10 important pre-Christmas tasks
• untangle the fairy lights
• stock up on batteries
• buy paracetemol
• check your smoke alarm
• renew Netflix subscription
• unblock chimney
• confirm width of oven
• hide the Monopoly set
• clear fridge space for cheesecake
• check your bin days
Railway stations with a festive flavour
Christchurch, Dunrobin Castle, Ivybridge, Maryhill, Maryland, Marylebone, Maryport, St Mary Cray, Merryton, Oxenholme, Shepherds Bush, Shepherd's Well, Sleights, Snow Hill, Snowdown, Starbeck, Starcross, Turkey Street, Ulleskelf
Ridiculously confident weather forecasts for Christmas Day in London
» 7°C: cloudy with rain and snow at times becoming all rain (Accuweather)
» 7°C: rain (OneWeather)
» 9°C: cloudy and wet (Weather Outlook)
» 9°C: bright and sunny (Weather 25)
» 10°C: bright and sunny (World-Weather)
Words that contain XMAS
exams, axioms, maxims, saxmen, Marxism, climaxes, examines, fauxgasm, maximise, Mexicans, mixtapes, paroxysm, smallpox, metataxis, omnisexual
Days until Christmas
🎄 25
🎄 390
🎄 755
🎄 1121
🎄 9887
🎄 50064
Poor sods whose birthday is Christmas Day
Louis Tomlinson (34), Alastair Cook (41), Armin van Buuren (49), Marcus Trescothick (50), Justin Trudeau (54), Ed Davey (60), Alannah Myles (67), Annie Lennox (71), Sissy Spacek (76), Eve Pollard (82), Princess Alexandra (89)
Boxing Day football fixtures in London
Millwall v Ipswich Town, AFC Wimbledon v Stevenage, Sutton United v Aldershot Town, Wealdstone v Boreham Wood, Dagenham & Redbridge v Hornchurch, Enfield Town v Chelmsford City
How Twixtmas works this year Thu 25: Christmas Day, get stuffed. Fri 26: Boxing Day, recover, relax. Sat 27: Yay it's a Saturday, remain on the sofa. Sun 28: Yay it's a Sunday, vegetate some more. Mon 29: Not worth going to work, remain in pyjamas. Tue 30: Time has lost all meaning, slob on. Wed 31: No exertion whatsoever in readiness for tonight. Thu 1: Official hangover bank holiday. Fri 2: Nobody's going back in today are they? Sat 3: Yay it's Saturday again, remain on the sofa. Sun 4: Yay it's Sunday again, vegetate some more. Mon 5: Bugger... but that was a great 11 days off.
Your Christmas puzzle
This Advent calendar starts tomorrow and is made from 24 squares.
Can you divide it into 2 identical shapes?
Can you divide it into 4 identical shapes?
Can you divide it into 6 identical shapes?
Can you divide it into 6 identical shapes that aren't rectangles?
20 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in November 2025
1) TfL have not yet completed all the work to rename the London Overground lines, but should have finished by March. 2) As of September 2025, 64% of London's bus fleet is fitted with Intelligent Speed Assistance. 3) There is a speed restriction on the Central line in both directions between Stratford and Leyton. The eastbound speed restriction is as a result of in-train noise and the westbound restriction is as a result of a track defect. 4) Fare evasion rates on the Underground are estimated to be 4.8%, down from 4.9% in 2023/4 and 6.7% in 2022/3. 5) TfL stopped producing Oyster wallets more than 5 years ago in order to save money and reduce usage of plastic. 6) All London buses are fitting with a heating system. The temperature of the passenger saloon area is controlled fully automatically with setpoints based upon ambient air temperatures (e.g. when it's below 5°C outside it should be 13°C inside). 7) Mobile phone coverage will be introduced on the underground section of the Windrush line by December 2026. 8) There were 128,002 applications for the 60+ Oyster card last year. There had already been 126,216 by the end of September this year. 9) The longest night bus route is the N199 with a maximum length of 21.88 miles from Trafalgar Square to St Mary Cray Station (43.47 miles return journey distance). The N89 is second (21.3 miles) and the N9 is third (20.9 miles). 10) The new Piccadilly line stock presents unique engineering challenges because four of the carriages have no wheels ["24TS is different to all other LU/TfL Rolling Stock due to the ‘floating’ bridge cars (no wheels / bogies) supported by adjacent conventional cars"]. This means that the envelope swept by the train as it passes through tunnels, along gradients and round bends can be unpredictable ["Due to the complex nature of the bridge car in changeable geometry/cant, current practices are unable to assess steps & gaps en-masse"]. 10 platforms currently have "non-compliant clearance", including Piccadilly Circus p4, South Kensington p3 and Ickenham p1. n.b. If you're an engineer, a journalist or an inquisitive soul with a mechanical bent you might like to dig further into "the presentation slides used in a talk given to the Permanent Way Institution on the evening of 4 June 2025" because an astonishing amount of techy stuff needs assurance before the new trains can enter public service.
