tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37664282024-03-18T23:32:08.292+00:00diamond geezerLife viewed from London E3Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-64578262225666519062024-03-18T07:00:00.036+00:002024-03-18T15:23:08.216+00:00Not the Metropolitan line extensionEight years ago the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croxley_Rail_Link" target="_blank">Metropolitan line extension</a> to Watford Junction was <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2016/12/has-metropolitan-line-extension-been.html" target="_blank">cancelled</a> when the incoming Mayor chose to ditch the outgoing Mayor's underfunded project. The people of London barely noticed - they had no desperate need to go to west Watford and the money saved went on projects closer to home. But in southwest Hertfordshire a long-held dream was extinguished, indeed as a former resident I'd been harbouring it for <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-croxley-rail-link-1975-2020.html" target="_blank">over 40 years</a>. So every now and again I like to go back and see how the disused railway that should have become a tube line has become an even more disused railway than it was <a href="https://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/threads/croxley-green-to-watford-the-goldilocks-triumvirate-just-right.15235/" target="_blank">before</a>. Sometimes I even get to stand on the old rails and sigh at what might have been. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/metextension24" target="_blank"><font size=1><i>[12 photos]</i></font></a>
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<font color=#8a004f><b>Croxley</b></font>
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Still operational. Still trains to the West End every quarter of an hour or so. Still <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/9137307300/" target="_blank">evocatively</a> Metro-land and about to celebrate its centenary next year. No change here. But at the far end of Watford Road...
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<font color=#8a004f><b>Croxley Green</b> <i>(disused)</i></font>
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...this one's almost gone. Officially the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croxley_Green_railway_station" target="_blank">station</a> closed in 2003 but the last train was in 1996, after which BR provided just one daily taxi, so the place has had decades to decay. A brief embankment exists between the canal and the Two Bridges roundabout, just long enough to park a train, and always too far from the heart of Croxley to be genuinely useful. Ten years ago a faded Network SouthEast <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/5773236992/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">sign</a> still stood guard beside the entrance, but that and the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/5773270804/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">timetable board</a> alongside are long gone so you'd never guess what was behind the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/5772696617/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">locked gate</a> and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53592167082" target="_blank">up the crumbling steps</a> unless you were in the know. Except, intriguingly, the gate isn't just unlocked it's disappeared and the fence has toppled too, as if nobody gives a damn whether anyone gains access any more.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53592167082" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_npk0rZvrjTlRwvTUSqlcDIUAUKOnOIPn-gj_pNsAUGYvbJVwBYOKs_IVbAbsUsaLuVUh5NmfsmU9ub30PsdbCL8fX4fxDfIn9SR9ZVNGbFtSxOiLn6mRKQwWb2kMxaCaVT7r2Vjn9O0ZY0QNkNaC66_k6yt0meop2H6UgMg1E-RGXw8VbOFQw/s1600/croxgrn.jpg" title="entrance to disused Croxley Green station" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
I last stepped through in <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2014/12/croxley-green-station.html" target="_blank">2014</a> when the gate was pushable and the staircase slippery with fallen leaves. There wasn't <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/croxleygreenstation" target="_blank">much to see</a> up top back then, just some rails, some wonky lampposts painted Network SouthEast red, a lot of trees and a few concrete supports that used to hold the platform up. It was, I confess, quite a thrill to get back in. But I had company back then, plus I remembered how <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/15402362873/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">steep</a> the staircase was, plus I noted that the handrail had since toppled to an alarming angle so on this occasion I gave it a miss. That said, if you've ever wanted to explore the disused Croxley Green station it's now easy to gain access, perhaps the easiest it's been this century, and absolutely no signs say you shouldn't.
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<font color=#8a004f><b>Cassiobridge</b> <i>(unbuilt)</i></font>
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Croxley Green station was never going to be part of the extension, a fresh <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4fQRj7AKmU" target="_blank">viaduct</a> would have crossed the valley from the existing Met line and joined the disused railway just beyond the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/15836081230/" target="_blank">box girder</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44461605820/" target="_blank">bridge</a>. This brief link was both what made the extension possible and what ultimately scuppered it, being where most of the cost was. But although bugger all railway engineering ever took place, local property developers continued to build around the site of the proposed new station - Cassiobridge - including one jarring <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PaeOG7E5psmIpVh_UjMUo2dYUj_FamSlSycqvme14ZGCIce0nSPbSJSfG08lMqoJWyIsbVnPpukKK1lG4yCbK-7FpkqlibzT9O14X6A35J7X0jkIHbBDmDpUtUfwwHZ05zxUcccP-MdLkGIqHLNalUIanDG2oUfOgfMtajLcuionsCnBsw-u6Q/s1600/ascotrd.jpg" target="_blank">landmark tower</a> that's now visible from far too far away. Cancellations, it turn out, have consequences.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LLlfNHVBsUs4dDJisVlrnqhRMUkpK3Xhe_jG1FirMEnFUyV-1fOtst4s-ek2MzdDB0u9KmYxbJltC4DTFL4ciLF6U4ROctNuLUfZLGB-ukbeTwxf_8Pec-qKAe4Mhtrpgmyb3n1Y9DMZRktu3i4oGzhqBmP4sQ4KaQjudpJd3nmGkTRC_kk43Q/s1600/cassiob.jpg" title="proposed site of Cassiobridge station" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
I dodged the mass of blocky brick flats that would have overlooked the London-bound platform and stuck to the alleyway <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593489350" target="_blank">on the northern side</a> where ticket barriers and lifts were never built. This is one of the best places to look through a fence and see the original railway up close, or was in 2016 after TfL cleared the undergrowth from the line. Even by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44461594960" target="_blank">2018</a> it was still easy to distinguish the disused rails and passing neighbourhood cats through the undergrowth, but thickety trees soon started growing again and are now comfortably above head height. If nothing else local residents <a href="https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/highways-roads-and-pavements/roadworks-and-road-closures/major-roadwork-projects/watford-to-croxley-link.aspx" target="_blank">won't ever</a> have to worry about the sound of trains keeping them awake at night, but as nature reclaims this green corridor I suspect the foxes will manage that instead.
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<font color=#8a004f><b>Watford West</b> <i>(disused)</i></font>
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By the time the railway meets Tolpits Lane it's in a deepish cutting, and dead easy to look down on because health and safety wasn't so hot in the 1980s. Again trees are growing again all along the line, although they've a long way to go before they're as high as they were <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/9138271106/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">ten years ago</a> when they rose above the bridge. <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593519283" target="_blank">Looking west</a> the brand new flats (on the site of an industrial laundry) hit ten storeys, whereas <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593633579" target="_blank">looking east</a> the 1990s flats (on the site of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scammell" target="_blank">Scammell</a>'s truck works) are much lower because density priorities have changed.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593633579" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyHSty48MRYQpURQlOCliIYq96V44wCayk2aaQLbi01HIQ73S575FH5pkIxYJPJOjYZhI2C4oT2G065aWf847RdqHHectfdp_IEPAtyQkQzshJFmiReIkgjvDNDzXJSr5YUBqyClwKIvYYC82245IHAcUYqIPWLM0zfr4PmJ_R-XG0Ckcsqa6Hw/s1600/watweste.jpg" title="former Watford West station" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
The most interesting sight down below is the old <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593633579" target="_blank">station platform</a>, singular, still with its <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/31339775317/" target="_blank">five</a> red lampposts and the remains of the support that once held a mirror. In this case access from the road is impossible, the arched metal gate being firmly padlocked and ivy increasingly encroaching on the steps. Annoyingly it was open the last time I came in 2022 but a group of local teenagers were <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/51930784864" target="_blank">holding court</a> on the platform so my sole chance to get down there was anti-socially thwarted. TfL had no plans for a station here so the platform might have survived construction, although it's telling that engineers did no enabling works whatsoever on Boris's watch, merely a lot of heavy strimming.
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<font color=#8a004f><b>Watford Vicarage Road</b> <i>(unbuilt)</i></font>
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Instead the extension's other new station would have been a cut-price halt on Vicarage Road tucked into the corner of Harwoods Recreation Ground. Views over the old railway are trickier here because the bridge is narrow with no pavement on one side, and controlled by traffic lights so the risk of being run over is ever present. I managed to visit just before a major football match, Watford's stadium being just a quarter of a mile up the road, so was briefly swept up in a flow of bescarfed dads, yellow-hatted pensioners and beery souls converging on the turnstiles. I did however head up there <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53595253680" target="_blank">later</a>, if only to see the unconvincing <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53595124639" target="_blank">Graham Taylor statue</a> and the new <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594390802" target="_blank">streetname</a> celebrating one of the former chairman's greatest albums, and definitely not for a grinning selfie or a greasy burger.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594390802" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUCN02AmgKXpF3Nva9fr4z5ae6A6tjR0kSFnULHMAukn4xH-YS6EfBQy4w80zQ6o4X4uf8MhdbYv-Un1TbL1qxYtWM2P4MQhAh6ziA_2pZ3308IGF5bJAV-HF4m-T-gz4LPtdXAf88YVcFygCGpfmQGwyvLyHzmSw8c5g2to0a-Do-qCg2PCr0ZA/s1600/yellobrik.jpg" title="xxxx" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#8a004f><b>Watford Stadium</b> <i>(disused)</i></font>
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This matchday halt opened in 1982 to coincide with Watford's footballing glory years and an uptick in spectators. It didn't last - the station or the glory - and the platform has again been left to rot along with its decaying lampposts. Ten years ago it was possible to <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/9136525443/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">get</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/9138755714/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">access</a> via an embankment at the end of Stripling Way, but that no longer exists having been carved away to make way for the end of a new block of flats. On my last visits I've been unable to pass under the old bridge due to construction works so this time I was amazed to be able to <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593929194" target="_blank">step through</a> into what was once a lowly industrial estate and is now Watford council's prestige Riverwell development. It's so derivative it looks <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593931254" target="_blank">almost exactly</a> like an artists' impression.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593931254" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitxDp8QwIzu8sh4jVuoEfRpteQOWX9wVf_CuujHAa98erCpP0rlzogNsiqIwQVwiegUN8ZhJJiPNfK6i1kzQBdk-EI1ItzcFiFoVkRzhg5AYCKTSb0ghJiMKtU8APEG7SyvowDbmQgG9RINZPqsmkP32ethzss5CSEf8o_BFoM5paOZxAis8j85Q/s1600/rivawel.jpg" title="Riverwell" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<a href="https://watfordriverwell.com/our-plans/" target="_blank">Riverwell</a> is a <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/51.64636/-0.40241" target="_blank">70 acre site</a> bordering the river Colne, although not too closely because there are rules about flooding these days. It's due to have a hotel, new school, retirement village and even a grid of terraced streets, but <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594490504" target="_blank">as yet</a> it's mostly apartment blocks, building sites, commercial units and a vibrant yellow <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhQWXSGMpCOnz2WCEp0SuAKOyi6uHEQ1mYY6I1VLd-gAuVhaliquB2LGv3xnroDY1WDWyy5McSBR2zPDBUGcIhFP2QvSUMFtAarbdoN9Kb_atm9EXOSqp2bYclXq2hEfPtpXJVkC41nfjZg4CxtffT4FQy4KSHQqmjRsHSPbda3hR085zCUIfYA/s1600/multistor.jpg" target="_blank">multi-storey car park</a>. Again it was planned and green-lit when the Metropolitan line was on the cards, but today is just far enough away from things that the car is inevitably king. An eye-shaped island between the river and the railway has been transformed into undulating parkland for recreation and is not yet well used. But follow the muddy path in the corner almost to the Colne's edge and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593784161" target="_blank">it turns out</a> someone's dislodged the security fence so it's simplicity itself to pass through and climb up onto... gosh...
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594017156" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxQM1mzoYIaUOpv2b136DABFzl9qnL9Qrey7QU3_O6L9pMa1yjtepIvZercGgwapoVRYfoLC8HdfYEqoks3D4SMI-MzfM-0NyeTEPinp7UMzorHR9NC8vI-j_IotuZMZpQyFGOQ2-0pE8MbkJHhOLTc_lfFiDOI723DZm7zEryt9g0vZKik88Gw/s1600/railz.jpg" title="disused tracks over the Colne" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
These are the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594230040" target="_blank">original tracks</a> of the disused railway, here crossing a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594017156" target="_blank">low bridge</a> just before joining up with the former Rickmansworth branch line. If I lived round here I can see why I'd skip the communal grass and playground and maybe bring a chair or barbecue up here to enjoy somewhere more authentic. Also... oooh... the tracks continue in both directions if you fancy a surreptitious safari, in one case swiftly reaching a disused signal I remember <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/9136552149/in/album-72157626709571249/" target="_blank">finding here</a> in 2013 except now <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53594616810" target="_blank">it's fallen over</a>. Alternatively head west where to follow the embankment around the border of the site you'll need to duck under young trees <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593142487" target="_blank">bursting up</a> between the tracks. This is quite impressive urbex adventuring for anyone who likes to slip off grid, in this case into a decaying world whose supposed reprieve never came.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53593142487" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUVxG6Wy-M9ZcV9iSobGZaP66mmsd8-IDTOzYcOSvPpCikedl7PGvMouvvJSMeapxNZMCb5qkYI38M50KGGZtPzc7aoyiZztineVr1F3QeDj9Mt6bcgJX462t2MzWEjbucn32AdrF_QJMvox0aWmIKMrKqfBr1OMVD3GphyphenhyphenXaan-rAfQAqsAppGg/s1600/rails3.jpg" title="disused (overgrown) tracks" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
In another world you could have ridden up from Baker Street on the tube, stepped out into this watery environment and thought it a pleasant place to live, and I suspect it's only those of us who saw the blighted former version who'd think otherwise. As things stand the divide between development and decay is narrower than you'd expect, as well as unexpectedly accessible, and this is why I like to revisit this failed railway line at irregular intervals. When politicians pull the plug, the ripples often go unseen.
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<i>Previous blogposts:</i> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2011/05/croxley-green-branch-line.html" target="_blank">2011</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-croxley-rail-link.html" target="_blank">2013</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2014/12/croxley-green-station.html" target="_blank">2014</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2016/12/metropolitan-line-extension.html" target="_blank">2016</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2017/12/mothballing-mlx.html" target="_blank">2017</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/12/unmet.html" target="_blank">2018</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/03/not-metropolitan-line-extension.html" target="_blank">2022</a> <br>
<i>Previous photos:</i> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/sets/72157673858637034" target="_blank">2011/2013</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/croxleygreenstation" target="_blank">2014</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/albums/72157673858637034/with/30788106214" target="_blank">2016</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/mlx18" target="_blank">2018</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/mlx22" target="_blank">2022</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/metextension24" target="_blank">2024</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-55703342184599733662024-03-17T07:00:00.132+00:002024-03-18T13:31:08.611+00:00St Patrick's Day quizzes<img hspace=0 src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dXC0mdgmsM8/Xr_lnROiuoI/AAAAAAAAkLI/vuOIRQeyvcIl7mKtt3nsACr8QaDITkHtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/shamrck.gif" title="Irish quiz time" align=right border=0>Today I'm bringing you <font color=green><b>five St Patrick's Day quizzes</b></font>.<br>
There'll be one every two hours (or sooner if you complete them quicker).
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<i>Just <b><u>one</u></b> guess in each quiz please.<br>
<font size=1>(but that's five guesses over the course of the day)</font></i>
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<b>5) <font color=green><u>St Patrick quiz</u></font></b><br>
Here are clues to 18 words that can be made from the letters of <b>ST PATRICK</b>.<br>
All the words are six letters long.<br>
How many can you unpick?
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<table style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" border="0" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1><tr align=left><td valign="top">
<b>1)</b> bigot<br>
<b>2)</b> channel<br>
<b>3)</b> characteristics<br>
<b>4)</b> coupés<br>
<b>5)</b> deceives<br>
<b>6)</b> designer</td>
<td width=20> </td><td valign="top">
<b>7)</b> flatbreads<br>
<b>8)</b> immobile<br>
<b>9)</b> lofts<br>
<b>10)</b> lorries<br>
<b>11)</b> mammals<br>
<b>12)</b> pierces</td>
<td width=30> </td><td valign="top">
<b>13)</b> railway<br>
<b>14)</b> regions<br>
<b>15)</b> rigorous<br>
<b>16)</b> screenplay<br>
<b>17)</b> snakes<br>
<b>18)</b> violator</td></tr></table>
<div align="right"><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><i>posted 14:25</i> : <a href="http://tridentscan.jaggedseam.com/dg/161201893115" onclick="TridentScan('161201893115');return false;"><i>comments </i><script type="text/javascript">if(postComments['161201893115'] != null){document.write(' (' + postComments['161201893115'] + ')')}else{document.write(' (0)')};</script></a></font></div>
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<b>4) <font color=green><u>Irish music quiz</u></font></b><br>
Here are alternative names for 20 Irish bands or artists.<br>
How many original names can you list?
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<table style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" border="0" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1><tr align=left><td valign="top">
<b>1)</b> The Wows<br>
<b>2)</b> Rigid Digits<br>
<b>3)</b> Treatment?<br>
<b>4)</b> Tribal Leaders<br>
<b>5)</b> Cockney Curry<br>
<b>6)</b> Tropical Blooms<br>
<b>7)</b> Sharp Red Fruit<br>
<b>8)</b> Young Male Area<br>
<b>9)</b> Avalanche Rescue<br>
<b>10)</b> The Queen Dieted</td>
<td width=30> </td><td valign="top">
<b>11)</b> From The Capital<br>
<b>12)</b> A Gasoline Feeling<br>
<b>13)</b> Lockheed Spyplane<br>
<b>14)</b> Dante's Masterwork<br>
<b>15)</b> Cigarette Remnants<br>
<b>16)</b> Directional Existence<br>
<b>17)</b> Red Card in February<br>
<b>18)</b> Growth Zone Rodents<br>
<b>19)</b> Supermarket Delivery Vehicle<br>
<b>20)</b> Attended Medical Appointments</td></tr></table>
<br>
..and a bonus clue: <b>21)</b> where you'll find 'tong' in the dictionary
<div align="right"><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><i>posted 12:25</i> : <a href="http://tridentscan.jaggedseam.com/dg/161201893114" onclick="TridentScan('161201893114');return false;"><i>comments </i><script type="text/javascript">if(postComments['161201893114'] != null){document.write(' (' + postComments['161201893114'] + ')')}else{document.write(' (0)')};</script></a></font></div>
<br>
<b>3) <font color=green><u>Irish word search</u></font></b><br>
This word search contains at least 35 Irish-related words.<br>
How many can you find? Look horizontally, vertically and diagonally.<br>
<br>
<font face="Courier New, Courier, mono" size=4>
B K C O R M A H S E C A<br>
R L J E S T O U T E I S<br>
I I A T Y E N A E H A H<br>
G X O R A N G E W S R J<br>
I A A Y N E A G H N C O<br>
D E E L E E E S T A E Y<br>
A S F L F R Y K O B E C<br>
I P Y R I G N R O K H E<br>
L O T L E C U E S J G B<br>
F A M I N E L I A M U O<br>
C E I L I D H R E V O R<br>
B E D L I W R E T S L U</font>
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<div align="right"><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><i>posted 10:25</i> : <a href="http://tridentscan.jaggedseam.com/dg/161201893113" onclick="TridentScan('161201893113');return false;"><i>comments </i><script type="text/javascript">if(postComments['161201893113'] != null){document.write(' (' + postComments['161201893113'] + ')')}else{document.write(' (0)')};</script></a></font></div>
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<b>2) <font color=green><u>Irish counties quiz</u></font></b><br>
Here are cryptic clues to the names of the 32 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Ireland" target="_blank">Irish Counties</a>.<br>
That's 6 from Northern Ireland and 26 from the Republic.<br>
How many can you name?
