The Nuxley Navigator ends.

Recently I was talking to someone who was visiting Erith from Charlton. I showed her around the Erith Riverside Gardens, and the view of the River Thames. She remarked that it was amazing that more people were not aware of the gardens and the stunning horizon to horizon views that can be seen. I feel that the river is an under used asset locally. More on this subject further on in this weeks update. Who says I don't plan these things?

It has been brought to my attention by a reader that the long - ailing News Shopper local paper and website may be under new difficulties. The News Shopper is part of a larger media group called NewsQuest, which is in turn part of an American owned media corporation called Gannett. News has recently broken that Gannett is in talks with a rival media group called MNG Enterprises about a possible takeover. In a report in the Press Gazette, a spokesperson from the National Union of Journalists was quoted as stating that gannett was:- "being pursued by the most predatory of vulture capitalist corporate raiders who are far distant from the needs and responsibilities of a modern media company”. Gannett owns USA Today and hundreds of local newspapers in the US, as well as Newsquest, which is the UK’s second largest regional publisher and has been expanding its portfolio in the past year. Newsquest’s daily titles include the Herald titles and The National in Scotland, the News and Star in Cumbria, the Northern Echo, Bournemouth Daily Echo, Oxford Mail, and Isle of Wight County Press. It also owns a number of local weekly newspaper series in London, including the News Shopper and Bexley Times. MNG is owned by New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital. It publishes about 200 newspapers in the US including the Denver Post, Boston Herald and San Jose Mercury News. Federica Bedendo, of the National Union of journalists said:- "The the union is really concerned about what the potential acquisition would mean for local newspapers in the UK. Journalists within Newsquest already think this company has hit rock bottom and the prospect of being acquired by an organisation that’s renowned for cost cutting and job slashing isn’t going to do anything to benefit our titles or indeed our working conditions. We already operate on a shoe-string, morale is at an all-time low, stress levels are through the roof and we lose more and more talent each day due to the way that Newsquest operates. What angers us most is that Newsquest is financially in a very enviable position compared to other publishers, yet its top bosses seem to be prepared to do anything for profit. NUJ members are being driven away from the newspaper industry by these money-chasing operations.” What do you think? Do you have any insight into what is going on? Please feel free to Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com in complete confidence if you have some inside information. 

I have an apology to make to the person who sent me an Email on Friday afternoon with a follow - up query to the piece I wrote last week about the Violet Club nuclear weapons which were constructed at Woolwich Arsenal in the 1950's. I have accidentally deleted your Email - could you please resend it and I will get back to you? In my defence I get well in excess of 120 Emails each and every day, and on rare occasions mistakes such as inadvertently deleting a valued message can, and do occur.

You may recall that back in November 2017, I wrote a piece about a new private bus service which was then about to commence. The service was aimed at residents of parts of Upper Belvedere, Northumberland Heath and Erith. The bus service was to operate on weekdays only, and run between Harrow Manorway outside of Abbey Wood Station, and Carlton Road in Northumberland Heath. The service was somewhat inappropriately called The Nuxley Navigator - as previously covered, "Nuxley Village" does not exist - it is properly named Belvedere Village, or Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere. The roads that the new private bus service covered were as follows:- Towards Abbey Wood Station (mornings only) - Carlton Road, Brook Street, Parsonage Manorway, Swaylands Road, Matfield Road, Stream Way, Bedonwell Road, Orchard Avenue, Bedonwell Road, Glenview, West Heath Road, Brampton Road, Knee Hill, Harrow Manorway. Towards Erith (afternoons only) - Harrow Manorway, Knee Hill, Brampton Road, West Heath Road, Glenview, Bedonwell Road, Orchard Avenue, Bedonwell Road, Stream Way Matfield Road, Swaylands Road, Parsonage Manorway, Brook Street, and Carlton Road. The Crossrail service which was meant to be opening at Abbey Wood Station at the end of 2018, and many of the roads covered by The Nuxley Navigator were not covered by any existing bus service. The Nuxley Navigator featured a reserved seat and, in London, standard rides were £2.40, though the introductory price was £1.60. A standard bus fare is £1.50. Chariot was supposed to work by being pre-bookable but with predetermined stops, similar to a bus route. The real reason for the service was to connect the Erith Quarry housing development with Abbey Wood Station. The developers of Erith Quarry are aiming the new development primarily at second or third time buyers who want larger, family sized houses - for people who intend to "put down roots" in the area. In order to attract middle class professional people into the local area, they needed so show that there were good commuting connections into London - something that The London Borough of Bexley has historically lacked. The fact that we have no DLR or Tube services in the Borough has been a factor that has discouraged some people from moving into the area. Providing a purpose built mini bus link between the Erith Quarry site and Abbey Wood Station was supposed do much to convince people that they should move into the area, as housing is significantly cheaper than in other parts of London, and the commuting issue was intended to be at least partially answered by The Nuxley Navigator - even if the name of the new bus service was inaccurate. Fellow local Blogger and "proper" journalist Darryl Chamberlain of the excellent 853 Blog has broken a story which I am using with his full permission. Darryl discovered that Chariot - the company behind both the Nuxley Navigator and the Shooters Hill Shot private bus services is to pull out of the market on Friday the 25th of January. Back in October I reported that:- "The problem has been that 1) Crossrail has been significantly delayed, 2) Erith Quarry has not yet opened, and 3) there is very little local awareness of the private bus service. On top of this, it is a bookable service, not a "hop on, hop off" service as per a normal bus ride. Lastly the service can only be booked via a mobile phone app, and one cannot use Oyster cards. The lack of passengers on the Nuxley Navigator is, I am led to believe, causing the operator, Chariot, and their sponsor, Ford to consider closing the service". My prediction turned out to be totally correct, and the service to to close before the end of the month. I have had reports from readers that The Nuxley Navigator was a very patchy service, with often only one mini bus on the entire route, and very few people used it - a local source (who wants to remain anonymous) told me that she had seen people trying to use their Oyster card on the service, and being annoyed when they could not. I feel that Chariot - and their sponsors car and van producers Ford - have really dropped the ball with this one. The announcement on the Chariot US website reads:- "Today, we have important news to share about Chariot services. Following significant consideration, we have decided to close the Chariot operation. Friday, January 25th is the last day we will offer service on commuter routes in the U.K., and Friday, February 1 will be the last day we will offer service on our commuter routes in the U.S. We will cease all operations across the US and in the UK by the end of March. In today’s mobility landscape, the wants and needs of customers and cities are changing rapidly. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause Chariot’s riders and our enterprise customers. We are committed to ensuring our customers are aware of the decision and have time to make alternative transportation arrangements. We are truly grateful to our commuters, enterprise customers, and partners for your support over the past five years. Chariot was built on a commitment to help reduce congestion, ease the commute and improve quality of life in cities, and since our start, we have provided our customers with more than 3 million rides. In addition, we helped Ford build their mobility business, and their experience with Chariot continues to inform their mobility efforts and design decisions for the future. In addition to our customers, our priority during this transition is to ensure we support our employees. We are thankful for their hard work and dedication to bringing Chariot to where it is today". No doubt once - eventually - Crossrail / The Elizabeth Line opens, and the Erith Quarry development is fully up and running with residents, some other transport operator will take over the route, when there is actually a chance of attracting paying customers to it. The whole Nuxley Navigator / Shooters Hill Shot project has been an utter shambles. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Another transport related story; work has begun to increase the number of Thames Clipper ferry terminals on the River Thames. A new terminal is being constructed at Silvertown, on the North banks of the Thames - by the end of this year a derelict jetty will be replaced by a 427ft public promenade stretching far out across the river, with a cantilevered timber roof and a public viewing deck, as well as docking stations for Thames Clipper boats offering services to Canary Wharf in 14 minutes. Journeys to London Bridge will take 26 minutes, while Waterloo will take 34 minutes. Silvertown is already served by Pontoon Dock DLR station, but for many commuters a short boat trip is a welcome alternative to starting the day on a packed train. What this will mean for the long proposed use of Erith Pier as a stop for the Thames Clipper service is currently unclear. Back in September 2017 MBNA Thames Clippers carried out series of test voyages into London from Gravesend and back. Public reaction to the experimental service was extremely positive, and the CEO of the Clipper company, Sean Collins said in an interview at that time:- "The trial has been a total success so far, passengers have been asking a lot of questions to find out when a permanent service could be up and running and how much it will cost. These questions are the reason we are running this trial, I set up this company 18 years ago, and two years later people were asking me about a Gravesend service, the only reason we haven’t done anything sooner is because we’ve been working on other projects across London. We need to set out a full business case, it could take up to two years to start up a service, it would be great to see it stop at other places, such as Erith, Greenhithe, Dagenham and Thurrock." Since September 2017 things have been very quiet, and no official announcements have been made. In the intervening period, some questions have been asked about the practicalities of running a service from Erith Pier. As previously mentioned Erith Pier does not project straight out into the river, in the way that for example Southend Pier juts out into the Thames Estuary. Instead a majority of its length is in a "dog leg` that runs parallel to the shore line. There is also a short spur that projects out to the left side of the main part of the pier. The spur is where I am of the opinion any free floating pontoon would need to be located. Whilst the central channel of the River Thames at Erith is more than sufficiently deep for large ocean going vessels to navigate, the sides of the river are actually rather shallow, and dry out at low tide. A free floating pontoon would enable a Thames Clipper ferry to dock despite a low tide. It would require some extensive alterations and re - engineering of the pier spur. I know that Morrison's supermarket - who own the pier, are not keen on it being used as a ferry terminal, as they don't want commuters using their supermarket car park, but if enough pressure comes to bear from local government, Transport For London, The Mayor of London's office and our local MP, Teresa Pearce (who has backed the use of Erith Pier for a ferry service for a very long time), then things may happen. Bearing in mind the growth of Erith as a residential area, and the relative paucity of public transport links into central London that currently exist, it would seem to me that a regular ferry service to and from London is a "no brainer". What do you think? Leave a comment below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Local resident Doreen Ives has submitted the following story:- "Vet's Club Scrabble group. We had a very successful first meeting of our Scrabble group on Friday 11th January. Everyone who came along enjoyed the challenge of the games and the jovial company.  If you like playing this stimulating board game then you are very welcome to join us. The group meet at the Veterans Club in Park Crescent just behind Christ Church Hall. Parking is easy so no worries there. To be a member of the Veterans Club will cost you £20 a year and you then have access to participating in all the many leisure activities on offer there, for a charge of £1.50 per session. Alternatively you can participate in activities as a non-member at a charge of £2.50 per session. At the Scrabble group we have tea/coffee and biscuits halfway through the two hour session, all included in your fee.  The next session is on Friday 8th February 2pm-4pm". 

