✅ Village pond (ring of benches, reedy growth, warning of deep water, rustic litter bins, lifebelt on back of bus shelter, inevitable ducks)
✅ Village green (picnic benches, memorial trough, beacon, premature fallen leaves, beech mast, dogmess bins, playground, bronze statue of girl reading book)
✅ Village shop (shuts for lunch, reopens bang on time, sparse shelves, AI-drawn poster in window, still sells newspapers but also artisan breads and Fairtrade jars, includes craft workshop space)
✅ Former village shop (was bakery, now Eight Mediterranean, "an exciting new coffee shop and restaurant concept offering a selection of the very best of Turkish/Mediterranean cuisine using only the best quality raw materials with special attention being paid to the preparation and presentation of the product as well as the healthiness factor", also breakfast, also cake, chef required)
✅ 'The Old Police House' (currently for sale, offers in excess of £600,000, but there is no 'The Old Post Office' because the Post Office is still open)
✅ War memorial (flat slab rather than inscribed cross, four WW1 silhouettes because one would be insufficient, crocheted wreath, one of last year's poppies still in situ, visit by Air Cadets still a month off)
✅ Bus shelter (four buses a day to a choice of provincial towns, also redundant bus shelter now used for community library, three shelves of books including Bill Bryson, John Grisham and Val McDermid)
✅ Village pub (former Charringtons but now freehouse, early drinkers at window table, blue-timbered bar, homemade Lasagne Special, Quiz Night every Wednesday, potwasher wanted)
✅ Village noticeboard (map, crimestopping advice, upcoming gatherings, parish council notices, subject matter of parochial interest, cultural event which on closer inspection is in nearby town)
✅ Village signpost (points to Women's Institute Hall because of course it does, also Scout Hut, also Playing Field, also 'School' because that's not ambiguous in a village)
✅ Village church (not in village centre but an annoying walk way especially on inclement Sundays, flinty, Norman, rubber stamp for pilgrim passports, Reverend Helen, churchwardens called Chris and Marjory, summer Sunday teas, poorly-located Millennium Hall)
✅ Village hall (prominent Union Jack, potted tubs, annexe named after village elder, regular activities including short mat bowls and Barré with Fi)
✅ Village Club (prominent Union Jack, hanging baskets, bingo, pool, snooker, darts, quizzes, also meat raffle every Friday, also poker every Sunday evening, new members welcome)
✅ Village newsletter (articles include Nigel's Nature Notes and Martial Arts Summer Update, adverts include investment advice and mobile chiropodist, planning notices include single-storey rear extension on Ricketts Hill Road, upcoming events include WI Harvest Lunch and An Evening With Owls)
✅ Street furniture (telegraph poles covered with ivy, old lamppost with LED lamp, horseriding sign, postbox which turns out to be someone's mailbox)
✅ Cottages (some old, some painted, a few terraced, picket fences, ceramic nameplates, shrubbery starting to go red, birdtables)
✅ Bungalows (carport, charging point, veranda, box hedge, pampas grass, loft extension, solar panels, skip for building works, multiple bins)
✅ Detacheds (oddly-shaped pile the first owner somehow slipped past the parish council planning committee, odd name like Wareslea or Glen Nevis, entryphone, gravel drive, room for four cars, security camera, yapping dog)
✅ Lanes (lanes with no pavement which is fine because nobody walks anyway, lanes that peter out into "unsuitable for motor vehicles", unmade road surfaces because the council isn't responsible, corners residents tend to take slightly too fast, lanes that have to be signed 'Public Footpath' because otherwise they'd look too private)
✅ Public footpaths (those generally only used by dogwalkers, those which are just obscure cut-throughs, those which end up in scrappy woodland, those which squeeze between back fences, those you can't imagine anyone using but there's still a Costa Coffee cup halfway along, those which are so steep you'd only walk down)
✅ Villagers (grey-haired shoppers, adolescents back from weekend sport, owner occupiers on their knees in front garden flower beds, bistro sippers, Waitrose unloaders, reluctant carwashers, suspicious twitchers, actual member of Bucks Fizz, seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, one of the Cambridge Five spy ring)
