Penguin68

Dogs are bred from wolves, who certainly know how to cope with freezing temperatures. Guard dogs are often left outside (with an open kennel shelter) - and are able to move from shelter into a space being guarded. This is not actually active cruelty. Certainly house pets left on their own may bark, but may also be able to get into shelter (if they're outside) when they choose to. Indeed, if your garden is secure, allowing dogs to get into it, if they also do have shelter, is probably less cruel than locking them up in a house, with no access to the outside. Which doesn't make constant barking any less annoying to neighbours.

They presumably keep on flying till they it pay-dirt

Today I received my first mail (as opposed to parcel) post for a week. One card. [i am owed several weeklies - normally we get 60-70 cards at Christmas and I would be expecting bills, statements and other regular post]. My postie told me that was the only thing in 'my slot' and then said that it was believed that slots were being cleared (post dumped) so that senior management might think that things were not out-of-hand. So even if you had been getting deliveries, it wouldn't be the full story. Allegedly. What a disgrace.

A large grey heron has just spent 5 minutes or more perched on the very crest of house close by (with a very small pond in its garden, mainly with newts in it, if anything). Perched in trees nearby were a bevy of green parakeets. I would never have expected to see this when I moved in, over 30 years ago. East Dulwich has certainly changed significantly over that period.

Although the industrial action is causing some delay outside SE22, it is our appalling service which is so disheartening, but us stopping buying cards won't destroy the industry. If everyone had our service the industry, and indeed Royal Mail, certainly wouldn't survive.

...AND this is a stretch where entirely new mains were installed (over a number of weeks of disruption) - down Woodvale, across Melford into the lower (southern) portion of Underhill. This isn't about breaches in an old main, but in a new installation. When they first installed it they also breached the adjacent gas main (well done that man!) which took a couple of weeks to fix. Thames Water should be being regularly fined for avoidable road chaos - jobs such as this should only need to be done once unless disrupted by 3rd parties - i.e. other utilities - as they did to the gas distribution network. TW is a disgrace!

With the current industrial actions all letter post is being delayed, the PO prioritising parcel delivery and (in my case at least) delivery of unasked for catalogues. The CWU is threatening Christmas Card deliveries through to mid February (so, for us in SE22, no real change from last year, when we were getting cards at end January (with no industrial action!) The problems in SE22 date back to 4 years ago when they started to close our DO in Silvester Road, moving delivery to an office in Peckham which was already hard pressed. Technically that site now hosts 2 DOs. At the best of times for most of the 4 years we have been receiving deliveries 2 days a week (it should be 6, to remind people). Today I received 3 subscribed-for magazines, two weeklies delivered a week and 2 days late, and one fortnightly delivered 13 days late! - Very much par for the course.

My Sycamore has shed entirely, so I suspect it may rely on location. My willow is still almost fully in leaf, which it used not to be a few years ago by now.

Collections go into sorting offices, these are different from delivery offices, DOs, where our problems lie. So you should be able to post anywhere in SE22 with confidence. But remember that some post boxes (such as ones outside POs often) offer a higher level of service; it is those where you should post test samples tor instance.

Citizen's Advice - unless you have a lawyer friend, don't otherwise expect pro-bono work - there are many who may proffer advice (I've done it in the past) but it will be a layperson's views. If you want actual legal advice, then you need a lawyer (or, as I said, Citizen's Advice).

To be fair, the thread is about the TJ 'really improving'. Which may well be true, with one glaring TJ GP exception. Possibly the GP Practice housed within TJ should have its own thread.

Just to remind people that the Tessa Jowell centre offers/ houses a multiple of different services/ service providers. Most complaints appear to be addressed here to the GP Surgery based at Tessa Jowell - which does seem to have acted deplorably, based on reports, at times. But do not confuse these legitimate complaints with the other services/ service providers offered on the site. The phlebotomist service, for instance, I have found excellent.

He could certainly be charged with ABH or GBH, depending upon the level of injury.. His defence would be that he was acting whilst of unsound mind - if this did go to trial he would then be most likely committed, possibly if there was space, to a medium secure unit. He could not be imprisoned if the unsound mind defence was accepted - as it almost certainly would be. Alternatively he might instead be sectioned. In either case it is very likely that once he was on medication he would to start to act normally and he would be discharged back into the community, would then stop taking the medication and would be back in the same state. The police are neither trained nor equipped to handle mental illness (nor are most paramedics, I believe there are only two ambulances with paramedics trained in psychiatric issues in London). We should not punish the mentally ill for being mentally ill, nor should we consider that locking away a nuisance and effectively forgetting about them is acceptable. Of course this makes life difficult for 'civilians' caught in this. And as he escalates his violence there may be a need for longer term incarceration. And compassion is difficult where you are at the receiving end of unacceptable and frightening behaviour (outwith the proximate cause). There are a lot of things we need still to do in the public health space, and particularly where it is mental health which is an issue. But 'simple' remedies are rarely (or should be) acceptable in modern times. Maybe sectioning and 're-setting' the individual through medication may be a short term route, but it will be very unlikely to offer a permanent solution.