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<table style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" border="0" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1><tr align=left><td valign="top">
<b>1)</b> yob H<br>
<b>2)</b> like liver?<br>
<b>3)</b> garland cut<br>
<b>4)</b> insect edge<br>
<b>5)</b> sounds twice<br>
<b>6)</b> flesh hospital<br>
<b>7)</b> she's finished<br>
<b>8)</b> citrus Richard<br>
<b>9)</b> Rendell sleuth<br>
<b>10)</b> 60s TV doctor<br>
<b>11)</b> half a martyr 1<br>
<b>12)</b> not a short car<br>
<b>13)</b> floating stopper<br>
<b>14)</b> shortened sauce<br>
<b>15)</b> afterword edited<br>
<b>16)</b> hang frame badly</td>
<td width=30> </td><td valign="top">
<b>17)</b> back in feral cat<br>
<b>18)</b> not a high vehicle<br>
<b>19)</b> truck on a railway<br>
<b>20)</b> candle's nearly out<br>
<b>21)</b> sparkling wine north<br>
<b>22)</b> you see a lot of Ros<br>
<b>23)</b> waste them recycled<br>
<b>24)</b> hillock, or depression?<br>
<b>25)</b> Rochdale MP loses heart<br>
<b>26)</b> weekday muddles Ghana<br>
<b>27)</b> made from red nylon rod<br>
<b>28)</b> found in muesli (gourmet)<br>
<b>29)</b> misbehave smothered in lube<br>
<b>30)</b> limb with silver and hydrogen<br>
<b>31)</b> SE Asian country includes one<br>
<b>32)</b> happened in every South Park episode</td></tr></table>
<div align="right"><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><i>posted 08:25</i> : <a href="http://tridentscan.jaggedseam.com/dg/161201893112" onclick="TridentScan('161201893112');return false;"><i>comments </i><script type="text/javascript">if(postComments['161201893112'] != null){document.write(' (' + postComments['161201893112'] + ')')}else{document.write(' (0)')};</script></a></font></div>
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<b>1) <font color=green><u>Famous Patricks quiz</u></font></b><br>
Here are clues to the names of 20 famous Patricks.<br>
How many surnames do you know?
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<table style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" border="0" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1><tr align=left><td valign="top">
<b>1)</b> Prisoner 6<br>
<b>2)</b> 50s singer<br>
<b>3)</b> dirty dancer<br>
<b>4)</b> Derby winner<br>
<b>5)</b> Arsenal goalie<br>
<b>6)</b> second doctor<br>
<b>7)</b> TV astronomer<br>
<b>8)</b> Woolpack softy<br>
<b>9)</b> avenging steed<br>
<b>10)</b> shower dreamer</td>
<td width=30> </td><td valign="top">
<b>11)</b> Lincoln sheriff<br>
<b>12)</b> E20 Trinidadian<br>
<b>13)</b> starship captain<br>
<b>14)</b> American psycho<br>
<b>15)</b> Grey's Anatomist<br>
<b>16)</b> French midfielder<br>
<b>17)</b> lockdown adviser<br>
<b>18)</b> Wimbledon winner<br>
<b>19)</b> Greendale mailman<br>
<b>20)</b> broadcasting comedian</td></tr></table>
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<font size=1><i>(remember, just <u>one</u> guess per quiz)</i></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-12869585628376092902024-03-16T03:46:00.199+00:002024-03-16T15:14:03.186+00:00346Last Saturday one bus route on the edge of east London disappeared and another quadrupled in length. I didn't fancy spending my birthday in Upminster so left it a few days before taking a ride on the end result.
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<font color=#cc0033>•</font> The <font color=#cc0033><b>346</b></font> <u>used to be</u> one of London's <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2019/01/route-346.html" target="_blank">shortest</a> bus routes, a brief curl around the estates east of Upminster linking Cranham to the tube. It's grown.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>•</font> The <font color=#cc0033><b>347</b></font> <u>is</u> London's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDkFxlTlkks" target="_blank">least frequent</a> bus route, operating just four times a day and never on a Sunday. It continues.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>•</font> The <font color=#cc0033><b>497</b></font> <u>was</u> London's most unnecessary bus, introduced in <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020/01/route-497.html" target="_blank">January 2020</a> to connect not many people to Crossrail at Harold Wood. It's vanished.
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I wrote a <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/01/extinguishing-497.html" target="_blank">detailed analysis</a> of the changes a couple of months so you should read that if you're interested. But in short, what happened last Saturday is that the <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/346?direction=inbound" target="_blank">346</a> extended north from Upminster station along the remote rural route of the 347, then swallowed the 497 whole. <font color=#cc0033>New 346 = Old 346 + 347 + 497</font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVDKZYNtdA168s7kygXnAXBMVY1vm3ujGJfIuR9zLFwc4dvTXDwarI_jIswlRvy4b-gMwUznmC-cfeQbs2Guzx-HvLsoAuuNc3qbdC-zphaHsbI_gksSdkbZlQFgM_239KoC_J4JmtPi2VDjMdinfYkcTQUrxX3HcgtihvdWVWL1W411LSTuOJw/s1600/346347497.gif" title="changes to the 346" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033 size=4>Route 346: Upminster Park Estate to Harold Hill</font><br>
<font size=1><em>Location</em>: London east, outer<br>
<em>Length of bus journey</em>: 10 miles, 50 minutes</font><br>
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<font color=#cc0033><b>346</b>:</font> The 346 <a href="https://osm.org/go/0EEbQjT8-?m=" target="_blank">starts</a> where it always did, beside a large patch of grass in the middle of the Upminster Hall estate. TfL <a href="https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/bus-routes-346-347-497" target="_blank">thought</a> they'd have to add a toilet here to make the new route work but have made do without, to residents' relief if not drivers'. Buses used to depart every 15 minutes but under the new arrangements it's every 20 so local residents alas now have a worse service.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNnn4WYolFPRyC49NRCI1TWKz4XjfqWZGMxl1ojQKiynYIIbzrzCCmT2A0yEjjciDOr1HO0VokqRiPuMDzpD3e9FtzWXM8r9EuRgUTk6bqL7wkf128eVX2WvjjJF1zkfcL82cJB7d3KjjtkAn-iGYh3s53a8pneu48ml5E6FgzEmFYKTTZYDskPQ/s1600/346.jpg" title="346 at Upminster Park Estate" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
It's an odd start, first heading round a four minute loop back to <i>almost</i> where we started. A 248 is looping just in front of us, hoovering up most of the passengers, but we do attract a couple. One's an elderly man who addresses the driver with a smiley hello and a look that says "you're the first person I've spoken to today, I wish you had more to say". Queens Gardens is seriously potholed and leads to some private woodland on the very edge of east London. If you live out here, near the Cranham Brickfields, you're either very grateful for the 346 bus or more likely your front garden is full of cars. Switchbacking past the bungalows we reach the centre of Cranham by the tube depot, pausing briefly outside the Pie and Mash Cafe with its obligatory England flags. From here we're a faster route to Upminster than the 248 so by the time we reach St Mary's Lane there are ten passengers on board.
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<i><font color=#cc0033><u>Hello TfL</u>:</font> The bus stops along this section of the route still have tiles which say '346 Monday-Saturday' whereas the service is now daily (hurrah), so they should have the plain 346 tiles the new bit of the route has.</i>
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<font color=#cc0033><b>346/347</b>:</font> From here we shadow the route of the two-hourly <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/347" target="_blank">347</a>, the local irrelevance that occasionally links to Ockendon. We're approaching the centre of Upminster from the east, past the British Legion and eventually Waitrose where some of our passengers scarper. If I were to try to summarise the contrasting demographics hereabouts in just two cafe names, they would be Upminster Tandoori and Essex Grill. At the crossroads we turn right and hit the high street, where retro Upminster still boasts a department store and a Wimpy. Outside the latter is where driver changeover normally takes place, but only in the opposite direction so thankfully we speed through. By the time we reach the station, where the 346 formerly terminated, there's instead been a complete changeover of passengers (myself excluded).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwUKQrqSJaR5QaZvDMlaZg-P10LW0HgiDAHD4w5B4r65JMR-lgmOeI92hy3CPSDRtEbWM_IU-4CTNtGsdit6suTq4x1Zi09XmL1MaVrSlk1i4z0OVbPUpolUVyrGqAzSwzHvjTk2JObBXhDkHnY_OjbJUpwP7i6eLDH4wwsXX7qkhzdAf8X0UhIw/s1600/346wimpy.jpg" title="346 by Upminster Wimpy" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>347</b>:</font> Beyond the station the houses get bigger, grander and villa-ier. They're adding 35 more where the pitch and putt course used to be, whereas the proper golf course where the serious adults play has avoided being five-bedroomed. <a href="https://upminstertithebarn.co.uk/" target="_blank">Upminster Tithe Barn Museum</a> is alas closed until next year due to roof repairs but still has a bus stop named after it. So contortedly-spiralling is our route that if you'd missed the 346 at its departure point you could easily have walked to the River Drive bus stop and caught it here - I managed it in 12 minutes whereas the bus has taken 20. Just one more <a href="https://osm.org/go/0EEZ6bX7?m=" target="_blank">stop</a> remains before we hit the edge of town, named after a <a href="https://www.wylievets.com/about" target="_blank">veterinary centre</a> founded in 1908, and then the Green Belt hits with a vengeance.
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<i><font color=#cc0033><u>Hello TfL</u>:</font> What follows is one of the <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-longest-gaps-between-bus-stops.html" target="_blank">longest gaps</a> between bus stops in Greater London, a full 1.4 miles, as we skip over a major junction on the Southend Arterial and skirt fresh woods. It perhaps made sense not to stop here when there were only four buses a day but now there are 66 and everyone who lives inbetween is missing out. And people do live here - there's Martin's Cottage and Summerhill Terrace for a start, then everyone up Cornlands Close and the incredibly worthy cause of the Meadowbanks Care Home. London Loop section 22 passes through too, plus there's the car park for Pages Wood, but buses simply speed by missing all this out. It shouldn't be difficult to add a bus stop here, even if it was just a flag on a pole and not an all-perfect drop-kerb accessible node, and it'd barely slow the service down. Having gone to all the effort of vastly improving the local bus service, not stopping for a mile and a half is a serious wrong that needs seriously righting.</i>
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When we do finally pause, at <a href="https://osm.org/go/0EEZ90oy?m=" target="_blank">Pages Lane</a>, we've zipped across the divide between Upminster and Harold Wood in three minutes flat. Alight here for <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/07/tylers-common.html" target="_blank">Tylers Common</a> and the start of a row of cottages, or at the next stop for the Towie-esque Array Brasserie and Grill. Residents on Shepherds Hill are the biggest winners of the 346's upgrade, now with 15 times as many buses per day and a Sunday service to boot, should they ever choose to use it. We cross the river Ingrebourne at Cockabourne Bridge, a smirkable name hilariously immortalised on a bus stop. By the time we reach the church, the clinic and Harold Wood's Neighbourhood Centre, but not yet the shops, two other bus routes have filtered in to help us out. At the station we unexpectedly swing round and pull up on the opposite side of the road before continuing, all the better to serve Crossrail, which is where our four miles of 347-shadowing comes to an end.
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<i><font color=#cc0033><u>Hello TfL</u>:</font> Which begs the question, why haven't you scrapped the 347 yet? It's never performed a useful function between Romford and Harold Wood, no longer performs a useful function between Harold Wood and Cranham and still isn't necessary between North and South Ockendon. Its sole unique bit is now an underpopulated two miles between Cranham and North Ockendon, and OK these people pay London taxes but it's hard to argue they deserve this 12 mile long route. In <a href="https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/bus-routes-346-347-497" target="_blank">January</a> it was announced that route 347 remains 'under review', but short of turning it into a brief runty shuttle or pulling a magic rabbit from a hat and extending it somewhere unexpected it probably needs to die. Politically speaking, maybe that's best done after the Mayoral election.</i>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfdo8H7BtL5kSMX5cTcGePff_emcfcncl4Swwdd67Sk9trcK_MtdUSBsidDIcxHrR3jEsCjhgfWq3fuh3w8jsmE60UGq1VIQ5QPTfxCRkVguVyRIcsfNvypvyu3yC68G5RXNRiTqoYu7SSdNXxHI8ech0nIYGB0Z33_eR4obgGD7v1YijSaxrVyg/s1600/ex497.jpg" title="the ex 497, back in February" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>ex-497</b>:</font> From Harold Wood station onwards the 346 follows what used to be <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020/01/route-497.html" target="_blank">route 497</a> into the remains of a hospital. Its former site is now 800 houses served on a hail and ride basis, with buses the only vehicles allowed to drive straight through. This is the busiest I've ever seen this service, picking up seven passengers on the way through and then dropping off a couple of pensioners from Upminster at the back of the big Tesco. There are still ten of us aboard as we head for the A12 and cross it, numbers I'd never previously have believed, but maybe that's what a more frequent service delivers. Everything round here screams cars cars cars - driving them, selling them, servicing them - so it's good to see so many people not using them.
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Only one resident alights on Chatteris Avenue, the <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gg5p8zqLzqI/Xiy-47ZgXmI/AAAAAAAAic0/nXIMl9iJXTU-hedzqxJeDWBO8GpO9v_FwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/haroldgap.gif" target="_blank">tiny gap</a> in the network the 497 was introduced for, because most are waiting for the big shops on Hilldene Avenue. It no longer merits a pub but it does have a poundshop called Bargain Town and a takeaway called Fish'n'chicken. Just one person wants to ride the last stretch up Dagnam Park Drive, another blinks hard and checks the timetable to try to work out what this new bus might be. By the time we've climbed out of the valley and turned right at the trig point I'm the only passenger left, eventually turfed off by the Turdis at Stratton Road Woodland. The edge of Greater London is less than a mile away, as it has been for most of the ride.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Dn9hTny7ymC9aLl7hmbL7f6j8jLbv44_5kmoZgE7Ogv8EqVHOOcizbak24oe5mR9Q1gdsl05wG0fdlwRqhKEia8ebVxWyrVz-Bl3IIgeAB35sBkj2chG5zHdPM6TXg7sbp2W_nJrX1la20SR7Ogs-2a7Rg8VV3-JB_usP5fM_wewP_F1Ugvq9g/s1600/346end.jpg" title="346 st Dagnam Park Drive" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020/01/route-497.html" target="_blank">497</a> was a total failure of a bus route - introduced without good reason, extended in desperation, persistently underused and scrapped within four years. But given that over 30 passengers in total joined me aboard the extended 346 perhaps a proper solution has finally been found to the problem of how best to serve outer Havering. Quadrupling the length of what used to be the 8th shortest bus route in London has created something people actually want to ride.
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<font color=#cc0033><b><u>London's shortest bus routes</u></b> (since 09/03/24)</font><br>
<i>1)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>389</b></font> Western Way → Barnet <i>1.63 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>*</font><br>
<i>2)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>327</b></font> Waltham Cross → Elsinge Estate <i>1.87 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>*</font><br>
<i>3)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>209</b></font> Mortlake → Castelnau <i>1.91 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>†</font><br>
<i>4)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>379</b></font> Chingford → Yardley Lane <i>2.26 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>*</font><br>
<i>5)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>W7</b></font> Finsbury Park → Muswell Hill <i>2.47 miles</i><br>
<i>6)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>378</b></font> Putney Bridge → Mortlake <i>2.60 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>†</font><br>
<i>7)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>R9</b></font> Orpington → Tintagel Road <i>2.63 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>*</font><br>
<i>8)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>399</b></font> Hadley Wood → Barnet <i>3.03 miles</i><font color=#cc0033>*</font><br>
<i>9)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>E1</b></font> Greenford → Ealing Broadway <i>3.13 miles</i><br>
<i>10)</i> <font color=#cc0033><b>323</b></font> Mile End → Canning Town <i>3.41 miles</i><br>
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<font color=#cc0033>*</font> Circular route <font size=1><i>(the given mileage is halfway round)</i></font><br>
<font color=#cc0033>†</font> Route affected by the closure of Hammersmith BridgeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-51348228612897583102024-03-15T07:00:00.104+00:002024-03-15T13:32:04.797+00:00Random borough 3<i>Twenty years ago, on my first <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html#2626462240202843301" target="_blank">Random Borough</a> trip, my jamjar took me to <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html#107925840240861555" target="_blank">Merton</a> and I only gave it a one-day write-up. Two decades later I'm doing Merton justice by giving it three days, of which this is the last, so buckle down to learn about fertiliser, philanthropy and phone masts.