✅ Red London bus (departs every 30 minutes from the shelter by the pub, ideal if you want to get to New Addington, far better than schlepping up the hill, driver takes the Hail and Ride sections quite fast, helps groups of teenagers escape to the nearest decent shopping parade, helps Surrey residents take advantage of everything London has to offer, timetable is for a stop at the other end of the route thus useless and has been in situ since March 2024 because TfL never check these things, ensures Tatsfield is surprisingly easy to get to)
Villages outside London reachable by TfL bus
» Colnbrook by 81
» Denham by 331
» Chigwell by 167
» Stapleford Abbotts by 375
» Joydens Wood by B12
» Knockholt and Halstead by R5/R10
» Tatsfield by 464 (possibly the villagiest of all)
» Mickleham by 465 (or this one)
» Claygate by K3
» Sunbury by 216/235
Last week TfL launched a consultation for the West London Orbital, a new Overground route connecting Hounslow and Hendon. It's an easy win, almost entirely following existing tracks and linking key growth hubs including Old Oak Common. If all goes well it could be operational by 2035, which is almost immediate in transport project terms, and seemingly with very few downsides. Except there is an issue for some of those who live nearby because three level crossings may need to be completely closed, including one the new line won't even use.
Here's the new line with the three level crossings along the route shown by orange arrows. Closing them wouldn't be popular.
And they might have to close simply because they wouldn't be open very much any more.
"Under current railway operating rules, the level crossing barriers - which are already lowered for around 40% to 50% of the time during the day - would be closed for longer periods. When WLO services are added, the barriers would be lowered for up to 75% of the time for periods as long as 11 minutes at a time. While technology improvements are being explored which could result in barrier down times not increasing this much, based on current rules the closure of the level crossings to road traffic would be required."
Level crossing 1
This is Churchfield Road in Acton, immediately north of Acton Central station. It's so close that the platforms go right up to the level crossing. It's so close that there are entrances on both sides. It's so close that when the gates are down, the station subway is the only way across. And the intention is to close it if the West London Orbital goes live.
I should say it's not normally closed, I just happened to turn up during a week of Thames Water works. If nothing else it proves that residents can cope locally when the road is blocked. But that doesn't mean they'd enjoy losing this on-street connection forever, especially those I saw crossing it yesterday on bikes and with pushchairs.
At the moment Acton Central is only on the Mildmay line, thus sees four trains an hour in each direction. If the West London Orbital comes into operation that total would double, which means the barriers would have to come down twice as often. That would flip the crossing from 'barriers mostly up' to 'barriers mostly down', such is the potential impact of 16 separate closures every hour. Network Rail are never keen on level crossings and would prefer to close most of them, hence the safety risks introduced by additional trains at Acton Central would be a surefire trigger to close it for good.
This is a busy spot with a gentrified shopping street on one side and Acton Park on the other. It's not a truly main road so traffic would be able to find another way, but closing the level crossing would undoubtedly force more vehicles onto Acton High Street. As for pedestrians and cyclists TfL say "the solution could involve a new pedestrian/cycle bridge or make use of the existing station subway". Squeezing a bridge in might require repurposing existing land, especially given the need for an accessibly long ramp, and would really put a damper on what's currently an easy walk down the street. As for the existing subway expensive lifts would need to be added, also it's all currently behind the gateline so the ticket barriers would need to be moved. The only people gaining here are Network Rail's risk assessors, everyone else would lose out.
Level crossings 2a and 2b
This is Bollo Lane, a short distance south of South Acton station. It's also the site of one of London's rare double level crossings, in this case just 75m apart. The track splits here with one spur heading towards Gunnersbury, the existing Mildmay line with four trains an hour. The other spur heads west towards Brentford and is currently used only by a smattering of freight trains. But if the West London Orbital were introduced it too would see a four-trains-an-hour service, and suddenly the multiplicity of barriers on Bollo Lane would be up and down all over the place. It couldn't continue.