Last week the results of an extensive survey were published, and the results make for somewhat disturbing reading. Three quarters of US Facebook users unaware their online behaviour gets tracked; whilst the survey covers Facebook users in the US and not the UK, I think that the UK results would be very similar, if not almost identical. The US survey found that most Facebook users have no idea that the advertising business compiles data profiles of their online activities and interests, according to research conducted by the non-profit Pew Research Center. That is not altogether surprising given that Facebook appeals to people disinclined to concern themselves with the minutiae of digital technology, which is to say most people. It is worth recalling that a decade ago, Google representatives stopped people on the street in New York City to ask "What's a web browser?" and almost no one could answer correctly. The finding nonetheless underscores the privacy cost, unrecognised though it may be, of relying on an ad platform for media and messages rather than wrestling with the complexity of self-administered communications software. After surveying 963 US adults last year between September 4th to October 1st, Pew researchers found that 74 per cent of Facebook users said they were unaware the social advertising business tracks their traits and interests. Facebook makes such data available to users through the "Your ad preferences" page, but about half of the survey respondents didn't like what they saw once they were made aware of their data trail. Fifty-one per cent of those surveyed said they were not comfortable with Facebook compiling this information. It seems doubtful however such unease will translate into account cancellation. Expressing discomfort in a survey is easy and doesn't necessarily correlate with willingness to abandon Facebook. A study published late last year found "the average Facebook user would require more than $1,000 to deactivate their account for one year." The Pew survey says 88 per cent of Facebook users found data about themselves in their advertising preferences page. Of these individuals, 59 per cent said the data reflected actual interests while 27 per cent said the data either partially or fully misrepresents them. The disconnect between Facebook's categorisations of people and the way they see themselves is also evident in the context of the political designations and racial/ethnic "affinities" the social data business applies to users. About half of survey respondents had been assigned a political label by Facebook. Of those labeled liberal, conservative, or moderate, 73 per cent agreed with their designation while 27 per cent said assigned political classification was not accurate. Reports of misclassification came more frequently from self-described moderates (36 per cent) than they did from those calling themselves liberals (20 per cent) or conservatives (25 per cent). What the results would be in the UK are unclear, but I strongly suspect that they would be very similar. It seems that worldwide, many Facebook users either don't know about the fact that the giant corporation extracts information about them, or that they plain just don't care. 

An article by guest contributor and transport enthusiast Dana Wiffen. Dana writes:- "Here is short piece on the double decker train, with a good news update and 2 photos, some Erith commuters might remember seeing this train normally on platform 2 or 3 of Charing Cross Station at around 6pm. I travelled on it many times between 1970/71 when it was removed from service. This experimental EMU (electric double decker train) came into service in 1949 running on the Dartford to Charing Cross line mainly on the Bexleyheath Line. Two sets of 8 cars were built and their seating capacity was 552, really a split level train the half upper deck enabled additional passengers to sit but with no door and poor ventilation as the small upstairs windows did not open, there were not popular especially in the summer. Following an attack on a woman that was kept in the upper section by the attacker, a female only carriage was introduced on the service to reassure female travellers. With additional weight, height and poor cornering these handsome looking trains managed to be kept in service until 1971, sadly only 2 carriages survive today they seem to have been left and not restored by the owners as heritage railways are  reluctant to take them for use as passenger carriages because of the additional weight and height. The photos above show an old picture of the double decker train in service (courtesy of John Kennett) while the other photograph (courtesy of Keith Littlewood) shows one of the two remaining carriages no 13004  in poor condition at the Northampton and Lamport Railway in 1994, it has since been moved to the Northampton Ironside Railway. This is one of only the two cars that survive today the other 13003 is in sidings at Sellinge in Kent. Good News;-Bullied EMU Double Decker Train no: 13003 has recently been purchased by a group that want to restore the two remaining carriages, they are called The Bullied 4DD Group, and there aim is to start work on this train at Sellinge, Kent  as soon as possible, where it has been in a siding since 1999. They will continue to try and purchase 13004 from the owner, their attempts so far have been unsuccessful" Fascinating stuff; In addition, I gather that the ventilation of the upper deck was by constantly running electric fans, as the windows couldn't be opened. The train was higher than other trains so care had to be taken which routes to use it on. The Dartford routes were ideal and no alteration had to be made to the  track and bridges. Bearing in mind many people smoked on trains back then, the fug on the upper deck must have been terrible, especially in summer. The other problems with the double decker train was that the seats were cramped, hard and uncomfortable, and the time taken to get on and off the double decker carriages was significantly longer than with a conventional train. Other European countries successfully deploy double decker trains, but they are fully air conditioned, there is no smoking, and comfort is considerably better; they also tend to be deployed on longer distance routes, rather than suburban "start and stop" journeys. 