11) The provisional date to publish the next tube map is 29 June 2026. 12) In August 1,136,358 vehicles paid £15,979,364 to travel in the Congestion Zone, while 1,711,305 vehicles paid £4,937,880 to drive through the Blackwall or Silvertown tunnels. 13) Over the last recorded 30 day period, there were 19 days when the Woolwich Ferry operated with only one vessel at some point during the day. 14) English National Concessionary Passes are not recognised by TfL bus readers because they are encoded differently to Oyster cards and contactless cards and devices, so should be shown to the driver when boarding a bus. 15a) The SL12 will terminate at Rainham Ferry Lane because it's the easiest place to locate a bus stand (and closes a network hole). 15b) Two route options for the SL13 were considered. Ealing to Hendon was chosen over Wembley to Wood Green because demand would be stronger to the west of Brent Cross. 15c) The SL14 will terminate at Chingford Hatch because it's the easiest place to locate a bus stand (and no parallel rail connections exist). 15d) Running the SL15 to Woolwich would have had strong demand but the route would have been too long to run reliably so Eltham will be the eastern terminus instead. 15e) The SL13 will be introduced on 1st August 2026. The SL14 will be introduced no earlier than 28th February 2026. The SL15 will be introduced no earlier than 1st February 2027. 16) If you continue to submit too many FoI requests, TfL will refuse to tell you how thick the padding on bus seats should be and why there are no buses on Christmas Day.
a) London's next dead bus(route 349)
n.b. not actually the next dead bus because the 283 is being withdrawn/renumbered in two weeks time.
There are too many buses on Caledonian Road, Seven Sisters Road and Tottenham High Road so TfL plan to trim some. In particular they've noted that "route 349 overlaps significantly with other services" so intend to withdraw it. The 349 runs between Ponders End and Stamford Hill and was introduced in 2004 to bolster services up the Tottenham High Road.
In mitigation the 279 will be diverted at its southern end to terminate at Stamford Hill, which is where the 349 currently stops. Existing passengers on route 349 can just catch the 279 instead, no issues. Existing 279 passengers intending to go all the way to Manor House can instead catch the 259 (which'll be easy because the two routes overlap a lot).
In mitigation the 259 will be extended at its northern end to terminate at Ponders End, which is where the 349 currently stops. However the southern end of the 259 will then be cut back, this time terminating at Holloway rather than King's Cross. Existing 259 passengers intending to go beyond Holloway can catch the 17 or 91 (but the overlap is poor and it'll be a pain). TfL reckon these changes will break 18% of journeys currently made on route 259 (but only 2% of journeys on route 279 and ½% on route 349).
This is my not very good map. I've included the 149, which isn't changing, because it overlaps the other three routes for three miles.
The 349's days are numbered. Some people will now face less convenient journeys and longer waits for a bus, but TfL are really only whipping away a nice-to-have rather than a necessity. The consultation ends 23rd January.
b) London's next new bus(route 10)
n.b. not actually the next new bus because the SL11, SL12, SL13, SL14, SL15 and 454 may be lined up first.
Routes 19 and 38 are stalwarts of the bus network, both longstanding high-frequency routes which overlap for three miles between Angel and Hyde Park Corner. It's time to shake them up, or more rightly cut them back and let a new route take up the slack.
Route 38 has been running from Victoria since 1927, its current northern terminus at Clapton Pond. The new plan is to lop off the southern end so that buses from Hackney terminate at Holborn, no longer passing through the West End, removing 2 miles through often slow traffic.
Route 19 has been running from Finsbury Park since 1934, its current southern terminus at Battersea Bridge. The new plan is to divert it at Hyde Park Corner to follow the abandoned section of route 38 to Victoria, no longer passing through Knightsbridge and Chelsea, removing 2 miles through often slow traffic.
Route 10 has been going spare since 2018 when the last bus with that number was withdrawn. Now TfL intend to resurrect it for a new route bolstering the central section of the other two routes. It'll start on the Balls Pond Road, shadow the current 38 all the way to Hyde Park Corner, then follow the abandoned section of route 19 to Battersea Bridge.
This is my not very good map. TfL have produced a geographic version if you'd prefer more detail.
It feels like sacrilege but essentially it's all about shortening routes so they're more reliable, which is very much TfL's favourite game of late. The consultation ends 23rd January.
c) Ranking the Superloop
TfL released its annual Travel in London report last week, packed with data about how Londoners get around (or increasingly don't). And in amongst all the serious stuff, on page 60, is this table showing how many passengers are using each of the Superloop routes.
The figures are for a typical autumn weekday and allow us to compare all ten Superloop routes for the first time. The most popular by far is the SL8 which runs along the Uxbridge Road. Next come the two Heathrow routes, the SL9 to Harrow and the SL7 to Croydon. It's probably no coincidence that all three were pre-existing express routes renumbered for the Superloop. The most popular new route is the SL10 from Harrow to North Finchley, completing a clean sweep for west London.
This may be clearer on a map.
Superloop routes out east are less well used, southeast London especially so. The SL5 from Bromley to Croydon is by far the least used of the regular routes, although this may be because it's also the shortest. It's no surprise to see the peak-hours one-direction-only SL6 at the bottom of the heap with an unimpressive 1600 passengers daily. Meanwhile the new SL4 through the Silvertown Tunnel takes a creditable 6th place, although this may have a lot to do with it being free at the moment.
20 programmes on TV this Christmas
Amandaland Christmas Special, Festive Finish Line, Fleece Navidad, Gone Christmas Fishing, Inside the Factory Christmas Gingerbread Special, Is There Life Beyond Earth? (Christmas Lectures from the Royal Institution), Midnight Mass from The Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs (Cambridge), Mrs Brown's Boys, Operation Mincemeat, Secrets of the Conclave, The Famous Five in Big Trouble on Billycock Hill, The Mandy Who Knew Too Much, The Room in the Tower, The Scarecrows' Wedding, The Videos That Sleighed, The Weasy Family, Titanic Sinks Tonight, Top of The Pops Review of The Year 2025, Two Doors Down Christmas Special, Wild London
15 programmes that are probably on TV this Christmas
The Good Life episode with the paper hats, The Vicar of Dibley episode with all the Christmas lunches, Blackadder's Christmas Carol, Elf, The Sound of Music, Death On The Nile, Evil Under The Sun, Easter Parade, The Snowman, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th Street, Die Hard, It's A Wonderful Life, All the Bonds, All the Harry Potters.
