Penguin68

And this (ironically from Veolia, about their plant in Yorkshire) describes the anaerobic digestion system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRcfO07NIWg Without such a system, it makes no sense to separate kitchen from garden waste (except financially, for Southwark, apparently).

I just saw a binman empty a food waste bin into the same bin that he put the garden waste. What is going on? 12 posts above this I describe exactly what's going on. Veolia process food and garden waste together. Southwark required the separation to 'justify' charging for garden waste collection.

There are only two residential local network providers in this area (indeed most areas) BT and Virgin. Everyone, whatever their brand, uses these networks. Plusnet is owned by BT, as are EE. Most of the other virtual operators use BT's (Openreach) network, because regulation requires that these services are offered wholesale. HOWEVER - most of the big virtual players will place their own equipment (racks) in BT exchanges - these have the line cards which 'operate' network and broadband services. These are called 'unbundled' services because they have been taken out of BT's network system. Locally Virgin have massively over-sold its network so that there are frequently congestion problems, and quite small faults can take out a lot of customers. But as regards underlying network infrastructure - there are only two players in town. [but note that high bandwidth connections between nodes can and are supplied by other carriers, selling on a business to business basis]. Similarly a number of different network suppliers provide links into a national network from mobile phone masts. Basically, unless you buy direct from BT or Virgin retail there may be multiple players in the network you think you are using.

A hot summer with open windows is a burglar's paradise. I suspect the overhead surveillance may be about that.

Interesting - as this is exact opposite of what council told me! Makes more sense this way but I was told this was absolutely not allowed! To be charitable, either your council adviser did not know that Veolia could/ would not process kitchen and garden waste separately in SE London, or he is following a script designed to imbue good habits for when it is enabled (if ever). To be uncharitable, the council doesn't want people questioning their money raising actions so is simply pretending that the two are processed separately. Take your choice.

I watched them emptying the food bins last week - they tipped them straight in with the garden waste in people's brown bins. I've said this before, but Veolia in S London doesn't have anaerobic digesters locally suitable for kitchen waste, so its composted with garden waste (as you might do yourself). Southwark knew that, but had the opportunity to charge for garden waste and took it. There's no point in Veolia separating the collection when both types of waste are treated the same. Anaerobic digesters (which produce saleable methane) are ideal for kitchen waste, less so for garden waste. Although plant material can be treated in this way it is normally green material (from farms) and not woody material (more typical of our garden waste, which has comparatively little grass cuttings). Veolia is acting entirely sensibly, as there is no merit for it to separate organic waste. I believe there are plans to introduce appropriate digesters, over time, but until they do, it makes no economic sense for them to separate waste (indeed it adds cost). You are collecting it separately as part of a Southwark money making scheme. It has no additional recycling merit.

My collection also works well, although a new crew once did miss kerbside caddies put on garden walls (wasn't looking up). Luckily I spotted that and he did then pick the the caddies. Apart from that I've seen no problems in Underhill. If your caddy isn't at the front of the property on the pavement (or on another bin) it may be missed.

Nothing wrong with Healthy streets, that's why the Mayor brought in and then massively extended the ULEZ - the impact of which hasn't yet started to be felt locally - as we are all now in the new extended zone. Any guesses that any positive ULEZ impact will be claimed by our duplicitous councillors and council officials as being a result of their tinkerings? Of course it will. But nobody will actually know. Because they are rushing the adjustments in to coincide with the ULEZ extension being implemented. Because they can.

Thanks to a LOT of very hard work behind the scenes from a lot of computer programmers, nothing happened. One of the key problems wasn't that a routine would itself fail because the date was 'wrong' - but that a more sophisticated (younger routine) would check the older routine to make sure it was working, see that it 'wasn't' (because the date was wrong) and not accept its data or command. Most systems then (and indeed now) were a combination of many older sub-routines. A huge amount of work was undertaken, at great expense, to ensure that the 'millenium bug' wasn't a thing. I was involved with such a project for a major blue chip, and it wasn't an exercise in futility. However it is worth noting that the same person/ modelling group who forecast half a million Covid-19 deaths also forecast mass losses through BSE - something which didn't happen.

