The Thamesmead Grump

50 shades of grey

Anyone visiting Thamesmead Town Centre lately will have seen work going on to restore and repaint the covered walkway. 

I am lead to believe this is supposed to be done every 3 years but only actually happens when the planets are in a favourable aspect. I'm not sure who is responsible for the care and maintenance of the commercial aspect of Thamesmead. There has been a well publicised takeover of housing and general infastructure by Peabody Trust but I don't know if they are responsible for the commercial assets that were the responsibility of Tilfen.

I did wonder why the maintenance team had taken down the scaffolding around the first area they were working on before completing the painting. 

They have. What looks like a grey undercoat cover is actually the finished article. Someone has acquired a quantity of Navy surplus battleship grey paint and decided that was just the job when it came to a facelift for Thamesmead Town Centre.

Here are some of the pictures I took of the work in progress where you can see what you will be looking at until the next time Jupiter aligns with Mars and peace guides the planets.

duck tales

While I was taking the pictures of  Thamesmead Town Centre's splendid new colour scheme I couldn't help but notice that they still had the fake legal notices warning people not to feed the birds.

I can't understand why they don't try something to engage the public rather than just issuing useless threats. If I were designing something to discourage people from feeding the birds, it would be something along the lines of

"Please don't throw bread in the canal.

It makes the birds sick.

It encourages rats and mice.

It goes rotten and poisons the water which kills the fish and other aquatic creatures."

If you really can't help yourself and have to feed the ducks, frozen peas (defrosted) are a good substitute, as are grapes cut in half. You do get the odd swan from time to time; they apparently love lettuce. 

The example on the right is a good example of an instructive, helpful poster designed to educate rather than threaten.

If anyone wants further advice and information on the feeding of wildfowl, here is a good place to look.

This poor Canada Goose is suffering from a condition known as Angel Wing. This is caused entirely by being fed too much bread.

kestrel news

On a happier note, the Kestrels in the Crossness Nature Reserve have some new arrivals and who seem to be doing well.