10 Christmas Markets 'near London'
» One Of Europe’s Best Christmas Market Is Under An Hour From London And Is Set Against England’s Most Beautiful Cathedral – It’s Completely Free To Enter (Winchester)
» This Medieval Town Just An Hour From London Has A Stunning Christmas Market With Donkeys, Live Carols And Lights – And It’s Open For One Weekend Only In December (Faversham)
» The UK’s Largest Authentic German Christmas Market Outside Of Germany And Austria Is Just Over An Hour From London – Where Traditional German Beers And Glühwein Flow Freely Alongside Pork Schnitzels (Birmingham)
» This Christmas Market Has Just Been Named Among The UK’s Best For 2025 And It’s Just 1.5 Hours From London – Set In The Heart Of A UNESCO Heritage City Full Of Cobblestones And Georgian Architecture (Bath)
» The Second Oldest Christmas Market In Europe Known As The ‘Capital Of Christmas’ Is Just Under Two Hours From London – This Magical Is Home To A 450-Year-Old Market And One Of The Tallest Decorated Trees In Europe (Strasbourg)
» This Medieval Christmas Market Just Under Two Hours From London Is One Of Europe’s Oldest Dating Back To The Late Middle Ages – And Direct Flights From London Start At £15 (Nuremberg)
» This Enchanting Christmas Market Held In The Grounds Of A Medieval Castle Opens This Friday: 120 Stalls, A Bavarian Food Village & A Festive Funfair—And It’s Just 2 Hours From London (Rochester)
» One Of The Most Beautiful Squares In The World Turns Into Europe’s Best Christmas Market – And It’s Just Two Hours From London On The Eurostar (Brussels)
» One Of Europe’s Newest Christmas Markets Has Just Opened And It’s Just Over Two Hours From London By Eurostar – This Brand New Swiss-Village Style Christmas Market Is Being Called One Of Europe’s Best (Paris outskirts)
» Europe’s Largest Christmas Market Has Opened Its Doors And It’s Just 3 Hours From London – A 280,000 M² Wonderland Filled Decorated Chalets, A Giant Ice Rink And A Flying Santa (Craiova, Romania)
Your Christmas puzzle
I spent exactly £24 on Christmas stamps.
How many of each did I buy?
It's The Bull & Egret in Covent Garden. Bulls and egrets aren't usually known as bedfellows, either in the natural world or symbolically, indeed I believe this is the only The Bull & Egret in the country.
The history of The Bull & Egret
The Bull & Egret pub in Covent Garden is a lasting tribute to the founders of the Football Association, who created the rules of the game more than 150 years ago. The pioneers of football met at the original Freemasons pub in 1863 to thrash out the laws of a game now played across the globe. Today there’s Football Association memorabilia and the perfect set-up to enjoy televised football, alongside pub food and a large selection of drinks.
It's not a helpful history, giving no explanation of bulls nor egrets nor how the origins of football come into this. The key missing fact is that this pub used to be called The Freemasons Arms, being close to the Grand Masonic Temple, so a good place for an apron-friendly drink. And the Football Association was indeed founded at the Freemasons Tavern on 26 October 1863 when secretary Ebenezer Cobb Morley convened a meeting which agreed the official laws of the game. The catch is that the Freemasons Tavern and Freemasons Arms were completely different pubs, the Tavern on Great Queen Street where The Connaught Rooms now stand, the Arms 200m away on Long Acre. The correct site even has a memorial plaque, and The Bull & Egret is merely being suggestive.
The actual history of The Bull & Egret The pub was first licensed in 1704 and was known as the Bull's Head until 1778, after which it became the Freemasons Arms. Originally owned by Charringtons, it was acquired by Sam Smith in 1985, Greene King in 1988 and Shepherd Neame in 2003. Earlier this year it was purchased by two blokes called Callum Murphy and Will St John who run a chummy pubco, and in July they renamed it The Bull & Egret.
That explains the Bull - it's a reference to the pub's original name - but the Egret still baffles me.
Update: The cattle egret (Ardea ibis) is a stocky heron originally native to the tropics, now more widely established globally. The birds often spend time close to large grazing animals to grab the insects and worms their hooves disturb, hence 'Bull & Egret' would be a common foraging pair. Thanks Peter!
And what of other unusual combinative names?
London has hundreds of pubs named the Something & Something and not all of those make obvious sense either. I ploughed through a database of 4000 London pub names and tried to uncover the reasons behind the strangest pairings.
Some make perfect sense:
» Fox & Hounds, Dog & Duck, Hare & Hounds (country pursuits)
» Coach & Horses, Horse & Groom, Cart & Horses (early travel)
» Rose and Crown (the War of the Roses)
» George & Dragon (our patron saint)
» Crown and Anchor (naval symbols)
» Crown & Sceptre (Crown Jewels)
» Bat & Ball (sports)
Some you can see why the two might be paired:
» Star & Garter (badge of the Order of the Garter)
» Hook & Cleaver, Lamb & Trotter (Smithfield meat market)
» Hoop & Grapes, Cork & Bottle (beer & wine)
10 tough Christmas dilemmas
• your parents or the parents-in-law?
