Letter box bristlesTomorrow is local elections day in many parts of the UK, and all boroughs councils in London are up for re-election. This has meant over the last few months that I have been given many thousands of moribund leaflets to deliver to the streets around where I live. I have to be at the delivery point at 7am tomorrow to deliver some more. Wahey.

However while plodding along Tremadoc Road or St. Luke’s Avenue in Clapham a few things do strike you. Firstly, the people you meet are often downright rude to you. Second, the campaign here is horribly dull – the 6 Labour posters in the window of my flat are the only ones for any party to be seen anywhere in the vicinity. Thirdly, you begin to wonder about the houses you have delivered leaflets to 5 or 6 times in the last couple of months.

Why are those telephone directories still sitting on the doorstep of houses that are clearly inhabited when BT delivered the directories back in March? Have any of these people ever cleaned the windows of their houses, or tried to remove the papers and sweet packaging from their front yards? Or what would ever make anyone mad enough to install brutal, bristly brushes inside their letter boxes (as pictured)? OK, you might not want the Labour leaflet, but people surely want their normal post to be uncrumpled. And why are they so concerned about the draughts blowing through the letterbox when British houses are so lousy at stopping draughts through the ill-fitting windows? It’s all quite bizarre.

Anyway, fingers crossed for Labour tomorrow (especially here in Lambeth where the current Lib Dem – Tory alliance has been a total mess), and I am also really glad I won’t have to deliver any leaflets any time soon!

3 Comments

  1. I wondered it too but people never seem to have a problem with it. Perhaps put it down to traditional British reserve!

  2. I did wonder about that actually. We don’t really know any of our neighbours, and just get annoyed when the people below our flat play music too loudly. But I did wonder about the danger of a brick being put through our window… Anyway, the poll is today so the posters will be down this evening.

  3. Daniela

    I find your musings on the inhabitants of London to be absolutely priceless :).

    Don’t you get any funny comments from neighbours about the Labour posters stuck at your window? If you had to do that in Malta you’re very much risking the pristine whitness (or whatever colour you choose) of your front wall :). We’re not exactly known for tolerance here!

    nice to have your blog back and active, and big well dones on your new website, it’s really quite smart and cool!

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