They both know, very clearly, that they have overridden the expressed wishes of those residents who have responded to their twisted surveys (I write this as a former member of the Market Research Society who does understand how to write both good and bad questionnaires) - even where they are at pains to say that a consultation is not a referendum (and I wonder whether they would have said that should be public have supported them in their actions - I rather think not!) They must also know that their claimed 'statistics' in support of the benefit of their actions have been challenged - and in some instances by TFL - not a former Tory Candidate (and should former Labour candidates be excluded from attacking the actions of Conservative Councils?) They must also be worried that some of their actions may still be open to legal challenge - it is clear that the Council has breached its own advisory codes on where LTNs would best be positioned (regarding the availability of public transport criteria which it set itself).

Cars parked hard on the corners/ road junctions obscure sight lines of those exiting the junction, who have to edge forward to see passed the parked cars. Which can force oncoming traffic out. The reasons these areas are marked off with double yellow lines is precisely to give that visibility (and pedestrian road crossers will often cross at junctions like this as they are walking towards them). I know we in Southwark have got use to the council waging war on the motorist, but some road signage etc. has been properly researched and is there for very good reasons.

I suspect one of your local councillors may be the best bet, I don't think there is a publicly available listing of Conway jobs. You'd have to know what it's for to find anything about it, which somewhat begs the question. I think they may schedule their own jobs as they see fit. You should have received written notification of course. But if it was sent in the mail...

As regards post to SE22, paying extra for first class gets it there no quicker. Or indeed frequently, at all!

It may be that illegal parking is not the only illegal activity to be associated with these vehicles, in which case the concern being expressed about their being photographed would be even more worrying; although it is possible that the owners were simply patrons of the Fish Bar parking illegally to collect food. Either which way a scary experience...!

You are assuming there was an offence. A sudden manoeuvre, even at low speeds, to e.g. avoid someone perhaps jay walking could cause a flip in the right, or wrong, circumstances. The police should certainly be ascertaining the facts, and prosecuting (someone) if there was an offence - but it would be quite wrong, unless you were witness to the event, to allocate blame, or even assume a cause.

I would write to Helen Hayes about this - she can supply a letter to the Court (if she agrees!) supporting your contention that the postal service has been locally so bad that non-delivery of such letters in a timely fashion is now the rule rather than the exception. It is better to clear this up, however, before it comes to Court proceedings - so getting a letter of support from your MP (Ms Hayes) to use with the debt collectors/ the firm managing Tessa Jowell parking before any case goes to court will be a far less expensive route. Do also remember that, appointment or no, you are required to book-in your number plate at Tessa Jowell when parking to avoid proceedings. If you didn't do that, the best you may hope for is that the postal delays mean that you can pay the minimum fine rather than one exacerbated by postal delays!

Am I alone in wondering how the Mayor can extend the ULEZ boundary to the M25 when the London Assembly boundaries are mainly inside the M25 (with some slight exceptions)? If the M25 is to be the boundary then there are those living within this boundary who have no options to express a democratic opinion about this, yet can only avoid this tax by moving. Individuals living outside the M25 can chose not to enter this very much greater London, but those living inside have no choice. At least those of us living within the North and South Circulars do have a vote for Mayor and Assembly members. AMENDED to say that some of the paperwork I have now seen does suggest that the boundary is 'roughly' the M25, but looks more like the London Assembly boundary - but I have found no clarification of this. I cannot see how the mayor of London can actually tax parts of the country of which he is not Mayor, but some news reports suggest that is what he is doing.

ARLA is a letting agents qualification - look for MARLA which identifies a Member who will be a qualified letting agent.

If you are having stuff delivered to third parties outside SE22 this shouldn't be an issue - and for many companies you can now arrange local pick-up - where 3rd party (non Royal Mail) carriers are concerned. If you have a 'local' friend who is local but not in SE22 you could arrange delivery to them (with their agreement) as the real problems seem to lie with the SE22 Delivery Office (now in Peckham). Which is not to argue against using local traders, of course, but for some products they may not be able to offer as wide a range locally. The footprints of most local stores are limited, which means the range of stocking may also be - so they may not have (to quote the Beattie ad of many years ago) 'all the sizes in all the colours'.

I'm sorry, but brands, and foodstuffs, are not and cannot be bourgeois, which is a definition of a state of mind of people - or the definition by one group of people of the political class of another group of people. Foodstuffs do not have a political class, The customers may be bourgeois, by someone's definition, or may be pretentious, and the products designed for them. Poundland is a business, and a big business. It may cater for a customer base that does not self-identify as bourgeois, but that does not make the company, or those who run it, any one thing or another. I'm betting that Poundland middle management may well meet your criteria of bourgeois. And not themselves shop there! This is an ad hominem attack using early 20th century political vituperation. It really doesn't belong in the early 21st Century. And it's inappropriately addressed. You might just as well call the shops Kulaks. Or Intellectuals.

Since, I think, that in normal (non Covid) times many pubs do open for Christmas lunch, even where they may close at 6:00 or so, it may be worthwhile checking with a pub you like to see if they're open.