Penguin68

I worked closely to Postman's Park for an extended period (named as it was adjacent to the St Martin's Le Grand Head Post Office in the King Edward Building - where the War Memorial to those employed by the Post Office, and especially those who served in the Post Office Rifles, is). Postman's Park was (and probably still is) a fine place to sit and contemplate with your sandwiches in the summer. I too would warmly recommend a visit.

Whilst it's true that Covid quarantine and protecting the vulnerable certainly added to the problems, the position was already dire at least 18 months before. Covid simply made a bad position worse. There were already walks completely uncovered in the area and reliant on relief and over-time work - once Covid hit there was no slack (in fact the opposite of slack) throughout the area. A concentration on parcel delivery (not unreasonably) simply further exacerbated the situation, meaning that no attempts were made to sort or deliver ordinary post. But the fact that the SE22 DO (i.e. Peckham) was regularly cited as being significantly underperforming (when the same Covid issues were true across the country) speaks volumes.

Apologies, I had misread your post. I suspect that Ms Hayes is running out of responses to the endless and justified complaints about our (lack of) Postal service. Short of a reference to Ofcom there is probably little else she can do, and I'm not sure how such a reference can be made. And I'm not sure what Ofcom would really do - they are a very weak regulator (IMHO) save where telecom regulation is concerned, and there they have the excellent past record of Oftel (and particularly Don Cruickshank) to lean back on for precedent.

Quite curiously, ditto, again today - my experiences regarding untimely delivery of periodicals matches yours. I suspect Ms Hayes is currently inundated by being 'copied in' to correspondence with CEO Royal Mail - if we can anticipate any response it may well be in her regular constituency letters if she has taken up (again) the cudgels on our behalf. I believe she (or her office) is more likely (in my experience at least) to respond when she is the main addressee rather than a cc - not unreasonable when she is handling (I'm guessing) quite a high load of more direct personal cases. Copying in an MP gets the CEO response moved into being a 'flag case' (old PO jargon dating back to the days when it was still a government department and then a nationalised industry) where you are more likely to get an official actually thinking about the issue.

Today my first postal delivery of the week (yes, it is Friday) - 15 items, almost all promotional magazines except for one real communication and 3 subscription magazines - one a satirical fortnightly, only a couple of days late (but it always used to be delivered on time) , and 2 political weeklies - one a full single week late, the other 2 weeks late(!). That is, with current fast moving events, completely useless. Clearly the CWU action has impacted this, but not to that extent. I don't actually blame the (striking) posties; the ones I see are generally hard working and as diligent (when they are not on strike) as they can be, given the hopeless management they work under. This is all traceable back to the wholly wrong decision to close the local DO without finding a suitable local replacement. I accept that the Sylvester Road set-up was well past its sell-by date - with very poor working conditions and no longer fit for a purpose where packages now are far more dominant over letter post, but jamming two DOs (Peckham and East Dulwich - SE22) onto one site - and not caring about the consequent understaffing and sub-optimal use of space - has led to appalling service - and not just for the ED customers, as I understand Peckham deliveries are now also farcical. Perhaps if a concerted effort to write to the Chairman's Office - reminding the staff there that this is a long-running story that dates well before lock-down, let alone industrial action, and which was (at the time of the announcement of the initial DO closure) already being flagged up locally and by our MP as a disaster in the offing (there is no benefit of hind-sight here amongst the customers and local politicians, just the managers) it might help focus minds. It must also be clear to Ofcom that regulators are being derelict in their duty to ensure that Royal Mail meets its service quality targets - when a single DO is failing (literally) to deliver against them, and has done so consistently over 4 years the failures to deliver e.g. first class post within a working day cannot be 'lost in the roundings' across the nation as a whole. This is a continued disgrace.

Based on their own business practices I imagine that, during these almost constant recent downpours they themselves would otherwise have had their sprinklers in constant use! Their 'justification' for forcing water meters on us is that this will inhibit us using water to such an extent that their forecast shortages will not occur - although those shortages are actually less than the amount of water they themselves are losing through leaks. Their rapacious philosophy is thus to charge us more so they can do less - and indeed not even do what our existing charges are meant to be paying for. But their (overseas) shareholders are still smiling, so that's all right! The infrastructure may be elderly, but the fact that the same sections are constantly re-leaking does suggest that they are incapable of making repairs to any acceptable standard - even when they close roads for weeks/ months saying that they are installing entirely new and modern infrastructure. The Victorian pipework lasted 100 years and more, theirs can hardly last a season!