• brandy butter or custard?
• real tree or artificial?
• say thanks or admit you hate it?
• hibernate or go party?
• send cards or WhatsApp?
• sprouts or no sprouts?
• heating on or another jumper?
• charades, Netflix or Xbox?
• embrace it or hide away?
30 Christmas groceries to stock up in advance
Meltis New Berry Fruits, Paxo sage and onion stuffing, Quality Street/Roses/Heroes, After Eights, Warninks Advocaat, Baileys Irish Cream, salted peanuts, mint Matchmakers, tinned ham, Lebkuchen, chocolate Advent calendar, selection of crackers, panettone, chocolate liqueurs, Jacobs Cheese Footballs, Fry's Turkish Delight, tin of 'luxury' chocolate biscuits, goose fat, Terry's Chocolate Orange, walnuts, jar of cranberry sauce, Twiglets, tin of shortbread, Bendicks Mint Collection, cheese with bits of cranberry, box of Maltesers, stem ginger biscuits, Shloer.
45 Squared 42) ST GEORGE'S SQUARE, SE8
Borough of Lewisham, 70m×40m
For my Lewisham square I headed to the borough's northernmost point and a drab postmodern piazza with a significant backhistory. The Thames laps one edge, bang opposite the Isle of Dogs, its broad sweep best viewed from a short concrete jetty. To the north is Greenland Dock, one of whose boatyards abuts the Square behind a messy fence. Everything else round here is lowrise flats and housing, part of the Deptford Wharf development circa 1992, which is also when St George's Square officially sprang to life.
It comprises a long rectangular open space, securely bollarded to deter joyriders, with an avenue of hornbeam trees down the centre. Originally it was all paved but around 15 years ago the council decided to soften the vibe by replacing the outer stripes with lawn and shrubbery. The grass is now pretty threadbare, in some places just mud, and the bushes have shrunk back like receding gums. The benches hold little appeal on a dank day in November but must still be used because an avalanche of bottles, pizza boxes and empty laughing gas canisters tumbled around the litter bins. A passing dogwalker looked at me with a look of despair suggesting she wasn't impressed either.
One flank comprises 11 pseudo-terraced townhouses, very much of their era, and the other is a dead end used as a parking free-for-all by cars, vans and the occasional small truck. Prior to residentialisation this whole area had a proud maritime history, being the northernmost extent of the riverside hubbub known as Deptford Strand. The first dock opened here in 1604 and by the 18th century was a major shipbuilding yard assembling large seagoing vessels for the East India Company and the Royal Navy. In 1850 Dudman's Dock was purchased by the Brighton and South Coast Railway for the transhipment of coal around its railway network, the landing quay crisscrossed by cranes and wagons, none of which is evident now because British Rail abandoned the site in 1970.
What you will find is the site of an even older relic called St George's Stairs, one of several sets of steps in tidal London providing public access to the Thames. The staircase here is plainly a modern replacement, being slippery concrete rather than slippery timber, and because I arrived near high tide merely led down into turbulent water. I know from previous visits that a small beach opens up at low tide where beachcombing is possible, though perhaps not advised because, as a large yellow sign facing the river duly warns, Sewer Outlet 30 Metres From This Board.
What seeps out here beneath a low concrete slab are the slurried waters of one of London's lost rivers, the Earl's Sluice, a waterway with a considerable geographical significance. Between here and South Bermondsey station it marks the approximate dividing line between the boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham, and prior to 1899 marked the precise boundary between Surrey and Kent. The Surrey Docks were the other side, obviously, and what's now Deptford Wharf was somehow once part of the same county as Canterbury and Dover. A few metres upstream is the boundary stone that used to grace the last bridge across the Earl's Sluice, delimiting St Mary's parish Rotherhithe and St Paul's parish Deptford. But the modern sewer now ends marginally in former Kent, and my understanding is that St George's Square is an undeveloped stripe to avoid building on the mucky tunnel underneath.
13 times some people think Christmas begins
• when Harrods opens its Christmas department
• when mince pies appear in the shops
• when Channel 5 starts showing Christmas films
• after Hallowe'en
• after Guy Fawkes
• after Thanksgiving
• Advent Sunday
• December 1st
• when you hear Wham/Mariah/Slade on the radio
• December 6th
• when the double issue Radio Times is published
• Christmas Eve
• Midnight Mass, liturgically speaking
Your Christmas puzzle
I C E
+ S N O W (O = 0)
X M A S
Each letter in this sum stands for a different digit.
Can you find a solution? (there are several ways to do it)
But I was surprised to see there's another Mill Hill. This one's a peak in the middle of Barnes Common, nowhere near the better known suburb in Barnet, at least according to a triangular symbol on OpenStreetMap.
I wasn't aware of a hill in the area, indeed Barnes is well known for being fairly flat. I checked on an Ordnance Survey map and there were no local contours at all. I checked on a topographic map and there was no evidence of significant variation above sea level. So I went along to Barnes Common to take a look for myself.
This is where Mill Hill is supposed to be, a patch of woodland just off the main road a few minutes from the railway station. No obvious hump was apparent. The precise point's in those trees so I left the obvious path and followed a brambly track into the wood as far as the supposed hilltop. It was not there. I found ivy-clad trunks, holly with berries and thick undergrowth but not even a mound, let alone a hump. There is no hill at this Mill Hill.