On my visit I got to watch both crossings in action, the first only because a freight train happened to be passing by. Down came the barriers on the Kew line and we waited, and waited, because it turns out level crossing barriers come down really prematurely these days. It was precisely three minutes until the freight train finally arrived and almost four before the barriers went up again. In that time a backlog of at least two dozen vehicles had built up, also five bikes and three mopeds. The other crossing took even longer to reopen, this because Mildmay services are timetabled to pass by within a couple of minutes of each other. It thus took 2½ minutes before the first southbound train passed by, then another two minutes before the northbound train passed through, and ultimately the barriers were down for a few seconds short of five minutes.
You can imagine the traffic chaos if up to 16 closures of 3-5 minutes were required every hour on such a short section of road, also the unacceptability of traffic at one set of barriers queueing back towards the other. Thus if the West London Orbital is ever introduced at least one of the two crossings would have to close. Operationally speaking either would do, so it all comes down to not messing up the buses. Routes 70 and 440 both cross the WLO crossing, then slip into the back of the Chiswick Park business park without troubling the Mildmay crossing. The proposal is thus to close the Mildmay crossing, permanently, thereby ending all through traffic apart from the buses. Entirely counter-intuitively, introducing new trains on one line screws the level crossing on the other.
Level crossing 3
This is Wood Lane in Isleworth, three miles west of the previous pair on Bollo Lane. It's the only road across the railway between Isleworth and Syon Lane stations but that won't save it because it crosses on the flat. Also, this one's going to bugger up a bus route.
For most of the day this crossing only sees two trains an hour in each direction, i.e. four in total. But if the WLO were introduced that'd rise to six in each direction, i.e. twelve an hour, and that's been deemed less tenable. Wood Lane is thus extremely likely to face permanent closure. That would divide what's seemingly a quiet residential area, although while I was here I counted twenty pedestrians on the crossing during a three minute period so it's hardly tumbleweed country. TfL's mitigation for pedestrians and cyclists would likely be a footbridge, again squeezed in somehow, and again an absolute pain forever compared to the easy option available today.
Closing the level crossing would also permanently block the road taken by the H28 bus. This is already a ridiculously tortuous route, meandering back and forth across the Hounslow suburbs, and removing Wood Lane as an option would mean it could only get tortuouser. A diversion route already exists when the crossing is closed which involves doing Syon Lane twice, which is operationally super-sub-optimal, and if that's what the eventual consultation suggests then Wood Lane really is being stuffed over twice.
And those are the three level crossings whose days are very likely numbered if this new Overground connection goes ahead. So next time you hear how excellent the West London Orbital is going to be, yes for the vast majority of Londoners it will be, but if you have the misfortune to live near one of these severed roads you may just curse its introduction.
Yesterday I went to four museums run by outer SW London boroughs.
You can only do all four on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
Below is my summary addressed across seven categories.
I also awarded a score out of five to help me decide which is best.