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Before I start with 'somewhere famous', yes I know that Merton's most well-known thing is undoubtedly the <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/07/wimbledon.html" target="_blank">Wimbledon tennis tournament</a> but I chose that last time. I also picked the other frontrunner, Wimbledon Common, and wider recognition tails off somewhat after those. So I've decided to focus instead on a famous resident, or at least a resident with a famous name who never saw the product everyone knows him for.</i>
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<b><i>Somewhere famous: <a href="https://www.johninnessociety.org.uk/parks" target="_blank">John Innes Park</a></i></b><br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Innes_%28philanthropist%29" target="_blank">John Innes</a>, the name on many a bag of compost, was born nowhere near here in 1829. He started out as a wine merchant in the City of London but made his money by starting an office property company with his brother, and that's when his eyes turned to <a href="https://osm.org/go/euuj2Wgu--?m=" target="_blank">Merton</a>. He bought up Manor Farm, installed himself as Lord of the Manor and set about developing an extensive garden suburb on the site. <a href="https://www.johninnessociety.org.uk/merton-park" target="_blank">Merton Park</a>'s still a really nice garden suburb, but we'll get to that. John died in 1904 after three decades of local do-gooding and, in a will changed a week before his passing, bequeathed significant funds to found either an art museum or a horticultural institute. His trustees picked the latter, as you might have guessed, and that set in train the events by which he's now known.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53587446378" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimav8mJPPRqRPCx_07NR_i8gHPaCc2EkDCjUHlATBZLFzLEC8EQC8AC-vCWFXskEue0PARkAStpmHSApnCd8OFD8xoBJuoUqwhLR0H7DPDFE1zRiZQS6KXLxrMz4Q5gmrhlcJiS5lfGkf9dbTEzOxovlbwfuO-PXC6oah-CaQhLOQku4nwo5LA0w/s1600/jinnes.jpg" title="John Innes' tomb, St Mary the Virgin, Merton" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
John's buried in the churchyard of <a href="https://www.stmarysmerton.org.uk/our-history" target="_blank">St Mary the Virgin</a> at the heart of the estate, which unusually for a mid-suburban church is very early medieval and retains 12th century crossbeams in the roof of the nave. I hoped to get inside to see Edward Burne-Jones' stained glass and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53587224426" target="_blank">Lord Nelson's bench</a> (he was a <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-nelson-trail.html" target="_blank">regular worshipper</a> here towards the end of his life) but it was only possible to get as far as the porch. Not to worry, that was far enough to be able to pick up a <a href="https://api2.churchdesk.com/files/d128b8d8-5af4-46bf-8fbe-17396717b5d3/view" target="_blank">Churchyard Trail</a> leaflet, and even without that it's immediately obvious looking down the churchyard that <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53587446378" target="_blank">only one memorial</a> has anywhere near the required dimensions to be John Innes' final resting place. Nice cherubs. Also the grass near the tomb was flourishing with spring flowers, including primroses and my very first bluebell of the year, which I thought was very appropriate for someone everyone thinks of as a famous horticulturalist.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53587856126" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWaGEsgloL-nPyhrU52-cwaZvXGZNwOdHlcsY8UZljF1p_OmuJmvVieBsHt7lcs-Ez4hNNx7pWnB9kmuxwV4u0BNGGF3oiJcvCx1-XKLV1SHpVuLsFjxU2ulNmKa_DqysEw7utRwzv44a6Hvgrev79EPBWiNdAwgwfvFsAugnrLKKOlGoGV8gvjg/s1600/innes1.jpg" title="John Innes Park - entrance" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://www.johninnessociety.org.uk/architecture" target="_blank">streets</a> hereabouts are lovely, a few predating suburban development but mostly broad avenues lined by large desirable properties in Queen Anne and Domestic Revival styles. A particular feature of the estate is the use of holly hedges to act as garden boundaries. These days the area forms a substantial conservation area, one of many on this side of Merton, each readily identified by a special form of light blue street sign. Various pinned-up notices seem to suggest that the estate has a significant problem with dogs being rowdy and digging things up, especially behind the church hall, but this may just be a reflection of the <a href="http://www.mertonpark.org.uk/mpwra-mpwir" target="_blank">residents association</a> being run by sticklers and perfectionists.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53588177704" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qd89N04hASlRdFrPmDhLugUNOvSD9-iVA5ZVEF3OU7LrnOK57xmktUh7kxtT5McyUOpDtmAApXoS3QC-Lb1-cRZsUtQzArh2O20sKLvtRD6UKx5i1SYHj2VBJXkMzDVSaKcuBhczfDoVcMjg5XuOBBvpOSOVsMjEGjUbUxyA-9C2UCa2JjkCnw/s1600/innesloo.jpg" title="John Innes Park - toilet block" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
The finest public facility hereabouts is undoubtedly <a href="https://www.johninnessociety.org.uk/parks" target="_blank">John Innes Park</a>, several manicured acres of recreational resource. The name's not just bolted on, these were originally the grounds of John's house transformed into a proper park and opened five years after his death. Its twisting paths link rockeries, lawns and well-tended <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53587856126" target="_blank">flower beds</a>, which even now include a riot of carefully-planted pansies and some almost past-it camellias, all interspersed by up to fifteen different types of holly. The park's designer supplemented the planting with a bijou bandstand, an ornamental arch and, in what's now a bit of a novelty, an <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53588177704" target="_blank">Arts and Crafts toilet block</a>. As an indication of status there's also a croquet lawn, and as confirmation that we're near Wimbledon the tennis courts are surfaced in purple and green. You'd be blessed to have this on your doorstep.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53586636997" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3dALZbqZxILSeQm-Z87eKKcSk0cVweN6mbQdocrjJyJE6JcpSrV_6FFz1Y4_rDCqqEjb3Szg38MbN6aUAuw0knBb7QrJCRCfra9Cx4d2zGFri4GftQqbPo0qhFFOIWgnEHjT1TWESZpuSHH_p5nsljNYD6fOhc6SWgzOmb1gzv5tBWJeskiH2g/s1600/innes2.jpg" title="John Innes Park - pond" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
You can see John Innes's revamped manor house in this <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53586636997" target="_blank">photo</a>, just behind the pergola just to the right of the pond. It's now part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutlish_School" target="_blank">Rutlish School</a>, a boys' secondary whose most famous past pupil is Sir John Major, and whose campus also incorporates buildings from the original <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Innes_Centre" target="_blank">John Innes Horticultural Institution</a>. It was here in the 1930s that scientists developed the iconic soil-based <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/john-innes-compost" target="_blank">John Innes</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Innes_compost" target="_blank">composts</a>, releasing their formulae into the public domain in 1938 and never profiteering from their manufacture. In 1950 the Institution upped sticks and moved to Bayfordbury near Hertford, and in 1967 moved again to more modern premises in <a href="https://osm.org/go/0ETzvS_s-?m=" target="_blank">Colney</a> on the edge of Norwich. They continue to do <a href="https://www.jic.ac.uk/about-us/history-of-plant-microbial-science-at-john-innes-centre/" target="_blank">great work</a> but it's one product invented in Merton that brought them widespread fame, named after a man who could never have guessed he'd be remembered for a product sprinkled across gardens nationwide.<br>
<font color=gray size=1><em>by tram: <strong>Merton Park</strong>; by bus: <strong>K5</strong></em></font>
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<b><i>Somewhere random: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranmer_Green" target="_blank">Cranmer Green</a></i></b><br>
I wanted this to be properly random so I handed over my decision to the local free paper. I picked up a copy of the <a href="https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/" target="_blank">South London Press</a> from a hopper outside Wimbledon Park station and decided to visit the location of a Merton-related news story inside. It's 48 pages long and full of news, I reasoned, so there are bound to be several. Not so. The paper's circulation area in fact covers nine boroughs, but out of the 40+ news stories poor <a href="https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/category/news/merton/" target="_blank">Merton</a> was the subject of only two. One was a parliamentary candidate moaning about GP waiting times, no location specified, so I was forced instead to visit the site of <a href="https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/news/mast-crusaders-win-their-case-to-reject-20m-telephone-pole-on-village-green/" target="_blank">a recent protest</a> documented on what appeared to be the NIMBY page.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk9p6Ffw5AMdWR8k3RxWiecA8of_HIeWOsPxiLINGc5RdXiq7IyB_JQQ8oyv2UC94opLYfzLGo8G4G6eV1XbQwSgI-YQL5eWlMAHpB2S4AVq-_v8LUgY6ct4SwWKJhG_6CHg48agUEIapbt6DqY8-V5gTpEGC4FsqSApWH-l5sK9ebtDdhYTRKfQ/s1600/crusadrs.jpg" title="South London Press, 8 March 2024, page 18" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
It's a familiar tale - phone company proposes building a mast to improve connectivity, local residents object. In this case the phone company was EE and the locality was <a href="https://osm.org/go/euupScaW--?m=" target="_blank">Cranmer Green</a>, a triangular offshoot of Mitcham Common between the railway line and the cricket ground. We can't have a 20m pole and six cabinets on our village green, <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGH1yawXcAAMK2q?format=jpg" target="_blank">protestors</a> <a href="https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/news/phone-mast-protesters-mobilise-around-village-green-in-mitcham/" target="_blank">claimed</a>, there are vulnerable pensioners in those flats and this is their nearest green space. "It's 100ft from the church where people get married," one said. "It will be an eyesore. It will have a negative impact on the community.” Residents even went to the effort of organising a <a href="https://twitter.com/MitchamCrktGrn/status/1756958454458032440" target="_blank">coffee morning</a> to encourage objections, not to mention printing <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1767602938980024321/zOO4Ez3c?format=jpg&name=small" target="_blank">special t-shirts</a>, and as the local paper reports they actually <a href="https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/news/mast-crusaders-win-their-case-to-reject-20m-telephone-pole-on-village-green/" target="_blank">won</a>.
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Cranmer Green turns out to be rather pleasant, a nature reserve underlain by sands and gravels and an unfenced respite from the busy roads around the edge. Much of it is meadow, part of it is woodland and there's also a small pond which was probably dug in the 18th century to provide water for livestock. Oddly the green has a dead end road up the middle complete with period lampposts - this is a conservation area after all - which it seems is solely used for parking. It's also all terribly squidgy at the moment, with large parts of the grass resembling small pools and footpaths you'd need wellies for, but the southern stripe with the daffodils was thankfully more solid. I can see why the council refused permission, I thought, because adding a pole and boxes here would be an aberration.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnsDi0-QYrQi_RYcjAKXo74JWBWtzOFTuVS6ZVYwuLYsp2vpmei6x7MWhWPkSIvu5wWZ1H-TyAXutUfLVIayGkUlhyphenhyphenAZHd_Q6vnfusdHv_-Mh1JH0bbJf1wbiCil35w1JnHykanH2F0MrmwyJuJiIgg9NFRTUDCEJA53z9pdNgBgWfbHc_4ttlZA/s1600/cranh.jpg" title="Cranmer Green" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Except the mast was <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9HFXEXXkAAysap?format=jpg" target="_blank">actually scheduled</a> to be added to an <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GEpVYJEXEAAYjGx?format=png" target="_blank">entirely separate</a> patch of grass across the road - more shared municipal lawn than village green. When residents claimed it would 'cast a shadow' over protected land that is literally all it would do, and as for that claim it'd be '100ft from the church' I measured it and it's actually over 800. Always take the mathematical accuracy of a crusading campaigner with a pinch of salt. That said I probably wouldn't want a big mast beside my house either, especially in a freshly fenced compound, but the winners here are really the residents of Cranmer Farm Close and not the chiffchaffs, moorhens and butterflies on Cranmer Green proper. There are many more important news stories across Merton, but they're not in the local paper.<br>
<font color=gray size=1><em>by train: <strong>Mitcham Junction</strong>; by bus: <strong>127, S1</strong></em></font>
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<font size=1><i>I'm not going to continue the random sequence by revisiting <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_archive.html#108788411418786759" target="_blank">Islington</a> in three months time - one fully upgraded borough was enough - but that's how jamjar-inspired reportage has evolved twenty years later.</i></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-55122491320295935792024-03-14T07:00:00.126+00:002024-03-14T07:00:00.129+00:00Random borough 2<i>Twenty years ago today I brought you my very first <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html#107925840240861555" target="_blank">Random Borough report</a> from the London borough of Merton. But it was fairly brief - most of my posts were back then - so two decades on I'm having another go to do Merton justice. <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/03/random-borough-1.html" target="_blank">Yesterday</a> somewhere sporty and somewhere pretty, <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/03/random-borough-3.html" target="_blank">tomorrow</a> somewhere famous and somewhere random, and today somewhere retail and somewhere historic.</i>
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<b><i>Somewhere retail: <a href="https://completelyretail.co.uk/retail-parks/colliers-wood" target="_blank">Colliers Wood</a></i></b><br>
I can't do Merton Abbey Mills again because that was 2004's choice. I was going to do Wimbledon's main shopping mall, Centre Court, but I see they've changed the name to Wimbledon Quarter and that's lost all the magic. So instead I went to the ultimate Wandleside shopping cluster.
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The Colliers Wood <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/51.41530/-0.17995" target="_blank">retail hub</a> is massive, sells everything the big chains offer and comes in <a href="https://completelyretail.co.uk/retail-parks/colliers-wood" target="_blank">three</a> separate chunks. You could easily walk between the car parks but I suspect most people drive.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53585080167" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGqcSmr3zMWwp1z_rr4a7cbXEy6gHEQHIVk_g7iThTqHLtfxZ8ro2i1q-FE74VDv7NMpY49nfd2hPyVJY6reMTQMgiCGQO3c6MK_2QZvZwaxxEQwtVgdNGynAKhdhp1zeXtREBvv1iXJ2_KxD_GthSoDwq1uLOeJxVGbDV8UrN_t2TsNA_aLK1jg/s1600/savawandle.jpg" title="Colliers Wood Savacentre" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
Biggest of all is the Sainsbury's/M&S megastore, which was a SavaCentre when it opened in 1989 and the largest hypermarket in the UK. It sits beside the Wandle on the site of the <a href="https://www.mertonpriory.org/history/william-morris/" target="_blank">William Morris Printworks</a> where carpets, tapestries, wallpaper and stained glass were manufactured to the highest Arts and Crafts standards. Think on that as you cross the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53585080167" target="_blank">footbridge</a> over the river preparing to buy absolutely nothing so erudite. The two conjoined stores are built on stilts, partly to prevent flooding but mainly to be able to fit the car park underneath, so there's an escalator to ride on the way in and a proper travelator on the way out. The upper balcony round the atrium is mostly pointless since the Fresh Kitchen cafe closed in 2022 so the security guard at me looked suspiciously as I walked a full circuit.
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<font size=1><i>Not many shopping centres include a medieval chapter house, but if you head out the back to the subway under the flyover you'll find one <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MMmCxN7Bs2BUQoc7F86tzZhqbwQwh73knZgoLnoQCIhIYftVwg9VBddHitxSrXdAHBeb15YQG6Qp8LwTUuAC70KcwcTozWdkPQiZ5oekDjA0m4qIBVs_ETI-y_Tv7eaygBnCu_792OYEGO5KKNkmMf0aH8U5RPxZE5FXYLOXYMcRxDlNvD4E9w/s1600/chaphse.jpg" target="_blank">lurking there</a>. It's all that's left of Merton Abbey (1114-1538), despoiled first by Henry VIII, then by a railway station and most recently by the A24. Judging by how close a pylon stands to the site, it seems destructive infrastructure has really got it in for the poor old Chapter House. Normally <a href="https://www.mertonpriory.org/" target="_blank">you can visit</a> every Sunday from April to September, and one day you should, but be aware the season's starting late this year while they get the drains fixed and fit brighter lighting. <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015/07/merton-priory.html" target="_blank">[report from 2015]</a></i></font>
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The Priory Retail Park lies just across the Pickle Brook, a minor braid of the Wandle, on the site of former watercress beds. I did find an information board on the walk over which I hoped would tell me more, but sadly the panel had almost entirely eroded, the legs had toppled and the whole thing was retreating into a bush. The big shed here is bookended by a Currys and a Dunelm, but the big draw for Sainsbury refuseniks is the Aldi in the middle. Fine dining is not supported but if you want something with onion rings there's a Hungry Horse called <a href="https://www.hungryhorse.co.uk/pubs/greater-london/kiss-me-hardy" target="_blank">Kiss me Hardy</a> (named after former local resident Admiral Nelson). Best not linger here.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFFX-YO3O4NHc7Z7iYnIgzZ-J_RjNbbvNCgk0nDteHVOs4jMzqH-65zvt48B-ZPOH8VjHp1vcJt2a-nietsivjK7H3EYhDAH-MFeqA9RAjrOavv2XnT9S-qnPaSTmbIquDMD90qqhQ7jGl-wGbcxJt-QBj8DDc3ObaldyH0PpJg0AgsLLyPozOg/s1600/collwood.jpg" title="Priory Retail Park/Tandem Centre" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Beyond the crossroads is the third part of the retail triptych, the Tandem Centre. Think of it as a U-shaped warehouse with a vast car park in the middle and a ring of bollards around the edge to prevent anyone driving through the glass frontage. Pedestrians are afforded a single narrow path across the middle. The units include Next, New Look and Nando's, plus a Lidl for even greater supermarket choice, indeed enough big chains for uninspired families to enjoy a proper till-feeding afternoon out. I realise I'm only writing about this in a surprised way because I live in inner London and we don't drive to sheds, everywhere else does, but Colliers Wood is out on a limb even for the suburbs.<br>
<font color=gray size=1><em>by tube: <strong>Colliers Wood</strong>; by bus: <strong>57, 131, 152, 200, 219, 470</strong></em></font>
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<b><i>Somewhere historic: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Iron_Railway" target="_blank">Surrey Iron Railway</a></i></b><br>
One thing about Merton is that it has <a href="https://www.merton.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-culture/tourism-and-travel/local-attractions/wimbledon-and-mitcham-heritage-maps" target="_blank">properly dense</a> industrial heritage. The Wandle Valley was a crucible of early manufacturing thanks to watermill power, with calico works, tanneries, gunpowder factories and paper mills amongst the early arrivals. The <a href="https://www.wandle.org/" target="_blank">Wandle Industrial Museum</a> (open on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons) keeps these stories alive. Many such businesses were linked by the Surrey Iron Railway - arguably Britain's first significant railtrack, although more accurately a horse-drawn "plateway" used to transport minerals, building materials and farm produce.
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The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Iron_Railway" target="_blank">Surrey Iron Railway</a> ran for nine miles between Wandsworth and Croydon and was commercially successful for all of seven years before the Croydon Canal opened in 1809 and swiped its business. Here's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Iron_Railway#/map/0" target="_blank">a map of the route</a>, here's a detailed <a href="https://wandle.org/aboutus/mills/mcgowsir/mcgow12.htm" target="_blank">old school website</a> and here's an <a href="https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_95/surreyac095_193-210_gerhold.pdf" target="_blank">18 page</a> historical treatise from 1995. 200 years on pretty much nothing of the SIR remains bar its alignment, so I thought I'd try walking that south from Colliers Wood to the edge of the borough. The first mile was quite dull, running invisibly <a href="https://wandle.org/aboutus/mills/mcgowsir/images/12-10b.jpg" target="_blank">parallel to Church Road</a>, so I won't bore you with that. Instead let's pick up the trail at Mitcham Parish Church, a fine building from a similar era (although best not linger on the fact they knocked down a 13th century church to build it).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gpVX3Pld4HhyphenhyphenEJk-eOAtSGPzROMmNAFjlY62WQmlCtS3YwLtbLzrkAWTYNx08WfBHaeGo2_sln7bbikbzy5-boSXjeb2oWO6WIsI5Mehe6hUt1eHZZohK4gQooxlRRo-cZOv9r-_4bsLfyQ5RRtyGM0kL3VQMVU3NAoj-YeK_uUBD4_PJpPhYQ/s1600/baron.gif" title="Mitcham Parish Church/Barons Walk" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
To follow the railway take <a href="https://osm.org/go/euupRQmcM-?m=" target="_blank">Church Path</a> south past two attractive old terraces, one from <a href="https://mitchamhistorynotes.com/2015/02/16/johns-place/" target="_blank">1865</a> and the other from <a href="https://mitchamhistorynotes.com/2016/05/05/maple-terrace/" target="_blank">1904</a>. But that's it for 'pretty' on this walk because the two long paths that lie ahead are far from attractive. The first is Baron's Walk, and as you survey the fingerpost at the first fork yes I'm sorry, that is the miserable-looking alleyway to the right. It bends unloved around the outside of a waste processing centre, with hundreds of skips and bales visible on the far side of a line of spiked railings... and smellable too thanks to the unmistakable sub-citrus whiff of decay. To the left a crumbly green fence shields the recreation ground you probably should have walked through instead, and eventually a much older brick wall hems you in too. The path doesn't precisely track the original alignment of the railway, merely very near enough, but we're coming up on a modern means of transport that follows it precisely.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU64IOLOhAQqBwqZ_Fkso4bD5Z5Ffh6Nj8etq2eFUC2bH_b_ovg47VkOQr5E2LEZ9BSaPFqWC_G95_3S4h-U_83c1aCh2jytbiu_5oV1MmYCklmLk8LWXf_puokaisf1TvGt8HV-tXz37w-Xg3xYFAoM1Ln6yz8mjnk_CFQsQAAntb2760mRa_EA/s1600/tramz.gif" title="Barons Walk/Tramway Path" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Yes it's the Croydon trams, which from 'just after Belgrave Walk' to 'just before Waddon Marsh' replace the actual railway which replaced the SIR. You can't walk along the tram tracks, obviously, but you can follow a parallel footway called <a href="https://wandle.org/aboutus/mills/mcgowsir/images/12-11b.jpg" target="_blank">Tramway Path</a> for most of what follows. Above Mitcham tram stop it has proper semi-detached houses and parking, then swings across and traces the northern side of the tracks instead. I arrived at school-chucking-out time so had to fight against a flow of fussing mums, independent ten year-olds and scooter riders emerging from the back of Cranmer Primary. The path then narrows somewhat past the backs of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/51943232316/" target="_blank">several gardens</a> before reaching a narrow bridge across the tracks. The tram in my <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53586390235" target="_blank">photo</a> has just departed Mitcham Junction, whereas Tramway Path now veers off to the right (past that lone lamppost) following the SIR's <a href="https://wandle.org/aboutus/mills/mcgowsir/images/12-13b.jpg" target="_blank">branch line</a> to Hackbridge.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53586390235" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3J4TMzTICZVWbZjQ3V-0yG43oTkCXQSR_OiX01oRe4ORHpx8j9mjplGxDG_8NcAnHpHxQzra8ZMyqG32V-t5D2YTXy4TxoS1eOSW2aYTzwFAs6ymZ3xU16Hrb2t4qXQ8-ZHBpj6nzGuUkF8IWkVC8qZEfZw6yUekMLlHuNjh4P-n9noKHu0PYg/s1600/trammers.gif" title="Willow Lane Bridge/Tramway Path" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
This isn't much more pleasant, to be honest, again between the backs of houses and something semi-industrial but at least with a stripe of woody undergrowth to act as a distraction. Also the smell wafting over the fence is now briefly baked goods, not rotting refuse, so that's a plus. Folk who live on Carshalton Road can't park out front because that's Mitcham Common so instead they have garages back here, a long chain of them in not always the best condition. The depot hidden behind the barbed wire on the right is briefly revealed as a construction company's <a href="https://www.byrne-bros.co.uk/capability/consolidationcentre/90/" target="_blank">Consolidation Centre</a>, i.e. where they store their materials, and quite frankly it's a relief when this back alley eventually curves out onto the common beside a Chinese fusion restaurant. I was saved from following the final mile because the borough boundary intruded and I'm not allowed to write about Sutton, and what I think I've learnt is don't try to walk the Surrey Iron Railway, just ride the tram.<br>
<font color=gray size=1><em>by tram: <strong>Mitcham</strong></em></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-87431206327200433712024-03-13T07:00:00.088+00:002024-03-13T08:26:42.072+00:00Random borough 1<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbgHZ5ZzMIhYmiexwD-BJuHUK_2vIS1eYhTlagPuvunnwL4RL2yxHz41ZTn2ASrb8f09iTW6YNty1fbcP_uT1S4KXKcH_sep6cPuPz2Q22LW7cVIX652cfautBNDIQ3_yrZkZ-p8_NnABeBYRVwDmf5IasRvMaasHLM8Sdds6V0vUulOD-DGKTzg/s1600/jamjar.jpg" title="Merton, and the jamjar" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>It's exactly <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html#107925840240861555" target="_blank">20</a> years today since I dropped the names of 33 boroughs into an empty honey jar, picked one at random and kicked off my Random Borough project. It took eight years to complete.