Why are these wonderful blessed sainted types not using public transport like mere mortals do? Putting aside the requests from government and TfL not to use public transport at the moment; the reason may be that unless they are travelling broadly north:south then their journey, if it can be made at all, will be a nightmare. Public transport is not optimised east:west for us, where there are buses they tend to be slow and very circuitous. I used to work in Greenwich; driving took 20-25 minutes in the rush hour, 17 minutes outside (door to door). Public transport's best times were around 90 minutes (worse outside the rush hour when frequency reduced) and often plagued by cancellations. I can drive to Ladywell in 12 minutes, the bus (amazingly there is one) takes 40. When I travelled into town, then public transport (except when it was cancelled!) was a great option, and it would have been silly to have chosen differently.

We're not *that* close to the station so I was surprised that the CPZ has made such a difference. That is because you believed the propaganda that it was all filthy outsiders coming to our streets and stealing our parking places as they caught trains into the City for their jobs in banking and stock trading. In fact we do have commuters - these are the people commuting into ED so they can teach our children, serve in our shops, work in our hospitals and health centres etc. etc. And now it's so much more difficult for them. So they'll be looking for jobs where they can drive to work and park (after all, why would they be using the poor public transport we do have, given the Covid-19 situation?) Not that the apparat in Tooley St will care - they don't like us - neither do the councillors we elected, it appears.

P.s they're Irish Gypsy travellers. Irish travellers are Celts, originating from Ireland (often as travelling tin smiths, hence the name 'tinkers') - Gypsy (Romany) travellers almost certainly originate from Northern India (although their 'name' implies a wrongly assumed Egyptian origin). They are entirely different racial and cultural groups. As you appear to have conflated the two, it makes me doubt your identification.

ignored as currently most people are not observing the full 2m rule when passing others in the street. The 'two metre rule' really refers to continuous contact, indoors, lasting 15 minutes or more. Which is what bars and schools and offices etc. would be offering. Transmission in the open is less likely (far less likely) and people passing (no continuity of contact) within 1 metre is almost certainly virtually risk free. A queue for a shop, even in the open, offers 'continuous' contact possibilities - if the queue is long, which is why 2 metres, for queues, probably meets the precautionary principle. Someone walking through (or past) the queue at a metre distance probably doesn't.

This?

Can I strongly recommend Kingswood House, the only Scottish Baronial mansion in England, (built by the man who created Bovril!) It is strangely quirky and very South London - a mansion surrounded by a very fine council estate. The people there are super. There are 'tudor style' wood panelled rooms. My daughter was married there 2 years ago - it was a wonderful occasion. https://www.kingswoodcommunity.org.uk/ It's just north of Crystal Palace - very handy for Dulwich and ED.

I am also really unclear how all this enhances social distancing in the area? If you can get the council to create a virtual gated community for you, you will be wonderfully socially distanced from the hoi polloi milling about outside your enclave.

I just get one delivery of 'normal' post a week, now (on Thursday, if you're asking) when a huge batch drops through the letterbox, or, if it's too much, has to be handed in. Royal Mail parcels (not ParcelForce) arrive normally however. I see posties in one street or another most days. I think back-logs have meant that there is now too much post waiting for a postman to carry for a full round, so it gets left over for 'the next day' and so on. So postmen are now doing a particular walk once a week, rather than every day. Hopefully as more come back on again deliveries may return to normal. But it ain't the service people are paying for when they buy their stamps (particularly first class ones!).

