Penguin68

Whilst the behaviour seem callous it is worth noting (1) GPs are not up-to-date trained in emergency work - they will have done a tour of duty in A&E - possibly some time ago - but they will not be up to speed with modern methods. (2) GP surgeries do not carry the necessary portable equipment for A&E work - i.e. defibrillators - where they have equipment its probably not packed to go. The most useful thing a GP could do in the circumstances is diagnosis - but calling out an ambulance was (likely) the outcome of such diagnosis. It might be different in the case of a road traffic accident - where doctors could more usefully offer first aid until an ambulance came, staunching bleeding and making sure the patient was kept stable and not moving.

I was not arguing that such noise is not disruptive to sleep, it clearly is. My argument was that such noise for a short period, i.e. under a week didn't have a serious (or calculable) economic impact, as hypothesised by Mr Barber.

I really don?t know where to start with this, having read the apparent council justification for the spend. OK, maybe Councillor Barber might like to ask:- 1. What is the financial asset life being given for this equipment (it would normally be no less than 3 and no more than 5 years)? What will be the annual depreciation charges for this equipment? 2. If the equipment is to be used in the field, why was ruggedized equipment not specified and/ or what are the additional costs for cases etc. to protect the equipment? 3. What is the planned maintenance/ replacement budget for this equipment? What is the planned loss/ damage/ destruction estimate in the business case? (as if!) 4. What are the planned annual ongoing costs for data and voice usage for this equipment? 5. What are the costs for installing appropriate (including capacity) WiFi stations to allow the equipment to be used i.e. in Council Chambers. 6. What are the costs for creation e.g. of dedicated aps for the equipment? Is this work undertaken in-house or through consultants? What is the annual budget for software creation and maintenance? 7. What are the council rules regarding personal use of this equipment? Will personal usage be reported through the P11D tax system or will it be reimbursed by staff? How will this be audited? And I could go on!

The simple figures are these 1. The council bought these at a 14% discount to the retail price - this is not brilliant. For such a large purchase you might expect up to 25% discount on retail or more - had Android systems been bought this is certainly so, although Apple is a premium brand. 2. At a 'saving' of ?28k a year, the payback period (assuming no discount rate, i.e. 0% inflation) would be nearly 26 years - when most of this kit would be lucky to have a 5 year operational life, and much will have less as it will be lost/ stolen/ damaged. Any practical financial modelling would say that there in no payback for this investment. 3. This makes no assumption about either training costs to use the systems, the cost of any software bought to operate them or the cost of loading up documents so they can be accessed electronically. (4) The environmental costs of building high spec computers and phones is high, as is the necessary use of e.g. rare earth metals in their construction. The ?28K is at thus at best a headline saving, before other environmental costs are taken into consideration. Or, to put it another way, this is waste of our (council tax payers') money - as presented above.

Also a real economic hit when people don't get a proper nights sleep. Over an extended period, I would agree, but for a few nights only I can find no evidence to support this assertion. It is often the case that those with already disrupted sleep patterns will look to an outside factor to blame. Which doesn't mean that this outside factor is actually to blame. Most studies now suggest that 6-7 hours sleep is more than adequate for adults and possibly less - the old 'eight hours' is now seen as actually deleterious in some cases. If you don't already have sleep problems you will sleep when you are tired. If you do have sleep problems, noise and distractions may appear to exacerbate this, but will not be the primary cause.

Rodents have chewed through the fibre This is quite possible, rat incursion into duct is not unknown. Certainly (distantly related) squirrels are a real danger in e.g house lofts when it comes to electrical and comms wiring. Such a widespread and long-run outage is almost always a function of physical damage to networks. Often accidental (JCB damage) sometimes deliberate (remember the copper cable theft in ED a few years ago) - but sometimes caused by rats, which are inquisitive and will chew into anything to see if it's worth eating.

You need to check this - I imagine that the building insurance itself may not cover damage associated with the extension work - which you could probably get separately insured (although the builder should anyway carry liability insurance to put right any consequential damage caused by his/ her work!) Normally insurance will not cover for defects which 'occur' within 28 days (or so) of the insurance being taken out - this is typically so for insurance against issues to do with heating, power, water and electrical systems etc. - this is to avoid someone taking out insurance knowing there is a defect which would be reparable under than insurance. But get details. As stated in your post you are not uninsure-able - although once the extension is complete you would need to extend your insurance cover to take this into account (the building you originally insured is smaller than the building you now have). You may need to involve a broker if your current supplier is causing a problem. But this is (must be) addressable.

'Damage' can include repainting a room to the client's preferred scheme - then of course, post-shoot, restoring to the original scheme - I have a friend whose main rooms get redecorated 2-3 times a year!

Or do we consider local people sleep as more important than TfL road users beign delayed udirng the day. The social and economic evidence suggests the latter is better for society but portrayed as part of a 'war on cars'. Actually that isn't true - there is a real economic hit from traffic delays (and an environmental one if delayed traffic is expelling i.e. NO2 fumes as it is delayed) - if the 'social' impact of sleep deprivation - actually more like disturbance - is limited by time (only a few days) its long-term impact, even socially, is limited and it has virtually no short or long-term economic effect. I do consider that disturbing local people's sleep (however annoying it is) for a short period (under a week) - and avoiding exhaust fumes caused by queuing day time traffic - is a price worth paying even locally, and clearly we know (because studies have shown us) that lengthy queuing traffic does have an economic impact as transport costs increase. There are very strong arguments in favour of moving traffic quickly through residential areas (outwith arguments about safe speeds to travel - and I am very happy about the 20mph limits on local residential roads) for both economic and environmental reasons.