This 'hill' has been on OpenStreetMap for almost 16 years according to the data in the underlying changeset. I wondered if it might be a deliberate error introduced for copyright reasons, but OpenStreetMap is crowdsourced and free-to-use so it can't be that. I wondered if a local orienteering map might have further information, the Common being a perfect spot for a competitive run-around, and that suggested this spot's actually a slight depression. All things considered I think it's a mistake that's been hiding in plain sight since 2010, and may not survive until the end of 2025.
But there is a Mill Hill here, as you may have spotted on the earlier map, about 200m to the northwest. So I went there instead.
It's a real peculiarity, an enclave of ten large houses adrift on the common and surrounded by trees. It's almost precisely square and impossible to walk into the centre, each house presenting a gated and/or walled frontage to the world. Weirder still three sides have a narrow road alongside where residents get to park and the fourth is a main road where they can't. According to a sign the maximum speed is 10 MPH and according to a fingerpost the loop is a "public byway open to all traffic", so I wouldn't recommend more than 5. It's an impressively defensive site, a huddle of twisty chimneys and gothic turrets all with a multi-million pound price tag. And it used to be a windmill.
There's been a windmill here since the 15th century, because even at only 28 feet above sea level it's marginally the highest ground in Barnes. It's been sequentially a post mill, a smock mill and a tower mill, the 1740 version having been blown down in a hurricane. Shortly afterwards the miller was permitted to enclose a patch of common measuring 260 x 267 feet, and all the subsequent housing has remained within this footprint. The oldest is Mill Hill Lodge which contains part of the miller's cottage, and can be found on the western side of the residential island where the rest of the listed buildings are. The mill was finally demolished in 1838 so don't come expecting a romantic view, just a Neighbourhood Watch poster and a square of well-hidden real estate.
It may only be a hill by default, its elevation barely distinguishable amid the surrounding dog-walking territory. But it is officially a second Mill Hill, and if anywhere needs a little triangle on Open StreetMap it's the gatepost in the above photograph and not the flat bit on the common.
n.b. There is potentially a third Mill Hill in Acton, so I went there too.
It started out as Mill Hill Fields, a cattle meadow on the banks of the Stamford Brook where it's thought a windmill once stood. In 1809 a City lawyer bought the land and built a grand mansion called Acton Hill House, "a beautiful estate with a fine avenue of elms". In 1877 the estate was sold to Chislehurst builder William Willett, he of Daylight Saving Time fame, who covered the site with his trademark smart gabled houses. The ornamental garden of the former manor house became the local tennis club and survives today as a tiny park scattered with playground equipment, unlocked at 7.30am daily. And all this now forms the Mill Hill Park conservation area because Willett's project was called Mill Hill Park, indeed the local station was originally called Mill Hill Park rather than Acton Town. So although its streets are very pleasant I'd argue it's not really a proper Mill Hill... just the two are sufficient.
9am update: You've spotted a trig point on Barnes Common, in pretty much the right location, which was depicted on OrdnanceSurveymaps published before WW2. 10am update: Aha, Gary Lineker lives in the Mill Hill (Barnes) enclave. noon update: Dan, who added the hill symbol to OpenStreetMap in the first place, has left a comment: "It looks like I may have conflated an old trig point location with the nearby locality name of Mill Hill." He adds "It's always good to have more eyes on open data to check mistakes haven't been made, and I think if that was added now, somebody would pick up on it much sooner." midnight update: Mill Hill has been deleted from OpenStreetMap (although I can still see it).
This blog loves a meridianmarker, having published at least21 posts on the subject. Here's one I last walked past in 2011 and revisited at the weekend, discovering a fresh meridian innovation barely one week old.
The Greenwich Meridian crosses the English coast in the frontier town of Peacehaven, East Sussex. It's one of several sea-hugging settlements east of Brighton, in this case a speculative venture by a property developer called Charles Neville who started buying up farmland in 1915. He ran a nationwide competition to name his 'Garden City by the Sea', was taken to court for mis-selling and amid all the hoo-ha managed to sell off hundreds of plots. The town grew as a dense grid of self-builds and interminable bungalows, and stretches back over a mile into the South Downs from a 40m-high flank of chalk cliffs. Most of its original homes have thankfully been replaced, but Peacehaven is still popular for those who prioritise value over aesthetics.
When a resident called Commander Davenport noticed that the town lay on the Greenwich Meridian, Charles Neville sensed the possibility of more publicity and proposed that it be marked with a monument. A temporary wooden fingerpost appeared on the clifftop while £300 was duly raised, the majority by public subscription, enabling the construction of a proper obelisk with inbuilt drinking fountain. The original intention was that it'd double up as a memorial to King George V's Silver Jubilee but he died a few months before it was unveiled on 10th August 1936. The Astronomer Royal was amongst those who turned up for the ceremony.
There are four plaques, the largest commemorating a "beloved sovereign", another laid by C.W. Neville Esq. Another gives the distance in Statute Miles to eight Empire cities, the furthest being Wellington and the closest London (Greenwich), which is 48 miles distant on a bearing of 0° 00'. The only faded plaque is the most recent, added by the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex on Meridian Day 2014, a tenuous 130th anniversary tribute. The globe on top is alas a replacement, the original having been whipped off in the great storm of 1987. And most tellingly the memorial's had to be moved back from the cliff edge twice, admittedly due to coastal defences than coastal erosion, but if it ever needs to shift another 30 feet it'd end up in number 96's front garden.
