Lee Scoresby

Thank you to those who have replied. Tho, with the exception of Sue's post, I find these comments bizarre and depressing - what dark confused times we live in. The tables outside the Blue Brick were in fact mostly within the cafe's curtilage. But there were complaints, and Dan the owner did not help himself in his reluctance to address the matter. What I find extraordinary here is the lack of any moral proportion: the nuisance there was relatively slight; and people were not being forced every passing minute into busy oncoming traffic. As to complaints. How is this situation not self-evident, for some hours, several evenings of every week. Would a diligent local authority need to receive a complaint? Must we prod Southwark to do anything, ever? And in fact, am I really alone in doubting Southwark Council's willingness to consider complaints and other feedback? Local governance is democratically deficient at every level in this country: a) Despite heroic 'social work' by some ward councillors, these foot soldiers are heavily managed by party apparats. b) Councils are governed by committees which exclude most councillors. c) Is it fanciful to imagine that senior local-authority officers tend to have, shall we say, their own agendas? Sally Eva, how is 'Lee Scoresby' not my name..? 'First mate' has the hopeful idea that "The EDT will have to start managing its clientele better." The EDT is a money-making operation. (Companies House lists one officer, Steven Michael Kenee.) The EDT would be happy to have its customers all up the hill, round the roundabout and in your front garden if they could get away with it. This is why companies have to operate under rules, and these rules need to be enforced. Where to begin with these other toxic little reflexes, all ignoring the actual problem to which I refer - which is real, dangerous and preventable - and substituting something else. CPR Dave: The assumption that I am elderly. (And gee, CPR, what other phobias do you suffer from? People of colour? Gay or trans people? Immigrants? Red hair?) You affect to believe that my real wish is to deny "young people" the chance to "enjoy the local amenities." Sue answers you eloquently. How, ArchieCarlos is this "satire or ragebait."? I do surely find the situation angering. And how 'claresy' is my post and not the endangering of pedestrians the problem? In fact, further to Sue, one need not have either a disability or be carrying, pushing or caring for someone or something to have the legal and moral right to move freely on a public footpath. Yes, Jenijenjen [your 'real name', obvs], I have posted over a number of years. Say what you intend clearly about these previous posts, so that other readers can judge, rather than alluding to them obscurely as if they somehow invalidate the matter I raise here. Good grief. LS

Walking last Friday early evening anywhere near where the bottom end of Lordship Lane meets the Goose Green roundabout, one would have been directly confronted - as I was - with this scene: Outside the East Dulwich Tavern an impenetrable phalanx of pushing yobs, shouty louts and selfish yahoos pressed outward from the open doors of this establishment, past the curtilage (the land in front of and owned by the business), all across the public right of way, to the kerbside. This was the situation all the way along, end to end. I watched as passersby, old people, children, parents with buggies, people just going about their business, were forced by these booze-sucking bellowing scumbags onto the road - where, at that hour, traffic rushed endlessly off the roundabout. We have, I realised, somehow become so used to this revolting spectacles as to believe it to be inevitable. It is not. This is why I'm dropping this post. Enough really is enough. This roiling boozy blockade represents a total failure by all the responsible authorities - the licencing authority, for example - but most of all (yet once more, again, as ever), by Southwark Council. Two very different comparisons to give you some perspective: 1. The Kings Head pub on the corner of Albermarle and Stafford Streets, London SW1. Here too, patrons like to drink and chat outside on a warm evening - why should they not. But here, on the latter side a line marks the curtilage on the pavement. Drinkers remain, respectfully, in good order, within the line, watched, quietly and carefully, by a security guard. I wager good money this arrangement is a condition of this pub's licence. 2. The Blue Brick is a cafe in the quiet backstreets of East Dulwich, on the corners of Fellbrigg and Shawbury Roads. Until a few months ago, about half its covers were tables out on the pavement. They bothered nobody. Oh! But they extended all of several centimetres too far into the footpath, so into fearless action swang Southwark Council officers - and now these tables are gone. Result, eh? "Well you see," some wiseacre said to me, "There needs to be a complaint." Not actually true, but for sure this is all too often how local authorities get pushed to do what they should be doing. Hard to think why a complaint trumps, say (and god forbid!) a child being injured on the road. In which circumstance, of course!, Southwark would swing into noisy, virtue-signalling, belated action. But in any case let this post be considered a big, very definite COMPLAINT about this prolonged abuse of our public right of way. I invite readers who agree with me to add their voices. Oh, and all those wee local ward councillors might get off their chufties, defy their party managers, and actually help sort this scandal out. Thanks for reading, Lee Scoresby