I think it's Barry Road (not Underhill) which is being worked on, and it's the road surface, not the pavements, which is the focus. Barry is a main bus route and is a numbered (B219) road.

After 48 hours...

Thanks Siduhe - the location certainly fits, but as no work is taking place (at least, when I last looked this morning) it's difficult to tell whether a gully frame is being reset (?) - and clearly there is nothing made bad yet to be being made good! But full traffic management (or mismanagement, with the queues) is certainly up and running.

I only ask because, as of 9.00 am today, 24 hours after the lane closures were put in, causing significant tail backs, absolutely no work had started. And there is no signage indicating what sort of works are intended.

I notice work (which looks quite serious) has started at this junction - does anyone know what it is for and how long it is scheduled. I am sure the information may be somewhere on the Southwark Web site but if anyone does already know I would be grateful. It's a route I regularly use (by car and bus) and it looks to be quite disruptive.

I've certainly seen them both in France and Italy, but never in the UK. However I believe they are not, in fact, that uncommon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-36474577/hummingbird-moths-colonise-uk https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/read-and-learn/watching-birds/identify/hummingbirdhawkmoth/

It would be worth while giving the non-emergency Police number a call, if you are used to seeing delivery people and these didn't seem 'right' in that context. It may be an assembly point for wrong-uns - in which case the intelligence may be of value.

A legitimate group of bikers (i.e. walking back to their bikes) could be similarly dressed, I know a number who would wear a (thin) balaclava under a helmet - that they were 'lurking' may be suspicious, or just coincidental. It is sad that we now think the worse when we see people. 8:20 in a summer evening does seem a little early for the parked bike thefts we have become used to - the early hours of the morning seem more common. Pizza delivery drivers (for the time) may be a better solution - and they could be hanging around (lurking) waiting for an order.

The road traffic through ED (outwith commercial vehicles such as skips, delivery vans and lorries etc. serving the area) is a function of the availability of useful public transport options (that is public transport which operates at the frequency and reliability which users require) - which includes additionally routes served (from where/ to where) etc. - together with the 'attractiveness' of the area, both as a destination point and an intermediate point between where people are and where they want to be. The lack of east:west public transport services means that the South Circular is a necessary artery, for instance. Any study which does not take account of the full transport picture, which includes public transport, will fail, and can be assumed to have other agendas - such as the opportunities to charge for road usage. Actions which simply divert 'optimal' travel through ED to other routes will tend simply to add cost to users and inconvenience to others. In general places which have a positive impact on economies are those to which and through which people travel easily. Isolating areas from transport will bring them down economically, however 'nimby' attractive that might seem to some. Right now, and looking at East Dulwich, the continuing failures of Southern rail to serve the community consistently and well are distorting the transport picture. Look at road traffic when we have a proper rail service perhaps, but right now would be stupid.

Well I don't care because your mother's a hamster and your father smells of elderberries. Whilst this is a correct quote from The Holy Grail it is worth noting that the insulting Frenchman's English idiom is in error, it is elderflowers that are scented - elderberry wine does have a scent, but only after fermentation. - I'll get my coat... Edited to add - but of course 'elderberries' is a funnier word

The actual news item posted read:- Postmark, who have four shops in south and west London, including one on North Cross Road in East Dulwich, was named the UK?s ?Best Greeting Card Retailer? 2017 at this year?s RETA?s, which recognises the importance of retailers to the success of the British Greeting Card industry, estimated to be worth around ?1.7bn a year, supporting almost 100,000 jobs across the country. The family run, independent retailer also picked up a separate award for their monthly ?Feel Good Friday? campaign, which encourages people to send cards ?just because? offering a free card and postage to anywhere in the UK to anyone interested in taking part. Run by husband and wife team Mark and Leona Janson-Smith, they currently have four shops ? Balham, Dulwich, Greenwich and Chiswick ? and champion the very best of UK and internationally designed cards and stationery. So, the whole 'chain' has been awarded the prize, not just the ED shop, it's pretty local (South London certainly) and it's not a corporately owned chain. Maybe we in ED can claim 25% of the credit here, if we want to be parochial. The judging, clearly, was not just about shops available in ED. I'm pleased for them.

If you can 'just' stand at the highest point, and you haven't already got a fully insulated loft ceiling (which you would need under building regs) then you do have a problem.

GPs have relatively little to do with the NHS compared with, say, hospital services - they are private contractors into it, paid by the NHS for primary care services (mainly) on a capitation basis. Practices used to be made up of partners with perhaps a trainee or salaried doctor or two. Increasingly that business model is being eroded, but the NHS has little to do with that. There are certainly pressures placed on GP practices by NHS requirements and contract changes, but the presence or absence of 'regular' GPs isn't necessarily directly influenced by GP practice contracts. Dr Scorer, as I understand it, is retiring, which she is certainly entitled to do. And she will certainly be missed, as were other doctors who have retired from this practice. If she is to be replaced by another partner that will be good, as that will ensure a new stream of continuity of care. Does anyone know?

The interest on the loan is a business expense. If the business fails they can sell on the lease. 'Gearing' (balancing capital in the business with loans) is normal.

The great thing about this thread is it will be impossible to post off-topic...

Is there any chance of a thread actually about Le Chardon and its replacement and not a set of cod sociological rants. When any new place opens people try it out - the ones who like it go back, the ones who don't, don't. I will aim to try out Le Chardon's replacement (which I wish well). If it meets my needs, I will use it again - but with the wealth of place in LL I can't be going to eat everywhere all the time (or, at least, that's what my health and financial advisers advise me!) Edited to add - cross posted with Admin