Penguin68

We have lost most of our pubs. EDT being the only real pub left on LL. The (old style) CPT was a traditional pub, even in its purple phase - it's replacement has managed to win Time Out's local pub of the year - although I entirely understand and respect the attraction of a traditional south London boozer it's been a long time since I've been a regular at one (I used to be, 30 years or so ago). Demography, and customer needs, change. There will always be people left behind when the zeitgeist shifts (i have been, on occasion) - but in the end the market wins out. It may be that the EDT's unique position in LL will preserve it, as sufficient willing customers stay with it (I hope so) - but if it fails through lack of custom, well that's the way the twice cooked pastry crumbles. It's interesting that, despite the shifts, the Patch appears to have followed the Mag and and the Magnolia - which may be an issue of another retail paradigm - location, location, location. I went there 3 times - always enjoyed it, never wanted to be a regular.

So, what I see as the story is:- 1. The school moved to the new site, knowing that the adjacent fields could be used by them as long as DE didn't want them, but that this was a 'grace and favour' option. 2. They moved, possibly hoping that DE wouldn't in fact want to use the land, or perhaps encouraged (as Mr Barber has raised), that the council which could change the status of the land, would change that status to education purposes only - I am not sure of the timing of all this, but I assume that it is very possible that their move happened when a different regime was in control of the council. 3. In fact, the gamble that they took (that they would have ad lib use of the land which stood outside their agreement with DE) hasn't paid off, and the Estate does want to use the land which is theirs and isn't (and never was) part of the school. 4. Although there can be arguments about land usage and 'custom and practice', the amount of lapsed time when the school has been using the land (which isn't and never was theirs) for sports purposes is in no way long enough for such an argument to be made. The title of this thread is misleading - the land was not 'school playing fields' but unused land which the DE allowed the school to use until it was needed, and never formed part of the curtilage of the school. What must be a concern is if the school made any 'informed' assumptions about either their long term access to the land, or of any possible change of council denomination of the land usage based on third party advice, rather than their own judgement and risk analysis.

One of the (slight) problems with cleaning ghost records is that this is frequently done by checking whether patients have attended surgeries/ had prescriptions etc., and cleaning out those who haven't for some years. When I was younger (much) I would go years without needing to see a doctor or receive treatment - I was a healthy young adult - but I was still a patient of a GP practice (earning money for them by being on their list) and wouldn't have wanted to be punished by being excluded because I was well. So in cleaning it is important not (just) to base your cleaning on attendance records - it is the healthy young who effectively subsidise the old unwell (which is now me) - by generating capitation fee income without generating cost. Having said that, it would be far easier to judge effectiveness if we had a 'proper' patient base to work from. A practice with a lot of ghost patients is being heavily subsidised at the expence of practices whose lists are clean. It would also allow good practice to be properly identified - copying a practice with apparently good results (taking into account only their nominal lists) but which is actually serving far fewer patients may give a distorted view of good practice.

Can I just now make a plea, Burro e Salvia from Shoreditch, OK, but, please, NO HIPSTERS.

I hope you haven't had any work done to your flat recently - I'm afraid a nail through internal wiring is a quite common cause of faults in the home (as is wiring chewed by animals, or even a junction box kicked or knocked whilst hoovering!)

My BT 'infinity' (ha, not so much) is down completely and my landline dead If both of these are down this is almost certainly a problem in the local network - either a severed or a completely disconnected cable, probably at the flexibility point (cabinet) closest to you. BT Infinity takes fibre to the cabinet, which is then taken through the final few yards over copper pair to your house, together with your (copper all the way, mainly in ED although there may be some local optical fibre) phone link to the exchange. If you have neither phone nor broad band then it suggests a cabinet problem (or a problem on the twisted pair between the cabinet and your own home or into your home). It could even be something as simple as the physical connecter between your home wiring and the local loop drop, or the home wiring itself. I wouldn't normally expect a problem like that to be exchange based - if you are on infinity and have lost both phone and digital services. My understanding of the way FTTC works is that voice and data are separately routed until the final link to your home.

I'm actually in Underhill (near Overhill) and my Infinity, as I have said, is fine. Is the problem on standard (old-style) ADSL services?

I am on BT Infinity - and no problems that I have noticed - BT Vision runs smoothly, as does 'normal' BB usage.

For that matter don't forget Si Mangia in Forest Hill Road, still a great 'old style' family Italian.

I am wholly happy that young people use/ read/ contribute to this forum. A lot of the time we pontificate about issues (such as schools, playgrounds etc. etc.) of more direct relevance to them than to the older contributors - it would be good to get their take on some of these things. Admin makes sure (and thanks for that) there is nothing inappropriate (I mean really inappropriate) posted here. As to the whole 'gypsy' issue - there is clearly (look at the fashion pages) a style of clothing which is categorised as 'gypsy' - although it is really an interpretation of eastern european folk clothing - so it would be quite easy to translate 'wearing clothes of eastern european peasant tendancies' into 'gypsy' - even though the wearer may not be any form of traveller, and certainly not Romany. Someone wearing Jamaican colours and with dreadlocks may be short-handed into 'Rastafarian' - without in fact and actually being one. Descriptive short-hands are both quite valuable, as quick and easily understood descriptors, but can be mis-read into appearing dismissive or racist. Someone who has just lost (to whatever cause) a highly valued possession could perhaps be cut a little slack by the thought police here.

