Marjoram

I can confirm that David and his team are very much still working! They were at my place today carrying out extensive works to the roof of my first floor bay window and guttering to make it all water tight (water had started pouring into my sitting room each time it rained). I have used David on many occasions in the past to fix problems in various different parts of my main roof and he has always resolved them for me, so I had no hesitation in asking him to sort out the bay this time. He is experienced and knowledgeable and I know he will always do a thorough job. Highly recommended.

Brian and Mal have just completed redecoration of 5 rooms in my home which were in an extremely poor state. The results they have achieved are little short of miraculous, well exceeding my expectations! Really top quality, careful work by a very experienced team, who absolutely know what they are doing. They are also very kind. I am not young and have some mobility issues at the moment, and they did everything possible to make life easy for me throughout. I am so impressed that I have already booked them to do another quite complex job which I am confident they will be able to tackle. Thank you Brian and Mal, I am really grateful.

I have used David and his team several times (I got his name from this Forum originally) for roof repairs over the last few years, so when there was some severe water penetration recently through a part of my roof he had not worked on before, I didn’t hesitate to contact him. He always responds quickly, is very reliable, and gives 10 year guarantees for his work, but the main thing is that I know I can trust him not to over-quote ie that he will only recommend doing works which are necessary to solve whatever the problem is. This is very important to me as it’s not as if I know anything about roofing, nor am I ever going to be climbing up there myself ! The scaffolders he uses are efficient and polite too. Long may David continue to work in the East Dulwich area!

Today I received the oldest of the items I have been waiting for - posted to me on 27th November, and on Monday I got two others posted in early December. Seems therefore that little by little the very old backlog is being cleared, although not chronologically. More recently ordered things (where the seller will only post via Royal Mail) are taking about 10 days to reach me from the date of despatch. I am now so wary of ordering anything which would be sent to me via Royal Mail now, though, that I will try to find it from a different seller who uses a courier if I can.

4 small packages despatched to me in November arrived this morning. This is good except that for 2 of them I have had either a replacement or a refund, which is going to take some unravelling now. I am still waiting for 2 items also despatched in November. Plus awaiting a lot of letter post (unless, as another message says, I suddenly have no friends who want to send me Christmas cards!)

Not stolen in my case - there is always somebody at home where I live to take in post that can?t fit through our very large letterbox. But certainly a possibility elsewhere.

Completely agree, Sue. And as an update, that replacement item, despatched by the seller on 9 December, arrived at lunchtime today - but that was all that arrived. That confirmed that the most recent mail is getting through, but who knows when or if the older items will turn up. So I?m now trying to decide what to do to ensure that friends and family do somehow get presents from me. Buying everything twice is not really an option!

I shopped early for Christmas online, but I have not yet received 6 items which were posted to me in the last week of November, 2 of which were sent tracked. These items will be small packages, not parcels. The only packages received since then were posted to me within the last 7 days. Letters, however, seem to be coming through normally. One company has sent me out a replacement for an item as it didn?t arrive, but that hasn?t arrived yet either. We have a very hard working postie in our area, and I did manage to speak to him briefly on Thursday. He said there were piles of undelivered mail in the sorting office and that therefore it would be impossible to search through them to find my items, but that he hoped they would be delivered eventually. However, he couldn?t say when. He said that Covid absences were badly affecting staffing levels. He always does his best, so I didn?t press him any further, but things at the sorting office are clearly very bad right now.

Me too - in East Dulwich Grove. I am expecting 4 items which were posted first class well over a week ago, not signed for, all of which are of a size to be put through my letter box and are no heavier than a large letter. I have had one or two ordinary letters in the last 10 days, but most days I don?t even get them. I am going to have to stop ordering anything that will be posted only by Royal Mail.

Another recommendation for Fernando?s hedge-cutting skills! The front hedge here was a mess and very overgrown, and Fernando has cut it into a very neat shape, but without ?scalping? it too much, which I am very pleased indeed with. He is polite and he cleaned up thoroughly afterwards. He does not carry a ladder with him, so it would be worth asking him in advance if you need to lend him one (as I did, and it was no problem). As other people have mentioned, he also cannot take garden waste away, so he will use your existing brown bin. I would definitely use his services again.

Following other recommendations on the Forum, I employed Greg to redecorate a large bedroom which had been badly damaged by water which had leaked through from a faulty roof. The lining paper on the walls was stained, and was also mismatching in places, there were patches of mould growth, and the woodwork was in a dreadful state. As a result of Greg's work, the room now looks excellent, as if there had never been any problems, and I am delighted. Greg's price was competitive, he completed the job within the time he had estimated, he was punctual and very tidy, and he took careful precautions to avoid dust and debris spreading to other parts of my property, which I very much appreciated. He is also very kind-hearted, and helped me with a few things in other rooms. I will use him again without hesitation.

