Penguin68

Polly D wrote (very reasonably) Let's not turn this into a race issue But if this had been about a black man being maced by three white men (I am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that the current victim is white) it is actually quite likely that it would initially have been investigated as a 'hate crime'. Which probably says more about our society's current attitides to race etc. that it says about the current (and quite awful) case.

Occasionally planes dump/ lose fuel at high altitides - do you live under a flight path? - it's very unusual but does happen - those who live nearer airports more frequently report this type of smell (it's kerosene, but can be mistaken for petrol). However, I would expect neighbours to have noticed it as well, if this was the case.

It may not be being 'caused' intentionally - but builders are notorious about not being careful with building materials - allowing nails etc. to lie in the street, so if there has been building or repair work going on locally a number of vehicles could have picked up punctures, effectively accidently. It's when valves are tampered with, or tyres slashed that you can be immediately concerned about intent. Additionally, and perhaps particularly relevant recently, pot-holes can cause tyre bursts, and many of the roads locally have suffered from frost/ snow damage which has raised the incidence of this problem.

to build a time machine and live in the country in the middle class 19th century - As long as you can travel back if you need to see a doctor or dentist.

In this country we have, or used to have, a concept of policing by consent, with a civilian police force tasked with protecting the public. Increasingly we have a police force which feels itself separate from the public, and views the public not as a group worth protecting, but as targets, to be suspected and controlled. It is legitimate to check travellers to ensure that they have a right to travel and have paid for tickets where there is evidence that this is not happening, and where travellers, at certain relatively 'open' stations have a history of not paying - but, as far as I know, the incidence of drug-takers (and indeed drug dealers) at Dulwich stations is not noticeably high during rush hours - so the use of drug-sniffing dogs here can be seen not as being trigged by reasonable suspicions, but as an oppressive fishing trip designed to subjugate the (broadly) respectable and working middle classes. We do have crime in Dulwich (most of our teenage children, particularly boys, have been mugged coming out of school or know someone who has been mugged) - but I do not see massive police presence in these areas to address this crime type. But then the muggers may actually fight back and resist arrest (or at least race-off and require the effort of chasing), which is more than weary commuters normally do. I recall oppressive policing (in the Clapham/ Brixton areas) addressed mainly at black citizens resulting in the Brixton riots - I am sure that we are all too 'nice' to precipitate Dulwich riots - but once we see the police as being on a different side from us (as I believe is beginning to happen) then we have lost policing with consent and started down a slippery slope.

It's a very long time since I did that, so I can't give up-to-date information, - but you are going to have to make clear whether this is a live-in or live-out job; the wages are very different - also whether the employer offers a car or use of a car. All these things can impact the wage bill (and the attractiveness of the job)

ianr wrote; Did he give any indication of when the shedload began arriving in ED...? No he didn't,but I understood that it had all arrived together and recently, presumably from the district sorting office up-stream and that they had worked out a delivery solution for it (today and tomorrow) - I got no impression that they had been stockpiling stuff at Sylvester Road. I have had (on the days they delivered this week) a goodly pile of stuff delivered, and for the first time since September I got a weekly magazine on the day it should have been delivered. I also got stuff delivered within 24 hours from its known date of desptach.

Amazon deliveries I was told by the guy at the counter in Sylvester Road today that they have a shed load of Amazon stuff to deliver; it will be going out today (Saturday) and tomorrow - apparently (I didn't know this) Amazon despatch is on the far side of the Severn Bridge, and recent inclemency has caused a backlog - his advice if I was expecting an overdue item (I am) is to get excited on Monday if it hadn't been delivered over the weekend, but to wait till then. Thought you might like to know

Bob wrote and severn pages over 5334 posts on this forum are all about nothing? - actually there are 195 (with this 196) posts on this topic - and 5200 and some views. That's still a lot, of course; particularly when a significant majority of the posts (by my reckoning) actually list new individual problems with the mail, but we mustn't over-egg the pudding on this one. In the past Christmas post chaos has normally come back to normal by mid January - even with the poor weather we have been having, which has clearly disrupted deliveries, what we are experiencing sits well outside 'normality', and doesn't just appear to be a single 'bad' round - which can happen with sickness and cover - but is pervasive, ubiquitous and systemic across the ED postal area.

I believe that adding a plasticiser to concrete (and mortar) mixes - at home as a DIY solution washing-up liquid works - also can avoid problems of ice crystals etc. forming in the cold.

