Singing Sewermen!

Looking back on the last 12 months it's fair to say that a recurring theme has been, and there's no better word for it, poo.

That is the problem we face in this Borough both from ageing Victorian sewers that keep flooding, and the fact that since we are right next to the river we get the dubious privilege of having everyone else's poo from North London flowing under us and into the river.

That's when it doesn't flow into our homes as well. Did you know H&F has the highest number of basement flats in London?

The proposed solution is a giant new sewer that will transport all that waste under the river and away to Beckton in east London to be treated. Thames Water, the Mayor of London and the Government are all in favour of the 'Thames Tunnel'.

Our Council however launched a populist campaign against it which many of us, including me, supported. But as Thames Water made clear on this blog and at this meeting, many of the facts that our Council have been reporting are in fact false. And they know it.

And I hope as a result of this blog so do many more residents too. I am on course for nearly 9,000 readers this month!

But as the arguments rumble on, people here keep getting flooded, like these unfortunate souls on the Goldhawk Road recently. All of which is made worse of course over this period by the gallons of congealing fat that gets washed down people's sinks and into the bowels of the city.

So spare a thought for the men who have to go down there to sort it out. Their job, I kid you not, is officially known as "flusher"! And they have this year released a single which I feel sure is going to rocket in the charts. After all, just look at these lyrics...

(verse 1)
This Christmas think of sewermen
Who tremble in dismay
When grease from goose and fatted fowl
Is idly poured away
It clogs the drains of London
And it must be scraped away.

(chorus)
Put your fat in the rubbish in a bin
Throw it all in
Put your fat in the rubbish in a bin

(verse 2)
So when you've had your Christmas meal
Of turkey, wine and pud
Remember our poor sewermen
And treat them as you should.
Don't pour your hot fat down the drain
'cause it will do no good.
(repeat chorus)