At 10:00hrs a south London street was cordoned off and the nearby residents asked to evacuate by the police.
The scene occurred on a 109 bus, with the police been in the area coordinating the movement of people away from the potential blast and cordoning off the scene.
Apart from that no further information has been given.
That and obviously the influence of the full moon, has combined to produce a strange amount of behaviour in the fair folk of town.
So here's a couple of pictures (courtesy of APA) and it's only just gone mid-day!
Where would we be without you, yes you of the award-winning live music fame. Where would we be without the noise, the low-level decibel vibrations throbbing through flats, the gig goers (invariably just out of nappies) throwing their rubbish over hedges and fences alike, throwing up in corners, even taking a leak by gates.
As a building designed and built in the 1920's, the Academy has gone through many incarnations from cinema and theatre (which closed at 11pm), to a venue for live acts. A shame that along the way, the ability of the venue to suppress noise appears to have been a very distant secondary, no, tertiary consideration. The fact that over 40 flats are less than 100-200ft. away from the venues rear seems to be missing from the radar of those in charge of the locale. But then the Skateboard Park, which should have been finished in September 2007, looks set for a spring unveiling - however, not quite sure yet which year.
What good is it having a noise inspector popping around in the afternoon, checking on the noise been generated when the gigs don't start until well into the evening and then go on till 11pm, or 2am, or 3am and sometimes even 6am; a lasting 10 hour tuning fork.
Never seen or heard a compactor at work before, but you can round here, and frequently.
And contacting the council environmental service to complain about the act's coaches parking right up outside, you are fobbed off with a there's nothing we can do. Which is strange considering that the road is on a red-route with a distinctive sign saying no parking between 7am-7pm. But from 9am in the morning until sometime well past midnight, the engine of a coach, less than 10 feet from ground floor windows, are left running. So if the vibrations pouring through don't make your head feel like exploding, the pollution pouring in through the ground level ventilation bricks will ensure carcinogens get you.
So, which councillor's been given freebies for votes!
Which moron's given the go ahead for roughshod treatment of neighbours.
Yes Lambeth Council, you are the non-caring link.
But then what do they care about 40 flats when they have the likes of: Rammstein, Massive Attack, The Clash, The Prodigy, Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, HARD-Fi and Sex Pistols... amongst many others all playing there and bringing lots of people descending on Brixton - leaving happy and going back to suburbia reporting that it's not to bad a place! Indeed, as long as you ignore the knife wielding maniacs, blue and yellow Met Police signs, kids trying to sell you grass clippings by the tube station and Iceland, as well as those who should really be supervised and not in the community!
But as with all thing's, it'll be fun seeing whether there are developments.
Unless you live in a nice secluded area, i.e. wealthy and rich, then it's more than likely you will have come up against the perennial problem of Neighbour-noise-ism! Yes how many times have you felt like killing your fellow neighbour or at least hoping they get run over by the number 36 bus as it hurtles its way down the High Street, just because the bass sound on their latest purchased - although nowadays downloaded or streamed - techno track, or they have somehow taken with a strange but firm grasp some twisted bit of logic that they should be the ones on X-Factor and not the current crop of munters, is driving you insane.
All those greedy sods who turned old houses into nasty noise traps, that governments really didn't bother doing anything about to legally ensure people didn't get on each others nerves, are now long gone and dead. But, hopefully, their off-spring are living under the same tortuous circumstances as the rest of us.
Most of the old properties had wall-to-wall carpet covered flooring, which when based on a family of six plus, living over three floors was fine. But then the prospectors moved in and converted said three storey houses into at least six small poky flats, sometimes, even more. If living in London and on, or below the poverty line, there is a 90% probability during your moving life, that you will be subject – especially if living below someone else – to unacceptable noise levels and at logger-heads over the best courses of action to take.
Sometimes this will be nothing more than the pair of you just turning up the noise. Sadly it will be to such levels, that neither of you will be able to think properly, let alone properly hear what you're listening to or what the other is listening to.
But that feeling of satisfaction will be wonderful, if short lived. Both of you will feel wonderful thinking that you've pissed the other off, not realising that it's only really your hearing that's been damaged. But you exchange pleasantries when briefly meeting, saying all's well with the world, secretly wondering why the other doesn't have a life threatening allergy to peanuts, so you can offer a peanut tainted cup at the next village jamboree.
And life goes on, for days on end it's nice and quiet – as they have gone away on holiday without telling you! Sometimes you just have to sit there spending the hours idly, playing with the volume button. On other occasions you just decide to go out for a walk or just to meet friends, eventually returning home slightly the worse for alcohol, put the stereo on and wake up in the morning with music blasting out and a sour note pushed through the letter box expressing extreme displeasure, bordering contempt.
Looking into the anti-social noise laws, including that of leases, most have some provision with regard for this, yet hardly anything seems to be done about it. Environmental health will only do something after 22:30hrs! Leases say noise – likely to disrupt fellow neighbours - should cease after 23:00hrs, and before then, that people should have consideration for their fellow flat dwellers.
Sadly even when letters are sent out reminding inhabitants of their contractual obligations, scant notice is given to them and things go on as usual.
So what recourse is there available to those under noise-siege? At this moment in time, it's a long hard slog through, ineffective management companies, useless housing associations, non-caring councils, solicitors, lawyers, courts etc. Which if you want a really quick result isn't much in the way of comfort, but will be of benefit once you've reached the end of the tunnel; well until the next person moves in.
The following is an excerpt from an environmental services website, and do take note of the last paragraph...
Our service aims to tackle unreasonable noise disturbance and reduce its impact on the quality of people's lives in the borough...
The general consensus – as unsatisfactory as it is - seems to be... just whack your own noise levels up; so you can hear what it is you're listening to. Either that or suffer the stress and frustration of living with an inconsiderate, arsehole, of a neighbour... on the otherhand, where's that bus!
