Penguin68

In topography 'lower and upper' where not specified generally refer to positions on a map orientated with North at the top - although in context (e.g. talking about a mountain) 'lower slopes' clearly is about height above sea level, or comparative height. Sometimes 'lower' also has, when discussing urban environments, a class implication, normally because 'upper' classes would be more likely to live on a hill, generally a more healthy position as sewage etc. would flow down hill. I don't think this latter is relevant when considering Upland Road.

Actually, the section of Underhill Road just south of Barry Road is cordoned off, but as of 2:45 this afternoon absolutely no work whatsoever is happening on it, or has happened on it. A few big Conway lorries are parked up (in Underhill, but not in that section) but otherwise nothing. Funnily enough it's part of Underhill which, is anything, is in better condition than many other sections. EDITED to say - oops - the reason why there was no work going on is that that section has been completed - the road is now open though I expect it will be closed again tomorrow when a new section is closed off for repair.

There are many reasons why tradespeople don't get back to you immediately - plumbers can be in positions where there is no signal, or doing things which cannot be readily stopped - or indeed away from home, on holiday or visiting a relative in hospital. Or, if you have an emergency which needs immediate response they may know that they cannot give you this because they are already committed. A failure to respond doesn't, I think, give you carte blanche to attack the man, because there are so many valid reasons for it - whereas a poor job, or failure to attend when promised (being let down) might.

I had thought that most bursts were caused by (a) deterioration of iron pipework causing it to fail (and joints ditto) and (b) movement in the ground fracturing pipes - particularly of course in roads, where heavy (and 'bouncing' over humps) vehicles cause ground stresses. Additionally adverse weather (freezing) can damage pipework more, particularly where there are already minor leaks. I suppose normal delivery pressures could cause bursts where the pipework is already compromised - but not where pipework is intact. It is designed for high pressure to allow water to move to the top of buildings and on hills. One problem appears to be the back-fill on road works is frequently not so effective as to provide proper support and cushioning for water pipes - hence possibly problems re-occuring at the same point - like London Road as it heads into Forest Hill, and the almost constant leak at the junction of Overhill with Lordship lane.

I've turned the boiler off altogether as it's struggling (due to lack of water pressure) to even supply the hot taps. If you have an old style system with a cold water tank supplied from the mains, then normally the heating part of the central heating system is sealed - so that the boiler heats hot water for the radiators and for a coil through your hot water cylinder which then heats the water for washing etc. which will be supplied via your cold water tank (modern systems may be different) - the sealed system uses a pump to move the water round your pipes. So heating radiators should be fine, although supply to your cold water tank (and thence your cylinder) will rely on mains pressure.

Better than not having it at all, or having to go to Peckham to pick it up.

however that tends to be vans of assorted shapes and sizes and there are very few builder's lorries that actually call at premises in these roads. I meant builders' merchants' lorries. Sorry. There were 2 big lorries (with integral cranes) delivering in my neck of Underhill this morning, most days there are 2 to 3. Plus all the actual vans etc. of the working builders.

One clear problem is that there is a lot of building work going on around here - builder's materials lorries are now very big, as of course are skip lorries. These add real pressure to roads, but they are, in the main, about genuine access, not cut-throughs. However, sat nav does choose 'straightest' routes often, which can start to include small roads (road width isn't part of the normal programming) so we do get some 'strangers' on small side roads because they are following directions, not because they are 'evil' rat-runners. Waze again (which is brilliant) is very good at finding the smallest roads to avoid jams.

A lot on the road, but only one set called on us - possibly because we now know no one with young children (other than immediate neighbours - who weren't out last night) - I think houses being called on weren't just randomly chosen, in the main, which is sensible. And pre-teens were all accompanied by adults, it seemed, not just older children.

Yesterday we had 12 items of mail, all delivered initially to the wrong address - many thanks to the very kind lady who took the trouble to walk up and re-deliver to us. Unfortunately I could not make the meeting, somehow I feel it will have been a master class in weasel words and obfuscation, but I would love to be proved wrong. Amended to say - the road numbering is classic ODDS on one side, EVENS on the other. In my part of the road there are no confusing apartment blocks with their own numbering scheme. My number has no 'a' or 'b's - i.e. not a split residence. So, basically, no excuses other than laziness or ineptness.

that speed along both of these roads while taking a short cut to the S. Circular No - Melford is the only way to join Lordship Lane as it joins London Road (the South Circular) if you want to either turn right towards Goose Green or to enter Dulwich Common (the South Circular going towards Clapham). Other roads locally (Wood Vale, Underhill) are left turn only (towards Forest Hill), or no entry (Belvoir towards Lordship Lane). Vehicles may speed (bad!) but they have no alternative route. Belvoir is the logical turn if you want to travel towards Underhill off Lordship Lane, travelling either way. The effect of making many of our local roads one-way (or restricted turn) is to funnel traffic down certain routes. These are not 'short-cuts' but the only legal routes. Certainly work towards reducing speeds, but be aware that vehicles, of whatever size, have to travel down local roads to get to destinations locally. And routes are limited once turning and entry restrictions are in place. As they are.

He explained that 'management' had recalulated all the routes using computer software and they are handed out to whoever is on shift. Since the posties are no longer starting and ending at Sylvester Road a route recalculation would have been necessary to optimise their time, although route allocation on the fly is not the Royal Mail norm (where routes are covered by specific posties on a regular basis). I can imagine that many routes would have had to be redesigned, and I understand that because they were being serviced two to a van (taking them from Peckham) they might be different from the old routes. However the very ad hoc approach that appears to be being made (and the fact that some walks are so long that they aren't covered on a 6 days a week basis, as reported and if true) would seem to negate what is the normal service level agreement for the domestic postal service. Something else to raise at the community meeting perhaps?

without the other persons version of events included like the previous one Since when did the prosecution (or defense) have to present the other side's case?