I had rather thought that was a significant trigger for redoing the road layout. Safety.

It's a shame there's no room for a footbridge - the amortised savings on specialist crossing help would probably pay for it in a decade or so. Then lights and road lay-out would only be an issue for wheeled vehicles.

I don't know why the council can't make simple adjustments without spending a fortune on a total and unnecessary redesign. Possibly because they are rather more anti-car than (even) pro-cyclist. Most of the improvements (cf Northcross Road:LL) seem more about making life more difficult for motorists than achieving any positive direct end for the constituency purporting to be the beneficiary. Those who are politically either supporting (or directing) the council apparatchiks should note that motorists themselves form not just another constituency, but constituents.

maybe more suitable for a school/nursery/park than street planting? There is a mature silver birch growing in a (narrow) front garden in Underhill Road just north of Dunstans road on the right as you drive towards Barry - it seems to be doing quite well and would give an idea as to what a street planting would look like. I think it would work, unless greater arboreal experts than I know better (shallow rooting and drought may be an issue). However they are probably most pretty planted in stands together - so that would suggest a nursery/ park location.

Silver birch have the merit that they are shallow rooted (which reduces the amount of damage they could do) and that they do not grow too large (girth) - disadvantages are that they are drought delicate (shallow roots mean that they cannot burrow deep for water) so may need care in the summer, and that they have a life-span of no more than 80-90 years, and can be less. They are also not suitable for pollarding (if anything, they are coppice trees - an entirely inappropriate management system for a street scape). However they have, as indicated, a number of merits, not least that their canopies are more sparse than e.g. London Plane trees, so are less likely to plunge adjacent windows into gloom. And they are, or can be, very pretty.

Or maybe the constant wrangling over and repetition of the event in a thread? If all news was suppressed in case of the upset it might cause, we'd know precious little about anything. Sometimes (and I am making no speculation about the particular case in hand) the reporting of a sad event, and ensuing discussion, allows actions to be taken which might avert a repetition. The overall benefit to be gained from this (Jeremy Bentham lives yet) may outweigh the particular pain of a few individuals, if they are even aware of the commentary taking place.

Clearly roads need to be salted, and equally clearly, when this is required, it is during a dormant season when water is not so readily being taken up or needed by trees - couldn't the council protect the areas round trees adjacent to frequently salted roads - say from beginning December to end January - sacking or plastic would do, pegged into the ground, which would then keep most of the salt away from the trees? In this way elves helping the trees wouldn't have to work so hard or so desparately - and presumably the cost of so doing would readily be offset by the savings of not having to fell/ replace dead trees. Maybe it could be done at the same time as the tawdry Christmas decorations in e.g. LL were being installed, when street operatives were already out and about?

They are on the link

I think there is a clear difference between 'interest' and 'prurient interest'. The facts (a man found hanged locally) are of interest - helping explain police presence etc. etc. (and very possibly scotching other rumours). Information (which we haven't had) about name, address, intimate details of the event, speculation as to cause etc. etc. are prurient interest - passing anonymous references on this forum are going to be pretty low amongst 'grief triggers' for those left behind to mourn, as has already been noted.

Or is this just about making car ownership and use in ED increasingly difficult, as part of the unstated war on cars being waged in the borough (still no resolution or clarification of the double yellows on dropped kerbs, I note)?

James I wrote:- Even where there is a tree preservation order this can be over-ruled (with agreement from the council Tree Officer - or whatever title is held) where there is risk due to disease or damage, or where the tree is causing or believed to be causing structural damage to property - we still put (thank goodness) housing ahead of trees. You wrote:- Chatting with the new owners they had specific unequivocal surveoyr advice to remove it to stop the cracks in their front wall getting longer and wider. Without chopoing it down no house insurance and then no mortgage. You introduced this by saying, of my post Hi P68, I don't think this applies. Huh?? I had specifically noted that structural damage was a case where, even had there been a tree preservation order, this would have been (properly) over-ruled. As was/ would have been the case here - which had already been made clear earlier in this thread. I was responding to the comment about 'it should have been listed' pointing out that even had it been, that would not have saved it. The threads on Hindemans road had noted that gardens had been cleared of trees in advance of planning permission being granted/ sought - which was the point of my second para final sentance. The 'automatic' preserving of trees (meeting certain criteria) is still, to my mind, a good idea, given the caveats I started with, that where the tree was damaged or diseased, and hence a risk, or where it was already damaging property, such preservation orders could be over-ruled at the advice of council experts.

Even where there is a tree preservation order this can be over-ruled (with agreement from the council Tree Officer - or whatever title is held) where there is risk due to disease or damage, or where the tree is causing or believed to be causing structural damage to property - we still put (thank goodness) housing ahead of trees. Some councils 'automatically' put tree preservation orders on the basis of some criteria (commonly, girth) on all trees in their area (or in some specific sub-area) - requiring council permission to fell them. This stops developers clearing land in advance of submitting, or gaining, planning permission for new builds. Could have been helpful locally, reading some recent threads.

Well, a word of warning, Mustard. If previous years in ED are anything to go by, you should be anticipating desultory firework parties between now until (well) after the New Year. And most of these will be for adults, with adult bed-times in mind.

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Monkey puzzles are extremely slow growing, or at least very slow to get going - for a (very) long time this will probably not have seemed a problem. Although large trees can be moved, the size of hole needed to be dug to remove the tree with sufficient roots intact is probably larger than the front garden it is in.