The chances are that if you have a diesel car of that age you will have to pay, however. Petrol cars which are quite elderly were designed to emission standards which are acceptable, but this not true of diesel cars. My car (petrol) is 18 years old and exempt. The original emission standards were set for vehicles travelling into the central (congestion charge) zone, where the impact of polluting vehicles, and particularly HGVs is most noted (because of traffic congestion and the impact of high rise infrastructure in retaining pollutants in the atmosphere). The extension out to the north and South Circulars (and possibly to the M25) is about revenue raising far more than air quality/ air pollution.

It would be really helpful when writing to Royal Mail if you could remind the people in the Chairman's Office who answer the letter that (1) this problem has been going on with the (moved) Dulwich Delivery Office since well before Covid Lockdown (let alone the CWU strikes!) and that - even during the strikes - getting post re-directed out of SE22 means that delivery is only 2 days late, and not weeks. They will be using a stock response at the moment to delivery delay complaints without bothering to check what the actual issues are. Amended to say - it might also be useful to add a link to this thread in any letter (or the previous threads if you can find them) - it helps when the Chairman's Office knows that this has publicity issues coming with it, and isn't a one-off whinge

Can I absolutely reassure you - they don't give a flying etc. about you or your road, and won't even consider doing so for the next 2 and a half years, and probably, considering their electability, not even then.

I have found that writing to - [email protected] helps - and the 'local' man was, when I last wrote - [email protected] - although he may well have moved on. He used to be 'in charge' of SE London. In the end Mr Wallace did reply to me (as did the CEO's office). I also copied my correspondence (e-mail) to Helen Hayes - [email protected]

As regards bike usage (see above) it will also be interesting to see if poor weather (when/ if we get any) will reduce or not impact usage. My guess would be that (as for normal bikes) bad weather (rain, high winds, ice) will tend to diminish usage - so that we might, over time, expect these to be substantially summer uses. Risks of using them escalate as weather worsens. And will the novelty wear-off? Not that it is necessarily bad to see them only used in good weather - but the overall impact on road usage will need to be measured over a number of years, not months, to gauge their contribution to reduced air pollution (by which I do not mean CO2 emissions).

I completely agree with womanofdulwich that the park should remain unlit at night to leave in peace such wildlife as still remains. Though based on previous reports, that would mainly be rats

I wonder whether anyone has asked either Yinka Ilori (the artist and creator of the pavilion, now dismantled) whether he is happy for his artwork to be treated in this way or the Dulwich Picture Gallery, who commissioned a pavilion and now see it as occasional furniture in a location for which it wasn't designed, and a purpose for which it was not intended if they are happy for this somewhat cavalier re-use? Or doesn't Southwark really care?

If anyone does think about taking up the cudgels again it would be worthwhile (addressing the PO Chairperson) to (1) copy the letter to Helen Hayes and (2) to quote the interesting - 'it's delivered quickly if re-directed out of the area' post above. Just to make it clear that it's not either generally endemic across England nor (just) the result of strike action. I now get, in non-strike weeks, no more than 2 deliveries a week, normally totalling over 20 items and running generally - when there is a delivery - 5-7 days late (based on the days I receive weekly news magazines which have a known positing date). It is a complete disgrace, as is the failure of the toothless regulator to require the PO to meet its statutory quality targets or to fine it when it doesn't.

It's awful, recycled tat from a temporary structure in Dulwich Picture Gallery, 3 years or so ago (in the summer) it was part of a highly colourful summer pavilion outside the picture gallery - with (fully assembled, and in original position) a strong narrative - it had its detractors, even then, but it was generally welcomed. It is now a disassembled and much faded relic of a summer folly out of storage - just right for permanent installation in what had once been quite a fine cross roads in a village.

Personally, I would make sure that every street had at least one space for a car club car, and one or two for hire bikes - on the road (not the pavement). I'm afraid that if that happened the one place you probably wouldn't find a bike left is in a designated space. Walking around today they are dumped just where it's convenient to their (former) riders - who would not go seeking out the 'right' spot for them. That's part of their allure - they are 'drop and forget' items. You would have (as other's have noted) to have a regime of fines for those not left in the right space. And the cost of pursuing offenders might well destroy any current business model. As well as reducing their attractiveness to users.

What is being 'sold' is a 3 year (or so) lease at a current rental of £108k a year. It's the commercial equivalent of leasehold. I'm guessing that the new leaseholder might have first refusal on buying a longer lease, or renewing, once this one expires, depending on the terms of the lease. You are paying Wetherspoons for the 3 years (slightly less) of their current leasehold but would be paying the rental to the property owners.