Mine arrived today, first post this week

The 'daily death' figures are rubbish - they show how many reports of death were received centrally up to, I think, 5.00pm on the day previous - irregardless of when these deaths actually occurred. That is why the weekend figures are so low, as far fewer reports of death are made or received over the weekend - for deaths out of hospital these have to be reported to the registrar of births, deaths and marriages. All the death certificates do of course carry the actual date of death, and it would be possible to re-base the death chart to show actual figures on the 'right' dates - probably up to about a week before the current date. The 'weekly average' is an attempt to proxy those figures. This may be important as it is possible that real date anomalies might appear - particularly in care homes where we might expect weekend cover normally to be lower. The way we collect death data and the way other countries do is known to be different - Belgian figures are reported higher than ours because of the wider definition they have of Covid related deaths, other countries show stricter definitions. The best interpretation of the statistics will probably be an analysis of excess deaths over a seasonal norm - we know that some people who died with Covid were anyway very seriously ill, and if Covid pneumonia hadn't killed than, another pneumonia (or some other cause) might well have. Such an analysis can only be made once the infection has fallen to normal - whatever that might be - levels. That it has hit the UK hard is undeniable, but the reasons for that are still very unclear. If there is a genetic predisposition to catch and suffer seriously from Covid amongst some BAME communities, for instance, linked or not to low levels of vitamin D (this is all just speculation) our higher population from this group might hold some clues. Equally, London, where the infection was very bad, like New York (ditto) is an international travel hub and 'global' city. Maybe this was an issue - and it is likely if so that infections came into the city long before anyone was even considering lock down or social distancing. Better and truer information about the disease from China would definitely have helped here. We simply don't (yet) know enough to start apportioning political blame, satisfying as that might be.

I'm sure I saw them empty the food waste contents into the garden waste bin yesterday? You will have done - whilst Southwark separated (so they could charge for garden waste) the food and garden waste elements of organic recyclables, their supplier, Veolia, does not have separate treatment plants for the two locally, so there is no economy for them in separating waste collection. Kitchen waste (I think) can be anaerobically digested (if there is suitable plant) which acts to produce bio-methane - this happens in a sealed container - whereas garden waste is composted to be used as fertiliser. At the moment all the organic Southwark waste is composted (as you would in a home composter in your garden).

There was certainly a collection in Underhill yesterday, and west side Wood Vale, so I think the collections are normal, but the teams are changed a bit, so if you put your brown bin somewhere else but by the front of your property they might miss it. I put my small (kerb side) caddy up on a wall (otherwise it's at ideal dog watering level) and it was nearly missed once because the collector was looking at ground level.

Since you cannot make him homeless during covid (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/complete-ban-on-evictions-and-additional-protection-for-renters) I think his position with you does not fall into the ban on 'overnight stays'. The fact that you have not charged him rent (good on you) does not obviate his contract with you. I think you could require him not to use any 'common parts' (other than the entrance) he has with you for a period - perhaps 7 days - when he has come back to protect you from infection (I am assuming that you are not an at risk or shielded person). This may be one for citizen's advice, but clearly his is an unusual circumstance for which general 'rules' cannot apply.

This EDF doesn't have a Facebook page.

I was in the Horniman yesterday morning and there was a scattering of litter around a (fairly full) bin, but that looked wind-blown to me - and probably left the night before. If the bin had been emptied the litter wouldn't have then blown out of it. In still conditions it would probably still be in the bin. Better to take your own litter away, but when there's a bin I'm not surprised it's used. The gardens are otherwise in great condition, and clearly there are enough staff to care for them from a horticultural perspective.

with little children running around and playing closely together. As described this clearly breaks the guidance, although there is no evidence, world-wide, of children under 10 infecting adults, and generally young children are either symptomless or the impact is very mild on them. So probably the actual risk, as regards the children, is very low - and the positive effects of children socialising may well outweigh any negative Covid-19 impacts. Which is not to excuse or condone the actions of the adults, who are clearly not 'being alert' - and are putting themselves (as adults) at risk, as they are any more vulnerable people they may be in contact with at work or home.