Alex K Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just out leafletting -- up and down the streets > off Lordship Lane, dropping flyers into > post-boxes, shoving them (with a worried moment > every time -- dogs! teeth! fingers!) behind furry > cache-sexe "draught excluders" inside doors' mail > slots. > > I came home disheartened by how poor my > neighbourhood seems, how run-down, how badly > maintained; or are we British simply not > house-proud? Front garden paths a tangle of broken > tile and crisps bags, fences in gaping need of > picket-denture after picket-denture, gates off > their hinges, wood rotten... If one can't afford > to re-paint, then at least one might find the time > and self-respect to wash down the grimy > encasements of windows, enjambments of doors. But > -- not. And the dank stench that wafted outward > through some of those mail slots! ...Wherever > humans den is, I suppose, Arkham. > > The Chancellor of the Exchequer has freed up > pension pots: Take the money, he beckons those > about to retire, and do with it what you will. > Stocks? Bonds? Ah! Real estate! Another boost for > house prices, then. > > But the higher those prices go, the greater the > monthly mortgage payment, the fewer the monies > available for improvements. For re-tiling the > garden paths, re-hanging the re-made gates. For > plasterwork and paint. To re-lay, to re-set the > stoop stairs rather than to trowel-patch the tar > swilled over tread and riser decades ago when > first they cracked and chipped. > > And for want of those monies, I fear that East > Dulwich will stay a slum, albeit a more expensive > one. Ugh, pull your head out of your arse and stop spamming people with flyers