Niko came to the house this afternoon at quite short notice, to replace a pair of knackered tap cartridges - the units containing the on/off flow valves. The hard water gets to them. Which he did in a few minutes, before - at his own insistence - there and then sorting out two other plumbing problems: another pair of failing tap cartridges, and the seriously clogged-up drainage away from my kitchen sink and washing machine. Expert, brisk, thorough, generous - in a word, professional. And his charge for all this (parts, labour, time) was extremely reasonable. He is a master plumber and a nice guy. Niko clearly deserves all the commendation he receives. He is at 07818-607-583. Lee Scoresby

I was told this afternoon that dogs are again being poisoned in Peckham Rye & Park - including a young healthy Weimaraner. Does anyone have information? This same twisted campaign appeared several years ago. Southwark Council's response was point blank refusal to investigate, or even commission testing of samples. No warning notices were ever displayed. Also. There has been giardiasis in dogs using the Park, presumably from the stagnant seasonal ponds. Giardia is a nastly little gut parasite, not dealt with by standard dosing. It can be dangerous to old or vulnerable dogs - and people can catch it. Again, does anyone have anything to share? Southwark could addressed this problem - at the least, posted warnings. Lee Scoresby

A friend of mine takes excellent b&w photos on a pre-digital camera. Now she's keen to learn how to print and manipulate her own images. That is, to learn some of those old-skool wet-chemical red-light darkroom skills: ... developing, fixing, enlarging, the different papers, spotting and dodging, printing. We need a personal recommendation ... A Southwark Education course? A college? Photo club? Other? Thanks, Lee Scoresby.

Looking for the best seamstress in ED or around. Or seamster. Tho I think this will be a woman. Open mind. The garments will be old and everyday. We're not talking couture. We're talking keeping old, worn, loved garments going. Making do, mending, appreciating. There was a brilliant Cypriot lady at Alpine Cleaners in Grove Vale but she moved. The mender at the drycleaners by the PO is OK, but I'm looking for frankly amazing. This person need not work at a dry cleaners, nor indeed, outside her or his home. Happy to pay for artistry. Don't want to be either ripped off or an exploiter. Simple as. Send me a PM or maybe just post. Thanks, Lee Scoresby.

Message to vladi (and probably teddboy): What angst? I'm a prospective customer looking for the appropriate ED provider. This is a core EDF function, so I'm disappointed the new moderator hasn't responded to this trollery. Other respondents: thanks. LS

(The moderator says this is the place, so here goes ...) Recommendation please: an ED beauty salon for facials, particularly microdermabrasion and the electric applications: toning (faradic), micro-current, etc. Maybe too, deep clean & rejuvenating rollering, and lymphatic suction. Cost isn't a maker/breaker. Looking for people who actually know their business - obvs. (No keener than anyone else to be stung or have my mug trashed.) Also ... as a beat-up old ruffian of the male persuasion, I do not suppose I'm in the 'mums of Dulwich mums' core clientele. Y'know, old men have their small vanities --- So the provider and other clients need to be comfortable with that. Grateful for advice. PM or just post it. Lee Scoresby

I am not yer core beauty-salon clientele. I want to ask EDF readers to recommend businesses offering particular treatments. The thing is ... where exactly should I locate this post? Lee Scoresby

For many years I have donated to the Oxfam shop and bookshop, over in Half Moon Lane - for which Oxfam gets gift aid. I first took items there because staff always thanked me, simple as that - whereas elsewhere one might encounter incivility or even a blank refusal to accept what one had lugged in. I continued to donate throughout Oxfam's recent self-generated scandals. I took items over this afternoon. The lady was polite as ever . . . and yet, I feel I'm approaching a tipping point, not just with Oxfam but with similar major charities. They have 'boutiqued' themselves out of my affections. I am fed up with feeling that THEY are doing ME a favour by accepting what I bring in. I understand that people (not least in London) are ever more picky about 'pre-loved' items. I recognise the reported phenomenon of middle-class donors whose super-abundant sense of self-worth extends to the filthy tat and broken rubbish that they simply cannot bear to bin, insisting that 'someone' will want it. And yet -- This has been going on for years. I suggest that lousy, delusional management is to blame. Think of the advantages a charity outlet enjoys: Most of their staff are unpaid. Most of their stock is free. They often rent their premises on very advantageous terms. And they can allude to an ethical narrative beyond simple retail transaction. And yet . . . it seems their bosses yearn to manage 'real' retail. All of the self-importance, almost none of the real challenges. In a rational, human-based society - rather than the muppetocracy we endure - local government would run recycling depots in every neighbourhood, where one could look, not just for the items typically found in present-day charity shops, but surplus paint and building materials, refurbished electrical and electronic goods (shunned by charity shops, as we know), and offers of barter or simple assistance. Social good would be the point, not pathetic managerial ego. Lee Scoresby

