You don’t know who you will miss until they are gone. In my case, it’s the street cleaner. She’s gone on holiday, and although I miss her friendly chats, I’m also bothered by the rapidly mounting piles of dog mess in my road.

As it happens, the street cleaner told me she was going away for a fortnight, but it made me think about all the people who I see in the local area for a chat or to say hello, and how much I’d miss them if they were gone. Cleaners could be transferred to another area without much notice, or people who walk their dogs across Wanstead Flats might move house, and we’d have no way to contact each other again – just to notice their absence. No more cheery waves across the common or friendly hellos in the street! This has made me much more aware of people around me.

Council staff do so much – from quietly removing graffiti and repainting green cable bins, to checking up on restaurants and shops to ensure hygiene standards are followed. Social services always have someone on call to make sure children and vulnerable people are safe, and councillors answer queries and attend meetings to ensure the welfare of everyone. These tasks are invisible to most of us, but if they weren’t here we’d notice things degrading pretty quickly.

Being holiday season, it seems everyone is away at just the time when I wanted to get hold of them. My cleaner’s gone back to her home country for a month – which means four weeks without trying to second-guess where she has put my clean trousers, and searching through drawers to find where she’s hidden our letters! Only kidding – my cleaner is an angel, with skills that extend to DIY and gardening as well. She is much missed and I am trying to learn new tidy habits, to keep the workload down. Now to see if I can work the washing machine...

My GP is away as well, leaving me frantically counting my tablets to see if I have enough to last until she returns. Of course, I could see another GP, but mine is very good and I’d rather stick with her. I hope she’s enjoying the sun, somewhere!

Meantime, our street is acquiring dog mess, and I am left realising what a good job our council workers do. It’s easy to criticise them if something goes wrong, but I don’t think people appreciate how hard they work. I can’t wait for summer to be over, and for things to get back to normal.