The latest innovation is a circular walk called the Meridian Meander. It's so new that it was only launched last Monday when representatives of the town council joined local residents for a circumnavigation ending with light refreshments at the Welcome Café in Community House. I had wondered why the information board looked so fresh and ungraffitied. The 3 mile loop takes in the Golden Lamppost on Greenwich Way beside Meridian Park, which ticks all the zero boxes, also the Gracie Fields Orphanage and The Oval viewpoint. But the trail also highlights Big Mouths Burgers and Wimpy Park so I didn't feel the need to have a go, plus I was in the middle of a 14 milecoastwalk so didn't have the time. Should you be more amenable there's a leaflet you can download and a certificate you can print out at the end.
My Peacehaven experience was mostly along the Undercliff, the lengthy promenade that follows the foot of the artificially-trimmed chalk cliffline. I assume there's normally a pebbly beach but it was high tide so all I saw was water, and it was raging churning water because the wind was gusting strongly from the west. Waves smashed repeatedly against the seawall, splashing up like a geyser at seemingly random points along a good mile of coast. 'Steps may be slippery' indeed. On a summer's day I might have wondered why there were no beach huts down here but in late November it was clear they'd never survive the beating. Ditto I could see why the memorial was up on the clifftop rather than down by the shore where the Greenwich Meridian really leaves England's shores, next stop Villers-sur-Mer.
This blog loves a meridianmarker, having published at least20 posts on the subject. Here's a new one that wasn't in Sun Street last time I visited, when the pavement outside the funeral directors only merited a pair of heavily eroded stone plaques. Now there's a mosaic.
It's 15 feet long, was designed by Paul Siggins Mosaic Studio and was installed in 2017. In the centre is a globe sliced in the right place by the meridian line, on the WEST side is a representation of the abbey at Waltham Abbey and on the EAST side is King Henry VIII who was a frequent visitor. Both sides feature a Chinese dragon to represent the concept of East meeting West, a theme which may have lost some of its cultural relevance since then.
The information board on the wall is all about the meridian rather than the mosaic, which must be slightly disappointing for the artist. It also suggests you stand with one foot in the west, one foot in the east and take a picture. I didn't do that because about 20 people were milling in the street marginally inside the western hemisphere, all in fact queueing for the twice weekly Waltham Abbey Food Bank which isn't something you'd want your photo taken doing.
My idea was to return to the list in ten years time to see what austerity had taken away. On this blog I believe in playing the long game.
On 24th November 2020 I checked all the boroughs again and published an updated version.
I discovered that the number of libraries in London had fallen by 17 since 2010, a reduction of 5%, so not ideal but not the austerity bloodbath many had feared.
And on 24th November 2025 I've checked all the boroughs again to see what's changed. I won't publish a full list this time but I will give you some headline data.
Number of libraries 2010: 363 2020: 343 (↓5% on 2010) 2025: 322 (↓6% on 2020)
i.e. more closures in the last five years than the previous ten.
Boroughs who've closed libraries since 2020 Enfield (↓8): closed Angel Raynham, Bowes Road, Bullsmoor, Enfield Highway, Enfield Island Village, John Jackson, Southgate and Winchmore Hill Croydon (↓4): closed Bradmore Green, Broad Green, Sanderstead and Shirley Havering (↓3): closed Gidea Park, Harold Wood and South Hornchurch Barking & Dagenham (↓1): closed Marks Gate Ealing (↓1): closed Wood End Hammersmith & Fulham (↓1): closed Hurlingham Hillingdon (↓1): closed Harlington Redbridge (↓1): closed Clayhall Waltham Forest (↓1): closed Harrow Green
(if you're local and I've got this wrong, please let me know)
Boroughs with the same number of council libraries as in 2010(hurrah!)
Westminster (13), Hounslow (11), Wandsworth (11), Islington (10), Newham (10), Haringey (9), Lambeth (9), Kingston (7), Kensington & Chelsea (6)
Boroughs who've cut the most libraries since 2010(boo!)
Enfield (↓8), Harrow (↓5), Barking & Dagenham (↓4), Croydon (↓4), Havering (↓3), Brent (↓2), Redbridge (↓2)
Boroughs with the fewest libraries in 2025: City of London (4), Hammersmith & Fulham (5), Barking & Dagenham (6), Harrow (6), Kensington & Chelsea (6) Boroughs with the most libraries in 2025: Hillingdon (16), Barnet (16*), Bromley (14), Westminster (13), Ealing (13*)
* includes community libraries
The fewest libraries per head of population: Tower Hamlets, Harrow, Croydon, Havering The most libraries per head of population: City of London, Westminster, Richmond, Camden
Libraries that are smaller than they used to be: too many to count
It's not great that London's lost 41 libraries since 2010, but it is very much a lottery depending on where you live, and some boroughs are increasingly served a lot less well than others.
I intend to return to this list on 24th November 2030.
I asked ChatGPT to suggest 10 sights worth seeing in Cockfosters.
It did a decent job.
[click for full list]
It continued.
If you like, I can put together a walking route that hits these 10 sights — do you want me to do that?
This time it did a poor job.
It continued.
If you want, I can map this as a simplified drawn map.
This time it did an appalling job.
I confess I laughed.
Even if you've never been to Cockfosters I hope you'll recognise that the map looks nothing whatsoever like real life. One number placed twice, two numbers missing, every location misnumbered, two innovative spellings, one fictional placename, insufficient parkland, fundamental geographical inaccuracy and nothing you could follow in real life.
It pleaded guilty.
I can draw simplified, stylised, schematic or illustrative maps...
...but not geographically accurate, to-scale, or fully faithful real-world maps.