The problem is that our problems with post are multiple. 1. From mid summer we have been badly affected by the unofficial ?action? (inaction) of postal staff, which started the backlog which the official strike action only exacerbated. I was told that a 20 (working) day delay for post had become the norm during the strike. This seems to have been caused initially by problems in a main sorting office before post even got to Sylvester road. The longer post is delayed the more chance it has of going missing/ being wrongly delivered. The fact that I (and of course others) are still getting delayed post suggests that whatever is being argued, there is still an underlying backlog of deliveries. 2. There has been an acknowledged (at least it was in the East Dulwich Police Station when I had to report the theft of a cheque book from the post) problem of dishonest staff (mainly casuals) employed out of Sylvester Road. NB I have no doubt that the majority of staff are honest at this sorting office. 3. It is clear that the sorting of letters into rounds is at times ineffective ? I believe many miss-deliveries are because letters are caught up inside batches properly sorted, so they get delivered wrongly as part of a group ? although clearly there is also evidence see (4 below) of delivery staff short-cutting by randomly delivering to empty their sacks. 4. Some postal delivery staff (casual or not) are inept and careless, without being intentionally dishonest ? mainly interested in completing their rounds quickly. Taking time to ring at a door and wait for a reply (as opposed to stuffing a ?you were out note? through the door without ringing, or not even that) is not worth their while. Neither is ensuring they are delivering the correct letters. I suspect that a final failure is one of management ? apart from the hold-ups up-line in the delivery process all the remaining issues are Sylvester Road failures ? and that means that it is Sylvester Road management which is actually failing ? probably because the first-line manager in charge will not even be based there (I am happy to stand corrected if this is not so). Many of the Sylvester Road staff that I meet are caring and helpful individuals ? some of them have given me numbers to call to register complaints, because they too are feeling frustrated by management inaction. But it is very difficult for individual front-line staff to change an organisation acting as individuals, where there is no management focus on quality improvement or even, from the tone of the letter received, any real acknowledgement that there is a problem to solve.

Absolutely right - tell me where you live and I'll come and paste my views all over your walls - and be upset if you tear them down and censor me. What right would you have to censor my views and those of any one else who wants to post on your walls - er, apart from them being your walls, I suppose.

Roman burial grounds were either generally in a necropolis (city of the dead) or, very frequently along the roads leading out of towns as in Rome (they were always initially placed outside town limits, although the towns could then expand to incorporate them). I wouldn't have thought that Dawson Heights was either an obvious site for a necropolis or lay along a Roman Road. Indeed, I am not sure what Roman Settlement they would be outside - Londinium was too far away and on the other side of the Thames - and although there is some suggestion of Roman settlement at Greenwich that too is too far away from here to count. There may have been burials at Dawson Heights - presumably pagan since there is no church there I believe for Christian burial (normally around a church until the 19th Century municipal cemeteries). But the (close) Camberwell Old Cemetery would be, and indeed was, a much more obvious location for burial. But I would be happy to stand corrected.

I believe that tips can no longer be added to wages to make them up to minimum wage; which is good, but it's not always clear where service charges go - if you want to reward a particular waiter for good service then a cash tip to them is the most effective way of ensuring that they get your reward - however 'good' establishments sometimes operate a 'tronc' system - where all tips are pooled and then reallocated across all the staff, not just the ones you see - if your overall experience has been good and you want to reward it then this is a good system, as people like commis chefs and washers up also get a slice - you can always ask your waiter what happens to tips or service charges. I don't, any longer, always provide tips on a simple %age basis - particularly where a lot of wine has been drunk - the mark-up on wine (200-300% minimum, more often 500%) means that this can, with a big party, total half the meal cost, without necessarily entailing much better service. And if your service has been poor or indifferent then don't give a tip, or refuse to pay the service charge element (that's your right) - tips/ service aren't like tax in the UK - they are voluntary.

It would probably help to say which station you are talking about.

In a quick trip round the Forest Hill end of ED bus routes appear to have been gritted and are running (reasonably) clear but non-bus routes (e.g. the end of Wood Vale south of Melford where buses don't run) haven't - and no side streets, of course. Seems a sensible use of limited resources.

...but now it's stopped and there's bright sunshine..

Reg wrote: Can I be sued if I'm an elderly person whose path has been partially cleared by an unknown helpful neighbour I suspect that if the neighbour did it unasked, and if the elderly person was unaware of it being done (couldn't have stopped it being done) then he/ she would have a good defence in law that they were not responsible for the fall - although the good neighbour, if identified, might be liable. Any 'concert party' arrangement (neighbours clean each others' paths, but not their own) could be treated as a conspiracy - actually, I'm not sure whether that works under civil law, but if you contracted a third party to clear your paths and they failed to do so effectively, you could be sued, but could sue your contractor for a poor job. If you put up a sign 'Path has only been partialy cleared, ice may still be there, pedestrians use it at their own risk' you may be able to avoid liability - it would be an interesting case to test.