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly from Barnehurst ward:- "We are pleased to report there have been no burglaries for the past week however there have been three incidents of vehicle crime. On Friday 04th January 2019 there was a theft of motor vehicle in Eversley Avenue. This vehicle was stopped and recovered on the M25 after being followed by Police. Two occupants were detained, passenger was dealt with for possession of drugs and the driver dealt with for theft of motor vehicle and possession of drugs. On Friday 11th January 2019 victim returned to his vehicle to find the door ajar and a small amount of change taken. There was no damage to the vehicle. In Grassmere Road on Thursday 10th January 2019 between 10.00am and 01.00am a vehicle was broken into and photographic equipment taken. Barnehurst officers carried out a routine patrol to Cheviot Close on Wednesday 16th January 2019 and came across white Ford transit van parked and unattended in the garaged area. Police checks revealed this vehicle had been stolen from Sidcup and was therefore recovered. This area of Cheviot Close is highly patrolled by Police. The team met with the Barnehurst ward Councillor yesterday to discuss council related issues on the ward, one being the delay with the proposal from Orbit to install a bollard at the entry point to the garages in Cheviot Close, we hope this issue will be resolved soon as this will deter unwanted visitors from dumping rubbish and stolen vehicles. Barnehurst team will be at the Barnehurst Golf Club on Thursday 24th January 2019 at 11.00am. Please join us to discuss any matters of concern in and around the ward". Belvedere ward:- "We have had no burglaries reported on the ward over the past week. We had a theft of number plates from a Hyundai car on St Thomas Road overnight on the Sat 5th into the Sun 6th January. On Friday 11th, Monday 14th and Wednesday 16th the team visited St Augustine's Primary school and gave a road safety talk to years 1-5. The children were very engaging and seemed to take on board the safety message. A kitchen knife was found by the estate manager at Lesnes Abbey Woods on the 15th. The knife has been seized and will be destroyed". Bexleyheath ward:- "Below is a quick glance of the burglaries/attempted burglaries that have been reported: Sunday 13/01/2019 - Burglary at North Street Bexleyheath, garage was broken into and items taken as well as motorbikes. This was over a two day period; Monday 14/01/2019 – Burglary along Long Lane Bexleyheath. Access was via the kitchen door and entry was gained; Thursday 10/01/2019 – Attempted Burglary along Tudor Walk. Side window was smashed and the suspect was disturbed; Saturday 12/01/2019 – Rochester Drive, suspect tried to gain access to property by attacking lock. Seems to have happened overnight; Tuesday 15/01/2019 – There was a report of a theft of motor vehicle along Martin Dene; Thursday 10/01/2019 – Two suspects had tried to break a lock of a motorbike at the civic offices and they were disturbed; Wednesday 09/01/2019 – There was a report of criminal damage to motor vehicle along the Broadway; Friday 11/01/2019 – A theft from motor vehicle was reported along Rydal Drive Bexleyheath. There was a report of a theft of purse on the Broadway whilst the victim was walking along, this was on Wednesday 09/01/2019. Also in WH Smiths along the Broadway there was a report of suspects stealing money, cards and other personal items and cards being used. This was reported on the Monday 07/01/2019. A purse was also reported stolen from a bag in Primark Bexleyheath on the Wednesday 09.01/2019 at about midday; Thursday 10/01/2019 – A mobile phone was report stolen from the victims pocket whilst in the Broadway area. There was also a report of two cash machines on the Broadway at Barclays Bank, where skimming devices were used. So please be careful when using the machines, if the there is anything unusual please do not use the machine and advise others not to use and inform the bank or the Police as soon as possible. Please be careful who is around when using the machines and always shield what you type on the keypad. The team are regularly conducting targeted patrols for burglary and anti-social behaviour. Also there was stops made in the ASDA car park in Bexleyheath, this was in relation to vehicles with drives causing anti-social behaviour. The team have been delivering free smart water kits to areas of the ward that have been identified that are at a higher risk of being burgled. So far last weekend they have delivered 115 kits on the ward and more shall be delivered soon. Also it seems that youths are re-appearing along Iris Avenue causing ASB. If there is any issues, please call Police on 101 or 999 where appropriate. If you do wish to pass on information to Police then please contact Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111. Please do not hesitate to contact us via Twitter, Facebook, email and the ward phone". Crayford ward:- "On Monday 9th January between 21.00 - 21.30 a coke can was thrown at an address in Swale Road causing the glass in the door and to the side to be smashed. The can was retained for forensics. On Wednesday 9th January between 01.00-7.00 an iPod was stolen from within a white Citroen van whilst parked near to 160 Maiden Lane, this is the junction to Beech Walk. Between 15.40 on Tuesday 8th January and 20.10 on Wednesday 9th January a front number plate GK57 OSF was stolen from a vehicle parked at the top end of Iron Mill Lane, this plate should be on a silver Toyota Yaris. A theft from a blue Ford Transit occurred overnight between 18.00 on Wednesday 9th and 06.00 on Thursday 10th January whilst parked in Maiden Lane junction with Barnes Cray Road, the items stolen included power tools, it is not known how the vehicle was entered as no damage was done. There have been multiple incidents of shoplifting from the smaller shops in Crayford Road recently, always the same suspect, believed to be aged between 30-40 years, white male, medium build. Although small items are stolen it is having an impact on the local businesses. If you know who this person may be please let us know. Between 18.00 on Sunday 13th January and 8.30 on Monday 14th January, three tyres were deliberately slashed on a silver C180 Mercedes whilst parked in Iron Mill Lane towards Thames Road. Between Saturday 12th and Monday 14th January three large batteries were stolen from vehicles parked on the Acorn Industrial Estate. Incidentally, 32 batteries used to light up traffic lights were stolen from the rear of a white Fiat van whilst parked close to McDonalds in Crayford on Tuesday 15th January between 20.00-20.15. The suspects would have needed a vehicle to remove these items as they are the size and weight as car batteries. We will be at the Ellenor Hospice shop in Crayford Road on Wednesday 23rd January between 12.00 and 13.00 if you would like to come along to say hello or for crime prevention advice". Erith ward:- "We have our ward panel meeting this week, I will give a rundown update in next week's update. No burglaries over the last week, but a theft of and from motor vehicles is still on the rise. I have been out trying to sign up some more NHW members, at this time it looks as if I have 7 new people that are interested, their info will be passed to the NHW office as they all would like a little bit more information regarding the role". Northumberland Heath ward:- "A fairly quiet week on the ward in relation to crime. We are pleased to say that we have had no burglaries reported to us. One theft from two vehicles belonging to the same person in Beechfield Road. This took place overnight on the evening of Sunday January 13th between 11pm and 6.20am on Monday January 14th.Vehicle one was on the road outside the house, a window was forced open entry was gained but nothing was taken. The second vehicle was parked on the driveway and the rear bar was pulled off with the lock. Seats were pulled down and the plastic cowling under the steering wheel was pulled off and wires were left exposed. A child's scooter was stolen from the boot but was later found in the porch of a neighbour's house. One theft from motor vehicle in Nurstead Road again on Monday January 14th between 6.45pm and 6.40am the following morning. Some loose change was taken, and the glove compartment emptied. Last Friday the team executed a search warrant for drugs in Northumberland Heath and have continued to stop and search individuals either seen, or believed to be using drugs. Several cannabis seizures have been made over the past week. The next drop in Police surgery will be held in the Library in Mill Road next Wednesday 23rd of January at 2pm".  Slade Green and Northend ward:- "Sadly there was an aggravated burglary at 1.30pm on Wednesday 16/01 in Slade Green Road. 3 men in balaclavas and with a large knife have forced entry into an address and demanded that something was handed over. The 'something' was unknown to the scared victims and after a quick search the suspects fled into Rainbow Road. Fortunately there were no injuries. Response officers arrived quickly but an area search proved to be negative. The investigation is ongoing as to who may be involved and reassurance patrols and visits will be carried out by ourselves this week. If you have any concerns, please let us know so we can give any necessary reassurance wherever needed. Only one other crime of note to report in the last week. Criminal damage to motor vehicle occurred around 1230pm on Sunday 13/01/2019 in Canada Road whereby the victim's car was scratched and damaged. Good news: After good intelligence received from a resident, 3 stolen vehicles have been found and recovered in and around Hollywood Way in the last week. One of the vehicles had a large sword inside among other items. Investigations are underway in regards who is involved in this suspicious activity and we are working with the relevant Housing Association to get these issues stopped. Extra patrols will be ongoing on the estate and it will be flagged as a ward promise at our residents panel meeting next week. Our new watch is now up and running in Larkswood Close. We will let everyone know when any future watches are set up". Thamesmead East ward:- "Distraction Burglary - Parkway Sunday 13/1/19 between 9:10pm – 9:20pm two males have presented themselves as plain clothes police officers to gain access into the property taking a number of items; Theft - The Link Bazalgette Way Thursday 10/01/19 between 5:45pm – 6:30pm Suspect/s have entered unlocked changing room and stolen 3 mobile phones; Criminal Damage to Motor Vehicle Lensburt Way Sunday 13/1/19 between 10pm – 10:45pm. Suspect/s have snapped of both wing mirrors and bent windscreen wipers; Theft from Motor Vehicle - Parkway Thursday 10/01/19 between 6am – 615am Suspect has stolen victims vehicle registration plates; Good News - What started off as a low level noise complaint between neighbours turned into a challenging situation for the team. After conducting extensive research working with multi-safeguarding agencies the male is being given the appropriate medical help and support needed". West Heath ward:- "This week the ward has had no reported burglaries. There has been theft from motor vehicles in Gipsy Road and Lansdowne Avenue both overnight on Fri 11th - Sat12th January. The team took part in a Burglary reduction initiative with other teams from Bexleyheath delivering free Smartwater kits to residents. Smartwater is a solution used to mark property. Each bottle has a unique chemical make- up that is registered to a specific address making any stolen items traceable. The kit comes with Smartwater stickers for your windows. Smartwater is available through your Neighbourhood watch at a discounted rate and we encourage you to contact the NW office for details. We had a successful ward panel meeting on Saturday 12th January which was well attended. The new Promises for the next three months are Burglary, Motor vehicle crime and ASB around drugs. Remember you can follow us on Twitter for more frequent updates. Our next Community contact session will be on Tuesday 22nd January in Hadlow Road Welling at noon followed by Plymstock Road on 30th January at 2pm".

