Longmead River

There was a gang out clearing out the stream - a tributary of the Hogsmill - which runs down Longmead Road this morning. A gang from a van which I thought said Paul Draper, river and fishery management.

Point of interest one. Thames Water, which I assume is the responsible authority, has contracted out some of the periodic clearing out of smaller water courses. With a contract which seems to be a little vague about whether the rubbish so cleared out should be shoved in the hedge or taken away.

Did it include water quality - given that I noticed a white plastic boom across the stream the other day, the sort of thing they use for trapping floating or foaming pollutants?

Point of interest two. Neither Bing nor Google turned up any likely looking contractor of this name and while LinkedIn has ten or twenty Paul Drapers on their books, none of them look any more likely. Unusual these days for even quite modest contractors not to be web visible. I don't think that I got the second name wrong as I associated to the people who make hand and other tools. See reference 1.

Point of interest three. The large trolley which I have been eyeing up in the stream for a month or so now, chickening out to date on the grounds that there was no convenient tree to tie a safety tether to, will probably not be there tomorrow. See reference 2. But I shall look out for it: shoved in the hedge?

Reference 1: https://www.drapertools.com/.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/a-challenge.html.