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<blockquote><i><a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html#107925840240861555" target="_blank">I've decided to pick one of these 33 boroughs completely at random and then go there for the day. Could be near, could be far, could be urban, could be suburban, could be north, south, east or west, will be random. Then I'm going to visit some of that borough's most interesting places, assuming it has any. I'm going to try to visit somewhere famous, somewhere historic, somewhere pretty, somewhere retail, somewhere sporty and somewhere random. And then I'll come back tomorrow and tell you all about it.</a></i>
</blockquote>
That first Saturday I ended up in the London borough of <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/51905" target="_blank">Merton</a>, nipped round six rapidly-researched locations and headed home to <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html#107925840240861555" target="_blank">write them up</a>.
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<blockquote><b><i>Somewhere famous: <a target="blank" href="http://www.wpcc.org.uk/">Wimbledon</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A672004">Common</a></i></b><br>
<b><i>Somewhere historic: <a target="blank" href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/places/mordenhallpark/history.html">Morden Hall Park</a></i></b><br>
<b><i>Somewhere pretty: <a target="blank" href="http://www.merton.gov.uk/sport/wimbledonpark.asp">Wimbledon Park</a></i></b><br>
<b><i>Somewhere sporty: <a target="blank" href="http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html">All England Lawn Tennis Club</a></i></b><br>
<b><i>Somewhere retail: <a target="blank" href="http://www.mertonabbey.escs.org.uk/">Merton Abbey Mills</a></i></b><br>
<b><i>Somewhere random: <a target="blank" href="http://www.themertonsurgery.co.uk/">Abbey</a> <a target="blank" href="http://www.abbeyelectricalsupplies.co.uk/">Parade</a></i></b>
</blockquote>
I was thwarted somewhat that evening by a last-minute invite to go ten pin bowling (I came last) so ended up writing less than I might. I've always thought Merton got short shrift compared to <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html#2626462240202843301" target="_blank">the other 32</a>, so two decades later I'm putting that right by revisiting the borough and writing completely new vignettes in the original categories. I've made it much harder for myself by not going back to the places I went before, nor anywhere previously blogged, so it's very much a second division tour with hopefully a Premier League write-up.
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<hr><br><b>Random borough: <a target="blank" href="https://www.merton.gov.uk/leisure-recreation-and-culture/history-and-heritage/about-merton">Merton</a></b>
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<b><i>Somewhere sporty: <a href="https://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk" target="_blank">AFC Wimbledon</a></i></b><br>
I can't do the tennis again so I'm doing the football, which turns out to be the tale of two teams and two housing estates. There is only one winner.
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In the beginning there was only <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimbledon_F.C." target="_blank">Wimbledon Football Club</a>, who in 1912 started playing on a patch of marshland at the corner of Plough Lane and Haydons Road. After a lengthy non-league career they were promoted to the Fourth Division in 1977 and began an unprecedented race to the summit. Within ten seasons they'd topped the First Division and won the FA Cup, but this success proved <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough_Lane_%281912%E2%80%931998%29" target="_blank">Plough Lane</a>'s downfall when the Taylor Report proposed that top class teams needed all-seater stadiums. In 1991 the Dons fled the borough to groundshare at Crystal Palace, and the quest for a new ground eventually saw them (scandalously) up sticks to Milton Keynes. Here's where they used to play.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZsRtjdw8dPt4xcBH2IVPDnhZr88kPr8pXVelcIJ5eCnRuA1ifacaoNKFgl5KIVlp0BON9q0qnYji5YHnikMs0ycy_VABp45bCP68jyVxj1AC17bFA1GkgFey78BvP8BgJSPhYa8cUfrPehsUX3-ufIxBSVcMt3EIUCkDtqpHulGUnV5Lc320tw/s1600/ploughlan.jpg" title="Reynolds Gate, formerly Plough Lane stadium" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Unsurprisingly it's now a lot of flats. When the land was sold it was due to become a Safeway supermarket, but they failed to get planning permission so after demolition it was sold on to a property developer and became Reynolds Gate. Each of the six blocks is named after a former player (Cork, Lawrie, Stannard), manager (Bassett, Batsford) or chairman (Reed), interspersed with private green wedges unsuitable for a kickabout. Arguably the occupants of Stannard House have the best view across the Wandle, but given the looming presence of Wimbledon substation and its emergent pylon maybe not. Residents have a Nisa corner shop for their groceries and a Mertonesque waterwheel to assemble beside in case of fire. The chief nod to the past is a <a href="https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/plough-lane-landmark" target="_blank">funereal monolith</a> facing the main street corner, which it turns out has a textured backside supposedly representing the key events of the 1988 Cup Final. I couldn't work out which spiky quadrant was supposed to represent Princess Diana meeting the team.
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Wimbledon FC's true fans faced up to the Milton Keynes departure by starting up a new team, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFC_Wimbledon" target="_blank">AFC Wimbledon</a>. They too started at the bottom of the heap and slowly climbed, and are currently in League Two four places below their Buckinghamshire nemesis. What's more they too play on Plough Lane, on a site two footballpitchesworth away from the old ground which narrowly <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/51905#map=17/51.43168/-0.18625" target="_blank">squeezes</a> inside the Merton borough boundary. For sponsorship reasons it's called the Cherry Red Records Stadium, which at least is a worthy cause rather than a bunch of gamblers, but it'll win absolutely <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53585193805" target="_blank">no prizes</a> for architecture.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53585193805" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP8XjdchBSzue3EGPbBTNaSVu-W7LiRtJMCIVcUSivYyN_3cn-6IGQozQSKoYhD3_8NopqoLEEbjcjjKLoP28Ub5UAwNJL8AXkmLrUGlCfq5IpQy0ZEt4Ed4ac5M5ubWd3uEsZ5lpj-RVrLvQ0zCjgyz3gtq9tYQiXZPTNY6AYKkiJnUfLK3azUA/s1600/afcw.gif" title="Cherry Red Records Stadium/Greyhound Parade" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
The ground is built across the footprint of another sporting stalwart, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimbledon_Stadium" target="_blank">Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium</a>, which hosted dog racing, speedway and car boot sales between 1928 and 2017. You can still see the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvGbRlgOTvUEJ8sIOJsHSdkQ009MxhxiwHTZz529w9Uo6mW4Qrh_dfaNyxFHEOS-Zyqd8espsrTQE7F6wsvRlH-x8RXyJ5FxwOexPTytcgsDwFvi_tqNAHXKe78GUwTKrsK_bQkY-yKXQ49XUrYGr8cx1Wh58g5sFORtrmWC0K3VJp-VgYt7HDw/s1600/thurssat.jpg" target="_blank">faded remains</a> of a painted advert promising 'Greyhound Racing every THU [unreadable] SAT' on a wall leading to the away end. AFC Wimbledon pounced on the site in conjunction with Galliard Homes, recognising that 600 flats were the best option for a 21st century groundshare. Most of these line a bleak boulevard called <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53583045687" target="_blank">Greyhound Parade</a>, facing a high blue barrier that denies those on lower floors the opportunity of watching a game. You can also see bugger all by attempting to walk around the perimeter, only signs by the grey gates confirming that you <i>can</i> bring pocket cameras and crutches into the ground, but <i>not</i> a large flag or a musical instrument unless you email the club in advance.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53583880482/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SQcRBHumfugmE8f8gNiKh1Uu0ueVj3dW1TR1887pJX5TJbfUPsLuwZlBKT6VaCxfnUkPEDPBpJOot5Oeqa0b6ZBbIg0XcT5Q04IA_pMnYEuz1li-LK_EIpraa2c7FYZjQGbnRfdRXg71knEJplaK4lK2_l36GynkwLsPK4yiEd-6cDos3FQzTw/s1600/wombench.jpg" title="Womble Bench" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
As a child of the 70s my favourite spot was the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53583880482" target="_blank">Womble Bench</a> where Orinoco stands at one end with his tidy bag, and a pile of cups, cans and cartons rests on the fake litter bin at the other. The <i>other</i> team used to have a <a href="https://www.tidybag.uk/memorabilia/wombles-football-mascots/" target="_blank">Womble mascot</a> called <a href="https://www.tidybag.uk/2021/08/wandle-the-womble-returns-after-18-years/">Wandle</a>, but author Elisabeth Beresford <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/may/12/newsstory.sport5" target="_blank">revoked</a> permission after they turned traitor and allowed AFC Wimbledon to have a Womble mascot called <a href="https://haydonthewomble.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Haydon</a> instead. I had no luck getting inside the club <a href="https://shopping.afcwimbledon.co.uk" target="_blank">shop</a> because it was closed, so also missed out on the <a href="https://wimbledoninsportinghistory.org/your-visit/" target="_blank">museum exhibit</a> "The Greatest Story" which is otherwise free to view. Apparently the infamous <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chalfers/2920204488" target="_blank">Womble Til I Die</a> gates from the former stadium are in storage and due to be put on permanent display soon. It all feels more of a fortress than a cosy club to be honest, but hurrah that the battle of the Wimbledons eventually led to a home win.<br>
<font color=gray size=1><em>by train: <strong>Haydons Road</strong>; by bus: <strong>493</strong></em></font>
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<b><i>Somewhere pretty: <a href="https://cannizaropark.com/" target="_blank">Cannizaro Park</a></i></b><br>
Many of London's best parks are a former posh bloke's back garden and so it is with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannizaro_Park" target="_blank">Cannizaro Park</a>. The posh bloke in question is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dundas,_1st_Viscount_Melville" target="_blank">Henry Dundas</a>, William Pitt's Secretary of State for War, who lived here for twenty years and originally oversaw the landscaping. His house is now a hotel facing the southeast corner of Wimbledon Common, but the rear is in public hands so slip along the path up the side and you'll find a fascinating place to explore. For the smaller, more formal gardens turn left across the lawn past the stares of gourmet diners grazing in the conservatory. For a more varied perimeter safari turn right at the <a href="https://cannizaropark.com/about-cannizaro-park/aviary/" target="_blank">aviary</a> (which before the pandemic contained proper birds but currently contains... oh, two Girl Guide dummies as part of a rolling programme of community art). It gets better beyond that.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGdKVzyEjum0zXsKRNXOu09f2I1Ofu8Vy4dfnoGTdHZJbk2Hfj49_jn27IPfyBr_H5uqKCp6IPjLOndukwG_vA6ddyBMEygBf0DU2VDVL9v-qlco9WsbkvDzds2p2xGRwgoPb1kwvlNZ8tDoUKnHZ9d_q4Z6ypZxl0Nbu1JYBt0IiiggPw5hPm1g/s1600/canniz1.gif" title="Cannizaro Park" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Woodland paths and avenues thread past tumbling artificial streams. A simple fountain gushes in the lower pond, watched over by a cormorant. If you know your trees you'll spot several <a href="https://cannizaropark.com/about-cannizaro-park/tree-collection/" target="_blank">rare ones</a> in a state of glowing maturity. The Valley Path is a) lined by spring bulbs b) closed for resurfacing. The <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53584130983" target="_blank">Italian Garden</a> steps down between the original kitchen garden walls, though is mostly empty bar the odd urn. Lady Jane's Wood is artificially hillocky and might require sturdier shoes. Keep walking and you'll eventually reach a belvedere amid pine trees, tucked so far into a narrow corner that most never get this far. A lot of the sheer variety and well-tended husbandry is helpfully explained by the size of the gardener's enclosure. This is very much not your average park.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53584130983" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFrO7PUJOl-OPPGmrEUsJnmoCvhQsBI6y-eGoAhegvcJ-eAvU8ZAx56oU4sshokVlP_e0LVkwacCXf8_fZ2LpeSkkMmGp4gCvX5RLrUtMWKduy5KRhgcIoSO7n74RjNp_O5YDcKNOeDhzhOOX4bfbowdjZJ_xx9JnFuYGWEuT9DgOi9Sv6Ibos7A/s1600/canniz2.gif" title="Cannizaro Park" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
A fine body of <a href="https://cannizaropark.com/about-the-friends/" target="_blank">volunteers</a> help keep the place in shape too, and you can sense both their pride and their admonishment from the tone of their chalkboard <i>("Toilets <u>ARE</u> open. <u>If</u> they remain well kept they will remain open")</i>. Admittedly you should really visit later in the year - the Rhododendron Dell is only budding, the Rose Garden has yet to flourish, the Maple Avenue will be an autumnal treat and the Cherry Walk has already peaked. And pick a day when it's not pissing down - not many of us were traipsing round, and I felt properly bedraggled by the time I squelched past the restaurant jury. But the green side of Wimbledon's not just about tennis courts and the common, there's this <a href="https://cannizaropark.com/visiting-the-park/" target="_blank">hidden treasure</a> too.<br>
<font color=gray size=1><em>by tube: <strong>Wimbledon</strong>; by bus: <strong>93</strong></em></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-5319793316926371362024-03-12T07:00:00.031+00:002024-03-12T08:17:12.120+00:00Green Link Walk 2Let's return to London's newest official walkway, the <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/green-link-walk" target="_blank">Green Link Walk</a>, which was launched on 1st March. If you need a map try <a href="https://footways.london/the-green-link" target="_blank">here</a>, if you need an app try <a href="https://walks.gojauntly.com/collections/green-link-londons-newest-walk-200" target="_blank">here</a>, if you want 45 pages of walking instructions try <a href="https://cdn.gojauntly.com/walks/pdfguide/cf711a26-54bd-469a-b6e0-7d5421505d2f.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>, and if you're reading this several months in the future try <a href="https://innerlondonramblers.org.uk/articles-62328/news-category/448-introducing-the-green-link-walk.html" target="_blank">here</a>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3Rsp65GmtUS7wWnoYe0RPuHqvbmF2YKpQ1-DJQLDoQMBsl-PmJuhWeL6hbHnA6G5jFYmThkCgtuE1w9r40aoSZrSiVJ03nQpBMqXUzKu_h3pBZXuEqr79mcau0reVGA5RBg20kboU_UZHgJF0M36s1yYoVkty9DAvGrRNp5Z68dgHS6whLf_hw/s1600/glw.jpg" title="Green Link Walk map" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://walks.gojauntly.com/walks/green-link-walk-section-2-9735736298346648046" target="_blank">second section</a> is the longest and I had the sense to walk it on a sunny day. It's an urban trek across the borough of Hackney, via admittedly attractive streets but again not especially 'green'. I had my stopwatch out as I walked so I could add up all the potentially green bits and I think I scraped 30 minutes out of 2¼ hours. Such are the consequences of devising a 100% accessible trail across built-up inner London. On the plus side, on this section it is at least clear what the Green Link Walk actually links.
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<font color=green><b>WALK LONDON<br>
<i><u>Green Link Walk</u></i></b> <font size=1><i>[section 2]</i></font><br>
<font color=#996600></font><b>Lea Bridge to Angel</b> <i>(5 miles)</i></font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtepHNdEXjagvMiQcnp7F2zSdbRMxgLfiyjfDG73KPk99LGlaMwahpXpzrW65QIaU1ZuRK96phBDtt4xmPo0FUmV32Ruv0x9AViDa-dZmDMGggIffovCJqRobCTs9WbaHBQlxqy9kQtLSli4AojYqJ584rZeU_RYHcS-agXVKgRL0sfo9yOZgpQ/s1600/glw2a.jpg" title="Lea Bridge" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
If you haven't walked here from Epping Forest the best way to the <a href="https://osm.org/go/euu7O7dZs-" target="_blank">start point</a> is via Lea Bridge station or aboard the 55 or 56 bus. Things kick off officially outside the Lea Valley Ice Centre but more practically at the actual Lea Bridge - a bridge across the River Lea. Descending to the riverbank we find three iterations of signs for walkers, the first being one of those lovely metal fingerposts erected in the 2000s to show where strategic walks go, the second a 2010s-style post with thin black pointers. It hasn't proved possible to retrofit either of those for the new route so two small Green Link Walk signs have been affixed to a lamppost instead, and they stand out. The two other key walkways we're linking to at this point are <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/capital-ring" target="_blank">Capital Ring</a> section 13 and <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/lea-valley" target="_blank">Lea Valley Walk</a> sections 3 and 4, both of which follow the river for a heck of a lot longer than we're going to.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Mh0DPvtx0uMBK5g9lDPZnsa06CSGwcu8xUlRHWhbXofzM8idhiH3ZgDVOgiPmIUCXmXCUN7n_nNiRA5GHPjJ2OZGrTzGUnQndDWHebZM8OnKsITFZ4Q7gW8qyJLdy2tlcm_sVpo7XOzVgrX2mX-5AXH2mZbq3LigypS7BOsXFV9u8e_QaeaoFg/s1600/glw2b.jpg" title="Millfields Park" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=green>[</font>Along this brief waterside stretch I spy a cormorant, a weir, a couple of jogging dogs and the Princess of Wales, which in this case is a pub and not a convalescent playing hide and seek. The path bears off just before the footbridge to enter Millfields Park, one of Hackney's largest, which it crosses diagonally on a broad solid path. Look for the London County Council <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hiYfGwAavCE/XXlS4ISgwcI/AAAAAAAAhZo/l8kPtKA1EpMlej2IaAaoZuPiB9PwaZAPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/millflcc.jpg" target="_blank">boundary marker</a> at the start, the huge electricity substation in the middle and the dense swooshes of daffodils near the end. By the time I reached the pedestrian crossing I reckoned that'd been ten solid minutes of 'green', which I'm going to flag up as green text like this <font color=green>🕐 10 mins]</font>. I also intend to flag up the frothier nonsense in Go Jauntly's walk description in red, for example their description of Millfields Coffee on the far side of the crossing as <font color=#cc0033>that lovely coffee shop</font>. It is admittedly buzzing.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidCnLcEwlBC15rYrboIcSS0JH2YiN5AdWjtmFi6vUVCQhk1hpJLyxIQyc-_mDZUVNfocOkweAEG872CsK-OPQT12hOgkus-FJEC-tiO2FhW1Zkd-FY8odXedlNGSQNbvVqZP7GR1JPCNrsz9kiQP_5SGRIkoygosJHUZqvnVBiiR3op7UFezpQvQ/s1600/glw2c.jpg" title="Clapton Pond" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
And now for a lot of pavement walking as we follow Millfields Road due west. The directions say nothing other than <font color=#cc0033>be mindful when crossing the side roads</font> but one special thing to look out for is the rare streetsign with an <a href="https://ghostsigns.co.uk/projects/nesigns/" target="_blank">NE postcode</a> at the end of Chailey Street and another is the old shopfront of Ansells (Upholsterers of Distinction, Estimates Our Pleasure) at the top of Alfearn Road. At Clapton Pond the GLW signs disappointingly direct you around the <i>outside</i> of the pond complex, whereas the written instructions are vaguer and merely say <font color=#cc0033>follow the park around</font>. <font color=green>[</font>Assuming you're able-bodied do absolutely take the opportunity to enter, get a close-up of the fountain and cross the ornamental footbridge <font color=green>🕐 1 min]</font>, because obeying the route too literally would be a wasted opportunity.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsOwb6FJpVs_jYmtQl4B6hsdZZHSkMg1fnsP-ZtTF0bTjVpOWxBhByAw1mO3zgUq_7Ov0lnJuZT1eY5bnnMJ3bG0VycYZe5xXTGRSfILJahGy2mv7Te7nTyUmINk3Hl6VY5PQR9ncRqvjQOPAdP3_8AkBFs6YBJoDO6puETCur0zwUcNO-PeQQMw/s1600/glw2d.jpg" title="Hackney Downs" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Our next green stop is Hackney Downs, which at 40 acres is another of the largest parks in Hackney. Having made a bit of a detour to get here the GLW peculiarly chooses to follow a single path along the shortest edge rather than venturing any distance into the centre. <font color=green>[</font>You get to follow a fine avenue of plane trees and admire a splendid Victorian terrace <font color=green>🕐 4 mins]</font> but I say stuff that, head into the middle and then turn left along 'New Cross Fire Avenue'. You'll get to learn a lot about a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Cross_house_fire" target="_blank">1981 conflagration</a> and how it took the life of a local teenager, plus the opportunity to sit on a <a href="https://www.nelondoner.co.uk/news/01032024-new-cross-fire-memorial-to-be-unveiled-on-anniversary-of-black-peoples-day-of-action" target="_blank">week-old</a> memorial bench, then get a closer look at the delightful <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/46123010@N04/43316375175" target="_blank">doggy</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/46123010@N04/50501939558" target="_blank">mosaics</a> the official walk marginally misses.