The end video this week features vintage photographs and film footage taken in and around Erith, Crayford, Welling and Bexleyheath, mainly in the 1950's, and is of some considerable historical interest. do give the video a look. 

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Erith Market returns.

As I have previously mentioned, Erith Riverside Shopping Centre is shortly to get a couple of new shops – a Subway sandwich takeaway, and a new expansion to the existing Mambocino coffee shop / café which will offer “sit down” dining in the evenings. This will be the first honest to goodness restaurant in central Erith for many years (I refuse to count the cafeteria in Morrison’s, before anyone points it out). This is all excellent news, and the sooner both outlets open, the better. There is also a public event aimed at the children coming up shortly - The centre will be hosting its annual Easter fun day from 11am to 4pm on Saturday March 19, with a variety of themed stalls. An egg hunt will also be held across the centre, with hunters just having to keep their eyes peeled for Easter themed posters in the windows of selected shops, go inside and receive a treat from the retailer. There will also be a free face painter on hand to transform children into chicks, bunnies and fun Easter characters for the children to meet. It sounds like I had better avoid the centre on the day. I am not exactly in the demographic that the event is trying to attract. Another welcome piece of news which has been rumoured for the last year or so is that a new weekly street market will be launching in Erith soon to attract footfall and new businesses to the town. The market will be held at the eastern end of Pier Road, a location which provides a link from Morrisons’ superstore to the centre of Erith, encouraging customers to spend more time in the town. Initially, it will feature around ten stalls offering products including clothes, accessories and more, to complement businesses in the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. It is a pity it is (initially at least) only going to be held on Wednesdays, starting Wednesday the 30th March and will last for up to fourteen weeks, and the feedback from the public and Erith Town Forum will decide as to whether it becomes a permanent fixture. Why it is not also being held on Saturdays, as Erith Market traditionally always was is not presently known. Still, i will be paying it a visit with my camera when it does start, and I sincerely hope that it does well. 

I recall back on the 26th November 2003 when three Concorde jets flew in formation over London to mark their final flights and their retirement. I was standing on the flat roof of the office building where I worked, in Blackfriars Road, Southwark. It was an extremely impressive, and very sad sight – a triumph of Anglo – French engineering being given the chop by a bunch of faceless bean counters who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. It was for many years thought that the classic aircraft would become museum pieces and that would be the end of the era of supersonic civil aviation. Recently it has become clear that this may well not be the case. A group of Concorde experts claim to have received adequate financial backing to recommence flights by the end of this decade. Aviation enthusiasts who may not have the means to fly on board could also have the opportunity to admire an aircraft placed on permanent display in central London. A group calling itself Club Concorde, which comprises former Concorde pilots, charterers and frequent fliers, among others. Though British Airways and Air France have no plans to recommence Concorde flights, the group has now secured what it believes to be sufficient financial backing to independently return the supersonic aircraft to service. They have two aims: firstly, to place one of the aircraft on a purpose-built platform positioned by the London Eye and above the Thames; secondly, to return another to use as part of a Return to Flight project. Drawing from a £40 million investment, the club is aiming to purchase a Concorde currently stationed near Orly Airport in Paris, and to place it as the main draw in a £16-a-head London tourist attraction that would include a restaurant offering dishes that were originally served on Concorde flights. Club president Paul James hopes the plane could be on display by 2017. Getting Concorde back in the air would be rather more complex. The club has access to an additional reserve fund worth £120 million and plans to use this revenue to purchase a Concorde currently on display at Le Bourget airport in Paris. When restored (and painted in an entirely new, neutral colour scheme) and also deemed safe to again take to the skies, the plane would be deployed for use in fly-pasts at air shows and made available for corporate and special events, as well as for private charter. Club Concorde is aiming to recommence flights by 2019, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Concorde flight, and should the initiative prove a success the organisation may subsequently aim to make a second Concorde flightworthy at a later stage. Bearing in mind the entire venture will be financed by private money, I think it is entirely laudable. None of the retired Concordes were anywhere near their maximum airframe flight hours, and they were built to exceedingly high engineering standards. Providing the two machines to be returned to service have been correctly stored over the last thirteen years, there is no reason why with sufficient time, money and skill that they could not be refurbished, updated and returned to service. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

You may recall that I recently wrote about how the imminent arrival of Crossrail (more properly now entitled The Elizabeth Line) has already had an effect on local house prices. Now, a survey undertaken by estate agents Rightmove has shown that the average price of a two bedroomed terraced house in Abbey Wood has risen by 34.7 percent between 2015 and 2016. The survey was based on like for like properties within a one kilometre radius of Abbey Wood station. Rightmove said that the rise was due to  a number of factors, including the Elizabeth line, people looking for better value further out from the centre of town, and London property proving to be an attractive investment. The downside of this, as I have mentioned before, is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for first time buyers to get on the property ladder – and considering that the Abbey Wood / Belvedere / Erith / Slade Green area has been viewed as the joint best value region in which to buy a home within the M25, along with Barking and Dagenham. With the forthcoming opening of the Elizabeth Line, this may well cease to be the case. As other areas of Greater London become unaffordable to anyone other than a Russian Oligarch or Saudi Royal, then the search for (relatively) cheaper housing will march ever outwards.