Admittedly this is only entry-level free AI, but it cannot model real life.
Lists are easy, itineraries are much harder and spatially correct is impossible.
If you want, I can create a clean schematic map that actually shows all 10 numbered places on the map itself, not just in the key.
And it was still absolutely rubbish.
But I went and walked it anyway.
Cockfosters 10-Sights Walking Route (about 4–5 miles / 6–8 km)
1. Cockfosters Station – Begin at the Grade II–listed modernist station.
A fine start, an accessible transport node with architectural finesse.
Walk 2 minutes north along Cockfosters Road. 2. Cockfosters Water Tower – Visible right from the road; walk past it heading toward Trent Park.
The water tower is 10 minutes north, not two, and you can't see it from anywhere along the main road because of trees. What is 2 minutes up the road is Trent Park Cemetery, which was included in the original list of sights but for some reason was never included in the walk.
Continue up Cockfosters Road, then turn right into Trent Park.
I had lots of fun here watching angry beeping drivers trying to pass through the entry gates, which are single carriageway only. Blimey they were furious with one another. Things weren't helped yesterday by the park hosting a North West London League children's athletics fixture, so there were parents, coaches, flags, tents and mud-splattered boots everywhere. Cross country indeed.
3. Trent Park Mansion (Trent Park House) – Follow the main estate path to the mansion. 4. Statues & Memorials (Venus statue / obelisk area) – Explore the immediate grounds around the mansion. 5. The Orangery – A short walk from the main house along the garden paths.
The problem here is that the mansion is being converted into 14 Luxury Apartments and is thus off-limits, shielded within a building site. I could see the unscaffolded end but not the statue of Venus out front. The Orangery is outside the construction perimeter but mostly shielded, its interior now used by residents as a gym, and my word the service charge here must be massive.
Continue deeper into Trent Park. 6. Trent Park Lake – Walk the circular lake path for scenery and wildlife.
I skipped walking down into the valley to circumnavigate the ornamental lake because that would have been an extra mile, but I did take a good look from the top of the back lawn. I also skipped the long hike up the hillside to see the obelisk up close, pretending that ChatGPT meant the pyramid by the car park instead.
Exit Trent Park southward toward Chalk Lane. 7. Cockfosters War Memorial – Located where Chalk Lane meets Cockfosters Road.
Chalk Lane is west of Trent Park, not south, but why would ChatGPT know that.
A security guard in a yellow car gave me a very suspicious looking wave as I headed out of the luxury housing enclave. I had to retrace my steps all the way back past the junior joggers before waiting for a gap in the traffic on Cockfosters Road. Only two wreaths remain on the war memorial. I'm surprised the walk failed to mention The Cock Inn which is definitely one of the old village's finer sights, but not surprised it omitted Cockfosters Reserves Premier Division home game against Buntingford.
Walk west toward Belmont Ave.
No, this time it is south rather than west.
8. Belmont Open Space – Small natural green area ideal for a breather.
I'm wholly unconvinced the extra ¾ mile to get here was worth the effort, merely to reach a small wedge of woody grass used mainly as a cut-through, although there was a great panorama across north London from the top of Mount Pleasant.
Head southwest along local streets toward East Barnet Road. 9. Oak Hill Park – Enter the park and follow Pymmes Brook. 10. Oak Hill Wood – At the far end of the park lies the nature-reserve woodland; loop through or walk the perimeter path.
It all got very inefficient here, not to mention suspiciously far beyond the outskirts of Cockfosters. I did walk to the Park and the Wood but not in that order, and it would have been much better if the walk had instead looped back to Cockfosters' hospitality-tastic high street.
Finish the walk at East Barnet Village or loop back to Cockfosters Station via bus (307 or 384).
Oh dear no. The 307 doesn't go to Cockfosters station and the 384 goes nowhere near Oak Hill Park or East Barnet Village.
Overall these were disastrous directions, certainly not "simple, realistic walking route (no external data needed)." But I had an interesting exploratory time all the same, mainly because Trent Park is lovely and Cockfosters has intriguing environs.
As a QMU professor said last week, "We know AI systems make up answers to please us - and that's a problem."
Lists maybe, itineraries not really, and a nice walk round Cockfosters as yet definitely not.
A consultation in the spring concluded that half a mile of Oxford Street should be pedestrianised and that a Mayoral Development Corporation should be created. Now we have a new consultation into the nitty gritty of how that'll be done, including which junctions will be stopped up, where additional pedestrian crossings will be needed and where the buses will go instead.
If you're a non-disabled pedestrian who likes shopping or a retailer with goods to shift it's excellent news because a lengthy chunk of prime retail estate is losing its traffic. From some date in 2027 you'll be able to wander cheerily past Selfridges to Oxford Circus without fear of your bulging shopping bags being run over by a vehicle. We had a dry run back in September and it was very pleasant, if massively over-hyped. But if you ride a bike, want to flag down a taxi or are planning to catch a bus the news is less good because you won't be able to do it here.
Let's dig down and add some nuance.
Less than half of Oxford Street is being pedestrianised
Oxford Street is 2km long but only half a mile is going traffic free (or 900m out of 2000m if you prefer unmixed units). The consultation calls it 'Oxford Street West'. The eastern stretch leading up to Tottenham Court Road is being left alone (for now) because it's not such prime shopping territory, also the 300m closest to Marble Arch because that's an essential traffic feeder. The half mile that's closing starts at Orchard Street (on the corner of Selfridges) and ends at the foot of Great Portland Street. This means one block east of Oxford Circus will be closing too, which has the following intriguing corollary.