Welcome to ED Poundland, with arms wide open. Louisa. Actually, Louisa, I can't agree. This is likely to severely damage the trade of Farmers - an excellent local shop which has provided good value services to ED over a long period. Poundland is a chain, aggressively priced and whose quality, in my view (others may differ) is not good. It will damage a quality local shop which has gone out of its way to provide a good local service. I know you have always championed chains which purport (not always accurately), to offer good value - and I do agree that losing Iceland was sad, although gaining M&S was a good thing - better would have been to have had both, in my view - but if Poundland comes and squeezes out Farmers then that loss will, again in my view, be worse than losing Iceland.

borderpaul Your BT ADSL speed is surprisingly good, considering you're measuring it through WiFi. Also the knock back from Wired to WiFi on your Community Fibre shows just how much can be lost that way. Although you do have some blisteringly fast speeds here, of course the actual service quality you get is also dependent on the connectivity and speeds at the other end (and how much contention there is). for those without this set-up if you are getting very slow transmission it is always worth checking on another site, in case speed problems are not at your end. I am on BT Fibre to the cabinet, which is comparatively slow against fibre to the premise (which isn't available here) but which actually meets most of my speed needs. Maybe on Zoom I'm not getting cinema quality (particularly when others in the house are also using bandwidth) - but it suffices.

In the first 25 years or so of living in East Dulwich (more like 28) I received 3-4 items of post delivered daily over 6 days in the week - somewhat over 20 items a week. I now feel blessed if I get 2 deliveries a week (still accounting for 20+ items). I am more likely to receive catalogues than the journals and magazines I pay for, which are inevitably delivered several days late, if at all. I assume catalogue merchants have a better pull with the Post Office than magazines (they probably send out a lot more). How has it come to this? I have given up writing to Helen Hayes and to the Post Office Chair(Person) - I get a rushed backlog of delivery and 'improvement' (and I use that word quite wrongly) for no more than a fortnight before the service (and I certainly use that word quite wrongly) once again regresses. The posties themselves are still struggling, against all the odds (by which I mean the joke management) to deliver, but there are now too few of them, and without effective direction, to deliver (see what I did there?) against their statutory requirements. The costs of the first class (and second class) stamps soar (and now they carry advertising on them in their QR codes, so another source of income to the PO) but the delivery standards which are statutory are hardly ever met - at least in our neck of the woods. And the Regulator (who clearly doesn't regulate) is, frankly, taking money under false pretences.

It's normally closed when the pharmacist is at lunch as you can't sell OTC medicines without a Pharmacist present. Non OTC remedies are on the general shelving.

No, but they may well have a defence 'being of unsound mind'. Prosecuting, and if necessary holding in secure accommodation if found 'of unsound mind' is sadly a necessity, but locking someone up because they are acting madly without committing a real crime is not a good thing. And I think shouting out insults (homophobic or not) where 'intent' would be hard to prove would be a case in point. It is too easy to think that locking up people who cause offence is a remedy. Actual bodily harm, or worse, criminal damage, or worse are maybe different things. Too many countries have chosen to treat those they don't like (maybe whose actions don't fit into a standard pattern) as being 'insane' and locking them up. This person is clearly a nuisance, and at times is scary, but any remedy must be the least we can think of, surely, in case of mental sickness.

From all the reports it seems likely that the man is suffering some form of mental problem - whilst his actions appear both dangerous and upsetting his level of cognitive control over them may be limited. The police are not best positioned to handle issues of mental health - their remedies of arrest and lock-up are hardly ideal - and mental health services within the NHS are limited and poorly funded. Getting someone sectioned is of limited value where the patient resists treatment, and I don't want to live in a society which believes unlimited imprisonment is a good option for the mentally ill. I believe there may be as few as two specialist emergency teams (ambulance based paramedics trained in mental health issues) across London. And none outside. (Happy to stand corrected on that). The recent Panorama TV programme on a medium secure unit was very troubling.

No idea why the exit has been closed, but it was open again yesterday. It's still open (Wednesday 5th morning). In the past it has been closed if there's a problem with the automatic door mechanism, so it may have been that.

Nowadays most parcels aren't signed for (since Covid distance rules) but photographed on the door step as a record is to be kept of delivery. There are, I'm afraid. a number of rogue couriers who fake signatures either to steal, or just not to bother delivering, items. And a (larger) number of excellent, honest and diligent couriers as well, I'm glad to say.