The woes of Southeastern Trains, and anyone (myself included) who is unfortunate in having no choice but to use their terrible service have got even worse this week. On Thursday there was more service disruption on the North Kent Line, after a track defect outside of London Bridge station affected trains travelling to and from Cannon Street, Charing Cross and Waterloo East. The disruption lasted for most of the day, and my own journey back from Greenwich to Erith was delayed by forty five minutes - and I got off quite lightly compared with some other unfortunate travellers. The sooner that TfL take over the franchise the better, in my opinion. 

I saw the sad news about the former TV star and magician Paul Daniels, who has been sent home from hospital for his final days with terminal brain cancer. I used to know him, back at the height of his fame in the early to mid-1980’s, as he was one of my customers when I worked at a Saturday job at Silica Shop in Hatherley Road Sidcup, who at that time were the largest independent computer retailer in the UK, which at its peak had an annual turnover in excess of £45 million - a huge amount back then. You can see an example of a typical Silica Shop advertising flyer above - notice the large amount of detailed text - this was a Silica Shop trait - they lumped huge amounts of technical detail into all of their advertising; something that would put off a lot of potential shoppers today. All this is targeted advertising is routine nowadays, but back in 1983 it was unique, and Silica Shop had debatably the most sophisticated customer database used anywhere in the United Kingdom at the time. My own thoughts are that if Silica Shop had taken this self-written ground breaking business software and ported it onto the then new IBM PC, they would have had a huge business in selling and supporting enterprise level Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications now. Instead they continued to shift boxes of home computers, and eventually went out of business in the mid 1990’s. If the management had employed a more creative vision, Silica could have been a global software name like Oracle Corporation now. I have to say that I learned more about computing in my few years working at Silica shop than I have learned anywhere else. My entire career in IT has been built on stuff I picked up in a quiet side street in Sidcup. I digress:- Paul Daniels would always ask for me in person – for what reason I really don’t know. He came into the shop maybe once every six Saturdays, and would always spend around £800 – which was a lot of money back in those days. He had several Atari 8 bit computers, and he was one of the first people in the UK to have an Atari 520ST – a pioneering sixteen bit pseudo clone of the Apple Macintosh at a quarter of the price, and with colour graphics. To be honest, Paul Daniels was a challenging customer. He knew his stuff, and would try and trip you up – but my product knowledge was pretty sound back then, and it was very rare that he managed to get one over on me. Looking back, it was obvious that he must have liked my service – as there were other staff who whom he could have asked for, but he would always ask to be served by me. I recall him getting somewhat spiky when he asked me what I had thought of his show the Saturday before, and I responded that I had missed it (I had been down the pub with my mates – what did he expect – not that I mentioned this to him). If I had been earning commission on sales, I would have made a small fortune from him alone. Sad to see him in the current circumstances. 

The photo above was sent to me by Maggot Sandwich reader and Chairman of the Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, Dana Whiffen. It shows London Mayor Boris Johnson visiting Welling Welling on Wednesday to congratulate Bexley Neighbourhood Watch Association, and the local Welling Police teams of Falconwood and East Wickham for working together to achieve 100% Neighbourhood Watch coverage in these two wards. Coverage in Erith and Slade Green has yet to reach these levels.

When travelling back from occasional business meetings I need to attend in Watford, I find myself on a Southeastern train from London Bridge back to Erith. I am usually travelling during the mid-afternoon period, before the start of the busy period (the term “rush hour” is a misnomer, as it lasts for several hours in the morning and evening). On several occasions a person has walked along the carriage, placing packets of tissues on empty seats opposite commuters. The tissues are accompanied by a note saying that the person placing the tissues is unemployed and has young children to feed – this is done in the hope that travellers will hand over cash in sympathy. Earlier this week British Transport Police announced that the beggars are part of several organised criminal gangs travelling to the UK for three month “tissue begging tourism” stints. The beggars target off – peak travellers to avoid sceptical and aggressive regular commuters and very packed trains. The begging notes apparently all have identical wording , and some are even commercially laminated – something quite pricey for someone who is meant to be penniless. Southeastern, Thameslink and Southern Rail have all issued warnings to their customers about the issue. What also interests me is that if the person is meant to be skint – how did they afford to pay the train fare? Of course they did not. In an interview with The Metro newspaper on Monday, British Transport Police Superintendent Jenny Gilmer was quoted as saying “We have noticed a pretty significant escalation of reports. There is no doubt that this is an organised activity, and it is clearly profitable for people. There are members of the public who are handing out money”. The message would seem to be, don’t give these people money for tissues – it is an organised criminal con. Have you seen these operators in action? What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I get very annoyed by Apple Mac users who claim that their computers are “virus proof” or some such thing – whilst Macs are pretty robust, any computer that can run executable code can run malware. I have a Mac, and love it,  but I would not claim it was any more robust than any other platform. This is backed up by the news that The first "fully functional" ransomware targeting OS X has landed on Macs – after somehow smuggling itself into downloads of the popular Transmission BitTorrent file transfer client. Transmission's developers have warned in a notice splashed in red on the app's website that if you fetched and installed an afflicted copy of the software just before the weekend, you must upgrade to a clean version. Specifically, downloads of version 2.90 were infected with ransomware that will encrypt your files using AES and an open-source cryptographic library, and demand a payment to unscramble the documents. Transmission has millions of active users. It is possible the application's website servers were compromised, and the downloads tampered with to include the KeRanger nasty. Those who have had files encrypted will be asked by the malware to cough up US$400 in Bitcoins, paid to a website hidden in the Tor “dark web” network, to get their files back. In an interview with Reuters last week, Ryan Olson of Palo Alto Networks said "It is a little bit surprising because ransomware has been so incredibly popular for Windows, and mobile platforms, It's now of the most popular criminal business models. The fact that it hasn't made it to Mac shows that it's had a great amount of success on the Windows side. But the fact that [the malware] was distributed through a legit application demonstrates that we will see this again." The KeRanger malware, which imposes a 72-hour lockout window unless the victim pays 1 bitcoin (around £320), appears to have been first discovered via a rogue version of Transmission, a widely popular BitTorrent client. For some time now, ransomware has primarily targeted Windows machines—threatening total data destruction if the ransom isn't paid. Recently, even a Los Angeles hospital was infected, which resulted in the payment of a $17,000 ransom. In June 2015, the FBI said it had been contacted by 992 victims of CryptoWall, a similar ransomware scheme, who have sustained combined losses totalling over $18 million. In the UK fewer reports have been made, but this may be due to embarrassment / desire to protect an organisations image and business credibility. An analysis of the KeRanger ransomware showed that “The KeRanger application was signed with a valid Mac app development certificate; therefore, it was able to bypass Apple’s Gatekeeper protection. If a user installs the infected apps, an embedded executable file is run on the system. KeRanger then waits for three days before connecting with command and control (C2) servers over the Tor anonymizer network. The malware then begins encrypting certain types of document and data files on the system. After completing the encryption process, KeRanger demands that victims pay one bitcoin (about £320) to a specific address to retrieve their files. Additionally, KeRanger appears to still be under active development and it seems the malware is also attempting to encrypt Time Machine backup files to prevent victims from recovering their back-up data.” All very grim stuff. Time Machine is Apple’s proprietary backup and restore application (and very good it is too). I have not heard any reports of infections reaching the UK, but as is usual with this sort of thing, it is probably only down to time. 