Museum of Richmond Open: Tue-Fri 11-5, Sat 10-4 (closed Sun, Mon) Address: 2nd Floor, Old Town Hall, Richmond, TW9 1TP Website:museumofrichmond.com
Building: Top floor of the Old Town Hall, bang in the town centre near Richmond Bridge. Feels very 'Victorian but upgraded in the 1980s', i.e. an out-of-date marble warren with glum stairs. Welcome: Full-on greeting at the desk starting with the mandated question "Have you been before?", then a scripted summary, then a strong hint that donations are appreciated. Galleries: One big long room with various alcoves. Separate temporary exhibition space behind entrance. Feels like it's not been updated much since the Queen opened it in 1988. History: Richmond overflows with history, kicking off with a Tudor palace and skipping on through Georgian buildings, Victorian expansion and the World Wars. Pretty much nothing post-1945. Detailed background information to read. Ignores everything in the borough west of the Thames because that's the domain of Twickenham Museum instead. Stuff: Plenty of cabinets and old things. Bits of old masonry, models, palace remnants, obligatory pots and jars, innards of workhouse clock, WW2 bomb map. Bamber Gascoigne narrates a video. Extras: Little gift shop. Exhibition of colourful artistic quilts that was supposed to close at the end of September but they haven't replaced it yet. Family trails updated monthly. Regular programme of events including talks, LEGO Club and crafty workshops. Summary: The whole place feels loved and creative, if a bit behind the times. ★★★⯨
→ catch a half-hourly train or take the 65 bus →
Kingston Museum Open: Thu-Sat 10-5 (closed Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed) Address: Wheatfield Way, Kingston upon Thames KT1 2PS Website:kingstonheritage.org.uk
Building: Purpose-built in 1904 alongside a Carnegie Library, bang in the town centre near the shops. Looks very museum-y from the dual carriageway. Welcome: Bit of a nod from the bloke on the desk. No pressure. Galleries: Just the three, plus a separate art gallery upstairs. First 'Ancient Origins' which includes a very old Saxon log boat. Then the larger 'Town of Kings', which kicks off with an unconvincing Athelstan waxwork. The Eadweard Muybridge gallery is more of a connecting corridor. All feels very very old school. History: Kingston overflows with history, much of it much earlier than Richmond's. Few other towns can compete with 'several kings were crowned here'. But there's more in several themed displays around the central mock-up of the Market House, some of it period-related and much of it connected to famous residents. Eadweard's pioneering photography deserves its elevated status. Stuff: Plenty of it including dug-up-stuff, military stuff, a workplace clock and a model of old Kingston. Hurrah there's a map where you press a button and a red light lights up, because all museums of a certain age had those. Also look out for Snappity the museum mascot, a mechanical wooden toy made by the Sopwith Aviation Company in 1919, not an actual crocodile. Extras: The only exhibition that changes is upstairs in the Art Gallery, where a celebration of the fashion Haus of Sibling should have been cleared away by now but hasn't. Also I managed to finish the Knit Wits puzzle trail despite the oddly worded clues and the extremely obvious solution. Summary: It's lovely that it's still here, but feels even more behind the times than Richmond. ★★★
Building: 17th century Wandle Cottage overlooks Carshalton Ponds, and is by far the loveliest building in the loveliest location of any of these four museums. Welcome: Would have been charming except the lady on the desk was chatting as I slipped in so instead I got a charming goodbye. Galleries: It's a former family home so has loads of rooms, each differently themed, from the table-centred billiard room to the bedroom full of old toys. Quite a lot of narrow stairs to negotiate, which only adds to the atmosphere unless you can't get around easily, in which case be aware that the age of the building mitigates against a lift. History: It turns out that the borough of Sutton has a quite a history, although most of that is "rural idyll with lavender farms gets swallowed up by nation's capital." Every part of the borough gets a fair shot, be it Beddington, Cheam or wherever, which alas isn't the case in the other three borough museums. Stuff: Art and photographs are doing a lot of heavy lifting here, also objects that might typically have been found anywhere from Victorian times onwards. There are perhaps more old things at Sutton's other historic museum which is Whitehall in Cheam. Extras: I couldn't get into one room because the fortnightly embroidery group were holding court. I could get into the garden, the art gallery, the little shop and the cosy cafe, which because it's Oktober has 6% German lager on tap. The volunteers that run the place have truly created a buzzing little hub. Summary: Local and charming, which when you have a history like Sutton's is the best you can hope for. No spoilers, but it's my favourite of the four. ★★★★
