yorksgirl

This is not a charity or apparently even a social enterprise. It gives no information at all about who is behind it. There is no "who we are" section. Seems to be just a profit making company, which is apparently asking volunteers to work for it.

Does anyone know why? Southwark currently has second highest recorded level of COVID-19 cases (as of today), along with Westminster.

That's a great idea. A lot of King's staff and also other public service workers - police, fire etc - live in shared flats in a very large building at Denmark Hill. These are adults doing tough jobs but their low pay means they are living like kids in student halls - they don't even have living rooms. Would be marvellous if well off people in ED could team up with flats of NHS workers and drop them some shopping - flats are practically next to Sainsbury's.

It's only a lost caterpiller..somehow got into a giant cardboard box. No one as yet can identify it. Apparently no lepidopterists in East Dulwich that might like to adopt it?

It's a moth (probably) cocoon. The wide end is where it would normally attach to a plant(but in this case to a porridge packet!), The thin bit is where the moth / critter will emerge. The Natural History Museum are looking at it, which is v kind. No one else has been able to identify it. I don't think there is any way of knowing if a caterpillar crawled into the packet in the factory, or in transport, or in the supermarket.

It's 1.5 inches or 4cm from end to end, curled as it is. Photo is a pretty good image of it. I suppose it must be a cocoon or crysallis but haven't been able to find an image of it online. Looks like it would hatch into a large mainly black/brown moth with white bits? Looking to know what kind of plant I should try to hide it in so it can slumber on safely until it's time to wake up.

Found in box of porridge sachets. Is it a cocoon or crysallis and if so, can anyone tell me what is going to emerge and what should one do with it currently? What plant would it normally be hiding on at the moment? I try to be as nature-friendly as possible but actually don't fancy it hatching or whatever in the kitchen. Seems quite large.

Firstly.......I am not a qualified lawyer of any kind but have dealt with some similar situations personally. 1. Your friend should look at the Leasehold Advisory Service website - this body is government funded to give advice to leaseholders. 2. Before contacting LAS your friend should read and have to hand a copy of their lease and any correspondence they received from the social housing company you mention about the works. 3. Your friend should be clear about exactly who the freeholder and also exactly what the management situation is. Is the block managed by the social housing organisation itself, or do they employ a managing agent, or is there a residents' management company for example? 4. Whatever the situation, whoever is responsible for managing the building must by law carry out a consultation exercise - which has several stages. This should e.g have notified your friend of what works were intended, issued invitations to tender, invited leaseholders to suggest alterntive contractors, supplied details of the tenders and invited comments from leaseholders. Your friend should have received 2 - 3 letters about the works long before they started and if the managing agent did not carry out the consultation to the letter of the law it will not be valid. 5. I think you should perhaps ask your friend why they did not reply to any of the letters they ought to have received at each stage of the consultation prior to the works being awarded? 6. Your friend should also speak to other leaseholders to check what they received. Is anyone else saying they weren't aware of what was happening? Or has objections to the costs? 7. Your friend should check what their lease says about allowing entry for properly notified repairs. Your friend may be in breach of their lease if they refuse entry. 8. Your friend should ask LAS if they think s/he has any grounds for taking a case to the First Tier Property Tribunal (which is cheaper than the County Court to access and more informal - easier for lay people if they have a strong case). Good luck.

The French are not panic buying loo roll. But sales of Camus' La Peste are way up. And the French government has shut down profiteering (aka 'repugnant materialism' by slapping a max price on hand sanitizer. Truly, the rest of Europe is better off without us.

Confessing to not actually having read any of the comments here. Lovely to see people so attached to daffodils though. If anyone fancies a bit of guerilla gardening, you are welcome to a bag of approx 50 daff bulbs - I got 70 for a quid from Tesco and have only managed to plant 20 of them. Will happily drop off tomorrow or Mon if you are close to Lordship Lane /Ivydale Rd. Have spare delphinium, lupin seed too. Although gardening books say it is too late to plant now, it isn't. If planted this week they will still come up in a couple of months or if not will come up blind this year and flower next. Anyone can plant daffs. Also recommended for guerilla guerilla gardening is the ?2 box of wildflower seeds, also sold by Tesco. Had some fabulous plants including perennials from just scattering these on rough ground, covering shallowly with random soil and totally neglecting the seedlings. And speaking of plant vandalism, nothing compares to the massacre carried out in Peckham Rye a few years back by our glorious Southwark Council itself, when the contractors ripped out gorgeous plant groups planted long ago by actual gardeners, including what I think was a unique quince that I couldn't identify.

I was sitting in a people carrier (with obscure windows) on Underhill Road by the parade of shops last night when s.o. tried to break into the back. About 20 mins earlier had been badly hassled by a very aggressive man demanding money the minute I had stepped out of the car. Moved to ED in 1987, can't remember it was like this around SE22 - although SE15 was if anything worse then.