I took the photo above a while back, whilst on the Woolwich Ferry; it was an experiment in black and white, moody photography. There has been much concern locally for a couple of years; there have been strong messages from TfL and the Department of Transport were looking to phase out the Woolwich free ferry. This would be a very poor move if it happened, as records of a ferry across the River Thames at Woolwich date back as far as 1308. The documentation from that date refers to the waterman who ran the ferry, William de Wicton, sold his business and house to William Halle, for £10. In 1320 the ferry was sold again for 100 silver marks. There is no further mention of the ferry during the years that Woolwich rose to prominence as a royal dockyard under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Much later, in 1810 the army established its own ferry that ran from Woolwich Arsenal to Duvals Wharf. In 1811 an Act of Parliament was passed to establish a ferry across the Thames from Woolwich at the Old Ballast or Sand Wharf, opposite Chapel Hill, where the dockyard then terminated. The ferry became known as the western ferry and was run by a company that called itself The Woolwich Ferry Company. The Western ferry continued to operate until 1844, when the company was dissolved after a history of inept management. The current free ferry was set up in the 1889 and has run ever since. You can read more about the opening of the free ferry service by clicking here. Good news regarding the continuation of the Woolwich Ferry service; It was announced earlier this week that two brand new ferry boats will be commissioned to replace the three ageing vessels in operation – John Burns, Ernest Bevin and James Newman. The reliability of the modern boats making up for the loss of the third vessel (I doubt this - there will always be a need for a backup ship). In addition, there will be new mooring facilities at Woolwich and North Woolwich, the embarkation points. The work should be complete by March 2018, according to papers lodged with TfL’s finance and policy committee. In an interview with The Wharf newspaper, TfL's general manager of river services Andy Thompson said: “We are working to extend the life of the Woolwich Ferry service into the 2020s. We’ve completed work on the jetties and lifting bridges, so we are now focussing on the ferries themselves, and can confirm that we are planning to buy two new boats to replace the existing 1960s vessels. The buying process for these has now started and we have encouraged a number of ship building companies to bid for the contract. Alongside this, we recently consulted on plans for new fixed river crossings in East London, including two new crossings at Thamesmead and Belvedere, which could be delivered by 2025, subject to funding.” Whatever your opinions on the proposed bridges / tunnels, it does annoy me when people talk of Thamesmead and Belvedere, as if they were in East London! 

The Slade Green Community Forum have just released the following request for help:- "On the weekend 15/16/17 April we will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the 'Slade Green Heroes' whose brave actions saved the centre of Slade Green from being blown up ( is a copy of the commemorative plaque at the railway station for anyone who doesn't know the story). Below is a summary of what is currently planned (with support from Slade Green Big Local) and the help we need. Note that some dates/times are provisional. Below that note details of two current consultations, in particular proposed new ward boundaries that will divide Slade Green between two wards, and Erith likewise. Friday 25th March to Sunday 3rd April - Distribution of publicity material. We are in need of people to help with the deliveries to all local roads. Friday 15th April 8 - 11 pm Slade Green & Howbury Community Centre. World War 2 Dance. We need a couple of volunteers to check tickets on the door, and volunteers to help with set up from 7pm and with clearing away after the event. Saturday 16th April - morning - children's event at St Augustine's Hall, time and details tbc. Saturday 16th April 2pm - 2.15 pm at Slade Green station. Commemoration at the site of the commemorative plaque. Does anyone know a bugler who can play The Last Post? Generally, could do with some people to help with stewarding and some people to look after invited guests. Saturday 16th April 2.45 - 4 pm Afternoon Tea at the British Restaurant (St Augustine's Church Hall). Remembering the use of the old St Augustine's Church Hall as a British Restaurant during the war (it served meals to people who had run out of rations, and provided meals for local armaments factories and schools). We're serving a simple afternoon tea and will have displays about British Restaurants and about local history prepared with help from the Crayford Archive and Slade Green Library. We need some help serving refreshments, and people who can help with set up between 12.30 and 1.30 and with clearing away afterwards. Also we'd be pleased to have any donations or loans of period photos or information. Sunday 17th April 3.30 - 6pm Big Band Concert at Slade Green Christian Fellowship (corner of Elm Road and Slade Green Road). The Little Big Band are students and teachers from Bird College and we will be splitting any proceeds with them as they are fundraising to take their band on tour (aside - they were really excellent when I saw them at a church in Blendon last year). We need help with checking tickets on the door, with the interval refreshments, and ensuring that pre-ordered refreshments are taken to the band members". 

The end video this week features extended coverage of the Erith Model Railway Society 2016 exhibition, which took place over the weekend of the 30th and 31st January at Longfield Academy. The exhibition featured over thirty railway layouts. See what you think, and either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Erith Park - a preview.

Local rail travellers and regular commuters will have noticed the level of construction activity between Abbey Wood and Plumstead station has ramped up markedly in the last few weeks. The first actual impact to travellers took place last weekend when the first of a series of weekend complete line closures took place. I was travelling from Erith to Greenwich on my way to Canary Wharf on Monday morning; as the train left Abbey Wood and headed towards Plumstead it did so at little more than walking pace. The reason soon became apparent. Over the course of the weekend, two additional sets of rails had been partly laid, and the track area widened considerably to allow overland and Crossrail services to operate side by side. The London bound overland train was running on a new set of tracks that had been laid only hours earlier. Bearing in mind the section of the North Kent Line has been a single track in each direction since it was originally laid in 1847, this is the biggest change to the overall design since the line was electrified in June 1926. What amazed me was that most passengers were utterly oblivious to the changes taking place outside of their carriage windows. Almost to a person they kept their gaze on their mobile telephones or newspapers. I do the commute into and out of London an average of four days a week (I work from home most Fridays), but even so I am not so jaded as to ignore my surroundings, especially when the changes are so widespread and historic. This kind of behaviour is what the Royal Marines call “a lack of situational awareness”, and it seems to be widespread – another reason why personally I have no use for a mobile phone, let alone a smart phone. Over the next few months, the current 1970’s era Abbey Wood station will be demolished and replaced with a temporary building on the opposite side of the tracks. Work will be carrying on until 2017, so travellers will have a long time to get used to things. Click on the photo above to see a larger view on the work; the shot was kindly supplied by Bexley is Bonkers webmaster Malcolm Knight; he took the photo on Wednesday from the Eynsham Drive road bridge, looking East towards Abbey Wood station. You can clearly see the new London bound track bending to the right of the photo. Please leave comments below, or alternatively Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. 

I am so grateful that nowadays we have multi channel television. In the past I have despaired during the World Cup, as it appeared that the main channels were dominated by the football competition, though nowadays at least there is a lot more choice. I am not anti football or the World Cup, I just have absolutely no interest in the whole thing. I really cannot understand the fascination of watching twenty grown men chasing around after an inflated pig’s bladder for ninety minutes, then jumping in the bath together. Still, as my mantra goes “if it works for you”.

