Brockley Life

It must be time for some rainy weather again. The company to whom Lewisham Council have outsourced the upkeep of Parks maintenance is mowing the grass. Their timing seems impeccable, Wait until there is rainy weather and then mow the grass. Then leave all the cuttings laying to get soggy and fester in large lumps. It is almost as if the original contract included only "cutting the grass" and said nothing about removing the cuttings. To be fair there does seem to be some attempt a few days later to hoover up the debris with a large vacuum machine, but it is usually too late. Why can't they cut the grass when the weather is dry and pick up the trimmings as they go?

The roads around Hillyfields are a lot quieter (and safer) at the moment. The contractor for the gas company have dug up the end of Harefield Road where it joins Tressillian Road thus providing road closure on one of the the main Rat Run routes through Brockley.

The road repair contractors employed by Lewisham Council really seem to be out of control. I witnessed an event where a blue light flashing fire engine was unable to go along Tyrwhitt Road from Loampit Hill purely because of a badly parked Construction lorry at the entrance to Tyrwhitt Road. The fire engine had to reverse and go along to the next junction. When you actually reach the junction you find you cannot look to the left because the view has been totally obstructed by a large site hut dumped on the pavement corner by the contractors. Just 50 feet along the pavement is plenty of space for the site hut to be safely located.It really makes turning right at that junction a total gamble. As usual the road repair contractors show no consideration for the safety of other road users. Surely such works should be inspected by the sponsoring authority?

Meanwhile the narrow Tyrwhitt Road is further obstructed by the contractors using the site to store a huge pile of paving stones. The is no reason why those paving slabs could not be stored remotely and called in when actually needed in smaller quantities.

Wow what great weather today. Plenty of mum's and toddlers out in the sun on the Hilly Fields park. This time of year is great with the fresh new leaves on the trees and the grass seems extra green.

There is a great view from Hilly Fields, particularly at night. Over the years the view of Canary Wharf has changed as more buildings are added. Why is it that in these days of carbon footprint sensitivity that the bosses of these international companies cannot arrange for the lights in these buildings to be switched off at night. Every night the lights of the Canary Wharf towers blaze out showing a profligate waste of energy.

In many areas around Brockley there are roads with a 20 mph speed limit in place. Lewisham Council have spent a lot of money putting up signs, road painting and radar displays. The sad thing is that this speed limit is not enforced.

On Hilly Fields Crescent there are often kids playing on the adjacent park and elderly people wanting to cross the road. Yet, this road seems to attract the boy racers. Using a stop watch and measured timings I quickly established that most people travel that stretch of road at an average of 35 mph, even though there is a 20 mph limit in force. 

Will it take a road traffic fatality to occur before the police come out of their central castle in Lewisham and actually enforce these 20 mph speed limits?

Walking along the path from the South East corner of Hillyfields up towards the play area I was passed by a young child on his bike. He was pedaling quite fast as he went by. He had no safety helmet. His mum walking down the hill called out to remind the lad to stop before he reached the road. I guess the lad was about 4-5 years old. Isn't it nice to see a parent who whilst caring was not over protective and unafraid to let her son have some fun whilst taking minor risks. The lad stopped ok in a safe place. Don't mention this to the "Social Workers" though or else they will be around with Child Protection Orders and will have a team of private detectives scanning Hillyfields.

It reminded me that there are few places left in Brockley where our children can have fun away from the family. The scout huts have been pretty much sold off to developers and the like. There used to be a large scout hut with grounds behind the houses in St Margaret's Rd and Adelaide Av. Now it is just blocks of flats. Until recently there was a scout hut at the bottom end of Vesta Road, that has now been replaced by what looks like an anonymous council social department Hostel.

What is it that turns on the Selfish Gene for London commuters? It is so selfish when people put their bags on the seat next to them on the train? Is it that they hope that the commuters will go and sit somewhere else? Perhaps they think the seats in the train are their own personal property.

A pleasant walk over Hillyfields this morning. Spring is definitely in full swing with the Horse Chestnut trees just beginning to unfurl their flowers. On the less mown edges of the park Cow Parsley is shooting up. The trees are filled with bird song. I was able to watch two Jays protecting their nest area from both a marauding Magpie and a crow. Speaking of which the kids are back at school including the black crow legs of the Prendergast girls.

The contractors are out on Hillyfields digging up along the pathway between the tennis courts and Vicars Hill. I understand that the surface is being relaid to allow a cycle path. It seems a bit futile really as the tarmac surface on the underlying clay will stretch and crack again within a few years. The council should study the road building techniques of the Romans and then enrol local offenders on community service to build the pathways properly. Build it right, build it once.

Going down Vicars Hill it is obvious that the speed humps are missing on the newly laid road surface. Motorists drive as fast as they can up and down the steep hill in the narrow gaps between the parked cars, seemingly oblivious to the 20 mph speed limit. The council should actually enforce this speed limit and install Average Speed Camaera's (SPEC's) on the worst race tracks around Brockley.

I was out at 9am today walking the dogs up on Hillyfields. There was a slight mist around and it was still quite quiet with just a few runners and dog walkers around.  It was cool with a light mist from the overnight cool.

It was good to spot a large patch of Violets close by the path and just away from the trail worn bare by the thundering feet of the hope to be fit runners.  The policy of keeping some areas only lightly mown seems to be working out.

Transport for London and Mayor Livingstone have tried to sell the idea of Bendy Buses as the solution to the congestion problem. TFL have also introduced many bus lanes and "yellow boxes" at junctions as a further way of reducing congestion. There is a veritable army of Clerks involved in scanning video footage and sending out penalty notices to anyone who may linger in the yellow box.
There appears however no similar rule for the Bendy Buses. They seem to block the yellow box between Haberdasher's School and the Sainsbury's site with total impunity. Three times this week I've been held up by Bendy Buses blocking the junction.
Seems like the TFL officialdom have one rule for the punters and no rules for their buses.