Ribes speciosum and the other spiny plants suggested by Amy D are also a great idea because they provide a refuge from cats for garden birds. Maybe we should write our names and postcodes on the bottom of pots and planters with an indelible pen? That's going to kill their resale value. Even if it gets painted over it's going to alert people that these are likely to be stolen goods. Especially if someone is trying to sell a whole load of them. Have meant to get round to doing this myself for ages. I understand the police these days are on instruction only to investigate thefts of ?500 plus in value - don't have an official source but local criminal lawyer told me this. Also I guess it is going to be pretty impossible for them to identify anyone's garden plants unless they are very unusual. And there are children being stabbed to death on the streets every day so I guess gardeners are low priority.

How about restarting the communal Spring Clean? Within living memory entire streets would spring clean on the same day. That way you have some chance of breaking the breeding cycle of persistent misery-causing critters like bed bugs and moths. Trying to clear individual flats won't work, if the beasties are still reproducing 2 doors down they will find you again. Same with Victorian houses. There's said to be a bed bug infestation front running south from Elephant and Castle and another running both sides of the Piccadilly Line (ie radiating out from Heathrow). Spotting several people scratching scratch scratching on the DLR recently also wonder whether City Airport / Excel is now having same effect.

Agree Tony 2014, the London City Airport "consultation" is one of the worst examples I have ever seen. Every question is crooked, aimed at manipulating people who read them quickly into giving answers that the airport can use to say the expansion plans are supported. At the moment City Airport is running a massive ad campaign to push weekend leisure breaks to European capitals. At the same time as claiming that airport expansion is "needed" because of their "projections" of the "need" for increased flights. The Evening Standard was trying to push the Royal Docks area / Custom House / Newham as the latest "gentrification" spot this week but even they had to qualify it with "if you can stand the noise". There's a reason why it's cheap, which is that you will die early from the noise stress, and the stinking petrol-laden air. That's if the local "businessmen" don't get you first. Strongly recommend a read of "Legacy - Gangsters, corruption and the London Olympics" to understand why not to move to Royal Docks / Custom House / Newham. If you thought Line of Duty was far-fetched....well, it wasn't.

Agree although seems it will be stocked with smaller deceased creatures. Just hoping the veg, should any grow, will be worth it in the end.

Is it a sunny spot in your garden where the holes are? Turns out the ones in my allotment are a fox larder. Foxes have been coming out of the woodland area during the day to sunbathe, apparently they love the sun, and they have been digging holes to keep snacks in next to where they sunbathe. IA sort of fox mini fridge. Am told frequuent human presence will scare them off. Quite relieved to know they are not actually living down there but not sure I will scare them away, they are not especially timid round here.

Thank you for the useful if queasy images there. Who knew that hares had green poo? At least the allotments are a celebrity free zone. Not even any politicians. Still puzzled why any animal would dig itself a burrow in an allotment bed. Unless there was some form of food down there although can't think what. There wouldn't be mice living deep in the soil? Or ants? I hadn't seen a single ant. Can't think what else they might want as food that could be down there.

Hadn't considered badger. If it's a badger, I don't think I'm allowed to disturb it? I don't know but I did think the excavations look quite big for foxes. Do badgers have a sense of humour? Because badger has waited until someone (me) paid a year's sub for the allotment bed before instantly moving in. Going to have to go sit there at dusk and see what creature turns up, possibly try to collect some rent.

Can anyone tell me who is living here please? Started trying to rebuild a derelict allotment bed only to find that something seems to have moved in overnight. There's a tunnel about 4 feet long, entrance and exit are both about 14 inches x 14 inches. Pics show front door and back door of burrow. Is it Mr Fox? If so why would a critter want to make a burrow in a raised allotment bed? There's only about 2.5 ft deep of soil in the raised bed. Nothing has been grown in it for about a year so doesn't seem they could be digging for food. Not sure now if I dig down, if I'm going to be disturbing some creature's bedroom. There's a large totally undisturbed woodland area in the allotment gardens so don't understand why they are burrowing into a raised bed?

Didn't spot the primula petunia confusion. Maybe I should leave the primulas to have a bit of a rest then. Thanks for ponting that out...

Haven't had a garden for ages so was quite surprised to see them again. Will try feeding them and hope for all year flower. Pretty sure plants aren't supposed to do that though!

Primulas that bloomed profusely Jan to May have started flowering again. I thought they were just once a year flowerers ?

Peckham Rye Park as originally designed had a pond exclusively for dogs. Have seen a Victorian / early Edwardian photo of it. Perhaps it could be revived given how hot the summers are going to get.