For the first time ever, the analysts at a German security vendor have discovered a smart phone that comes with extensive spyware straight from the factory. The malware is disguised as the Google Play Store and is part of the pre-installed Android apps. The spyware runs in the background and cannot be detected by users. Unbeknownst to the user, the smart phone sends personal data to a server located in China and is able to covertly install additional applications. This makes it possible to retrieve personal data, intercept calls and online banking data, read emails and text messages or control the camera and microphone remotely. The spy function is invisible to the user and cannot be deactivated. This means that online criminals have full access to the smart phone and all personal data. Logs that could make an access visible to the users are deleted directly. The program also blocks the installation of security updates. The affected model "Star N9500" is produced by the Chinese manufacturer Star and looks very similar to the Samsung Galaxy S4. It is not possible to remove the manipulated app and the spyware since they are integrated into the firmware. Large online retailers are still selling the Android device at prices ranging from 130 to 165 Euros and distributing it across Europe. The cheap price, ranging from 130 to 165 Euros (around £150) comes as a surprise, considering the high technological standard of the device. The quad-core smart phone is supplied with extensive accessories, such as a second battery, car charging adapter and second cover. Comparable devices from well-known brands such as Samsung, HTC and Apple cost almost three times that much when bought off - contract.  Security experts think that the low price of the mobile device is made possible by the subsequent selling of data records stolen from the smart phone owner. There really is no such thing as a free (or cheap) lunch. The Star N9500 is starting to turn up on various EBay stores, and other discount tech websites. Needless to say I would strongly advise you to avoid such devices, as they will bring no end of grief.

If you are a long time Maggot Sandwich reader, you may be aware that there is a loose collaboration between local Bloggers; we occasionally share information that we feel would be of interest to the readers of other blogs. This week Charlton based blogger Darryl Chamberlain (the author of the excellent 853 blog) has uncovered a story which is certain to make the London Evening Standard in a day or so. Darryl is a “proper” journalist, and has uncovered a number of important and newsworthy stories over the last few years. Naturally his main area of interest is the Charlton and Woolwich area (what used to be covered by the old 853 dialling code – hence his blog title). He’s been featuring a story about the Greenwich peninsular, which is currently the target for property developers such as Barratt, who are building as many flats and houses on the former industrial areas of the peninsular as quickly as they can.  The Greenwich Peninsula is also home to a building that has huge historical, scientific and engineering importance, yet is now virtually unknown. Enderby House, and the nearby Enderby Wharf where from the 1850’s to the 1970’s the home of undersea telecommunications cable manufacturing. The very first intercontinental communications technology was created and manufactured on the site; The first telegraph cable to France was laid in 1850 after tremendous efforts to find technologies that worked. Until 1970s the cable was made here in Greenwich and loaded onto cable-laying ships moored on the riverside using the equipment that is still in place on the shore today. Enderby House became crucial to the history of the world’s communications after the Atlantic Telegraph Company was set up in 1856 to provide a telegraph link between the old and new worlds. Initially the cables were used to carry Morse Code signals for the fledgling telegraph industry; later voice and teleprinter data capability was added; nowadays the world’s data networks are run by millions of miles of high capacity fibre optic cable - which was invented by a Hong Kong born British / American citizen called Dr. Charles Kao. He attended Woolwich Polytechnic, and in the 1960’s invented the entire field of fibre optic data transmission technology, without which the modern high speed Internet would be impossible. Charles Kao and his work in the pioneering field of optical digital communications gained him a number of awards, including a Knighthood, and the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics. His cables were made and then were wound onto giant drums at Enderby Wharf, where they were then loaded onto cable laying ships, ready to be laid on the sea bed of the world’s oceans. The Enderby Wharf factory made 82% of the world’s undersea cable until the late 1950’s when other manufacturing facilities took on a greater role. There is still a factory owned by Alcatel Lucent on the site behind Enderby House, but now it only makes undersea cable switching and control gear, rather than the cables themselves, which are now manufactured at other locations. Enderby House has been sold by Alcatel Lucent to Barratt’s, and is now in a very shabby and damaged state; the empty building, though listed, has been repeatedly vandalised by local knuckle dragging morons. If nobody intervenes, it is highly likely that Barratt’s will petition to get the historic building de – listed; they would then be able to demolish it to make way for yet more yuppie housing.  A campaign has been started to preserve Enderby House and the adjacent Wharf and to turn them into a museum of telecommunications. Barratt have already demolished most of the undersea cable winding section of the factory, and more is likely to go soon. If you would like to become involved in the campaign to preserve the birthplace of wired worldwide communications, and the technology that gave birth to the Internet, you can join the campaign group by clicking here. Thanks to Darryl Chamberlain for bringing this story into the public domain.

Another new African church is opening in Erith. The flyer above came through my door earlier in the week; it was well printed on high quality heavyweight card and was given a glossy finish. They obviously cost a great deal of money to produce and distribute. The Household of Faith Ministry is just the latest in a long line of local churches to announce their formation. I wonder if the number of African churches in the local area is reaching saturation point? There has been a large advert on one of the hoardings beside the infamous fish roundabout at the junction of Bronze Age Way, Bexley Road and Queens Road. The Gateway Chapel certainly have bought themselves some very high profile publicity; they are based on the Optima Park industrial estate in Crayford, just around the corner from the Caterham Cars factory, along with the Ambassadors for Christ, who also have an industrial unit used as a church. In central Erith we also have the Celestial Church of Christ, and the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who seem to operate some kind of timeshare arrangement on the old, former tyre warehouse part of Electricity House, adjacent to the hideous fish roundabout. To the Western end of the town, the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries were due to move into a unit in the Manford Industrial Estate off Manor Road back in 2012, but there is no information on the church’s UK national website location finder, so I don’t know if the place is actually operating. The use of industrial units seems a pragmatic one; they hold a large number of people, usually have car parking adjacent, and the rents tend to be more affordable than other types of building.  One observation I have is that all these African churches have very dramatic and flowery titles. It has been explained to me by someone in the know that in general, the more convoluted and impressive sounding the title, the less impressive the organisation is in real life.

