Door-fishing warning update

Rebecca, from the Counties (those roads in Wanstead which are named after counties, like Warwick, Rutland, Leicester etc) wrote on Wansteadium on Tuesday about a “door-fishing” attempt she had suffered in which a burglar had attempted to hook car keys through her letter box. On Wednesday she sent this update:

Thanks for putting my last email up on your site. I’m afraid to say that at 5am, we were the victims of a break and entry. The crooks used a crowbar to force open a sash window and climbed into our lounge after failing to force open our front door.

They didn’t take anything as I was able to shout and scare them away but once again a warning. Advice from the police officers that people might want: Always lock front door from inside (obviously put key in safe place in case of fire).

The lovely sash windows which look so pretty are not particularly secure. Ours were locked but think about reinforcing with more than one as they can easily be forced open.

Not very cheerful news on this gorgeous day but I would hate for anyone to feel threatened in their home like we did last night.

She later wrote to us to say police had told them one or more persons were helping with their inquiries.

Wanstead door-fishing warning

Wansteadium reader Rebecca, a resident of the Counties, writes:

As a subscriber to your news and updates I thought a quick email might be of value…
We were disturbed at about 4am when someone was (we think) attempting to ‘fish’ through our letter box and take car keys.

Luckily we don’t leave them near the door but this doesn’t mean that we weren’t pretty frightened at the thought of our security being compromised.

I just thought it might be handy to give the residents of Wanstead a gentle reminder about letterbox crimes. It’s certainly made us re-evaluate our home security. Keep keys away from the door, even consider getting something to obstruct anything other than letters coming through, for example this. More info here.

Rubbish question **(now with extra added answer)**

Answers on a postcard please.

UPDATE: Answer came there like this:

Wanstead station gardening update

Marian Temple, guerrilla gardener, who invited Wansteadium readers to join her in sorting out the garden areas around Wanstead Station last Sunday morning, writes:

Obviously this was the place to see and be seen. Unfortunately, quite a few people were going off to see a crowd of people running 26 miles. Not a brilliant piece of organisation on the part of M. Temple! However – five of us met at the station for a “clean up sad patches of soil” session.

Amazing how much we got done. Masses of weeding, and it’s the right time to do it as the weeds are not yet at the point where they shed seeds as you yank ‘em out. Masses of litter removing, a whole green bag full of recyclables. Station staff happy to fill our watering can. Geraniums planted on the outer patches where they should delight Wansteadians later on in the season and bits of other plantery happened.

We need another session to clean up – maybe three more patches and start a bit of serious planting. Also, I’ve got loads of wild flower seeds which can be scattered around. Suggest this Sunday 20th 11.00 at the station. Hopefully, nobody will be running 26miles but I expect there’ll be some other unmissable event to give us competition. Never mind. All welcome, kids especially. No gardening experience at all necessary but might be useful to bring any garden tools and gloves if you have ‘em.

See you at the station. Marian Temple.

UPDATE: Ouf! I see that the 20th is actually Easter Sunday. Why do these events keep getting in the way of serious Wanstead plantery? Nevertheless, we’ll stick to this date and hope that a few people can come along. My thinking is that the weekend is the best time for many people but at this time of year, it’s wise to get rid of weeds as soon as poss. Another week of glorious sunshine and they’ll be joyously shedding seeds as we pull them out. I expect there will be another session after this one so watch this space.