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<i>In the southeast corner is the walk's first signage aberration courtesy of local mischief makers or vandals. One of the GLW signs has been turned to face completely the wrong path, and it looks like they tried to shift the other and bent it in the process. Another of the signs out on the pavement has also been spun to point the wrong way, and it's a bit dispiriting that this has happened within ten days of the walk launching.</i>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVw1Ixk6IyAhzQjn2Uiar47Aj4O2XXdKdAYoQznqgCOZ2unZqqwssY0-5xcKM3mbmBYVKXJLuV9Eer33ZWZaQrtkXSKcBvt1tO0f9K6YtzYKHvQ2WsL2WrLegoPkAJpwvoAR3N6IBJKKHL_NNITYFa-htnbs8EJorO1f0oMYDqjUPkv3Rf4Qw6vQ/s1600/glw2e.jpg" title="Clapton Square" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
In central Hackney the route meanders somewhat to try to tick off any available medium-sized greenspace. That means filtering back east past <font color=#cc0033>the best Vegan cafe! A visit here is a must!</font> to find a <font color=#cc0033>lovely small park</font>. <font color=green>[</font>This is Clapton Square, a remnant from the reign of George III when Hackney was a prosperous country village, although the central playground and drinking fountain are later additions. By good fortune a chain of paths now heads south via St John's Churchyard, bypassing Mare Street, along the tombside alley of Churchwell Path. Keep an eye out, if you can, for Blind Fred's <a href="https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/blind-fred" target="_blank">plaque</a>. After one of the pleasanter stretches of the walk <font color=green>🕐 9 min]</font> you emerge onto Morning Lane, home to the disastrous gentrification experiment of <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2017/01/hackney-walk.html" target="_blank">Hackney Walk</a> where every single business attracted to the fashion-led honeytrap has now <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpV7WCyXoAEhQMX?format=jpg" target="_blank">closed</a>, apart from the Burberry outlet store that first triggered it.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh032ZzGabLjSAphr6aY6wL4vE9zrydA7JgBQSfJlpyYwAsFugFs18uitCe7cTy13ZC7hyl4JRbJQ2DLWQ1QEP4j9-IqvXC0135wCA-dpaAmL8JWDP_QsJLs24SZLa3gaPh3o_3K7YULqOVmRQhH_BgWCRyA14u5e37_Ss9QHJmfwhQ63vSc5oEHw/s1600/glw2f.jpg" title="Hackney Picturehouse" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
It's back to backstreets again as we approach the heart of Hackney via the Hackney Picturehouse, Hackney Empire and Hackney Town Hall. Here the wayfinding signs reappear, having been unhelpfully intermittent during the last paragraph, so best not try walking the GLW without instructions just yet. I broke off here to enjoy the temporary photographic exhibition in <a href="https://hackney-museum.hackney.gov.uk/whats-on/current-exhibition/" target="_blank">Hackney Museum</a>, an evocative social retrospective, before continuing down the unusual cross-grid pathway of Hackney Grove. If you've never explored Hackney off the main streets before you'll be amazed that these snickety backways exist, although the steady stream of cyclists confirms that locals very much know. Best ignore the Italian restaurant <font color=#cc0033>amazing pizzas. Good vibes aplenty!</font> unless you've hours to spare because we're coming up on another marvellous greenspace, London Fields.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5f_kxtGEkyUcpHCQC6Psnu6n0e6y_20YQ6edr7kQMLhpHM1yVYbx9K7dJsUPuLX0nksZKlywaQk78w4zuWAsD7CmO9P47QQA-W_WjaZIr-xxXptfi_xLDh1cMc6xhzMV3UdkbqfP4ushl1RV8RXJ5Ufe_B9o5ILzTa1FMfO3ZNouIPL_v_F5AA/s1600/glw2g.jpg" title="London Fields" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The official path stays outside the fence for the first couple of minutes, only cutting in by the toilets, then another unhelpful sign points ambiguously down the wrong path. <font color=green>[</font>Instead cut across the centre of the park, alas its narrowest dimension, enjoying an all too brief burst of plane trees, spring blossom and exercising dogs <font color=green>🕐 5 min]</font>. If you've been adding up my green timings you'll realise they already total 29 minutes, which is disappointing because I only promised you half an hour of green and there are still two miles to go. On stepping out of the park expect plenty of pavements ahead, and although these are unexpectedly attractive backstreets the 'green' motif is now relying heavily on street trees and whatever's planted in people's front gardens.
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<i>Here's the next signage disaster, a repeater sign at the first fork in the road which plainly points left (along Shrubland Road) whereas it should point right (along Albion Drive). I was so convinced that I walked the wrong way for over quarter of a mile, admittedly along a parallel street but without any signs to guide me back onto the correct route. Please fix this one.</i>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggy1z9HO-Ma0XYLlSBoQmGQobVAQkqm5fdXV54goQRu7mh7MvKl4a9bQyFc-HLsrA9vnTGgOb8m-KcKjQm7MyUf2_2FunIoAV6EUaUovOV3o-cdkLNqRBk04ZL0ZvarkAeGZY6dSPvJ0mCs8v6KVXDTHR8u6lxkYR_mSovQZ9ipT7vjnfOf-9m9w/s1600/glw2h.jpg" title="Albion Square Gardens" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Albion Drive goes on a bit, which is good because it's easy to follow, and ends with a gorgeous railinged haven called Albion Square Gardens. Think shrubbery, flower beds, palm trees, even a gardener's hut, all in a long thin enclosure faced by prime terraced villas. A carving on the central drinking fountain confirms that this hideaway was laid out in 1899 by the Metropolitan Gardens Association and its Passmore Edwards gusher was added 11 years later. Alas the GLW signs ignore ASG, ditto Go Jauntly's instructions, whereas you should definitely walk through and lap it all up. They also bypass Stonebridge Gardens, the triangle of grass below Haggerston station, <font color=green>[</font>although arguably the brief daffodilled remnant of Stonebridge Common allows the walk to accumulate its final minute of green <font color=green>🕐 1 min]</font>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPvDPz0SC4QXns7ECD3kmSB0WJ0p3KQ3H_nZBdPHtZ1X79RpzhIVcfnCjCQssBCz8SpTyirz3-bwQ78DlTeaffdyUaNBC7G_Fr2xc-sj4q0qnHonhi3LC9p7NUaeuNDyMvjtey4v1JjpQKmtM1cFIYtUit_htHNV7VNrlC2dZbOhA1H4hGX8ax2Q/s1600/glw2i.jpg" title="De Beauvoir Square" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
There's another trail-based miss at De Beauvoir Square, Hackney's largest and possibly finest garden square, where the Green Link Walk signs merely skirt the Jacobean-style houses on the southern edge. It may be that the route's designers wanted to avoid a garden that might be locked, it may be the route was deemed not step-free enough or it may just be that the entrances are in impractical positions, but for goodness sake don't be a slave to the instructions and instead nip in and lap it up. The rosebeds are sure to be great in the summer (I watched two gardeners tidying them up). The road ahead is glorious - broad, blossomy and quiet enough to wander up the centre, this because <font color=#cc0033>the quiet streets of De Beauvior have been low traffic since the 1970s.</font> The quality of life here barely flickers as we cross from Hackney into Islington.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53582627121" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCD4VO1cqYqd-lOF3GN1JrAhDkhm9WMbAWafsy5SJcqvraEDNnawsHUcqd2cFZ2PSyqxmrL7OuQunEMhrZKB2_k3hd7sbmCpYP4yaexajqervXo5DYlxHyzgeFShz_JghuyXaJ69ZSeGLpQCDiKXxJykbWfy8DJEVozqkMTxjMcEE6mayEjqAItQ/s1600/glw2j.jpg" title="Elizabeth Avenue" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
I walked pretty much all these streets during lockdown but somehow missed <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53582627121" target="_blank">Elizabeth Avenue</a>, another aesthetic winner, where small circular Green Link Walk signs appear on the lampposts for the very first time. You're unlikely to get lost now as the roads flow sequentially and quietly towards the southwest. We're following a residential channel midway between Essex Road and the Regent's Canal, and although the latter's towpath would have been a much more obvious target for a long distance walkway, the route's architects (or non-step-free connections) have kept us away. Instead there are almshouses to admire, multiple aspirational terraces to pass and also cafe owners who think £12 for 'wrap and juice' is a Meal Deal worth shouting about. Unfortunately there are no further parklets to walk through, the only green patches on the map proving to be segregated playgrounds or jumped-up verges.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYyvNG5oujzh2TRz6Lb3eZSOSD04jpzD5533ZNBhTWE-nzKpn3oeDElvgIn2aGPAbPrvcOd_M4rOgepT3tpNnGTms4H1Y5P_wvU90DYytLq9MzLt0-mmQkPTEHr6RVAo2Z0vQNMoKBGghMP83kcX5k0jd_Iv5kdp89QNVJ7Doo9zm7EfmrvfVu5g/s1600/glw2k.jpg" title="Regent's Canal" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Finally the road reaches a Cajun pub <font color=#cc0033>A taste of Louisiana you'll never forget!</font> beside a quiet bridge across the Regent's Canal, <font color=#cc0033>a tranquil car-free walking route through North London</font>. Again no attempt is made to join the towpath, not even for the short dash to the mouth of the Islington Tunnel, most likely because a wheelchair user could never tackle the steep climb at the far end. The strategic walk which <i>does</i> follow the towpath is the <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/jubilee-greenway" target="_blank">Jubilee Greenway</a>, one of the lesser known in the ambulatory basket, and our link to that is why Green Link Walk section 2 ends here. For section 3 expect a much shorter walk across the inner city, but for now you can duck off here for the joys of Upper Street, welcome refreshment or temporary escape via Angel tube. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-12294383476545983642024-03-11T07:00:00.045+00:002024-03-11T08:54:01.528+00:00Euston Road<table style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" border="2" cellpadding=1 cellspacing=0 align=right>
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<tr align="center" valign="top" bgcolor=#f3ffff><td><br><b>EUSTON<br>ROAD</b>
<br><br><br><b>£100</b><br> </td></tr>
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<b><i><u>London's Monopoly Streets</u></i><br><br>
<font color=#000000 size=4>EUSTON ROAD</font></b><br>
<i>Colour group:</i> light blue<br>
<i>Purchase price:</i> £100<br>
<i>Rent: </i>£6<br>
<i>Length:</i> 1 mile<br>
<i>Borough:</i> <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1gtG9ILSHGKzRcXzpU1CKa8VuPLAUtfI&usp=sharing" target="_blank">Camden</a><br>
<i>Postcode:</i> NW1
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston_Road" target="_blank">Euston Road</a> is the broadest, busiest, most polluted street on the Monopoly board, so hardly somewhere you'd want to build a house. It's part of London's first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Road,_London#/media/File:A_plan_of_London,_Westminster,_and_Southwark_%285384794369%29.jpg" target="_blank">bypass</a>, the New Road, which opened in 1746 as a means of driving cattle to Smithfield without having to faff around in the city. The middle-third of the New Road was named Euston Road in 1857, sandwiched inbetween Marylebone Road (not on the board) and Pentonville Road (coming up next). The name Euston comes originally from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston,_Suffolk" target="_blank">Suffolk village</a> which was home to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_FitzRoy,_2nd_Duke_of_Grafton" target="_blank">Duke of Grafton</a>, the local landowner hereabouts. In its time the road's been dug up by the Metropolitan Railway, widened by the GLC and marginally excluded from the Congestion Zone by Ken Livingstone. I shall be walking it from west to east, in the same direction as many a cow's final journey.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgajuLx3jWcszREuyUTM6N8pVc-MpcxAUCEhujDOtgONFBuZLR89wJ8_jEsw6nfqo_yI1vDF53-1wxlgC9aWvIrarbe1B3Hqbp8gmlOmr-TiDicMQWlvEoB7cSmMIgkMXpYls-o6U74AryA8o8CtuNSM5JbQoq2WRDvTUWPJVGdZqB2HycW0RkubA/s1600/eustonredw.jpg" title="Euston Road - west end" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The transition from Marylebone Road to Euston Road occurs at the top of Great Portland Street, just past the tube station, the first building being a Tesco Express. The second is a pub, The Greene Man, although when the road was built the tavern on this site was called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greene_Man" target="_blank">Farthing Pye House</a> and there was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Farthing_Pye_House_1746.png" target="_blank">nothing else</a> in the area bar farmland. The road here is six lanes wide and invariably busy with cars, buses, coaches and particularly taxis, each now held to a 20mph speed limit. The two sides of the road are also very different, one new, shiny and thrusting, the other older, shabby and shop-fronted. For hotdesking, commerce and Pret stick to the north (in Regents Place) and for shoe repairs, travel agents and piles of discarded cardboard stick to the south.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFkxHUj8Ug5ARnd8JV1KXWsqjtvKw-2XAeqWB2btjJYcgkji0bWJWEAZXisQjgH-5NXqFXlt8_Acp0xrplEjhpHuYcMxdYDx6Li24ML1ByhsZOv-G__hSUdiuXsx0KLM2idTsH7RGQ-14Rpeym3WZ_m5WB3_Q3Up3FAP43eC28_3rGzJ0ekFs6sQ/s1600/eustonredunderp.jpg" title="Euston Road underpass" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The Euston Road underpass was added in 1964 in a deal with a developer who wanted to build office blocks alongside. most notably the Euston Tower. It cuts such a gash that you need to choose up front which side to be because there's no chance of a crossing or subway. A thin strip of public realm has been inexplicably squeezed between the sliproad and the lip of the underpass, including wildly optimistic benches, and although I've never seen anyone risk using them the associated detritus suggests they often have overnight residents. At the far end is Paulies, a streetfood vendor, where everything's red including the gazebo, the paella and the owner's <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C3SP_ShtYwG/" target="_blank">trilby</a>. Here we hit the top of Tottenham Court Road plus Warren Street station, and pedestrians briefly get a chance to dominate.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZbuo834HndE3YggIpP_9ou6ZF2mW6BDHBcPjOUySJHrOFxDsOG-AH8Qt7lnCVNQujZ27kEzJz2iJOkuZoxRsYHjHMVPXV0j6RgbIqCChJ7vLn1ve_Hi5TAf6q3iM-fKD13uDxc5iaxvPBwti3gs-TloKKFJvu3kISvAkqIW5ki6rD_QtyE5psg/s1600/eustonreuch.jpg" title="UCH" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Next University College Hospital takes over, on one side a wall of glass (in which the BT Tower is reflected) and on the other a patient-focused latticed stack opened in 2005 and decorated in various shades of muted teal. I've only spent the one evening waiting here in A&E. The timber-topped air shaft outside, with its unlabelled access door, looks like it might feed the underpass but is actually directly above the Metropolitan line. The benches along this green strip are slightly likelier to be used than those passed earlier. Euston Square station swiftly follows, with cars queueing to exit the underpass immediately above the ticket hall. Take the north subway for King of Falafel and the south subway for all things medical courtesy of the Wellcome Trust and the Wellcome Collection.
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<i>I paused here to enjoy the Wellcome Collection's current exhibition, <a href="https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/ZJ1zCxAAACMAczPA" target="_blank">The Cult of Beauty</a>, which as ever addresses an aspect of health and biology in a socially relevant way. In this case it's that beauty is only what you make of it, that aesthetic tastes change as attitudes evolve and that sometimes you should be proud of what you've already got. If you come away unchallenged you've not been paying close enough attention.</i>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg2_oWTCw9nONEPO3X1U7nevwARM-gwDzD_4ocN7H1rf3RsuGsaxQSTQD4YY9_soSSgnmbzG9m1bH8b4ctwn_YxaPPssHZzyElkISRzUEp8MFg-ZNrV25yLP_pMbJpfEVVZh7PYf53xZfiy33kNumU3yNMJLacfv4ALVWvFFa6SW6giTGtPl7vBA/s1600/eustonrdfriends.jpg" title="Friends House, Euston Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<b><i>House:</i> Friends House</b> <i>(173 Euston Road)</i><br>
It's not really a house, it's the British headquarters of the Quaker movement, which was built here on a greenfield site in the 1920s. The architect went for a neo-Georgian design faced with Portland stone, and faced the challenge that one room had to be large enough to accommodate 1500 people for the Quakers' yearly meeting (called the <a href="https://www.quaker.org.uk/ym" target="_blank">Yearly Meeting</a>). These days the building <a href="https://www.friendshouse.co.uk/" target="_blank">shouts loudest</a> about what a great events venue it would make, being comprehensively equipped and centrally located, with religious recruitment a few decibels behind. Anyone can enjoy the garden or perhaps <a href="https://www.friendshouse.co.uk/quaker-centre/" target="_blank">step inside</a> the cafe for an ethical coffee and a browse. I don't know of any other bookshops with a dedicated section for "Peace, justice and sustainability", not to mention free Quakery literature and (currently) cut-price calendars.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8p1iXsQLwwZ0TAc282SMokeGuKLFkL4nmQEheVBGY03ZfUGBFmtvGZjbMUXO0x_QN79edr5eQBR3bj31AP6hhZzPexyLeLCngCPqL9fXitUkEmh5XvsufEhV_OsR1zDxy8m7eFySy1WPRTHdp7AVbZH8ISSVnaTdOuemxXVAwv8SwNrAXDXLQog/s1600/eustonrdeu.jpg" title="Euston Tap, Euston station, Euston Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston_railway_station" target="_blank">Euston station</a> fails to dominate Euston Road, being located too far back behind what used to be gardens. If you're used to the taxi rank being front left then prepare for a major shift because a new one is virtually ready front right - somewhat woodier in style - and cabbies will be switching over there imminently. The <a href="https://www.eustontap.com" target="_blank">Euston Tap</a> continues to dispense fresh beer from the tiny West and East Lodges, one emblazoned with destinations from Aberdeen to Huddersfield and the other from Inverness to Wolverhampton. Perhaps no other road in London is so well blessed with stations - five on the tube and three major railway stations, mostly thanks to the mid 19th-century machinations of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_on_Metropolitan_Railway_Termini" target="_blank">Royal Commission on Metropolitan Railway Termini</a>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFu54fjBm9D2lSfoj-E2NyQU78TlMYYYE_zwueasvseOhLVrHmhpsaqXP3fnFRdiAicbNOktHj3puPGmceVztn_bjFRtaMUEXn4sDKCHzf950CIsJAymzwgymXen-BDcllzHxvwl71toXSwGrzrODdmUsLXJxgHxD3VogCGt4SeAyqElRt7w08xA/s1600/eustonrdlib.jpg" title="Euston Road - approaching the British Library" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The number of big-hitter buildings now starts ramping up. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_New_Church" target="_blank">St Pancras New Church</a> was built 200 years ago in Greek Revival style and currently has a climate change banner flapping from the foot of the spire. Across the road is London's oldest operational <a href="https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/museum/london-fire-brigade-history-and-stories/the-history-of-londons-fire-stations/euston-fire-station/" target="_blank">fire station</a>, then comes the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euston_Road" target="_blank">Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital</a> (formerly the New Hospital for Women) and alongside is Unison HQ. Ignore the hideous Premier Inn with its Bibby Stockholm-like architecture, Euston Road being so profitable for the company that they have another hotel literally two buildings further down. Instead look to the modernist bulk of the <a href="https://www.bl.uk" target="_blank">British Library</a>, a much more successful modern building (unless you take its recent assault by cybercriminals into account, or believe the over-cautious notices about how treacherously slippery the piazza out front is).