Bexley Council Highways Department appear to have dropped a sizable clanger. As I have recently reported, Manor Road in Erith is undergoing a major refurbishment and remodelling which involves the road being closed to through traffic for a period of ten weeks. As you may have seen in the graphic I published last week, a fairly circuitous diversion through the back streets of Slade Green has been implemented. At present, work has now begun on the Western, Erith end of the road, outside of KFC. The rest of the road is still accessible for local traffic, but no vehicles can transit the entire length of Manor Road.  Rather than face the long detour, some drivers had discovered a cheat; Appold Street, which runs off Manor Road leads down to James Watt Way – the road that runs around Morrison’s and then joins up with the roundabout by KFC and McDonald’s, on the far side of the road closure can currently be used as a rat run to avoid the road block. The problem for the drivers is that the end of Appold Street is designated for cyclists and pedestrians only – there are a number of steel and concrete bollards set in the pavement at the end of the road, supposedly to prevent cars using the junction.  The thing is that the bollards are not set closely enough together to be very effective – small cars and vans can squeeze through.  Large numbers of vehicles had been doing this, even though it is a road traffic offence to do so. The Police and Highways Department were aware of this, but until Thursday afternoon nothing had been done. From my perspective, every plan encounters difficulties when it is put into practice. The skill in project management is to acknowledge this, but be flexible enough to modify the plan in light of the change in circumstances. This is where the Manor Road restructuring plan fell down – the traffic problem was being ignored rather than being dealt with in a proactive manner. Asking around, most local residents resent the road reconstruction, but understand the necessity of the work.  Locals have been told that they can park their cars in Morrison’s car park for the duration of the closure, but unfortunately nobody told Morrison’s manager, causing confusion. The Appold Street bollard issue needed to be addressed quickly – cars that squeezed through the bollard gaps were coming into contact with pedestrians and cyclists in a way the road designers did not intend. In my opinion the Highways Department needed to either remove the bollards and allow the traffic to divert for the next few weeks (until the section of Manor Road at the top of Appold Street is re – engineered and the rat run closed). Alternatively the bollard gaps should have been reduced to allow only cyclists and pedestrians through, as was originally intended. The situation between Monday and Thursday was dangerous – I had reports of two toddlers being clipped by cars adjacent to the bollards, but fortunately there have been no serious injuries. The situation got so bad that I know of a couple of Manor Road residents that in desperation resorted to taking photographs of cars illegally squeezing through the bollard gaps. There is even a Twitter group featuring the photographs, intended to shame the guilty drivers. One way or another the situation desperately needed to change. On Thursday afternoon I discovered that a couple of the bollards had been removed and traffic formally allowed to use the short cut - only after four days of hazards caused by a lack of proactive resolution by both the Highways Department and their civil engineering contractor. No communication to the affected parties was made. A very unsatisfactory experience for all concerned, and hopefully not an indicator of the standard of project management to come. 

This week the Raspberry Pi became the best selling personal computer in Britain. It has now even outsold the classic 1982 Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the wildly popular and affordable home computer that was the introduction to programming for so many people back in the 1980’s. The Raspberry Pi is a small and affordable £35 computer that uses cheap, off the shelf components and runs the Linux operating system that is designed for teaching and education, mainly to teach school children to program, in a similar way to the original 8 bit home computers back in the eighties. So successful has the Raspberry Pi been that over three million of the computers have been sold in the last eighteen months, exceeding the records set by the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro by some margin.  A spin – off of this has been a lot of people who learned programming back in the 80’s have bought Raspberry Pi’s as a trip down memory lane, to a time when computers were simple enough to be understood by someone with relatively little experience. Not only has the Raspberry Pi set a sales record, but joint founder of the charitable Raspberry Pi Foundation, and co – creator of arguably the greatest computer game of all time has been made an OBE in recognition to his pioneering computer work. David Braben has been one of the most important and influential figures in British technology for years, and the award is richly deserved. He is currently working with a small development team to produce a modern sequel to Elite for the PC and Mac. I look forward to seeing its release.

Whether it be for work, or writing up material for the Maggot Sandwich, I spend hours every day pounding away at a keyboard, whether it is my work laptop, my personal Chromebook, or my bespoke Apple iMac in my home office, where the blog is nailed together every Sunday. It has been ages since I hand wrote anything other than a birthday, or a “sorry you are leaving” card at work. My handwriting has deteriorated to the point where it is now functionally unusable. I can print in block capitals, but have to my dismay found that I can no longer do joined up writing, and my signature is an indecipherable squiggle which changes every time I try it. When I think back, it must be around fifteen years since I last hand wrote any appreciable quantity of text; I suppose that it is no surprise my writing ability has atrophied over the years. I do wonder how many other habitual keyboard users have also experienced problems with their handwriting? Do let me know - am I unusual in losing my handwriting ability, or is it a common phenomenon that has just not been readily identified? Answers on a postcard, or comment below, alternatively you can Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

You may recall that in back at the beginning of April I outlined my thoughts on a possible cross Thames tunnel that could be located between Lower Belvedere and Rainham in Essex? Well, one of my most reliable local informants has forwarded me a portion of a document leaked by the Planning Department of Bexley Council that contains some off the record comments from a council member. Apparently the Council are considering a bridge over the river, at the same location I suggested for a tunnel. One phrase that is included is "The plan is to land in Belvedere (Anderson Way or Crabtree Manorway North) and take the traffic through Bronze Age Way and Lower Belvedere. They've realised they need a bridge i) because the Mayor is going to push for one and ii) the rest of the relevant briefing was about turning the North of the borough into a building site and they can't regenerate without infrastructure. Of course the bridge can't be near Brampton ward." Inflammatory stuff indeed, and proof that the council use the North of the borough as a dumping ground for project that they don't want on their own doorsteps - most council seniors live in the South of the borough, away from the "hoi polloi". Hopefully more on this soon.

The Orbit Housing Association kindly invited me to join a small group of their tenants to have a guided tour of the Erith Park Development - the replacement scheme for the old Larner Road Estate. We donned hi vis waistcoats and hard hats (the place is still very much a building site), and then boarded a mini bus for the short journey from the development offices to the location of the two bedroomed show flat. Most of the visitors were former residents of Larner Road, who had been temporarily re - housed whilst the old estate was demolished and the new one built. They were getting a preview of what their new homes were going to be like. You can see  a few photos of the flat below. Click on any for a larger version.

The photo above shows the kitchen / diner area in the show flat.

The photo above shows another view of the kitchen / diner, and the 4 metre balcony. Washing lines and children's bikes will be forbidden on the balconies, and there will be an annual "best kept balcony" competition with prizes for the winners.

The photo above shows the  master bedroom.

The photo above shows the bathroom, toilet and shower. Out of the shot were also clothes drying facilities.

The general consensus was that the new flats are great - lots of storage, very low cost to heat, pre-installed Sky TV and broadband, and all have relatively large balconies. I noted that the standard of fit and finish was high, and the materials and fittings were of a higher quality than one normally sees in properties for the social sector. There were a few comments that the second bedroom was a little on the small side, but when one considers that existing tenants will be paying an average of £140 a week for a brand new apartment on a state of the art development, the conclusion was that they represent excellent value for money. I was impressed, and will be interested to see the apartments and houses that will be put up for sale. Right now, the rental sector is getting priority attention, but in a few months I will be visiting again to see the retail property offerings as they become available. The regeneration of Erith is looking very positive.

You may have  noticed that some higher end technology outlets are starting to both demo and sell 4K HD televisions now. They look very impressive with their ultrahigh definition content which is usually streamed from a high capacity memory stick plugged into a USB 3 port on the back of the screen. I have had a number of people ask me what I would do if I was in the market for a domestic television right now. My answer usually surprises them. I advise that if buying a new telly right now, one should opt for a relatively cheap, dumb model at around £550 or less. Standard 1080 HD technology is now full maturity,  and the major manufacturers are concentrating on 4K. The trouble is, 4K screens are currently eye wateringly expensive, and there is almost no native 4K content available for them – and certainly at this point no support from major studios. One can stream a limited amount of content from YouTube and there are a small number of 4K titles from other streaming video services like Vimeo, but the selection is very poor. In my opinion you are better off sticking with a cheap and cheerful entry level set to last you a couple of years until 4K provision and content is freely available – and also when broadband speeds have increased yet further. 4K images consume jaw droppingly large amounts of bandwidth; enough stretch all but those with the fastest connection and lowest network latency.  Bide your time for a while and then reap the benefits when the 4K televisions have dropped in price, and they actually have something worth watching to display.

Returning to where we started this week, here is a video showing the progress of the Crossrail project; it is far more than just the local work being undertaken in Abbey Wood; it is the largest urban infrastructure project in Europe, and involves some mind boggling logistics and engineering. Watch the video below and feel free to leave a comment.