Doorstep service: Dennis and Jack 

• WHEN the hundred-plus-year-old cast iron coal hole cover on the front doorstep broke and one part fell into the cellar below – I was worried.

For anyone, but particularly someone with a mobility disability like me, it posed a trip hazard and more might easily have snapped off.

And if it were taken away and the opening sealed, it would have meant a loss of architectural heritage and character for one of Camden’s Victorian street properties.

So when Dennis and Jack, two cheerful men from Camden’s repair service, turned up I was relieved when, after considerable effort, they managed to retrieve the broken part and take the whole thing to their repair van to weld it back together.

To prevent any accident, for the half-hour or so that it was not there, they placed a plant pot over the opening.

When they brought the cover back, repaired and probably stronger than ever, they put on a sealant and seated it carefully so that for the first time in years it now fits properly and is flush with the step. And after refitting it is probably good for another 100 years.

They kept up a cheery, stream of interesting conversation while they worked and as they left, the day before the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historical march on Selma, they provided a positive quote from the great man about altruism.

It’s nice to be able to report good service from Camden, with a smile. And an inspirational quote thrown in for free.

BERNARD MILLER
Address supplied