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<i>I paused here to enjoy the free exhibitions in the British Library, there being no paid-for extravaganza at present. The Treasures Gallery is an oft-forgotten brilliant treat, the opportunity to see famous texts across the millennia from the Lindisfarne Gospels to the original script for Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition sketch, plus an actual copy of the Magna Carta in the room at the back in case you're ever in need of a fundamental dose of liberty.</i>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53580005249" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQ_D04kIhDMKxp3Lmq7B9WZnFNFePWKPxhhnyPwLydvgS1yGK6ikG_vgpT9dUe3tTYOG54cq0hSpT3dfOuHbL_JY4arhbYCvRYImu4XMJh0cBCuMpjBP_YND0ATx2PBNQlcErqS4EVDBeBKC-UfbP93FF54tEMI9xBgXgbXU-oI3QKuEYQH1pUQ/s1600/eustonrdhotel.jpg" title="Midland Grand Hotel" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<b><i>Hotel:</i> Midland Grand Hotel</b> <i>(Euston Road)</i><br>
Marriott would prefer you to call it the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_Renaissance_London_Hotel" target="_blank">St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel</a>, but to Sir John Betjeman and the Spice Girls it'll always be the Midland Grand, the iconic Gothic <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53580005249" target="_blank">swoosh</a> that fronts St Pancras station. Originally it had 150 rooms but it now has almost a hundred more, plus a chain of luxury apartments along the front including one in the clocktower. You get some idea of the money needed to live here by checking out the cars parked out front in the Residents Only spaces, including on my visit a scaldingly pink McLaren 540. The restaurant's less exclusive but still pricey, for example the champagne risotto costs £27 a bowl while a side of chips'll set you back seven quid, admittedly with a dash of aioli.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53578819862" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbz4Q5j6TaIOkk-9EDO5plL9vr6ePt1bF1kLD-Q79RWqAnnIPIdWJ1nRcc09YshF5yd7kHBJGBwVfUAaLS_oK6hTE4B0lbM9EMB4r2Lca1bpfsjuHjHceiuB9jxRa1-oQpZ5YQc-o3BhCWKEOeoYYZED6TGAFL2hhjLRrv4mzg3Oj3Uet7VYy3Iw/s1600/eustonrde.jpg" title="Euston Road - eastern end" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
Outshone across the road is Camden Town Hall, recently refurbished with sustainability and events-hosting in mind. A few much-lesser hotels follow, then a hole in the ground that'll soon be an <a href="https://nla.london/projects/belgrove-house" target="_blank">ostentatious</a> laboratory building for the life sciences sector, as plans to rebrand this area The Knowledge Quarter continue unabated. The <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53578819862" target="_blank">final</a> parade of shops is plainly targeted at travellers passing through, offering a bureau de change, a betting shop and a quick pre-train Italian. I don't need to tell you about King's Cross station because that occupies a previous square on the Monopoly board, whereas just across the lights is where Pentonville Road starts and that's the next square, the last light blue, coming soon.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-30588879285178763532024-03-10T00:59:00.426+00:002024-03-14T17:57:29.522+00:00Route 59<img hspace=4 src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OXFw9ikY1YQ/TLDEYGJdQII/AAAAAAAAE6Y/oocfPgARB7Y/s400/busquare.gif" align=right border=0><font color=#cc0033 size=4>Route 59: Smithfield to Streatham Hill</font><br>
<font size=1><em>Location</em>: London south, inner<br>
<em>Length of bus journey</em>: 6 miles, 55 minutes</font><br>
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<font color=#cc0033><i>It's traditional around every birthday that I take a numerically significant bus journey. Seventeen years ago I took the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2007/03/route-42-liverpool-street-denmark-hill.html">42</a> to Dulwich, then subsequently the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2008/03/route-43.html">43</a> to Barnet, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2009/03/birthday-bus-journey.html">44</a> to Tooting, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2010/03/birthday-bus-journey.html">45</a> to Clapham, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2011/03/route-46.html">46</a> to Farringdon, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2012/03/route-47.html">47</a> to Bellingham, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2013/03/route-48.html">48</a> to Walthamstow, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2014/03/route-49.html">49</a> to Battersea, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015/03/route-50.html">50</a> to Croydon, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2016/03/route-51.html">51</a> to Orpington, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2017/03/route-52.html">52</a> to Willesden, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/03/route-53.html">53</a> to Whitehall, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2019/03/route-54.html">54</a> to Elmers End, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020/03/route-55.html">55</a> to Oxford Circus, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2021/03/route-56.html">56</a> to Smithfield, the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/03/route-57.html">57</a> to Kingston and most recently the <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/03/route-58.html" target="_blank">58</a> to Walthamstow. This year it's back to the heart of town for a southbound safari aboard the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/59">59</a> to Streatham Hill.</i></font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53577626673" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGj1GpKCzL_8GIaT6Kn7JLRqiCnmZvyYjnX8shkh0ULOS47eAaLWDsZdMAO3HUwQNqzgGmSxk73c3C52c8BX0ZulaimsjV1VQ5xa6QpnDdlno75aNd56ndTv_fhhbOYCdtmtH1TuzIXFv69hU9v2M-TjIpwpXmMbUd8ukoNg9E6Z0eA-hH2IVEg/s1600/59smith.jpg" title="59 at Smithfield" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
When it comes to riding birthday buses, some places draw you back. I was here at <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53577626673" target="_blank">Smithfield</a> for the 56 just three years ago, and the only other bus route which starts by the meatmarket is the 46 from ten years earlier. Interestingly the blinds on the 46 describe it as <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">Bart's Hospital</font>, on the 56 as <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">St Bartholomew's Hospital</font> and on the 59 as <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">Smithfield <font style="font-variant:small-caps;">St Bartholomew's Hospital</font></font>, because naming conventions evolve. Bad luck if you want to know where any of these three buses stop because all that's been provided is a temporary dolly stop, no timetables, no shelter, no nothing.
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The 59 didn't used to start here, it was diverted last Easter to make up for the death of the <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/04/deleting-521.html" target="_blank">521</a>, whereas previously it used to plunge due south from Euston. It also operates with Boris buses, which may or may not be what you'd want to spend the best part of an hour on. I make my way up to the front of the top deck, for which there is zero competition, and brush a lot of bits of crisp off the seat. Someone's left a hoodie on the floor a few seats back, but you can't expect every driver to check everywhere around the bus between shifts. Let's do this.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkkv-AJq3kzS16WaDFUbPyFg0FhCOPwlJq4VIbBY8h9OL6dPlSIVJt5aPxepSrCq9URRripVX66cRjO6zhdGpvqLa-qfHaLT3ykx9vp1H2yGk2Pm9MAGuV86J2FmaBkH4LiEh75vIOuKZWflsWSy2vHS94L1KsbGoBreXx_6oYidBalYjFJxrUQ/s1600/59holbviad.jpg" title="59 at Holborn Viaduct" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
We emerge into the City by the Old Bailey, cross the Fleet valley via Holborn Viaduct and touch back down by Hatton Garden. That's already more famous sights and history than along the entirety of the 58 last year. All around us office latecomers are striding purposefully to work, some in shiny black brogues, others in bright boxfresh trainers. On our climb up High Holborn we trail behind a nemesis cyclist, dawdling behind him until we eventually manage to overtake, then losing ground again every time we pull into a bus stop. The need to improve the cycling experience on the approach to Holborn station has led Camden council to steal one lane for bikes, but they're still segregating it at present so it takes three attempts to get past the lights at the roadworks. This paragraph should have taken five minutes but the constriction's made it ten.
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There's only one bus stop on Kingsway and it overlooks the fruit stall where BestMateFromWork used to buy his minneolas. At the far end a flock of hire bikes lines the road above the exit from the underpass - some red, some green, and both species taking a break between rush hours. We wait awhile to turn into Aldwych, now a seethingly broad vehicle-dominated expanse because something had to counterbalance the pedestrianisation of the Strand. Top class musicals can be glimpsed up Drury Lane, and (rather closer) two bearded police officers outside the Indian High Commission. To cross over into south London we ride above a misty Thames, enjoying an iconic panorama from the dome of St Paul's round to the spike of Big Ben. As many as ten different bus routes cross Waterloo Bridge but somehow this is the first time a birthday bus has passed this way, and hopefully I have <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/68" target="_blank">two</a> <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/76" target="_blank">more</a> to go.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tEzABreg0xxiKL9L3sy-HKBMT9R_aXsGVW0S0OHU5dKkaFascaYeNAW9CI_rIcaZZ-AfBEHRueLtASd0kPgi9EFbktjN-i4q3Ey9X5jcrHNfROMb_NJ6oPcIlc8c6xhpl7qAMikFsXqNxIlshyC84nNhiR2i806ZBfFyFRySkEiUbDOt3LNyKQ/s1600/59waterloo.jpg" title="59 at Waterloo" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
At the IMAX roundabout the enormous yellow wrap is plugging Sky's new bespoke tennis channel. Outside the side entrance to Waterloo station a Chelsea Pensioner is shaking a charity bucket with a winning smile. A dozen copies of yesterday's Evening Standard lie unread in the hopper beside Bus Stop D. A shelter-top roundel reminds punters they can catch the Superloop from here, but the timetable confirms you can't do this before four o'clock so don't hang around. We turn right by the Old Vic, this one of the last turns of the journey because there's a heck of a lot of 'straight ahead' over the next four miles. The brief run down to Lambeth North tube is the only section of the route that the 59 serves alone. Waterloo Millennium Green is abuzz with daffodils, if not yet with bees. The Duke of Sussex would rather you bought food than beer. According to a banner 'Waterloo is where fringe meets falafel', and would somebody please sack the branding team.
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The first big attraction on the Kennington Road is the Imperial War Museum, indeed not much else compares. I can now see a long way straight ahead, past splendid three storey terraces with attic rooms, basements and gardens bursting with magnolia. The peak of gentrification comes at Kennington Cross where one parade of shops is painted in four shades of pastel blue and the locals duly descend to browse and graze. A number of the shops here combine neighbourhood essentials, so one does wine and cheese, another does coffee and books, and the pop-up tent outside St Anselm's is called Bouquets and Beans because you're bound to need some wrapped flowers with your soy macchiato. Thinking of the friends I know who live round here, it's appropriately pitched. That gasholder you can see rising beyond Kennington Green is indeed the same as overlooks the Oval, but here viewed from the other side.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MW5c_S4oPWbHVxukhyIByKVzDx7K9CkuRdvAGoPF5VV-wtIlacH9qJVijOhfmSodmmzoyULCTevMU8REPzfc6iSgKzsNh5pHwzO3QYKJDb5QyCjWMIOvnroXZ_grHJ307JnUjCQRhb9U8931cCGLL1kLPJ4dcmuPjrTDVF3yy8ysY2N05uwQUA/s1600/59back.jpg" title="59 at Lower Marsh" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
We're half an hour down when we turn into Kennington Park Road, joining buses that've come straight from the Elephant. I take the opportunity to admire the narcissi bobbing in Kennington Park outside Prince Consort's Lodge. We don't quite pass Oval station, instead veering left past a large traffic island with the geometrically uncomfortable name of Oval Triangle. The bobbly rock in the centre is part of a 27 ton sculpture by British artist Peter Randall-Page. It's called <a href="https://www.peterrandall-page.com/news/touchstone-sculpture-installed-at-oval-london/" target="_blank">Touchstone</a>, comprises two carefully balanced granite boulders and, confirming you should never read the artist's blurb, is "something both monumental and playful". Our bus isn't aiming for Stockwell so we take the Brixton Road, where the food offer is instantly more eclectic and includes Eritrean, Venezuelan and Japanese. It's telling that the spicy takeaway at number 12 is now Tennessee Peri Peri Chicken, no longer merely Fried.
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Charlie Chaplin has a <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/charlie-chaplin/" target="_blank">blue plaque</a> at number 76 because he lived there, but only for two years and well before his film debut. Flats old and new line the road ahead, but also more of those tall marvellously-characterful terraces because we're seeing inner south London at its best. Northbound and southbound bus lanes have commandeered half the street because four other routes head this way and they need the space. The sudden smell of something sharply floral heralds the arrival of an over-perfumed passenger in a seat behind me, the first fellow traveller I've felt compelled to mention after six full paragraphs, indeed only now is there a chatty buzz on the upper deck. Shops called Brixton Butchers, Brixton Cycles and Brixton Beds confirm that a fresh town centre is approaching; a shop called Doris Exotic suggests that some shopkeepers have peculiar tastes.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8byi32uNTSvfZLuGpZGH297G-O4hQ9sNDYFd0z2u-K4Uw6xQEIxsY5uzFDeQEM_wdiFx9Iy0RqYHaMR66PFZidyHCSvW4XQNzvdcqRDzNTX6wLYNt0YvxBLWHOAB8AS59Pc1NCYfVs5qHWBVK06wyFTiwANeeSq0SZGYOK4OkFvvW4xjDirpvcA/s1600/59rear.jpg" title="59 at Holborn Viaduct, not hereabouts" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Sometimes you can sense the moment when a bus driver has stopped trying. Ours starts lingering slightly too long at the stop by Max Roach Park, then does it again by the police station, as if he has a deadline he's trying not to meet. When it comes to naming local landmarks to suggest civic vibrancy, Electric Avenue is a heck of a lot better than Barnardo's Corner. I note that Brixton still has an M&S, not to mention an H&M, plus two different Morleys - one a department store, the other a chicken shop. We'll be taking the right fork up Brixton Hill, a gentle ascent, along with <i>eight</i> other bus routes because it's left to double deckers to take the strain once the tube runs out. <a href="https://www.lambeth.gov.uk/libraries-0/lambeth-archives" target="_blank">Lambeth Archives</a> have just <a href="https://love.lambeth.gov.uk/lambeth-archives-on-their-way-to-the-heart-of-brixton/" target="_blank">relocated</a> underneath a newbuild block of flats, because that's how council services work these days, and it's not an attractive look.
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If I were trying to make Brixton Hill sound archaic I'd mention the lengthy linear greenspace to our left (Rush Common) and the nearby windmill, and if I were trying to quash that idea I'd focus instead on the blocks of flats, the entrance to the prison and the cafe that's written its name in Comic Sans. The bus garage at the top of the hill is a former <a href="https://www.urban75.org/brixton/history/brixton-hill-tram-depot.html" target="_blank">LCC tramways</a> <a href="http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/news/?p=35680" target="_blank">depot</a> which opened 100 years ago this week, but we're not stopping there. We're going two stops further, across the South Circular, to the proper Brixton bus garage, not the adjunct. The three of us still aboard are turfed off at a special stop reserved for terminating services, just a few feet before buses swing off to enter the depot. I am immediately accosted by three leaflet-wielding missionaries intent on claiming me for Jesus, but swiftly shut them down so they shuffle off and try to convert a driver on his fag break instead.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibwCfcrzYbhY4_7yxVbyA1VhyL1yudAE86EF3eNiVPSiAGt83VtvcGcLwVGPZBComLIqCT6b_NyC4WtQ7UxPyLei1gvyoeYDB8w9-_IuUACgbn0nkpYtofcVDcMZTLcm8Xv74p2N_7DOY9hBj1bkTjdddVhntgEeopNGeLiNPjbG6zdPe8fzgisQ/s1600/59telford.jpg" title="59 at Streatham Hill" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
No further birthday buses will trouble Streatham Hill until 2074, and I doubt I'll still be around in 50 years for that, but do join me this time next year as I make a break for Purley and the deep south.
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<font color=cc0033>• <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/59?direction=inbound">Route 59</a>: route map<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="http://traintimes.org.uk/map/london-buses/#59">Route 59</a>: live route map<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.londonbuses.co.uk/_routes/current/059-3.html">Route 59</a>: route history<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="http://londonbusroutes.net/times/059.htm">Route 59</a>: timetable<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="http://londonbusesonebusatatime.blogspot.com/2010/03/number-59-route.html">Route 59</a>: The Ladies Who Bus</font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-67111114395921145972024-03-09T06:04:00.443+00:002024-03-09T08:32:55.446+00:00with a 9 on the end<img align=right src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0MmL3PJiz_c/TXaItvm8ZeI/AAAAAAAAFWs/P6T3rZtz7Y0/s400/cake1.gif" title="59th birthday cake" align=left hspace=4 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><i>Birthdays are often great, but a birthday with a 9 on the end can give cause to ponder as the end of another decade grows uncomfortably close.
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Today is my 59th birthday which means the end of my sixth decade is suddenly on the horizon, indeed my 60th year on earth officially starts today. I'm not sure I'm ready for this.
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So I thought I'd look back at my previous birthdays ending in 9, the moments I found myself on final approach to another decade's end, to try to remind myself that it's never as bad as it seems.</i>
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<i><b>Saturday 9th March 1974</b> (age 9):</i> I didn't have much concept of a decade back then, having not yet experienced a full one, but I knew double figures would bring special status. I was still in my second year of junior school at the time, somewhere beyond learning italic handwriting with my Osmiroid pen but not yet in thrall to the nice lady who came in to teach us a few French words on a Thursday afternoon. Life was not yet complicated - food appeared, holidays happened and my social universe was happily compact. This was also just before we moved house, so my last birthday before I got a bedroom of my own and introspective privacy became a thing.
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I don't know what I did in the morning, it not being a schoolday, but <a target="_blank" href="https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1974-03-09">BBC1</a> was showing Mary, Mungo and Midge, Josie and the Pussycats and Casey Jones, so they may have featured. Later in the evening Doctor Who was fighting the Daleks, but I probably missed that episode because a birthday tea with carefully-invited friends would have taken precedence. Somewhere in my Dad's sideboard is the blue plastic number 9 that would have topped the cake, indeed there might be two 9s because it was also my Mum's 39th as she hurtled inexorably towards 40. What I do know (because I still have the programme) is that in the evening we went out to see Captain Pugwash, a swashbuckling musical show for kids at Watford Palace Theatre, and I thank my parents for their forbearance.
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<i><b>Friday 9th March 1984</b> (age 19):</i> In a mighty decade leap I now found myself at university. Jolts don't get much bigger than being ripped from home and relocating to a higher educational hotbed seething with thousands of people your own age you'd never otherwise meet, a bedroom of your own and free money from the government. I know it's not entirely like that now but wow, what a blast it was then. I was mixing with future artists, economists, politicians, journalists and general go-getters, as well as others destined to fall back under the radar instead. What I didn't appreciate at the time was that this unique burst would last only three years and I should truly make the most of it, and that in this case the gamechanging age wouldn't be 20 but 21.
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<img hspace=4 src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YNEKdMMhFGM/XMyvmHgw5EI/AAAAAAAAfvI/-Nh_rnZv7V0GABgSrrLJHiy4BWC0Y7XCgCLcBGAs/s200/cremeegg.gif" title="creme egg" align=right border=0>My 19th birthday wasn't just a Friday but the last day of term so everyone was up for a celebration anyway. I woke early to open my cards and presents and was pleased to discover I'd accumulated the grand total of £17 so went off to spend it in the shops. I bought a blank C60 cassette from Boots, a Thompson Twins album from Our Price, a road atlas from Parkers and a Creme Egg from the Co-op. While I was at lectures my friends strung a string of teabags across the door of my room, because I hadn't chosen the wildest crew, and later in the afternoon came round with a bottle of sweet white wine and a tin of Quality Street. I made time to watch Doctor Who (the inimitable <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00v8z51/" target="_blank">Caves of Androzani</a>) and then a gang of us went out for a meal. Pancake palace Go Dutch was alas full so we went to O'Sullivans (long since closed) where I had a big burger and Paul took the candle apart. After ringing Mum on the way home (happy birthday!) we ended up at Tim's party bopping to ABC and I finally crawled into bed at half past three. It's funny, but reading back 40 years later I was expecting it to be wilder than that.
