They say that lightning never strikes twice. That's probably not the view in Southwark at the moment. For the second time this year a dramatic fire has rendered uninhabitable dozens of council flats.
This time fire broke out on a construction site. It was neither the direct responsibility of the Local authority or under the regulatory eye of the London Fire Brigade.
But with nearly 40 flats burnt out it is unquestionably a bigger fire than the one that happened at Lakanal House in July.
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In November 1939 Britain faced the prospect of capitulation to Nazi Germany. Huge numbers of ships bringing essential supplies like food and fuel were being sunk and nobody had a clue what weaponry was sinking them.
The lifeline to the British troops still fighting in France, before the evacuation of Dunkirk, was being cut off.
Winston Churchill who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time faced his first major crisis of what became known as the "phoney war".
Churchill described how the events could have been the "compass of our ruin".
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Within a fortnight of taking up my first position as a BBC journalist, the unthinkable happened.
I was sitting in East Tower in the Television Centre complex at Wood Lane when the call went out from the head of department I was working in, did anyone speak German. That day the Berlin Wall had just been unexpectedly opened up. He wanted a team to head straight to the former German capital.
The Religious Programmes department wanted their flagship programme, "Heart of the Matter", presented by Joan Bakewell, to tell the story of the Protestant Church's role in the downfall of the bankrupt East German regime. As a German speaker I volunteered.
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There are some days my job is shocking and humbling in equal measure. A trip to Croydon last week to witness the return from operations parade for 2 Rifles (2nd Battalion, The Rifles) was just that.
2 Rifles Commanding Officer Lt Colonel Rob Thomson described the engagement in Helmand as the toughest assignment he's had in 20 years in the Army.
His Battle Group lost 23 men, 11 seriously wounded and 51 less seriously securing the town of Sangin and the Upper Sangin Valley.
There have been a number of these parades in the capital over the past year. All the ones I have reported from have been well attended by the public.
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I’m Kurt Barling, BBC London’s Special Correspondent. This is where I discuss some of the big topical issues which have an impact on Londoners' lives and share stories which remind us of our rich cultural heritage. 
