Penguin68

Almost certainly traffic flow through suburban streets which include multiple connecting routes is a Chaotic System - where a quite small butterfly flapping its wings (road closure due to an accident or road works) can lead to a hurricane of stationary traffic and delays. The arrogant belief in such a system that planners can make changes the effects of which they can accurately forecast over time is arrant nonsense. Southwark's road planners however are not interested in smooth traffic flows, or congestion, or for that matter pollution. They have a political desire (which is stated) to remove cars from their roads (as part of their belief system, which we can see echoed here, that private vehicles are the purview of the wealthy few and not the deserving many) - they may hide behind the purity of the cyclist (or even the moral worth of public transport, though that one, where public transport is so bad, is a difficult one to validate) but this is simple class war, and one they are winning.

I think you were replying to RedstarGreen, Pugwash.

Yes Savvy girl, my wife pointed out my errors Dawson Hill not Dulwich Hill, the park and hill area behind Dawson Heights flats. It's a very easy mistake to make, if it's a mistake at all - Dawson Heights sits in the centre (well, almost) of the Dulwich Hill Ward - I can't think of anything else which would qualify to gift the ward its name.

I would report this to the police, saying you also told the park ranger. Threatening behaviour, which, as you describe it, this clearly was, cannot be acceptable, even and perhaps especially in these strange times - and the next victim might not be as lucky as you were to escape unscathed. You don't mention how old these boys were, I'm assuming young teenagers, but whatever age report it.

Surely it's quite simple - if you bring stuff into a park, you should take it away with you, or, if you're lucky, dispose of it in rubbish bins provided. If they are't, or they're full, then whatever you brought your 'not yet rubbish' in, can be used to take your, 'now it's rubbish' away with you. At a time when public space is particularly vital (for those otherwise sheltering in their homes) messing it up for other people is unforgivable. I wonder if 'spot' ?50 or ?100 fines might help sharpen minds? Enjoy public parks of course, eat or drink there, of course; but only if you're prepared to treat them properly and with respect.

When I learnt to ride a bicycle (in the mid to late '50s) I was not allowed on to the open road by my father until I had shown that I could ride one-handed (left or right) so that I could signal turns. He said that, on the road, you should know what everyone is doing and they should know what you are doing. I think that's still good advice, though I am always surprised nowadays when a cyclist actually signals a turn. Often they're my age, or look it! Later on he taught me, in a car, the concept of defensive driving. I am really worried, when I now drive, when I come up to very young children on the road who clearly are only just in control of their bikes, with both hands. Particularly when they are struggling to keep up with their biking dads.

At the start of the pandemic many people thought masks (even non surgical ones) would protect them - rather than masks protecting others from you. To have encouraged or even endorsed mask wearing then would have been to court danger, it could be argued, whilst now mask wearing is seen as a courtesy to others, as well as offering (albeit minimal) protection to others from symptom-less carriers. Had more been known about them and their prevalence maybe the advice could have been different. But certainly distancing and handwashing are still your best protection from others. To some extent at least mask wearing is a second set of braces once you have the belt and braces of handwashing and distancing - although in circumstances where distancing is difficult (public transport, cramped shops or workplaces) they may offer something to others around you, should you be the one silently infected. But now we (mostly) know what masks do (and, crucially, don't offer) - more wearing of them may be sensible.

When opened it was very crowded - tables v. close together - thus could not have operated in the new era - I suspect that there was no way they could see of making money in a post Covid environment. Sad but a commentary on layout, not initial business plan. Shame to see it go but I see no way in which it could have operated now.

The ancient roman system was to disallow wheeled traffic (carts) on the streets during the day, allowing them at night. It would make sense (and facilitate necessary deliveries to shops etc.) if Rye Lane was open to traffic, say, midnight to 4.00am (or even later, 1.00 am to 5.00am.) That way commerce wouldn't be entirely hamstrung.

Covid19 has now been analysed and found to have a range of characteristics which is believed to be impossible to have developed naturally. One such characteristic is the asymptomatic transmission. Others are the wide range of detrimental effect that it has on victims. Organs affected include lungs, blood, brain and for survivors their health can be impaired long term. This indicates beyond reasonable doubt that the Chinese have been cutting and splicing various viruses in their labs and that Vovid19 escaped. This is not a universally agreed view - others (outside China) argue the opposite (that this was not manufactured). Just because you can quote a source does not mean that source is right. The impact of the pneumonia which follows bad cases is not dissimilar to the impacts of other pneumonias. That the Wuhan lab does gene splicing is not in doubt, that is its purpose. If the virus is very variable, that would argue against a spliced virus, where consistency of effect is one of the requirements. It is possible, of course, that this is a escapee - but many experts with no political axes to grind do not believe this. And it is hardly surprising that the Chinese, like so many others, including a number in the UK, are working on vaccines and treatments. It is the typical action of a totalitarian state that it would require its military to act as guinea-pigs to test the vaccine - the PLA is a very large organisation and you would need a lot of test subjects to validate a vaccine where the infection rate is currently low (as the Chinese claim).

No, I think what was meant is that the work at Dulwich Hospital will be a King's Satellite delivery - and nothing to do therefore with the Health centre/ GP provision.

4 days of deliveries so far this week. We may have reached a turning point. No deliveries at all this week - but 6 last week. It's time for a turning point (I used to get 2-3 items a day delivered, back in the Sylvester Road days!)

If your house has 'dead spots' that will normally be to do with the WiFi (normally delivered via a WiFi hub/modem connected to your broadband) you are using - some hubs are more powerful than others. If you have dead spots (and assuming those aren't being caused by electronic interference by another piece of kit in your house) then you can extend your WiFi either through your own electricty (mains) circuit via gadgets that plug into the mains from your hub and which can then be plugged into around your house, either by a wireless router or via an ethernet cable - useful for a 'fixed' piece of equipment like a desktop or a TV - or via a wireless receiver - but this has to be close enough to your hub to pick up its wireless signal before relaying it wirelessly. BT offers an (expensive but well reviewed) relay system. If you are using WiFi at all, then the speeds you can achieve will be less than directly plugging into your hub using ethernet. So a poor (i.e. ADSL) speed of delivery will be significantly further attenuated by using WiFi - and further by contention with other bits of kit also using that WiFi. Dead spots can also be caused by the house's construction, including any metal used in construction - often when rooms are opened up it will require RSJs to be installed, which may interfere with signals to upstairs rooms. Dead spots can be overcome, however, in the main. But they will be nothing to do with the broadband being delivered over wired networks into your house.

What all this does is cut out the flexibility of the area. On numerous occasions road works will close off one route - and traffic then re-routes to an alternative. But with the alternatives closed off - what chance does anyone (apart from pedestrians, perhaps) have? I remember the chaos when the South Circular was closed (completely) following a serious RTA - but there were escapes - now there won't be. It would be interesting to see just how keen our gauleiters would be if they were made personally, and fiscally, responsible for the costs to road users of this exercise. If emergency vehicles are held up, for instance, should they be charged with manslaughter or grievous bodily harm if people suffer as a consequence of their road closing and unthinking actions. Or for the respiratory health of those living in the roads they've condemned to standing traffic jams. But then, punishing the denizens of the 'leafy Dulwich' they evidently despise will be a win for them.

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.