People interpret events differently. If the OP wants witnesses (who will have their own view of what happened) that's fine, surely. Most of us are in no position to judge what is 'truth' in this matter. We may have our own views of which set of reports we most believe, but in the end, it isn't up to us. What we believe is 'the truth' may not be recognised by (some) others as being so, but that doesn't then make either viewpoint necessarily right. Juries look for a balance of probabilities. They are not asked to judge on any absolute definition of truth - but simply - 'beyond reasonable doubt' - which doesn't in itself exclude all doubt.

Yesterday my political weekly was delivered on time. First time since early July!

After Flashman's for about 2 years or so it was La Pharmacie - a quasi French-ish bistro sort of place; generally good but I remember some diabolical over-cooked and dried out Cromer crab there. Then the Barcelona chain took the premises over. I agree that the extension to the front was done whilst it was still Flashman's - I can remember the before and after. I think the Flashman's owner/ manager continued to live over the premises for some time. It was Flashman's 30 years ago when I moved to the area.

That sort of damage would be covered by insurance - once the build is complete and the building insure-abe. If it was M&S delivery lorries then responsible for damage they would need to reimburse the ground landlord (as I guess such fabric damage would be his responsibility to correct). The use of facings/ cladding by the way (the 'veneer') is very common and quite acceptable in building - the fine 'Portland stone' built houses in Belgravia and Mayfair are actually stone clad (thin stone outer surface).

I would think the issues are:- (1) Poor service before (as a consequence of the closure announcement) and since the closure of Sylvester Road Sorting Office. This is evidence of bad management and planning. This includes (very many) missed deliveries - with some houses receiving only one delivery or fewer a week, rather than 6. It also includes lost items and failed re-deliveries. First Class Mail is mainly not being delivered 'next working day' on a very regular basis. (2) The apparent (but not proven) abandonment of the re-delivery promise made both to to our MP and on the circular some received about the move. (3) The very poor (long queues and long waiting times) collection service offered from Peckham. and (4) the fact that the Peckham office is too far for many SE22 people to be able to get to; such that a local alternative collection point (asked for by our MP) should now be instituted, outwith (see 3 above) any of the complete failures to offer an effective collection service to those able to get to Peckham. It is also worth raising the practical issue of mail sorting in the street once rainy weather becomes the seasonal norm.

TPOs can be over-ruled when/ if any tree is deemed to be unsafe through disease or damage. The recent hot weather and ensuing drought has damaged shallow rooted trees, such as birches. I believe that the council is meant to confirm an over-ruled TPO however. Just because trees are on non-public land the Council still has an interest. However, the actual removal work undertaken on non public land would not be the responsibility of the council in terms of any damage (to cars etc.) done by that work. Southark would not have to (or even be able to) give any notice of work not being carried out by them not on public land. That doesn't mean any existing TPO can be over ruled without their consent. However that would probably need to be taken up with a different bit of the council apparat.

As far as ED-ers are concerned, the main (indeed only) problem about the move should be the inconvenience of travelling to Peckham to pick up undelivered mail. Where Royal Mail chooses to sort the mail, how it chooses to organise its delivery staff, should be its problem to sort out effectively. Equally, it should have planned to provide sufficient staff and 'windows' to support a doubling (or so) of callers to collect stuff. It's failure to deliver locally daily over 6 working days (often in a week at all), to deliver mail in a timely fashion, not to lose stuff, is a complete failure of management and planning. Instead of one problem (Peckham is too far away and inconvenient) Royal Mail has presented us with multiple problems and failures, none, other than the location of Peckham, inherent in its plan. This is a complete and disgraceful failure of management. And is inexcusable. I lived through the mantra of 'right first time' when working in an associated business - and it is a good (and economic) way to run a business. Royal Mail profits are falling, that is its cost of failure and of failing.

For the 14th week running my (tracked!) political weekly has not been delivered on the due date, even though I have had post delivered today. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. The shambles continues.

Which is a shame as washing mushrooms is a mistake. Just brushing them clean us best. They are so absorbent.

This topic is so far gone that I may as well Lounge it with this thought - language, and particularly English, radically changes over time, usages which were once common and thought 'correct' are now archaic. We all start catching usages as they change and feel uncomfortable about their direction, but although correcting them in students when they are over-anticipating that change will (probably) be helpful to those students, particularly where they are looking for employment amongst people still more comfortable with the old usage, making such corrections on fora (unless the newly adopted usage actually leads to confusion) probably ain't worth a candle.

My daughter, living in Lewisham, has found that the CPZ outside her house extends to 7:00pm - she lives in a normal residential street. There was a commuting car problem there, certainly, although the street was always clear by 6:00 - the extra hour just gives a chance for more fines as evening visitors turn-up. CPZs are not supported by London councils in order to benefit local residents, they are about forcing car use out of London and (whatever they say) revenue generation. Forcing car use out of London (for which an argument can be made) without offering, or being able to offer, effective public transport alternatives is acting against the interests of residents. But who, in Tooley St, gives a flying - well your choice of flying object - for those of us in the south of the borough, some of whom have had the temerity, on occasion, not to vote for the Ruling Party?