Reg wrote:- It's standard practice in some countries to clear your own stretch of pavement, rather than relying on council gritters to do it for you. And in those countries you normally carry legal liability if you fail to attempt to clear your path - in the UK (certainly in England, I'm not sure about Scots law) if you clear your path but fail to do so completely effectively and someone falls, then you can be sued - if you leave your path alone only God (or possibly the council) can be sued (such a fall is then an act of God, not man). So people in the UK are often advised not to clear paths, as doing so may open them up to litigation in the case of accident. Of course it's the 'right' thing to do, but it may not, in this increasingly litigious society ('had a fall, let us act for you, no win no fee') be the sensible thing.

I have just heard that trains out of Victoria on the Orpington line (Herne Hill & West Dulwich) are on an hourly schedule now (my informant said 'believe that if you will' - not being at Victoria when she phoned me). I doubt as the night and the cold draws in, and the snow seems to be falling and settling more rather than less that things will improve. If you want to get back to Dulwich tonight without too much pain I would strongly urge not delaying.

Walk over the hill, past the Horniman, to Forest Hill Station and into London Bridge - then on from there. About 15 minutes walk (depending on your fitness) - or you could bus it to Forest Hill Station - but that probably takes as long, waiting for the bus etc.

Security staff at Sainsburys are employed, I would guess, to protect Sainsburys from e.g. shoplifting etc. - they are not employed as bouncers (none of them have the appropriate badges for that - you have to be licenced to be a bouncer) nor are they substitute policemen. Policemen, when they intervene in affray, have protective clothing and carry arms (not firearms, of course, but modern truncheons). They also carry an authority which store security doesn't. I doubt whether the staff at Sainsburys are either insured to, or encouraged to, participate in the sort of fight that broke out there. Considering how many hours Sainsburys at Dog Kennel Hill is open, and how many people visit it, the incident of violent affray is very limited - so training any staff to handle this would be a very poor investment. Sainsbury's staff are trained to keep the shop clean (the incidence of bottles and jars being smashed accidently must be very common/ a daily event), so it is not surprising that that part of the training did kick-in when the incident occurred. Preserving the scene of crime (at a time of shock and dismay) is not necesarily a 'normal' response. Calling someone who is poorly paid 'a muppet' - presumably wholly based on their wage rate - seems extreme. I have, in the main, found the staff at Dog Kennel Hill helpful (in locating or searching for items) friendly and by no means stupid. When I compare their actions at work to those of our senior Bankers (hugely well paid with enormous bonuses) I cannot believe that muppetry and earnings are positively correlated.

James' advice doesn't quite match that of the Freedom Pass site - when you renew your pass depends on what your name is - the following is from the web site:- Use the list below to work out when you should go to the Post Office to apply. A/B/C/D/E surnames: 4-16 January 2010 F/G/H/I/J surnames: 18-23 January K/L/M/N/O surnames: 25-30 January P/Q/R/S/T/U/V/W/X/Y/Z surnames: 1-6 February If you miss your week, please apply 8-13 February The link is here http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/freedompass/renewing/default.htm A new type of pass is being issed - with the photo on the card itself, not a separate photo-card - hence the need for a photo even if you've already got a photocard. The site also says the pass will be a valid for 5 years.

What I find particularly annoying is that roads used as bus routes were not being gritted - when most of the traffic problems around ED have been directly or indirectly caused by buses unable to make it through the freezing slush. There were 4 (yes 4) buses out of action in about no more than 50 yards of Underhill road - 2 bendy 12s one behind the other where the Rye meets Barry Road and god knows how many more - a slew around Forest Hill, I believe. ED is hilly, buses have very weak engines (particularly when loaded) and need all the traction they can get. If you can't even get round to gritting bus routes...

Just had a call from the V&A querying some post that was sent to us (apparently) and then returned to sender - I assume that it was wrongly delivered and someone just sent it back - I checked and they had got the correct address - a bit much when you are asked whether you have another address that stuff could be more safely sent to than one in SE London!. "You haven't got the wrong address", I told them, "we've just got the wrong postal service". Having said that, the guys at Silvester Rd who find things for you are generally excellent, and seem as p'd off by the poor service we are getting as we are. Reading between the lines the problems are caused by (a) post still held up in sorting from the series of unoffical strikes we had in the summer (they just work down towards the bottom of the pile, having dealt with newer stuff as it comes in, hence some of the huge delays) despite official claims that things are now back to 'normal' and (b) temporary and casual staff.