Advised by a friendly fellow-EDF'er to post outside the Classified section, as more people shlep over here to The Lounge. So . . . Recently used a website to find a local-ish voice coach (Crystal Palace) - who blew me off the instant she heard what I wanted. Which didn't stop the website helping itself to a 'fee' from my account ... and again the next month - before I realised what was happening and blocked them. I won't name the site but I see extremely negative and accurate reviews online. I'm looking for face-to-face (not remote) sessions to maximise the clarity of my diction (absolutely not to 'sound posh'), also my vocal projection. Further - tho it's a secondary consideration - to lose the vestigal accent of my long ago non-UK youth (because it's just not 'me' anymore). Hoping there's someone who can help me. Surprised it's not easier in a great big city like London. Send me a PM. Lee Scoresby

Why have you blocked my post to the thread regarding the renewed imposition of the so-called 'Gala' on Peckham Rye Park this summer? Lee Scoresby

I noticed this thread in passing and feel impelled to correct the astonishing naivete and 'historical amnesia' expressed here. Please refer to EDF threads from earlier years to be educated. Every summer for years now, this crew of North-London public-school tossers has been allowed to inflict their rave misery on the Park and a wide area around, with the connivence of nameless-faceless Southwark officials and spineless, invisible local councillors. I invite you to try to identify who 'We Are the Gala' actually is ... good luck with that. I invite you to try to discover the terms of the relevant contract: you will find it concealed behind so-called 'commercial confidentiality' (LOL). I invite you ask for a meaningful response from your ward councillors ... again, good luck with that (LOL again). To the extended hours of extraordinarily loud and unpleasant bass noise, vibration and echo, add: the felling beforehand of healthy, beautiful trees to allow these idiots access ... then weeks of: strutting security thugs ... large areas denied to local people ... and disruption from heavy equipment ... followed by: widespread faecal deposits, needles and rubbish in the bushes ... and extensive ground damage which is never, ever properly remediated aftewards. (Priceless excuse from a previous year: "Oh, well no, we didn't use the roller - it was somewhere else that day." MEGA-MEGA LOL) My family always evacuates our home for that weekend - which I very deeply resent having to do. I feel sorry for the old people, the housebound and others unable to get away. It is an absolute betrayal by 'our' council. Promises are made every year - they're just empty PR to allow them to get away with this abuse one more time. This is a very powerful example of an unaccountable authority and the absence of any meaningful local democracy. I'm sure Southwark does receive a flood of complaints every year. The thing is: they don't give a tinker's cuss - it's factored in. You can see how much they care ... they just keep doing it. Until residents organise and force this to stop - using the law courts, for example - it will continue. To those newcomers and others who think I'm exaggerating, I say simply: you'll see. And yes, the community event down on the Rye on the last day is fine. Because it's meant to be - it's cover for what has gone beforehand. Lee Scoresby

Very happy to add my own experience to those described above. Niko was recommended by a sparky whom I trust. Recently, when other local plumbers weren't even responding to texts, he got back to me, took an interest and gave me some good initial advice. We had a couple of dodgy taps - one of those 'small' jobs that's very annoying and needs sorting. Which Niko did. Not to mention he's good for a chat and a laugh - and god knows we need a bit of that in these times. Efarist?, Niko. Lee Scoresby

I was en route to a medical appointment. This has been haunting me ever since, believe me. But ... even if I had confronted her, such are the freaked-up times in which we live, I might just have gotten MYSELF into a lot of bother. Plus, I had no way of identifying where she lives, not wanting to follow her there --- P68, of the 3 organisations I mentioned, the jolly old RSPCA is the one I have zero respect for. Too many horror stories out there. I tried to get them to deal with an abused dog several years ago. Prolonged neglect at the back of a house whose address I gave them: that is, a sitting duck for investigation and action. Not a whisper back from them to this day! What they ARE very good at is PR - and that's about it for the useless old RSPCA. I'm not saying an EDF reader does or does not know this person. I am certainly suggesting that we all live in not many degrees of separation from very many others. To be plain: someone reading this might know someone who lives in that area, or someone who knows someone - and so it goes like that, like a web or a ripple. A few texts or calls out to people we know CAN jog a neighbour of this obviously unwell woman and get this poor animal to safety. That I absolutely believe. Lee Scoresby