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<i><b>Wednesday 9th March 1994</b> (age 29):</i> Life had got serious over the last ten years and I now had a job, a flat and a much stunted social life. A single choice had flung me down a career path I hadn't been expecting on my 19th, one I turned out to be good at but it wasn't at all clear where it might be leading. Instead I just got on with things, settled into a rut and did what needed to be done without finding much time for fun. It wasn't a bad life but only retrospectively have I realised what I was missing out on, and in this case the gamechanging age wouldn't be 30 but 33.
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I spent my 29th birthday at work, it not being possible to get out of it. I only had two cards to open first thing, one of which inspired me to ring home and wish Mum a happy 59th(!) before catching the bus to work. My colleagues had ganged up to get me a cake and a gift which turned out to be a pair of annotated boxer shorts, handed over with kisses - these days you'd probably be able to describe this as workplace harassment and get the perpetrator sacked. We still swap Christmas cards. I worked conscientiously through the day, survived the wet hour and made sure I had a Creme Egg in my lunchbox. After work I bought two CD singles in Our Price (M People's Renaissance and Blur's Girls and Boys) and a readymeal roast dinner in Safeway as a birthday treat. Other than enjoying those the highlight of the evening was watching Brookside, and I think that says everything about my late 20s.
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<i><b>Tuesday 9th March 2004</b> (age 39):</i> Having shaken the dice either side of the millennium I was now leading my best life. It could have gone terribly but instead I had a role with influence, a centrally-located pad and a group of proper friends again. Admittedly BestMate had recently buggered off to America so being 38 had been a lot less frenetic than being 37, but that just gave me more time to write my fledgling blog. I told my diary that 40 looming "didn't feel scary" and this proved prescient, things were only just getting started, and in this case the gamechanging age wouldn't be in my 40s at all.
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<img hspace=4 src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iydiZ3LgEAs/XqA6hDekWSI/AAAAAAAAjT0/Sdl5ZQ6Zek0oBXTq4Xs4rmbh4M0pyx_TwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/kings.jpg" title="kings college cambridge" align=right border=0>By my 39th birthday I had a job where days off were a possibility so I grabbed my chance and took the train to Cambridge to meet my parents halfway. This meant I could wish my Mum a happy 69th in person and hand over my wrapped gift of the complete boxset of Tenko on VHS. The outdoor thermometer I received in return is still giving sterling service. Because I was with my parents we did parenty things like browsing the haberdashery department in John Lewis, taking tea in the Copper Kettle and snapping photos of the Backs with Dad's new digital camera. For lunch we went to Garfunkels where I had mixed grill and profiteroles, like it was still the 1990s, and Mum had gammon and waffles. One further tearoom beckoned, because being almost 70 seemed to involve increasing amounts of sitting down, and then we headed our separate ways home. The day out inspired me to blog about being <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004/03/half-life-i-spent-my-39th-birthday.html" target="_blank">halfway</a> to my average life expectancy, roughly speaking, and it scares me slightly that 20 years later I'm now up to three-quarters.
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<i><b>Sunday 9th March 2014</b> (age 49):</i> Work was very different in a team of three rather than a team of 30, but if they were still willing to pay me I was happy to be there. My career progression was now very limited, it turned out, but sometimes it's best not to know what's coming next. For example at 39 I hadn't realised I only had five more years to wish my Mum a happy birthday, and 9th March has felt less complete ever since. Again I wasn't overly unnerved by approaching a decade's end, not yet feeling the first signs of inexorable decay, and in retrospect the gamechanging age wasn't 50 but 55.
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Plans for a 49th birthday day out with BestMate evaporated when the stag do he'd been on overran so instead I took the day's itinerary into my own hands. First I took a celebratory ride on the Dangleway, using the first of ten freebies I'd been gifted yesterday, then headed to the Barbican for a safari round the tropical conservatory. For the main event I took the train back to the village of my birth and walked the whole Croxley Boundary Walk which proved to be six and a half miles of unbridled nostalgia. The day had been unseasonably warm (20°C!) so I'd stripped to a t-shirt and also nipped into a shop on New Road to buy a Fab lolly, just like I might have done 40 years earlier. You won't be surprised to hear that dinner was accompanied by a bottle of Becks and a Creme Egg, nor that I spent the evening writing about <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2014/03/croxley-green-boundary-walk.html" target="_blank">my day out</a> (which is the way so many days now end, birthday or not).
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<i><b>Saturday 9th March 2024</b> (age 59):</i> tbc. But not yet 60, hell no.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-66684182522928656652024-03-08T07:00:00.353+00:002024-03-08T07:00:00.129+00:00Stafford<font color=#654321><b><i>Gadabout</i>: STAFFORD</b></font><br>
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<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford" target="_blank">Stafford</a> is a West Midlands market town at the heart of its own county, located <a href="http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?X=391587&Y=322603&A=Y&Z=120" target="_blank">halfway</a> between Crewe and Birmingham. It may be the same size as Crewe but it's over a millennium older, has much better shops and boasts a castle and some nice old buildings. It's even got a <a href="https://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/stafford-visitor-information-centre" target="_blank">Tourist Information Office</a>, although this turned out to be the box office of the local theatre where three smiley ticket-floggers apologised for having nothing to offer but an over-sponsored map, so I guess the borough council no longer take visitors as seriously as they once did. <font size=1><a href="https://www.ourbeautifulstaffordborough.co.uk/" target="_blank">[Visit Stafford]</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/stafford" target="_blank">[10 photos]</a></font> </i>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574073158" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIV-HY_ocG3Tn09zcd3oWwzk81N7QCPSEbRSdFZ1iuUaP5LVs8sDMvc75wRUuFjWuxqLW6a8HTa-pcVxY01LEpJx2d81fBjS-hBvzOiCAcTLxvPe-ejOkOeMedaG6tMlaRNgdTyBZCK8-uf16ztZzhdOYjS2mIGMeNgyhYNWQqHyc4RyKH40bPg/s1600/vicpk.gif" title="Victoria Park" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
You can tell Stafford's very different to Crewe as soon as you cross the road outside the station and enter <a href="https://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/victoriapark" target="_blank">Victoria Park</a>. Smart lawns, a bench commemorating the latest coronation, a bridge across a tamed river, a bowling green, an iron shelter donated by an alderman, cages of tropical birds, two historic <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574073158" target="_blank">millwheels</a>, a bursting magnolia, a greenhouse filled with tropical plants and a rotunda cafe funded with lottery cash, all within a single park. Admittedly there was also a man getting his snake out, but this was in a tank in the greenhouse and I think he worked there. The <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574309695" target="_blank">river</a> threading through is the Sow, a lesser tributary of the Trent, although it still makes a good job of splitting the town in two. And once you're across the park you're pretty much in the <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/52.8061/-2.1161" target="_blank">town centre</a>, which is another one-up on Crewe where it's at least a mile's walk.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53573909250" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyOApem5jQ9kqrHUdu9v_YoCr_q6Xui_kEgnds3UjdAtKoK7nJ0q_NQinwssByxNYYtMrIjoaI8ZDz1Ovy6pK5czvipHJ2xe5Af2uIhihY12wUSKaumtJ5XGmIZOWun4O6LwzfwQasSPeFmge-hGoZNx6_ki9xWSyQ8yiAzg-K8S80YpYFBF4uQ/s1600/ahhouse.jpg" title="Ancient High House" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
Stafford has an actual tourist attraction <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53573909250" target="_blank">in the main street</a> which is the <a href="https://www.historicstafford.co.uk/whatson-venue/ancient-high-house/" target="_blank">Ancient High House</a>. It cuts quite a dash with its half-timbered <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572605272" target="_blank">four-gabled frontage</a> protruding rather higher than you'd expect for Tudor housing stock. It was built in 1595 for a wealthy merchant family and is reputedly the largest surviving timber-framed town house in England. Even better all four floors are accessible for most of the day, and for free. At high street level the occupiers sell shampoo and phones but if you step through the centre door you meet the lovely staff at the desk and are free to explore upwards via the central staircase. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_High_House" target="_blank">Charles I</a> has been up there before you.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjVMiXySK8uXMHqVKVvdeH2FtaAEH_WeDr7t0wHoe3u7q46cmP3FsurG3NhHnoOfi6ohf_7jZqQIJjcopoUpcCtbIIIYIGWPfUMsWas6P8rdTDUOOJdwZfFL0vu8DcPgCV3n1ti8WARQtsRsdM1Ez8L3ROgUoRCEAK9GVZ08DCbwQdPGKv0sqlQ/s1600/ahhou.jpg" title="Stuart Bedroom, Ancient High House" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The building is the star and the rest mainly historical window dressing, including a number of era-themed rooms. The Stuart bedroom is the most evocative because the council went to the effort of including a genuine four-poster, and the sweet shop the weirdest because they've <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV477x20r6G6eftkI1-Elr55CGUakfKi17B8Bl8AOZIz7xKiPlmFo4ArwCLHn99a4gfB6ucXETeaUgEL6Pl3_X4oJvMZu0PTqWvM9lvItypsS1tOono405u_03yjD6HC7H-loQt1Z71H29xnqFLgseyDZNRmoMPHSvmHqGMrzkI1KupG5twoP2AQ/s1600/wonky.jpg" target="_blank">attempted</a> a lacklustre begoggled Willy Wonka Experience. An attempt has been made to cover wider ground with an excellent and comprehensive display digging into how geology has influenced life and industry across Staffs (generally by being dug up and sold). And on reaching the top floor you'll discover a claustrophobic attic telling the military backstory of the <a href="https://staffordshireyeomanrymuseum.com/regimental-history-1" target="_blank">Staffordshire Yeomanry</a>, which'll either be your thing or else you'll be back down the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53573873174" target="_blank">vertiginous stairs</a> pronto.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574161375" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimadPL2qmIoencUu6yW9taWexffSQLHVC-BsbraWDujgWdPQTNMJPHrt2z1JdU5t_Ba3ohxqMdcAUTEtTmVW2_rBVS_f04rrEQmplLmQJyMG-bleUlnkOlT1nPVESm0kf1_2b_z12PyOoj0f2Hq8bTp8t_qXf4H8eW3qy85_VzEAiQRKwASQXoHQ/s1600/smary.jpg" title="St Mary's church" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://www.ourbeautifulstaffordborough.co.uk/see_do/stafford-town-trail/" target="_blank">Stafford Town Trail</a> starts outside, for which a leaflet used to be provided but these days to save money they expect you to view its 30 pages on your mobile device. I tried, but if you're going to include a map please join up the 30 places to show the route else it's all too easy skip a direction and lose your way. I found most of the buildings anyway, including 13th century <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574161375" target="_blank">St Mary's church</a> and the footprint of its Anglo-Saxon predecessor (although I didn't get inside because the <a href="https://www.stmarysstafford.org.uk/visit-worship" target="_blank">opening hours</a> are brief and complex). Other survivors, if you follow the right alley, include the early medieval <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574161315" target="_blank">St Chad's church</a> (also closed), a timber-framed Tudor <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53573549396" target="_blank">sheriff's office</a> (with jettied upper storey), a row of Jacobean almshouses, a sail-less windmill, a Victorian prison and a couple of former coaching inns.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574350594" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXvAkAGKV4IIkVnO5yKhpIIsAG-IMJxBS0v1j-GUw_qR73EpUBMKvVxFw7CE8Hu3dRF77hvlqO8S10B2Wa0OYSOZwLnYOt13frW8ZOSXHrrSFeXGOx9PrvijwtvR4BW7EvWVNTL3xpLhvV5cglu8tYOoazMzBFP46y2AW6iFYnBHnCMyQWZpoT0g/s1600/mktsq.jpg" title="Market Place" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53574350594" target="_blank">Market Place</a> retains an air of Georgian splendour, so long as you don't spin round to see the modern <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdz4fAoZoREUgG81o6xRqUQBPtngCISSfFFNBLbNYf3rQ81IW9YNiI9Ri6CTC7-wLC4pAQvLtqYmjvwEEwrr1QehGJwZE6lYjjTvUSUG_JXjrQ93GYmf_MUO99Dg6ey8dtmI_25Qw_CBa3yYLC3TvsQ6c5LUiC2UtTxP70-K-JXioER3ZxHXINg/s1600/staffo.jpg" target="_blank">glass confection</a> Shire Hall has been replaced by. It also no longer hosts the market which has shifted <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw2jfaWnUSJOgUeozKdvLn3L0JcYOT1sfQA_d1i7Jvm2oUjAF2l3RpEo0xXtIKEriXwlCylxtgVORPnE7iMUHYbxC1ULnGqxJIgxrNg6sT0usVjOpuWxzT2D_4YYTtSSCwyA8QyQvv02NpmpUyLSJVy9RIZ5Ew7QWqrRJsgrHuUweZT9-M-WTq_Q/s1600/smarket.jpg" target="_blank">indoors</a> to a drab hall where all I found mid-afternoon were a few unthrilled traders hoping to shift haberdashery, hi-vis and slippers. But it's still doing better than the 1990s mall nextdoor, the <a href="https://www.guildhallstafford.com" target="_blank">Guildhall Centre</a>, whose substantial footprint has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2zjzjj599o" target="_blank">shrunk down</a> to the embarrassing point where only one tiny <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7kzPg6fR69DWHsWr3XDhF17outwlY56ZqOX2wnRX7YzSX2OBAbn0mPdsfwvjDF4r7hIs3k16Lmef30tg-vXrjV5NoI0xjc-5Xv4d8Nagx5mMz0x-juPgx2h3B9Ez7-sY_ikvcdg10wGkuJNS1kA4ceL8w6M8S6-8lKP32yoNG63bsWaGP32elg/s1600/mallshut.jpg" target="_blank">stump</a> serving five shops remains open. The site's <a href="https://www.glancynicholls.com/work/guildhall-stafford" target="_blank">pencilled in</a> for rebirth as a "residential-led mixed-use development", should funds allow, but for now its inert bulk makes a large chunk of the town centre impractically impermeable.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8V2ALiJJHFH4lYXtj7JHzgujOd6hbedchmQ2IMrCTz9uPSGVDM7zWIWOuIHjyS-WiEb9_IDzr7k4o2_2KIQonmk6wKOQgbHXS2mnYfEJksz45FChMbYk1dXQwfxqFYSTUb0Af4I-wpb_KLVhy7QeBTea0aKSe4GwUHD0H8UiJAfeO0frpMYarvQ/s1600/iwalton.jpg" title="Izaak Walton's birthplace" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The biggest heritage disappointment is perhaps the loss of the house where Compleat Angler <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izaak_Walton" target="_blank">Izaak Walton</a> was born in 1593. You wouldn't expect a random <a href="https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=1022&SearchType=2&ThemeID=293" target="_blank">Tudor cottage</a> to have survived to the 21st century but what's depressing is that the site's now occupied by the town's police station so the plaque has had to be mounted on an anonymous brick wall alongside a securely locked backdoor. Fishing fans are instead advised to head for the village of <a href="https://osm.org/go/eu0uWQb--?m=" target="_blank">Shallowford</a> a few miles out of town where, with impressive forethought, his thatched riverside cottage was bequeathed with civic preservation in mind. It's still open as a <a href="https://www.historicstafford.co.uk/whatson-venue/izaak-walton-cottage/" target="_blank">small museum</a>, but only on summer Sunday afternoons so I didn't head out that way.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53573165747" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxMgTFVY9y6muTakJie8KNlymGBbxAVq8cXel_Y8_yg8xT_4gVgENQ6pNVZJ82rXc8QhBm9f-KUh0wN4iSezb_OYNNwp03l-CJ_F8JMyHarbfsrbCCFQfGHcSXpHnM0NIxwxFmaaFqLEfm6eXRA8xkb-Xh-_w9W4LAmn_1LWy9J4HdMN29fcAHQ/s1600/staffkast.jpg" title="Stafford Castle" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
Instead I devoted time to walking a mile out of town along the Newport Road, <a href="https://osm.org/go/eu0rlwH5-?m=" target="_blank">almost</a> to the M6, to visit <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_Castle" target="_blank">Stafford Castle</a>. I knew it wasn't a historical big-hitter and I knew it wasn't fully open midweek in March but I still wasn't quite sure what to expect. What I found beyond the car park was a steepish path climbing into some woods and at the summit a further mound with a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53573165747" target="_blank">stone keep</a> on top. The path kept spiralling until a proper vista opened up revealing a fair chunk of central Staffordshire, and swiftly reached a high loop around the outside of the keep. Impressively it turns out this keep is the only part of the site you <i>can't</i> <a href="https://www.historicstafford.co.uk/whatson-venue/stafford-castle/" target="_blank">get into</a>, at least on winter weekdays (and never on Tuesdays).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQbfFg5ovrSZ-ZsyIIU17gPaQBSLluO2JR7XvDApvrwnnUfOhWIEqkZKKYjTz4fhGea91Uy_FvTlzoZPKhPkbdWYWPml0e9CA6YpBqwM0eOEO8Ub3tbBU2oRx8cl8xftQ5ScRn9xXcfO7maUEotQtTtJxktzpFZ4nNwp8dL7CWosE4oBK8knzmg/s1600/kastel.jpg" title="view from Stafford Castle" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Reading the information boards, which are copious, I learned that the keep is a mere folly, a 19th century replacement for the Civil War ruins of a stone castle which replaced something medievally wooden. I also learned that the slope I'd just walked up had originally contained the outer bailey so there were more remnants to be explored there. I would probably have learned more in the Visitor Centre but this only opens when the keep does and it looked more cafe than commemoration anyway. The castle's worth the hike, basically, should you ever find yourself in Stafford, which I can confirm is a better idea than finding yourself in <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/03/crewe.html" target="_blank">Crewe</a>.
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<font size=1><i>The train home was only £4.50 thanks to another half price Great British Rail Sale bargain, indeed if you hunt really carefully you can still find advance fares for under a tenner. Ridiculously I spent more money on my connecting train between Crewe and Stafford, which is just one stop, than I did altogether on the rest of my cross country trip.</i></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-25259046565441730182024-03-07T07:00:00.003+00:002024-03-07T08:12:13.730+00:00Crewe<font color=#654321><b><i>Gadabout</i>: CREWE</b></font><br>
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<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewe" target="_blank">Crewe</a> is a large town in Cheshire and a key <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=12/53.0900/-2.4364" target="_blank">junction</a> on the West Coast Main Line. It's only here because of the railway so has pretty much no history before that arrived, and the railway's only here because the nearby towns of Nantwich and Winsford turned the Grand Junction Railway down. It's hardly the ideal spot for a day out, especially when its top visitor attraction is closed for the winter, so I allocated myself half a day and set out to explore. <font size=1><a href="https://www.visitcheshire.com/explore/crewe-p33601" target="_blank">[Visit Crewe]</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/tags/crewe" target="_blank">[10 photos]</a></font> </i>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53570710117" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJPhMTxfACktJFxJI5KkJVzSpPTnL7Fl0yA3bqjxrt54kcq1fLmJsF1qkvWUHv1nGaQBIc6aKJhvYcK7jBFpptvc1Pkf850oU1qD3N3_Zl8piIiVcEKhfJxfjzYQcEqkG-qHjWmHvDmmss_WyBCUOOorgM_iW3yrJG24LTPBqkpeUrd5BFLwCr9Q/s1600/krstn.jpg" title="Crewe station" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>Crewe station</u></b></font><br>
It's only right to start here, a 12 platform monster of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewe_railway_station" target="_blank">station</a> and a nationally significant interchange. Head to the peripheral platforms for Carmarthen and Uttoxeter, the central pair for Liverpool and Manchester or watch the fast lines through the centre for the occasional whooshing express to Glasgow or Euston. Two lengthy arched Victorian <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53570710117" target="_blank">screen walls</a> survive, attractively so, generating a sense of being either inside or outside, although the true divide is between northbound and southbound. There are better refreshments (and better toilets) on the latter. All sense of history is alas wiped away as you follow the footbridge through the ticket gates into a narrow <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPnIEGed07kCgl8bNAdNApfzFcXiumIrS6ZTiRHKjXF8AYcBbvuk209ujqi2Hf0uYY_bM9tir1kMt5zxU0FZnjdc2ElU8fYuCrGyhKEmu-L4p7PMBxmPUDaXnnkXqosj17OeAcIdv0RSSsgILibOtygmBfjiAXa1Eu73CfkuyYlYq7-dX7aPIHNQ/s1600/krstat.jpg" target="_blank">1980s steel shed</a>, the gateway to Crewe and a heavy hint that the town beyond isn't going to be as evocative as its station.