The famous X-shaped pedestrian crossing will no longer be needed
The Shibuya-style crossing at Oxford Circus was opened to great fanfare in 2009, with pedestrians rushing across in all directions during their 30-second window. The consultation proposes that Oxford Street be closed on both sides at this point, leaving just Regent Street to pass through north-south. There'll still need to be a pedestrian crossing here, indeed it'll be the most significant on the entire pedestrianised stretch, but it only needs to be straight across so the X won't be needed any more.
It will still be possible to drive across Oxford Street
Traffic will still be allowed to drive across the pedestrianised stretch, specifically at Duke Street, Davies Street, New Bond Street, Holles Street and Regent Street. However three of these crossings will now be one-way only and a fourth only leads to a dead end anyway. Meanwhile the junctions at Binney Street, Gilbert Street and John Princes Street will be stopped up, the latter closure forcing the removal of the bus stand currently used for route 7 and 159.
TfL have been removing bus routes from Oxford Street for ages
Originally the slimming down was because Oxford Street was deemed to be overbussed, with umpteen queueing double deckers getting in the way of shoppers. Later it felt more like zealotry, chopping off the ends of routes so they didn't have to go down Oxford Street at all. Now they're all disappearing, with three routes being sent along parallel streets (98, 139, 390) and two more getting their ends chopped off (7, 94).
Routes 7 and 94 are being shortened
At present route 7 runs from East Acton to Oxford Circus and route 94 runs from Acton Green to Piccadilly Circus, but in future both will only get as far Marble Arch. This'll prevent them from clogging up Wimpole Street, which is important, but also means passengers will have to change buses to continue east, which is collateral damage. It also means the only buses that link Paddington and Notting Hill Gate to Oxford Circus will be permanently severed. Nothing here is helping bus passengers.
The remaining three bus routes will be diverted
Mayfair is impenetrable so the displaced 98, 139 and 390 will have to nudge north into less suitable streets, following Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place instead. Taxis will be similarly shunted, joining all the other vehicles who already have to go this way, so there is a risk these backroads get noticeably more congested.
New bus stops will be needed
Two new bus stops will appear on Wigmore Street outside some quite posh shops where BMWs and delivery vehicles currently park. I've timed it and they'll be three minutes walk from Oxford Street, so not impossible but not ideal. Two more bus stops will be needed on Henrietta Place. One's outside an office block they haven't finished building yet and the other will replace a bus stand where vehicles on routes 12 and 22 currently rest up. They'll be two minutes from Oxford Street but only for those who can work out which sidestreet to walk up. Some very good signage is going to be needed.
There's no longer going to be a bus stop at Bond Street station.
It's the 9th busiest railway station in Britain, but stuff it.
The diversion route is much bendier
At present a number 98 bus can head east to Holborn direct. In future it'll have to turn left up Orchard Street, then right into Wigmore Street (a turn currently prohibited). Then it's right into one-way Welbeck Street, then left into Henrietta Place past Cavendish Square. The removal of turns at Oxford Circus means the 98 will instead have to cross straight over Regent Street into minor Margaret Street. Then it's a right turn into Great Portland Street and finally a left turn into the open end of Oxford Street. Six turns rather than none, so unsurprisingly it's due to take longer.
Bus journeys will take longer
• "The projected increase in journey times for route 98 is expected to be between 2 and 5 minutes in either direction."
• "For route 390 the projected increase in journey times is expected to be between 1 and 3 minutes west and 3 and 5 minutes east."
• "The projected increase in journey time for route 139 is negligible and between 0 and 1 minute".
Having walked the diversion route yesterday and seen all the twist and turns and traffic, I'd say 3-5 minutes extra is more likely than 1-3. However route 139 gets away with a negligible delay because it'll now skip Orchard Street and won't have to do the Great Portland Street twiddle.
TfL are being weaselly on the subject
According to the spokesman TfL put on BBC News last night, "across the bus services you see less than a minute change in terms of the journey times." Officially that's true because the closure also indirectly affects several other routes not very much, and if you average these out the overall change is minor. But routes 98 and 390 will be noticeably disadvantaged to the extent that passengers may choose to stop using them, and it sounded like David Rowe was trying very hard not to admit that.
The fallout will affect ten other routes
Route N7 and N137: will be unhelpfully curtailed to Marble Arch rather than Oxford Circus Route N15: will be re-routed to use a bus stand on John Prince's Street Routes 22 and N22: will lose its last two stops, terminating at Hanover Street rather than Oxford Circus Routes 73 and N73: will terminate at Great Portland Street rather than Oxford Circus Routes N98 and N207: will be diverted via Wigmore Street and Henrietta Place Route N113: will terminate at Marble Arch rather than the hugely more useful Trafalgar Square
Various infrastructure works need to happen to make this possible
Bus stands need to move. Taxi ranks need to move. An extra set of traffic lights will be added just north of Oxford Circus. Some one-way streets will be reversed while others go two-way. Two new "buses and taxis only" lanes will be required. The fallout is going to be considerable. And all these changes have to happen (starting late next year) before Oxford Street can be closed to traffic (probably in 2027), finally giving shoppers free rein.
It's going to make shopping on Oxford Street much much more attractive
But it's not all going to be good, especially if you want to catch a bus across the West End, because your convenience is being sacrificed to the feed the gods of growth.
X-25
That explains the Bull - it's a reference to the pub's original name - but the Egret still baffles me.
