30 April - Five go blogging again
The past 24 hours have seen reports on a variety of subjects, some trivial,
some less so. Thanks to the Councillor who suggested I try Vision Express for
an
eye test. I did and they haven’t any appointments available until the end of
May. I had a feeling it was a misbehaving website but that is what it kept
telling me so I got nowhere. So did my friend in Orpington. I had sent him back to his optician armed with a copy of the
1989 legislation but he was told the Act was suspended by the Covid regulations.
They prohibit the exchange of paper documents so it is not possible to give him a prescription.
Bromley Trading Services here we come.
Longlands Byelection
There has been an unseemly Twitter spat over recent days with the usual Tory
bullies stating categorically that Labour Candidate
Dave Tingle’s first leaflet made a personal attack on his Tory rival Lisa
Moore. I couldn’t quite see the point myself. All Dave had done was quote from the
lady’s LinkedIn profile and imply that her reference to the NHS was to gather
the post Covid sympathy vote. Biased as I am against Conservative bullies I was
inclined to take Dave’s side.
Then he came out with this. (See Photo below.)
What has Longlands Councillor Andy Dourmoush done to deserve that? Did he really say that that sign was legible?
Time to call in some favours with a Council contact or two.
As far as I can discover from Bexley sources there had been complaints
about street name signs in Longlands including the four, presumably, that adorn
each end and both sides of the strangely named Langdon Shaw. A Council Officer was despatched
to inspect Langdon Shaw and Upperton Road and reported back that all the signs were in decent enough condition.
Now look at that sign again (picture below) and notice the little arrows. It is
not a street name plate as such, it is a signpost that points towards the
aforesaid roads. The Council Officer missed it because he was sent to inspect something else entirely.
The Council Officer made his report to the Councillor, Andy Dourmoush presumably, who accepted his word. Why wouldn’t he?
It’s a storm in a teacup but there cannot be any doubt that Labour Leaflet number two is personal.
For the record a new sign is on order.
I haven’t got a
vote in Longlands but if I had one I might be leaning just a little bit towards Lisa at this
moment. On the other hand Bexley badly needs more opposition and my (GLA) voting
intentions are volatile to say the least.
Another thing… Am I alone in thinking that mapping potholes is on a par with
the price of wallpaper in Downing Street? Potholes are definitely a menace as I
am reminded every time I drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid
several close to home but if they are the biggest problem to be found in
Longlands Andy must have done a reasonable job for his residents. Like
successfully fighting Sadiq Khan over a bus stop being installed where it
wasn’t needed and where no one wanted it.
Now I had better redress the political balance if I can before I get any more
complaints.
Jockeying for position
It is the time of the year for Conservative Councillors to squabble among
themselves to see who can be top dog. There are clearly two factions in
Bexley. Pro and Anti-Teresa but the latter grouping may be inclined to split
their votes such that she scrapes in again every year.
Rob Leitch became her Deputy in 2014 and once he got his feet under the table was a
breath of honest fresh air and then suddenly he was gone. Resigned not only
his Deputy Leadership but didn’t try to be re-elected either. Someone was seriously disenchanted.
Now Louie French is following the same path. In just a few days time he will
no longer be Teresa O’Neillְ’s Deputy and come next year’s election, who
knows, but I would put a small amount of money on him standing down.
Rob Leitch told me why he had given up on working with Teresa O’Neill, not
in any great detail, but enough for me to be reasonably confident of my suspicions.
Who will take over as Deputy Leader? Well it can’t be either of the Dreadful
Duo can it; if they stood a chance one of them would have been appointed years ago.
There’s only one Councillor it can be. David Leaf. Council meetings will go on for ever.
The other job up for grabs is the Mayor. It seems to me that James Hunt had
a very rough deal this year, Covid restrictions and all that. If there is
any justice he should be given a second crack of the whip. Should I put my
faith in justice in Bexley? More likely they will deliver me Councillor
Clark again. She of the ‘ABC of Chairmanship’ to be shoved down the public’s
throat at every opportunity. Fortunately she leaves it on the bookshelf when chairing Transport.
Labour Leader Daniel Francis is leaving his elected post too. Will Mabel Ogundayo want to replace him?
The
road I live on is a bit odd. It has got a stupid name which I have had
to spell for disbelievers a trillion times and one side of it is very
different from the other. Small detached houses opposite flats and terraced
houses. That is why the numbers are consecutive rather than alternating on
opposite sides.
All of them were built 34 years ago, a simpler age when each house was expected
to survive with only one dustbin and not the five colour coded ones we have now.
Consequently the flats were provided with space for one bin each and there is
nowhere for extra bins to go. To compensate Bexley Council placed communal street style bins
in their car park. However a month or two ago Serco stopped emptying the paper
bin which then overflowed.
Bexley Council took it away and it has been missing now for nearly two weeks so
for the affected residents the paper recycling service has been effectively
suspended. Inevitably the paper went into the plastics bin but it was
nevertheless emptied. Photo 2 shows it beginning to fill again.
How long before the full service resumes? Can there be any excuse for not
replacing the missing bin immediately?
Libraries shut
With
some justification Bexley Council is proud of its Library Service. In the
Tories’ 15 years in office they have closed the mobile service, cajoled
voluntary groups into running libraries for them and cut the opening days and
hours; but in the sense of putting up the shutters permanently libraries have
been kept open. Except that they haven’t.
In Bromley all the libraries are open today. Same in Greenwich, Lewisham and Dartford
but in Bexley they are shut.
The excuse? Covid. What else?
Why were library staff put in harm’s way
by turning
them into Covid Testers? I don’t know but whatever the reason how did all
the neighbouring boroughs manage things so much more effectively?
Bank Holiday DIY. A recommendation
The 1st May blog is ready to go but there will be no more ramblings for a while as I
must return to a long term DIY job.
It’s for a friend and I had forgotten all about it and not ordered the bits and
pieces required. Amazon couldn’t guarantee delivery quickly enough and B&Q’s
stock level can be dire at times. Then I remembered Toolstation in Plumstead (Pettman Crescent by the bus garage).
When my 34 year old drill expired doing the aforesaid DIY job Amazon was far too
expensive which is how I first stumbled across Toolstation. From memory they
were about £50 cheaper than Amazon. It was available elsewhere cheaper than
Amazon but no one had my chosen tool in stock.
Toolstation did and handled the Click and Collect very efficiently.
At crack of dawn this morning I made a Toolstation order and within half an hour
an email said it was ready and waiting. One small item I know for certain is
£3.30 at B&Q but was only £1.80, VAT included at Toolstation. I think Amazon has lost a
customer for its DIY stuff.
Happy Holdays!