Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I am cross about the ice, for the fourth year in a row... Back streets are abandoned by the people we pay council tax to... When London was torn apart by its own citizens people came out to clean it up. But frail people are paralysed by our council's inefficiency... I have tweeted Southwark council and virus Johnson about starting a guerilla gritting campaign. It can't be that hard. Who's with me?
Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/28287-guerilla-gritting/
Share on other sites

On Sunday morning I (and a little later my neighbour, who borrowed my shovel) cleared the stretch of pavement outside our properties - the snow then was very easily shovelled and hadn't been walked into ice. As I was clearing the snow a number of people walked past - only one, an elderly couple of, I'd guess, Eastern European origins, commented on what I was doing or thanked me. Everyone else stalked past without even a smile. I am so glad I made the effort! [And no, for a very long time, these were the only two properties in a very long street with cleared pavements, but no surprise there.]

Wearethegowlett Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I am cross about the ice, for the fourth year in a

> row... Back streets are abandoned by the people we

> pay council tax to... When London was torn apart

> by its own citizens people came out to clean it

> up. But frail people are paralysed by our

> council's inefficiency... I have tweeted Southwark

> council and virus Johnson about starting a

> guerilla gritting campaign. It can't be that hard.

> Who's with me?


Not sure if you have noticed, but the economic situation isnt exactly at its best. Many services have been cut, and sadly this is the world we live in.


I am far more concerned about police cutbacks than worrying about a few days of slippery pavements every year.

Snow clearing is a classic task for those crims doing so-called Community Service.


In advance of a predicted snowfall, allocate each a shovel and a stretch of pavement (about 200 yards) and tell them to keep the pavement clear - starting at 6am before it get tramped into ice.


Conduct a daily performance appraisal with the incentive of reduced sentence if performance is satisfactory. Ooh, and they must hand the shovel back too, when the job is done.


It is a system that works well in Austria, Bavaria and some states in the USA.


GG

Austria seems to have snow clearing down to a fine art. As soon as the snow starts dropping the Winderdienst ploughs and gritters roll into action, snow is moved off to the side and later removed altogether. It is really quite impressive - it takes at least a half a meter of snow to cause any disruption.


On the other hand 2cm of snow in the UK and civilisation grinds to a halt.

And I believe Japan has better earthquake-proof building standards than the UK. It's a fecking mystery to me as to why that is.


Anyway, to the Gowlett's point: lots more grit bins with a "spread yourself" notice on them could work out OK. Some people would nick the grit, yes, but generally it could help.

I'm guessing that not one resident of ED on this forum has bought a set of winter tyres - for the fairly obvious reason that it's not worth shelling out vast sums of money for something that happens for a couple of days a year.


Your money is better spent!


So is the taxpayer cash - that's why we don't build a transport system for Arctic conditions.

> Your money is better spent!

>

> So is the taxpayer cash - that's why we don't

> build a transport system for Arctic conditions.


Spot on. There is a hint of the "Dependency Culture" with the OP ie get the authorities to come up with a solution -irrespective of the cost. And all this while we have fit and able people claiming benefits and sitting at home watching Sky Sports.


An ordinary shovel costs about ?9 and a snow shovel costs $4.99 in Sainsbo's and will last years. I wonder if the OP has invested in either. Either way he/she wants to score cheap political points.

The OP has actually been out on the streets spreading grit, and you're on here spouting shit.


But you fill your boots.


Green Goose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Spot on. There is a hint of the "Dependency

> Culture" with the OP ie get the authorities to

> come up with a solution -irrespective of the cost.

> And all this while we have fit and able people

> claiming benefits and sitting at home watching Sky

> Sports.

>

> An ordinary shovel costs about ?9 and a snow

> shovel costs $4.99 in Sainsbo's and will last

> years. I wonder if the OP has invested in either.

> Either way he/she wants to score cheap political

> points.

A report published by Southwark Council on its website and dated 30 January 2012 states:


"The Council also has an 80 strong fleet of hand gritting machines to ensure footpaths and pavements are kept as clear as possible.


In addition, there are almost 200 grit bins across Southwark to enable residents to clear their own pathways and pavements.


Bags of grit have also been distributed across local estates to grit exposed stairways, slopes, ramps and outside sheltered housing.


Almost 100 staff including lorry drivers, foremen and sweepers, will be involved in keeping the streets and roads clear if snowfall is heavy".

Ted Max Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The OP has actually been out on the streets

> spreading grit, and you're on here spouting shit.

>

>

> But you fill your boots.


Dangerous to make assumptions old chap. You will be disappointed to know that I spread 7.5 Kg of my own rock salt in front of our house plus our neighbours and then cleared the bad icy bits remaining.


I have one 20 kg bag of salt spare for ?14. Come round and collect it if you like and when you are here, kindly check out the pavement. You can PM me to get the address.

GG

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Well, I made £50 out of it and Alice owes me another bullseye, so I had a good day Clearly the thread has moved on, but just a final few words on Rayner (from me, at least). If she hadn't gone like this (with a chance to revive her career at some point in the future) there's plenty of other stuff loaded up and ready to be fired at her about the motivation, finances and machinations of her move down South. It's not pretty reading. Tawdry doesn't come close. I was born in Ashton Hospital and grew up in Tameside, I've got a lot of friends and family who weren't as lucky as me and didn't make it out, some close to her constituency party, and there's been a lot of bad feeling around 'Our Ange' for a long time. My favourite quote was: 'She should fuck off back to Stockport.' And that was from a party member. The writing was on the wall for her. Moving from Ashton (majority c6.5k, large Pakistani minority, but predominantly white working class and targeted by both the Independent Alliance and Reform) to Hove (majority c20k, neither of these issues with the electorate) was a pretty cynical move, and she's fucked it royally. 'The Honourable Member for Hove and Portslade' will be sleeping a lot easier in their bed tonight. This thread was never supposed to about Labour bashing, and I'm not sure it is. It's definitely descended into 'Whataboutery', and that seems to be the problem, in my mind at least, with British politics. It's playground stuff, he said/she said, blame-game bollocks. Watch PMQs and ask yourself if you'd accept this sort of behaviour amongst toddlers, let alone in an elected parliament. One thing that does stand out is the opposition to Reform across the board, and yet we seem to be sleepwalking towards a likely scenario where Farage could head up a minority Reform government. I've 'followed' politics since the late Seventies - mainly because the BBC News came on right after 'Roobard and Custard' or 'The Magic Roundabout' - and I can't remember an era where both major parties are so bereft of leadership, direction or ideas. There's a certain irony that we'll all be getting a test text on Sunday to warn us of an impending 'National Emergency'. Seems quite prescient.
    • But not old enough to remember the highest unemployment rate, inflation and interest rates in history in the early eighties under the Tories? A rather selective memory you have. There has never been a four-day week: it was a three-day week imposed by the Conservative government under the Blasted Heath.
    • I see that there was a government consultation started in July 2024, a response, and then a revision to the National Planning Policy Framework, and then to the Green Belt guidance in February 2025, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/green-belt .  It includes the updates but doesn't give the nescient much clue of what was materially changed. There will probably be some good, and less good, summaries to be found. 
    • I think, from memory for LHR, we are under a holding pattern so if LHR is backed up we may get more planes overhead. There are multiple holding patterns so it is not always ours that is used and it generally depends on the wind direction as to which is used. 
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...