Although Kier workers are not going out on strike, this does not mean problems have abated. Apparently.

Today, I visited a Walthamstow street (not my patch technically, but the Walthamstow reporter was otherwise engaged and I am, after all, something of an expert...) which has been strewn with litter for the better part of three months. Residents say this is because sweepers simply don't turn up most of the time and I must confess, I can see where they're coming from.

Of course, I am always 100 per cent impartial (ahem) but it's easy to sympathise. There were beer cans, bin bags, crisp packets and even clothes and old mattresses all over the street, of which I took several photos. Granted, they are only 2mpx photos, but I think the graininess only serves to emphasise the point - which is that this has been going on for far too long.

According to one of the people I spoke to, there's been a heap of discarded clothing at the end of the road for going on two weeks and there are always bin bags and bits of furniture lying about. This is not a long street either, which means it's all the more obvious to the casual observer.

I suspect I probably attracted some funny looks as I crouched down in the gutter, taking pictures of detritus, but needs must - all in the name of a story! Apart from anything else, it was something of a thrill to go out, find the story, get all the facts and put it online in the space of about an hour and a half.

In other news, following on from the previous blog, which, as you may recall, focussed on street violence, seven men have now been arrested in connection with a vicious attack in Leytonstone. Four of them had been bailed and three were in custody at last check, but I'm not entirely sure whether this is reassuring or not.

On the one hand, it looks as though police are making progress. On the other, this was a truly brutal attack - a man was stabbed twice in the back and had acid poured over him. If he survives, he'll probably lose his sight and it's still not clear what the motive was. The attack happened at 2am, to be fair, but it does seem, these days, that anybody is fair game.

And again, there ends the scaremongering.

Finally, I have today been reminded of the penchant teenage girls have for covering themselves in cheap body spray. There was a group of them in the cafe where I'd set up camp this afternoon and I had to leave because the fumes were making me light-headed...