Going Dutch!

It's all very odd, but every now and then (like earlier this evening) Plumstead Common becomes completely overrun with Dutch teenagers. They just seem to arrive in a convoy of coaches, stand around for a bit and then go to the Co-op. Presumably our local supermarket is not what draws these kids over from the continent. I thought perhaps there's a sporting event - but then I've never seen any evidence of this and the groups are always mixed. There are no tracksuits in sight - never mind a football. What's going on? It all just seems so terribly random...

Watch Thy Neighbour

Some drama in the street the other day!

I was just approaching my house when slightly ahead of me a police car braked and out leapt two coppers who then proceeded to arrest a young guy from over the road. All very unexpected! It's really quite a quiet little street and you certainly wouldn't expect a scene from Miami Vice taking place here (and that's quite aside from the weather).

Anyway, being English, I couldn't possibly stand there and gawp - how unbecoming! So I rushed upstairs, left the lights off, opened my window and peered through the net curtains instead. Sadly, this nosey neighbour was too slow to catch the juicy bits. All I got was "Tell your Mum he's being arrested for something he did on Saturday night." The mind boggles.

I shall be keeping an eye on the Naughty House from now on.

Plumstead Persecuted

I have some friends who live in the East End and continually go on about how rubbish Plumstead is. This bugs me to the extreme - the cheek of it! There is absolutely no way I would trade in my little part of South East London for the East End. I've tried it before and hated it.

Sure, Plumstead has its problems (especially down by the high street) but it is a kind of paradise to what awaits you north of the river.
Here we have trees and wide-open green spaces, cute little streets and nice little houses that - to the most part - are well maintained. Over there it seems so awfully grey and grotty in comparison. There's litter everywhere and every other house has an unwanted sofa or bed dumped in the front 'garden'. People just don't seem to care about the place and it really shows. The crime rate is much higher and (at least in my experience) it is generally far less neighbourly.

The one thing that East London does have over Plumstead is better transport links to the rest of the city. This cannot be denied, but even so, Plumstead is hardly the in middle of nowhere as it only takes 30 minutes to get to the centre of the city by train.

How very dare they!