Pollution in East Dulwich today

[pinkladybird]

I've started getting a tight chest this winter. It's the first time in my life I've had any sensation like it. I'm hope I'm not getting asthma. I've been following the air pollution readings this winter and they have been terrible. Also I bought an air pollution monitor, and it has just confirmed how bad things are. I used to think the air in leafy Dulwich wouldn't be too bad.... I was so wrong. We are surrounded by pollution hotspots from where it blows over. For example, New Cross seems to have one of the worst particulate (pm2.5) levels in London (even higher than Marylebone Rd!). But it really doesn't help matters at all that in an already badly polluted area so many people burn wood on open fires or stoves. My road has been smelling of woodsmoke all winter.

[Elphinstone's Army]

DovertheRoad Wrote:

of course it isn't coincidence = when we drive back from our house in south west France, where at the edge of our land we have sloes covered in lichen, the closer we arrive to ED the more tense my sinuses become, 'bunged up' and hard to breathe.

After a while we become acclimatised, although we are always aware, as anyone who has been on Primrose HILL or any point north, looking across to Crystal Palace would tell you, that we are in a dip, air flows over us, and mist, fog pollution lingers.

Rain clears the air.

-----------

> I've developed my first ever lung condition in the

> past month and been told it's a mild form of

> asthma. I've never had this before but it

> coincides with some awful air pollution readings

> recently in London. Can't understand why this

> isn't getting more media coverage. This post is

> being written from the Highlands where I can see

> hanging lichen on all of the trees....a sign of

> air purity. I've not had any asthma since being

> here either. Coincidence?

[Elphinstone's Army]

Sue Wrote:

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

> Elphinstone's Army, there have been loads of

> builders at loads of houses in the street, and

> believe me I am well aware of them all :))

ok! hope you soon feel better !

[nunhead_man]

Interesting - there is TFL air quality monitoring going on outside flats on Nine Elms Lane / Battersea Park where there is load of building of towers going on preceeded by lots of concrete crushing on the other side of their road which is oten filled by idling heavy diesel vehicles - local residents there coughing like crazy

[flocker spotter]

The wood burning stove popularity has more to answer for than traffic and building work. The latter two have been part of our local environment for many years, the wood burning stove fashion is new. Can you use smokeless fuel in a wood burning stove? Years ago everyone was very anti burning anything at home that polluted the air - now people do not seem to care.

pinkladybird Wrote:

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

> I've started getting a tight chest this winter.

> It's the first time in my life I've had any

> sensation like it. I'm hope I'm not getting

> asthma. I've been following the air pollution

> readings this winter and they have been terrible.

> Also I bought an air pollution monitor, and it has

> just confirmed how bad things are. I used to think

> the air in leafy Dulwich wouldn't be too bad.... I

> was so wrong. We are surrounded by pollution

> hotspots from where it blows over. For example,

> New Cross seems to have one of the worst

> particulate (pm2.5) levels in London (even higher

> than Marylebone Rd!). But it really doesn't help

> matters at all that in an already badly polluted

> area so many people burn wood on open fires or

> stoves. My road has been smelling of woodsmoke all

> winter.

[Sue]

The pollution I first posted about was nothing to do with wood burning stoves.

I like the smell of wood smoke :)

[Sue]

Not like the fumes I originally started the thread about, but again pollution locally seems bad over the last week or so, despite the rain.

My asthma is normally completely under control. I have probably used a Ventolin inhaler fewer than half a dozen times since the asthma was diagnosed some years ago, mostly before I had to give a presentation or something involving a lot of talking, but I've had to use it several times recently due to shortness of breath.

And my cough is definitely much worse.

Is anybody else suffering?

[KidKruger]

Ive been a bit wheezy this week, but wasn't sure if it was cos I'd been hand-sanding the stairs.

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

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

> Ive been a bit wheezy this week, but wasn't sure

> if it was cos I'd been hand-sanding the stairs.

Well yeh that could account for it if you didn't wear a mask ......

[uncleglen]

When the weather was very hot I was walking past a local primary school in the afternoon and there were a couple of women sitting in 4x4s with their engines running so that they had the air con on I suppose- doesn't help the rest of us.

[Penguin68]

I suppose, Sue, the bad news maybe that this links to another of your posts - I can remember, as a child. having a very bad asthma attack (with accompanying hay-fever) after walking in a hay meadow full of wild flowers - I learned to dread the sight of poppies in the fields as it meant I would be confined to the house for the duration, until that season had passed. At this time of year pollens can blow in from Kent meadows and precipitate histamine responses. My childhood summer asthma was triggered not by pollution but nature.

[Sue]

Penguin68 Wrote:

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

> I suppose, Sue, the bad news maybe that this links

> to another of your posts - I can remember, as a

> child. having a very bad asthma attack (with

> accompanying hay-fever) after walking in a hay

> meadow full of wild flowers - I learned to dread

> the sight of poppies in the fields as it meant I

> would be confined to the house for the duration,

> until that season had passed. At this time of year

> pollens can blow in from Kent meadows and

> precipitate histamine responses. My childhood

> summer asthma was triggered not by pollution but

> nature.

That's possible but I'm not convinced it's the case here.

I do get hay fever like symptoms with tree pollen, but that's sneezing and a profusely running nose.

What I'm getting now is a tight chest and a dry cough and sometimes difficulty breathing.

And regarding engines running, the other day I spoke to the driver of an extremely large vehicle who was delivering stuff to Londis at the end of North Cross Road.

He was unloading stuff from the back of his lorry but had left the engine running while he did so. I asked him why he didn't turn the engine off and that he was contributing to pollution.

The answer I got was that he would leave it running "as long as he needed to."

Why would he need to? Have I missed something here?

I wasn't in the mood to pursue it with him ......

[KidKruger]

Sue perhaps he had some refrigeration in the vehicle ?

Sometimes such a facility may be just a part of the rear area, not all (although any modern insulated cooling chamber should be able to handle a couple of hours of no power).

[Sue]

KidKruger Wrote:

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

> Sue perhaps he had some refrigeration in the

> vehicle ?

> Sometimes such a facility may be just a part of

> the rear area, not all (although any modern

> insulated cooling chamber should be able to handle

> a couple of hours of no power).

Yeh that's true, though in that case I don't know why he couldn't have just said he needed it for refrigeration or whatever. I'll probably never know.

[Nigello]

Sue,

Perhaps take a daily antihistamine - a generic one from Boots or CoOp will do the trick at 1/4 the price of a branded version. Also, use vaseline or a menthol version to line your nose: it'll help you breathe and trap particles, though it can't work miracles. Wash your pillowcases and undersheets often and even vacuum your mattress!

Breathe easy (and continue to ask the selfish idlers to turn their engines off)!

[Zebedee Tring]

I have mild asthma and use an inhaler twice a day. However in recent weeks I have often been breathless, have had a cough and a tight chest. I put this down to a bug that I have had for most of the last few months. But it could have something to do with the current air pollution level.

[Nigello]

An estate police car just sat outside Goodrich School, nobody in it, with its engine idling for at least 25 minutes. When the officers came back from wherever they'd been I asked why they'd left it like that. The reply was that it was because the computers on board needed the engine to be running. I said it had seemed like a waste of energy and a source of unwanted pollution and he just repeated - neutrally and politely - that it was a requirement.