I am very pleased to have found the recommendations for David and Patrick on the East Dulwich Forum. My roof had leaked into my bedroom causing a lot of damage to the decorations, so much so that I had had to move temporarily into my spare room. They were vey clear about what was causing the problems, and took photos beforehand which showed me exactly where the roof defects were, and then took photos when the job was complete to show the works they had done. This, and the fact that they give a 10 year guarantee, made me feel confident that they know what they are doing, and the main thing is that the leaks have now stopped. They are very nice to deal with, including their scaffolding team, they turn up when they say they are going to and their initial estimate of how long the job was likely to take was spot on. Their prices were competetive. I would not hesitate to recommend them. Their contact details are: [email protected] tel-07412000214.

Aston was able to dismantle 2 huge fitted wardrobes with built in shelves yesterday for me, and he managed this without destroying the walls in the process - a miracle! It all looks much better than I ever thought it would, and, as usual, he cleaned up thoroughly after himself and took away all the wood etc for disposal. He also mended the catches on a cupboard door in my bathroom. I have always been very pleased with Aston?s work in the past, and yesterday was no exception!

Today Aston worked for me again, this time to remove two very unsightly external gas meter covers which were at least 15 years old and which were hanging off the wall, and to fit new ones (which I had bought online). Due to the condition of the wall, he had to do a lot of adaptations to make them fit, and it turned out to be a very challenging job, but he persevered, stayed cheerful, and came up with solutions. The result is that the new boxes look really good in place, and I am delighted. He also replaced yet more light bulbs in my high ceilings. The versatility in what he can do never ceases to amaze me. I will of course be booking Aston for any future help I need.

I booked Aston as a result of all the recommendations on the EDF, he worked at my home today and he was fantastic. He is very versatile in what he can do - this morning he put together an IKEA flat pack three drawer unit, and disposed of my old one, refixed a door knob, went out to buy then replaced a variety of bulbs in central lights in very high ceilings, loosened a tap which had become stuck, and did many other things, all for a good price, and quickly. He was also very clear about which jobs he thought I would need to get in specialist help for, and I greatly appreciated that he did not just carry on regardless on those items. He has a very nice attitude, never making me feel stupid for being unable to do the jobs myself. He also cleaned up after afterwards without being asked. I will definitely be using him again, and consider myself lucky to have "found" him.

The travellers left the site this morning. I understand that security has already been put in place at the Jarvis Road entrance, which is where the travellers gained access. However, the piles of rubbish remain. I will post again when the rubbish has gone.

Yesterday I posted the following in the thread about travellers on Peckham Rye, so I will repeat it here in a new thread so as to separate the two situations. "We overlook the Dulwich Hospital site. There are presently 8 vans parked, with more vehicles continuing to arrive. The fence was broken through for access. There appear to be several children playing on what must be unsafe land. I have spoken to Security at the hospital, also to the police who said that they attended the site, that they have already received many other calls, that the Council had also been informed, and that the only way that the travellers can be evicted is if the land owners get a Court Order. We intend to go to Helen Hayes MP's constituency surgery this Friday in East Dulwich to speak to her about it. We fully support the plans to redevelop the site, and we are very disappointed and concerned that the present traveller situation could delay this". To update this, I spoke to the Council this afternoon and they said that it was hoped to secure an eviction by the end of Thursday. I also told them that this morning I had seen the travellers starting to dump piles of rubbish in two places on the site, offloaded from dumper trucks, which is still going on. It does not appear to be domestic rubbish, as it is doors, planks of wood etc. The Council said that when the travellers have left the site, the rubbish would be cleared. We are very unhappy about this development.

Hello, please see today's thread "Travellers on Peckham Rye". Travellers broke into the Dulwich Hospital site this afternoon and there are now a minimum of eight vans there.

I don't know who owns the land right now, but we hope the MP might have some information when we go to her surgery on Friday. The same thing did happen a while back, but the travellers broke in from East Dulwich Grove that time, and only a couple of vans got through. They were there for less than a week, and I never found out how they had been persuaded to leave.

We overlook the Dulwich Hospital site. There are presently 8 vans parked, with more vehicles continuing to arrive. The fence was broken through for access. There appear to be several children playing on what must be unsafe land. I have spoken to Security at the hospital, also to the police who said that they attended the site, that they have already received many other calls, that the Council had also been informed, and that the only way that the travellers can be evicted is if the land owners get a Court Order. We intend to go to Helen Hayes MP's constituency surgery this Friday in East Dulwich to speak to her about it. We fully support the plans to redevelop the site, and we are very disappointed and concerned that the present traveller situation could delay this.

I am told that one large white caravan and a white van did get onto the site and were there overnight, and that this morning one of the occupants could be seen emptying a bucket/bowl of liquid onto the ground beside it. However, as at 10.20 a.m. it seems that both vehicles have now moved, although it's not clear whether they are now on another part of the site, or whether they have left completely.

East Dulwich Grove went out, back on now.