→ catch the SL7 bus →
Museum of Croydon Open: Wed-Sat 10-4.30 (closed Sun, Mon, Tue) Address: Katharine Street, Croydon CR9 1ET Website:museumofcroydon.com
Building: Part of the redbrick 19th-century town hall which looks suitably grand outside, but once inside it's just a big modern space subdivided for municipal reasons and architecturally bland. Welcome: Nothing in the shared lobby, which was quite busy with librarygoers. But if you make it upstairs an underused bloke sits at a welcome desk covered with leaflets, and he was lovely but heaven knows why a bankrupt council pays for him to be there. Galleries: Three. One was out of bounds because they were clearing out the Grayson Perry exhibition. One has a new exhibition called Shaping Croydon celebrating placemaking and identity. And the other one's entirely separate downstairs with a permanent collection of old artefacts bequeathed to the council in 1964. The interesting upstairs gallery with the bubblecar I remember from my last visit appears to have been emptied and/or sequestrated. Stuff: The downstairs collection includes some Anglo-Saxon remnants but most of the items are old European artefacts of zero local relevance. The Shaping Croydon gallery has enjoyable ephemera from the opening of the 12-sided NLA Tower and an old film but is seriously devoid of broader coverage. I actually asked the nice bloke on the way out if that was it, and alas it was. History: Croydon's a fascinating borough but you'd never guess from this vacuous space. In particular Shaping Croydon feels like a council ego trip filling as large a space as possible with occasional photos, post-its and buzzwords. The Mayor's very pleased with it, but the emperor has no clothes. Extras: No. You could get a book out nextdoor I guess. Summary: The council has more urgent things to fund, and it shows. Still, at least it still has a borough museum which is more than Barnet, Camden, Greenwich, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster do. ★
20 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in September 2026
1) Since Superloop routes were introduced, the most used is the SL8 (22.7m passengers) followed by the SL9 (12.7m) and SL7 (10.5m). Already twice as many people have ridden the SL11 (2.2m, introduced January 2026) than have ridden the SL6 (1.1m, introduced July 2023). 2) The estimated final cost for Ickenham's new disabled car park is £1.88m. This is 25% higher than the estimate given in an FoI response a year ago. It equates to £625,000 per parking space. 3) The total cost of withdrawing bus route 347 was £13,325 (consultation £8400, removing seven bus stops £1225, removing timetables £700, changing e-tiles at bus stops £3000). 4) The most common bus-train interchange at Putney Bridge is from the last stop on route 265 to the station. The least common interchange is from bus route 424 at bus stop FH to the station. 5) There are no plans to use double deckers on route 108 due to the height restrictions in the Blackwall Tunnel, obviously.
6) 46% of roads on the TfL Road Network have a 20mph speed limit, up from 14% in 2021. 7) The new Piccadilly line trains are expected to use a synthetic (text-to-speech) voice for on-board announcements. There are no current plans to use this voice on any other train stocks. 8) 36 people work in the TfL pensions fund department, of whom 10 have line management responsibility. 9) Central, Jubilee, Northern, Victoria and all sub-surface lines are fitted with LCF (Low Coefficient of Friction) stick lubrication applied to the wheel flange root of selected wheelsets on every train. All lines use the same lubricant, "KELSAN LCF" manufactured by L.B. Foster. 10) The calming pod being trialled at Ealing Broadway station is not bomb-proof.
11) Once the scrappage of old DLR trains recommences in early 2027, TfL expect to be removing between two and four vehicles every 5 weeks. 12) The cycle hire docking station that's most usually full is Chadwell Street, Angel (18 spaces). The docking station that's most usually empty is Queen Street, Bank (36 spaces). 13) Of TfL's portfolio of 900 railway arches across London, 102 have been empty for over a year. 14) The total operating cost for the Woolwich Ferry in 2025/26 was £11.3m. 15) TfL have stopped sharing audio announcements via FoI requests because "basically people are using the voice on AI tools to get the voice artist to say anything they want which very obviously impacts on the voice artists' commercial interests in a variety of ways."
