to check if you can.

I hope you asked the driver to switch off.

At least Costa, a UK chain set up by Italo-Brits some forty-odd years ago, is doing a little to combat the scourge of plastic/paper cups by recycling them - whatever coffee shop they came from. It also pays its taxes fairly and squarely in the UK - something that Starbucks, for example, didn't always do.

Maybe this is the way to go? Trialling free public transport in some German cities to combat pollution. I think it is acceptable on a small scale, such as hopper buses (ideally electric) to take people from pinch points to larger stations or points of interest but I would hate to add to the crowdedness and sometimes unpleasantness of the daily commute. We'd all do a bit better if we walked more. Sitting on a bus going nowhere is no fun and walking liberates you and sometimes is only marginally slower. In the meantime, the Mayor ought to do more to fine engine idlers. The problem is endemic and I have never seen a police officer or warden or PSO asking drivers (often of diesel vehicles like vans, lorries and taxis) to turn off their engines. (I try, but it's not much fun being sworn at by selfish morons.)

Our friendly, neighbourhood pavement contractors have left five - yes, five - of those raised covers/gangways strewn outside the bus stop, dry cleaner's and PO. Watch your step!

I also noticed the lack of traffic and was pleased, especially since half term was last week. Still not surprised at the big amount of traffic at school opening/closing times, though and glad I am a pedestrian and not a driver.

Goose Green

It looked a bit fuller than a normal rat and had that golden/yellow tinge to its coat. I was too far away to see its tail in de-tail....

https://ptes.org/get-informed/facts-figures/water-vole/ Is this what you sawy? I saw something like this a couple of weeks ago on the pond bank. "Status & conservation Native and locally common but vulnerable to extinction in the UK. They are a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. A reintroduction programme is currently underway as well as our new National Water Vole Monitoring Programme. Water voles are fully protected under section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981(as amended). Schedule 5 of this Act makes it an offence to intentionally damage or obstruct access to water vole burrows."

https://earth911.com/living-well-being/events-entertainement/balloons-environment/ Some people don't like helium balloons.....

I saw a large rat - about 12" nose-to-tail - at the pond in Peckham Rye Park. It was a golden colour, not dark brown, which struck me as odd.

Tacks

Tall

You win first prize for common sense and the manager/server comes a close second.

Rod

Kills

Plenty of blackbirds and the odd magpie picking off the shrivelled crabapples near Goodrich School and - strangely - inch-long caterpillars that coil up when touched in the house. What could they be? (I put them outside thinking they must have come in on shoes, etc.)

POUS - I totally disagree. The best behaviour in places like London is neutral behaviour when it comes to public space (including your front yard). When you've had a crowded bus/train journey with inconsiderate people listening to convos on loudspeakers, stuffing litter down the back of the seats, then you step out onto dog muck and have to walk in the road because bins are blocking the route, you realise that it is not "twitchy-curtains" at all. I really believe that everyone should be as considerate as they can be and shoulder-shrugging and saying "hey, this is London" means you are racing to the bottom with little chance of return. I would have thought that "community spirit" means being aware of such problems and doing one's best to avoid them or put them right.

There is nothing wrong in being concerned about the ugliness of one's environment. I am bothered by the bins because they are ugly and also because they cause micro-annoyances, like having to walk in the road in an area of busy footfall, and because they attract other litter (with folk stacking stuff around them thinking they are not littering because they have put their trash near rather than in a bin). Other people's anti-socialness and selfishness is also annoying and should be challenged. I get that it is not a huge deal in the scheme of things but that shouldn't stop people from trying to make micro-improvements to their immediate environment.

So, we're mainly agreed that bins on the pavement with no good reason is a bad thing. The only way forward is to put roll them back over the threshold (though I have sent Cllr Barber a link to this thread) and/or ask your neighbours to keep them in the right place.

My gripe is that they are likely to cause obstruction which, on certain roads at certain times, could make an accident more likely to happen. I also think they look really ugly and could encourage tipping and littering. (One of the brown bins, meant for garden waste, is full of any old rubbish and it has no lid.) Again, if this is you - please put the bin back in the yard/garden!

Binmen (I have yet to see a female binperson) do not always put them back. In and around Goodrich, they are nearly always left on the pavement. Perhaps certain routes are busier and the time allotted is not enough or perhaps they simply CBA.

..why are there so many of our ugly bins stored outside gardens and on the pavement? Some householders are simply choosing not to make room for them and the result is an eyesore. If you have a bin that can be housed in your property, please do so. Young children, parents and assorted pets are having to fight for space, some of them going into the road, which can get pretty busy during the school run hours.