30 September - End of month roundup
When I used to collect BiB statistics it became fairly obvious that comment
made on the last day of the month was the least read; presumably because of
readers using the Month view rather than the daily alternative. For that reason
the tradition has been that nothing too important
is published at the end of the month.
Today that tradition is continued.
Louie French’s Superloop petition
At first sight it seems to be a good idea and on balance I think it probably is but
if one of Superloop’s objectives is to connect railway stations, is Bexley
station worth connecting? Sidcup station is the next SL3 stop and it is on the
same railway line as Bexley.
Because of recent road closures the SL3 Express Bus has been diverting via Bexley War
Memorial and Louie proposes that change becomes permanent. The official route is
Arbuthnot Lane, right into Blendon Road and then Penhill Road which is 1,400
yards shorter than going via the War Memorial. The MP says that it would relieve
congestion on Penhill Road but who decided to put a ten minute delay on Penhill
Road every morning? I track my regular visitor through it most mornings. Ten
minutes is very much the norm. 15 years ago the Penhill/Blendon junction was
deliberately re-engineered by Bexley
Council with the express intention of slowing the traffic.
If the longer route into Bexley Village requires an extra vehicle and driver to
maintain the same frequency it will cost the best part half a million pounds for
one of the new electric buses due to be introduced next year.
Not wishing to be unkind to Bexley Village but no one goes there for its
shopping facilities do they? Bexley residents already have two bus services
through the Village to get them into Bexleyheath within ten minutes. For those
not keen on Bexleyheath there are two services going in the opposite direction to Sidcup although only one goes
through the village centre.
So why divert the SL3 to Bexley Village? It benefits people who live there but
much the same number of people would benefit if it stopped near Penhill Road instead.
Maybe there is scope for some horse trading with Transport for London? They want
to shorten the SL3 route by avoiding New Road in Abbey Wood but Bexley Council is
adamant that they will not agree to TfL’s request to improve Knee Hill. The Cabinet
Member himself told me that there is no way they will countenance a tree coming down.
Maybe that is why Bexley remains unfavoured by Sadiq Khan.
Click image above to see more of what Louie is asking.
Parking again
This car has been parked outside all
morning. I haven’t bothered to report it. What’s the point?
My last three
reports were ignored.
It will probably get a ticket before the day is out but so far not.
At least it is better than
Kelly Wilkinson who parked in the same place and blocked the road.
P.S. The car had a PCN when I checked at 1 p.m. How
can people be that stupid?
Cap that!
Our lying hypocrite of a Prime Minister said he was given £16,000 to spend on
clothes by a friendly Lord and registered it as something else; then under pressure admitted it was £32,000.
How do you spend £32,000 on clothes? I am absolutely sure that I have never
spent that much on clothes in my entire life. Maybe it shows!
I know exactly how much I spent this year.
Those who know the Oval cricket ground will be aware that the Pavilion stares
into the afternoon sun and I haven’t owned a hat since leaving school. I
decided that I would have to buy one to shield my eyes and spent £27 in the Club Shop.
That was with the 10% member’s discount.
What a rip off.
The Royal Mail
It was my birthday ten days ago and two cards which have arrived from old work
mates for many years failed to show up. Both senders a fair amount older than me and the
only contact for several years has been at birthdays and Christmas. Have they
snuffed it, has Royal Mail plumbed new depths of delay or has RM killed the post by
doubling the price of a 1st Class stamp inside a year?
A couple of days later a card came demanding £1·50 for under-paid postage. My
first thought was “stuff ’em” but then I got to think the missing item might
show which sender has fallen by the wayside. I have paid the fee to find out.
The card says that they will Return to Sender after 18 days. That will cost
them, one of the missing cards would have come from Glasgow and the other from
Brighton. Much cheaper to deliver to Belvedere.
What if there is no Return Address? What if there is no Return Address and the
contents are valuable? Is this how foreign owned Royal Mail can afford to pay its Chairman a million a year while he
demands an increase to three million?
I have asked Royal Mail these questions and for the legal
justification for what one might consider to be theft.
My postman says that until recently he could have checked what the withheld item
might be but that is no longer allowed. Extorting money for unknown goods must
be one of many reasons why the privatised Royal Mail is going down the drain and
I have wondered how I might accelerate their demise. What bright spark
privatised it? Oh yes, bloody Cameron
Two or three times a week my postman delivers to me a package from HMV. I buy
far too many blu-ray discs. I have deprived Royal
Mail of the revenue by switching all my purchases to a weekly collection in the
Bexleyheath store. That should cost RM a hundred or two every year.
Not as good as the revenge taken on Amazon at the beginning of the year. That has cost them over £2,000 so far. They are big enough not to care and neither will
Royal Mail but as Bexley Council discovered in 2009, I will not take these things lying down.