16) Last year there were 1,984,485 hires of Santander bikes in Westminster, 21% of which were e-bikes. The borough with the second highest total was Tower Hamlets with 1,213,015 hires, 16% of which were e-bikes. 17) The TfL mode with the highest CO₂ per passenger kilometre, by far, is Buses with 65.8gCO₂e/pkm. All other modes have emissions between 22 and 31, the lowest being the Tube with 22.8gCO₂e/pkm. 18) Expected completion dates for future railway projects (subject to planning, funding etc) are as follows: West London Orbital (2035), Old Oak Common Elizabeth line (2036-2039), DLR Thamesmead extension ("in the 2030s"), Bakerloo line extension (2040), Crossrail 2 (early 2050s). 19) The DfT are part-funding a two-year upgrade programme to build barcode readers directly into some TfL ticket gates. In the meantime handheld scanners are in use at the six stations experiencing the highest volume of barcoded tickets, namely Farringdon, Finsbury Park, Kentish Town, Moorgate, Old Street and Stratford. 20) TfL are not able to tell you "how many completed fares Uber has completed in the West Lancashire area since they have been operating in that region" and suggest you contact West Lancashire council instead.
This month's most obsessive request: a 1673-word submission about repairs to Barons Court station which ends thus: "The correct response was not “TfL is not aware.” The correct response was: we will inspect the station, investigate the defects, and challenge those who inspected or signed this work off. That is your duty. It is not my duty to assemble a case file for you. I have already told you what is on site: flaking and chipped paint, rust coming through, overcoating without proper preparation, furniture paint failing, and a colour scheme that has not been justified. In your own letter you accepted that chipped paint on newly painted platform furniture requires remedial action. You cannot accept that and then declare yourselves unaware of the rest. I am not required to keep sending photographs and videos in order to make TfL look at its own station. Your attachment limits are your problem. If you need to see the defects, send someone to the platform. I expect named responsibility, documents and inspection. I do not expect another letter that protects the organisation and writes as if I had not seen the station."
It's the first of October, one of the less consequential starts to a new month.
April 1st means foolishness and financial beginnings.
May 1st means dancing, witchcraft and socialism.
December 1st means Advent, chocolate and red ribbons.
But October 1st means nothing much because the September/October interface is mostly meaningless.
I tried researching reasons why October 1st might be of importance.
• It's Lincolnshire Day, Nigerian Independence Day and the National Day of the People's Republic of China
• It's International Music Day, International Coffee Day and World Vegetarian Day
• It's the start of Black History month
• It's one of the four days when Ofgem adjusts the energy price cap
• It's roughly World Poetry Day (1st Thursday in October)
• It's just after Michaelmas (September 29th), one of the historic quarter days
• It's when the summer season at a lot of UK attractions ends
• It's around the time universities go back (but most already have)
• It's approximately harvest festival time
...but none of those are truly culturally significant, especially here in the UK.
I tried doing the same for the other 1sts of the month:
January 1st: new year, New Year's Day, public holiday, resolutions, cultural reset; the night before: Hogmanay, full-on partying, honours; around now: shortest days, sales, Twelfth Night February 1st: nothing much; around now: Candlemas March 1st: St David's Day, meteorological spring; the night before: maybe a Leap Day April 1st: April Fools Day, new financial year; around now: new tax year May 1st: May Day, morris dancing, International Workers Day, public holiday; the night before: Beltane June 1st: meteorological summer; around now: public holiday July 1st: nothing much; around now: Wimbledon, shortest nights August 1st: Lammas; around now: harvest begins, school holidays underway, Edinburgh Festival September 1st: meteorological autumn, back to school, back to work; around now: public holiday October 1st: nothing much; around now: Michaelmas November 1st: All Saints' Day; the night before: Hallowe'en, Samhain; around now: clocks go back, fireworks December 1st: Advent calendars, Christmas season, World AIDS Day, meteorological winter; the night before: St Andrew's Day around now: Advent
The most important month changeover is clearly December/January, followed I'd say by August/September and November/December, followed by April/May and October/November.
In fact, let's try to rank all the firsts of the month...
Most culturally important: January 1st Notably culturally important: September 1st, December 1st Quite culturally important: May 1st, November 1st Somewhat culturally important: March 1st, April 1st Marginally culturally important: June 1st, August 1st Barely culturally important: February 1st, July 1st, October 1st
Pinch, punch, and nobody really cares it's the first of the month.