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<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> The station was originally named after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewe_Hall" target="_blank">Crewe Hall</a>, a stately pile a mile and a half to the east owned by the Earl of Crewe. The town that subsequently grew alongside is thus rare in being named after its station, not the other way round.</font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53571894619" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39HGgPJlElbFIBVYQqIC7k693qcDumEWcWx1ZXX7JLZOi4o2i6tTmbLCeVAlwOG450AsUe5GYRmJG0QCGuzLHzXJSIJfC7YN2RUYRINj-eYIbJ1ljUHMIbEtT3xechyphenhyphen7rDU7seNr_Pkb9FzwURFNrwsyp_m-5YRmpBtGR8IW8APNLJrIVMG7TrQ/s1600/krapt.jpg" title="APT at Crewe Heritage Centre" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>Crewe Heritage Centre</u></b></font><br>
Because we're in Crewe 'Heritage' means trains, in this case several trains of all sizes and various other items of rail-related ephemera. The <a href="https://www.crewehc.co.uk">museum</a> covers part of the grounds of the original Crewe Locomotive Works, some way north of the station, with various sidings allowing complete trains to be displayed. The most famous of these is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Passenger_Train" target="_blank">Advanced Passenger Train</a>, the sadly flawed but much loved tilting train, specifically the later 1980s APT-P. Not only is this the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53571894619" target="_blank">sole exhibit</a> placed by the entrance it's also visible from passing trains on the West Coast Main Line, most notably the Pendolinos it inspired. Alas the Heritage Centre’s 2024 season doesn't kick off until Good Friday so I couldn’t get any further, although by walking to the back of the neighbouring Tesco megastore car park I did enjoy squinting at Exeter South signalbox and an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_91" target="_blank">InterCity 225</a> train through the railings.
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<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> The Queen opened the CHC in 1987 to celebrate Crewe’s 150th anniversary. She and Prince Philip got in for nothing whereas you, stereotypical train-loving reader, will be asked for £8.</font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572195780" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUSX7CxCg_i-TPVmzgY3IcQqOMPUot6IaUGs_Xb0WGWOg9nb3uFIzHZPDWlStS11kSKgjtMrvc1QS-WKhSee8ez0T1s7zwIl8XjacAHzHZUc22fy_mHGsMRaSmgnGU8OHB4F75370M5R4A3B-uBNWkS14F5KuCGN_2ds_C4LOS7yAihXWnrmavQ/s1600/mornf.jpg" title="Mornflake Stadium" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>Crewe Alexandra</u></b></font><br>
Crewe's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewe_Alexandra_F.C." target="_blank">football team</a> sprang to life in 1877 as an offshoot from the local cricket club. It's named after Princess Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, suggesting had it been founded much later it could have been called Crewe Mary, Crewe Diana or even Crewe Catherine. These League Two promotion-chasers play immediately alongside the station, hence their nickname is the Railwaymen. The stadium is dominated by a millennial stand resembling a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572195780" target="_blank">strutty warehouse</a> and used to be known as Gresty Road. But money talks, even in the lower divisions, so its current name is the Mornflake Stadium, a ghastly moniker courtesy of a three year sponsorship deal with a local oat-based cereal manufacturer. Away supporters meanwhile get to spectate from the Whitby Morrison Ice Cream Van Stand, not that I suspect many are tempted to buy a chiming cornet-dispensing vehicle as a result.
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<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> While we're doing weird names, Gresty Road leads to the outlying village of Shavington, home to the parish of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavington_cum_Gresty" target="_blank">Shavington cum Gresty</a>.</font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53571958233" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLgDjYD-kHOGK2fjbbVAVXQy3P9jsWPm4dT3l4kBRFzo_B5YSjMx0Wvt7KXvW_dQkXS2nKcslPPQOrjcMSf3P4K2SShS5ouxLb_2VoEfyLrw1n_sfPnOJK40bW299Tsyrw54kEe6vAPQBXOA72G1yslycxy4mdKfbB4cO5wzOBxpj6WJ-W76odg/s1600/krmarket.jpg" title="Crewe Market Hall and Crewe Municipal Buildings" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>Memorial Square</u></b></font><br>
Crewe’s civic heart is a cluster of buildings off the Earle Street roundabout surrounding Memorial Square. Crewe Town Council meet in the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53571958233" target="_blank">baroque</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewe_Municipal_Buildings" target="_blank">Municipal Buildings</a> on the north side, while nextdoor is the Victorian <a href="https://crewemarkets.co.uk/our-story/" target="_blank">Market Hall</a>. This was significantly spruced up a couple of years ago and now follows the Boxpark template of multiple small refreshment outlets surrounding a slew of shared tables. It's been <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53571063807" target="_blank">nicely done</a>, which is more than can be said for almost anything else in the town centre. Had I visited a day earlier I'd have stumbled upon an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjkdmrlv4z3o" target="_blank">HS2 press event</a> attended by local and regional politicians, but instead all I found on the podium was the list of timings Andy Burnham or one of his mates had left behind. Crewe’s really lost out from the northern leg being cancelled, taking with it plans for a new HS2 station surrounded by a commercial hub and thousands of homes.<br>
<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> A new <a href="https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/business/major_regeneration_projects/crewe-town-centre-regeneration-programme/crewe-history-centre.aspx" target="_blank">History Centre</a> is rising on the site of the former Central Library - tagline 'A new kind of archive experience for residents' - but I'm not sure that's a good enough reason to delay a visit to Crewe until next year.</font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572325088" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwdovGpw8-dPoJAM7RbBzJDdE-v22u8ZnHVlg2dT9hBFEJ5pioQ7Smn6fkUhmYOmjJqKpY7VrI4Xwt66WNxH5e3TdH0FH_RiWvS_Tgvccyz1ad49OtnyynIIigS8YQLxijJneHwUylSZHK-aocxcfys66H2k6A9gnv42Y6kwxd8cJ04UM-KOCJuQ/s1600/krshops.gif" title="Crewe shops" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>The shopping centre</u></b></font><br>
Crewe's shopping centre is in a sorry state, in part due to economic slowdown and in part due to poor council decision making. Only the southeast quadrant of ordinary <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572325088" target="_blank">shopping streets</a> survived postwar redevelopment, the remainder having been turned over to three undercover shopping malls of dubious architectural merit. The Victoria Centre has so many empty units that the only shop still open around its central brick piazza is a Cash Converters. The Market Centre is half tumbleweed now its anchor Wilko has vanished. M&S and JD Sports have fled to the Grand Junction retail park because that's where the Cheshire housewives are. And where the Royal Arcade used to be is a vast empty space because it was knocked down in 2020 with high hopes of <a href="https://www.royalarcadecrewe.co.uk" target="_blank">redevelopment</a> before harsher economic headwinds kicked in. It's left <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572325088" target="_blank">an appalling scar</a>.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572127161" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSH5dV0OEdyWb1SrbhcUxdtUgZm9aA6B1uCuT7KAbOEwKqk6XL6pBu3I-PLi5CW4GZb4TAjOysGYWtcw6cnbKdJy2EmZZaI8Gm8CT9HtLucpg1PkukNyXAwbqSLqacpT2xzln7V8xStxl-Qscw5PGYZo5tKIcLiYUFB6yUA55HHhwl_j8mI0CzTQ/s1600/krroyal.gif" title="Royal Arcade non-regeneration, Crewe" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
Phase 1 - a new <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572127161" target="_blank">bus station</a> and multi-storey carpark - survived the cut and is now approaching green-walled completion. But this lurks on the far side of Phase 2 - the proposed leisure/retail cluster - which the <a href="https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/council_and_democracy/council_information/media_hub/media_releases/councillors-to-consider-next-steps-for-crewe%27s-royal-arcade-scheme.aspx" target="_blank">council</a> pulled the plug on in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67426724" target="_blank">November</a> due to increased construction costs. They're unlikely to be able to do anything significant with the site in the next five years so are considering a feeble raft of 'meanwhile' options like a children’s play area, go-karting and space for outdoor exercise. I’ve seen more disadvantaged towns, indeed the town centre doesn't truly reflect the suburbs, but if you want a 3-bed house for under £150,000 or a value Sunday carvery for £5.99 then Crewe sadly delivers.<br>
<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> The local bus company is called D&G Bus, their website is <a href="https://www.dgbus.co.uk/" target="_blank">dgbus.co.uk</a> and one of their tiny buses has the registration number DG 57 BUS. I was so excited by this discovery that I almost took a ride.</font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_toFzeLxFKVUgFhSXtAy637VAdMLa6AYWhqzGJZdevipMFlPHYKLGE_VnS3CWlDf4slJ3S8i2NJBgnIxE2pKVnlq79O5pmvwU_h0syh9YfXMn9dnOWdxiCmSLteWww-7YPV9Hd04IlGHSWSR3nJkfXr0IackzYVsYyJf3Ol9kBFjq8R327jclg/s1600/dgbus.jpg" title="D&G Bus" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>(big sheds)</u></b></font><br>
Crewe used to be synonymous with train manufacture and maintenance. The majority of the main <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crewe_Works" target="_blank">locomotive works</a> is now housing and a Morrisons, but Alstom still occupy a number of big sheds where trains are checked over and repaired. They're also due to be assembling HS2's bogies, which'll be marginal compensation for the trains whizzing past without stopping. A tad further out is the former Rolls-Royce factory, opened in 1938 to churn out Merlin aero-engines in preparation for fighting the Luftwaffe. After the war production flipped to motorcars, including the iconic Silver Cloud, but also increasingly Bentleys which are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_Crewe" target="_blank">still</a> turned out here in their tens of thousands. Don't go and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiscpx-PZdcygagzp-UmAqa6RzbybVYlWDR31pVz3L2c4Hj4y8QLXIcQH_HNFgzLLN1up8ztVY3HTDr-RsW5nv2TlHgTBvMyABdjT0UrWniEcSygUSbUIHPab6r5zSNt3ctoENiJKTzeHRORYodmATm00B6VuYAJnlz0jIW2vjM7IAGzv1q8hYdCA/s1600/rrbentley.jpg" target="_blank">have a look</a> specially, I just happened to be passing.<br>
<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> Famous Crewe residents include MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, BMX medallist Shanaze Reade and pouting soapstar Adam Rickitt. Celeb-wise Crewe's no big hitter.</font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572617224" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYYiqZVc8NJQPCxtD0sV287lWCI08hCFuvqfvvCIbJUKzsz9Ezo0dYHw47unoQUsdooIsClRSjUprP0lO3E3_Lms_lEc1L3iSuqaYr62MdJTyi7pJ5hjcQF97q9b9JIn0ZLaZB1ka7MkclQwamzjZAD1pT8YcSMHVckI0OFa2OGsbxTO6uxvMdag/s1600/qpark.jpg" title="Queen's Park, Crewe" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>Queen's Park</u></b></font><br>
Crewe's best <a href="https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/leisure,_culture_and_tourism/parks_and_gardens/crewe_area_parks_and_gardens/queens_park_crewe/history-of-queens-park.aspx" target="_blank">park</a> is mighty fine, <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001412?section=official-list-entry" target="_blank">grade II* listed</a> and worth the hike west of the town centre. It was gifted to the town by the London & North-Western Railway to celebrate their 50th anniversary and opened the following year to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Unusually it's elliptical, with broad axes for promenading, leafy dells spanned by modern footbridges and the obligatory spiky clocktower by the gatehouse. In the centre is a large barnlike cafe, on whose terrace I saw many mums and pensioners enjoying a springlike beverage, and to the south is a splendid landscaped lake created by damming the Valley Brook. My <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572617224" target="_blank">photo</a> shows the view from Doreen's bench where I stopped for a brew before dodging the geese and exploring the war memorial on <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/57671" target="_blank">Burma Star Island</a>.<br>
<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Crewefact:</i> The rats came as a surprise, four of them merrily tucking into the dry grass under a lakeside conifer, but the ducks and geese alongside didn't seem to mind.</font>
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<font size=1><i>If you're local, this is the one you won't believe I trekked out to see, but will be secretly pleased I did.</i></font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572617044" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RSuVSsJEEJaoudtrcxMNx7lmDP7OWACx8RSSwG113Kzq1ubcEX9a-94LUiWw9bS4zlusS8rg6EAwVHhaBp3D2nUlxZ5iLIe28F_ll4fX6hMXuFos6tj4xnilxZYTnoXUuoMYtx8WA3VqZCmdlk4DSlJgp_TfxWP60V3mNrZ2HmtR95N88IqWXg/s1600/swanjoey.jpg" title="Joey-the-Swan, Wistaston" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#654321><b><u>Joey-the-Swan</u></b></font><br>
In the parish of Wistaston, where the Gresty Brook crosses Valley Road, the waterside parkland goes by the extremely unusual name of <a href="https://osm.org/go/eu0f~Vib?m=" target="_blank">Joey-the-Swan</a>. I looked for alternative more-official names on the notices in the car park but nothing was given. The name derives from a male swan who lived in the fish pool outside Wistaston Hall in the 1930s, originally with his mate but then for many years by himself. Joey was a bit of a pecker, apparently, and according to legend liked to venture out to gobble crumbs from the baker's van before one day it ran him over. As well as the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi809PVnceVJzHr8Ez2miBCK8RZVC1gAjMRGcZ1nTmOs2xtSoya3HRBtq90g6zA1dirynbjUe1Wi5aq4nRlLDVwly2PWrEFNAeudIcyG377oAeglsvf2nSXhK1WfLOJFUDyfwLOlvez4-kkanjbNsI3t4GnY-rEt-MfEvWuCgpWCl6CfXDG72FXXw/s1600/joeyswan.jpg" target="_blank">greenspace</a> that bears his name (brooky meanders, muddy coverts, mini-playground, millennium boulder, wooden owl) Joey is also commemorated as a wire outline on the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53572617044" target="_blank">village sign</a> that overlooks the site... which, improbably, was designed by a resident called Eric Swan.<br>
<font color=#654321 style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>Wistastonfact:</i> The parkland known as Joey-the-Swan was donated to the people of the village by the Fathers of The Oblate Mission, an order of French missionaries who now use Wistaston Hall as a <a href="https://oblates.ie/ministries/oblate-retreat-centre-wistaston-hall/" target="_blank">retreat</a>.</font>
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<font size=1><i>I wouldn't normally waste £80 on a train trip to Crewe, indeed I didn't because I managed to buy a ticket for as little as £5.10 in the Great British Rail Sale in January, a sum I still genuinely can’t believe. I also took the opportunity to visit another town while I was up there, knowing Crewe would never sustain a day, so more about that tomorrow.</i></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-19564957633792587372024-03-06T07:00:00.352+00:002024-03-06T08:12:35.142+00:00The CharterhouseI hadn't realised you could wander inside <b><a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/" target="_blank">The Charterhouse</a></b>, the historic almshouses on the edge of Smithfield, probably because I hadn't been paying sufficient attention. I knew it had been restored a few years ago and I knew they did paid-for tours but I thought that was it, you pre-booked or you missed out. But the other day I was lingering in Charterhouse Square (taking photos of Florin Court if you must know) when I spotted a sign outside saying 'Museum and Chapel free', and it turns out <a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/visit-us/" target="_blank">yes they are</a>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpkZ_ohQytpk5kaDNaatAY_YTnBplY0eQ_uaInPRez3cIDzcBOZJ195jMNOXKUzWk-mLvbY2_rOwaqQ2_qIZ2Nno9LYsiqbEEbM1fclkgkuXc7wRVh7kry3dKLrvbBpjwrcky7A6oNFulMyPEmDJh_jiy2q-1JGe6rlEEFZAmgt7lZTVkLopNFA/s1600/khouse.jpg" title="The Charterhouse" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Charterhouse" target="_blank">The Charterhouse</a> is located here on the very edge of Clerkenwell because of dead bodies. Tens of thousands of Londoners died during the Black Death in 1348/9 and the largest of the mass graves was located here, a few feet beyond the edge of the City. Soon afterwards a Carthusian monastery opened on the north side of the plague pit, there being a lot of souls to pray for, and so the Charterhouse was born. After Henry VIII's monastery fire sale it was converted into a grand Tudor house, and in 1611 this was bought by the wealthiest financier in England, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sutton" target="_blank">Thomas Sutton</a>. He promptly died and bequeathed much of his wealth to establish a school for the young (40 boys) and a 'hospital' for the old (80 pensioners). Charterhouse School duly thrived, eventually relocating to Godalming, and the almshouses continue to provide shelter to this day.
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Whether resident or visitor, the Charterhouse is entered via <a href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/londons-pocket-parks-charterhouse-square-ec1-57642/" target="_blank">Charterhouse Square</a> (technically more of a pentagon). Its central garden is currently a combination of spring flowers and waterlogged grass, and best not to imagine quite how many skeletons you're standing on top of. Aim for the twisted metal arch under the giant lamp, which should be unlocked so long as a) it's between 10.30am and 4.30pm b) it's not Sunday or Monday. Beyond is a flagstoned courtyard with low knot-garden-like topiary, plus a 3D model of the complex so that even visually-challenged visitors can get a sense of scale. As sheltered housing goes, it's on the large side.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vF3-bjGXOBtQzFXcxtwAAQV4PX43cARn9qPu5o-fvP236yooTiF34xjcSUx97KdjZrE_CMqPQzch9Y6ebGUqD__xwFlKcT2_4Od32R40JtftEv9n7gXYcQRNX_13zkaxMdCgSpOFlJt5n_I8mRkP-K2GEt2OQL1ab_9tRzR9M8AigCoBR1GAtQ/s1600/knotgdn.jpg" title="The Charterhouse - looking out" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Step inside and initially it feels very 2017 rather than 1611, this being the pumped-up visitor-focused foyer. It's part information desk, part accessible toilets and substantially gift shop - somewhere to mill before a tour or browse afterwards. If you’ve brought children expect to be offered a colour copy of the Family Trail, otherwise you should be perfectly capable of finding your own way round. Head for the long room which looks a bit cloistery (but isn't, because the real cloisters are elsewhere), admire the plaques (oooh, John Wesley was a scholar here, ditto Robert Baden-Powell, ditto Sir Henry Havelock) and then make your choice of where to start - <a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/explore-the-charterhouse/chapel/" target="_blank">chapel</a> or <a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/explore-the-charterhouse/museum/" target="_blank">museum</a>. I picked chapel.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53570540805" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe32TY0w5txiyhG5qYBrlh4by-3nqpXJcxQhEo7XkXC3lzqH2Wt5oynDN3zDaYOe_j_O9nZ_-493XlmP3jkCHJQH2J-2fKfXK3E91VG5JTVlK6cVCGaVwFbSj5vZwUGi67lNO4jQ6R1dIOPCOHpncWhN97WdjULMACFcGC1WrN7rb50tjHCFFU-w/s1600/khkhapel.jpg" title="The Charterhouse chapel" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
It's been here just over 500 years although not much of the original remains, mostly a few bits of the antechamber. The main body straight in front is technically Tudor, the aisle to the left is a Jacobean extension and the plainer stalls bolted onto the side were added in 1825 to accommodate lowlier ranks of schoolchildren. The stained glass <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53570540805" target="_blank">stands out</a>, but more dazzling are the two golden icons painted either side of the altar (see laminated information sheet on pew alongside). But by now what's probably tickling your interest is the extraordinary confection on the north wall, an ornate stack of symbolism, which can only be the resting place of someone who had a lot of money and a lot of friends.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTkWRkjWTZa5yLyvmhva_NmGwmkxWOITZ8e-HkWFDCGx4qVFkdva-ZI4fXDsiN0Q__V-WCFcBSxeaXtpWma3B3yImKQk_rjLqrbwoCGlxM6vPsReLW9g9uEr__uBikXflpqlRt4friGyHt0Ozhq_g0x_98baaOFRgZZSgyrW6zBL0cOXvWPejMw/s1600/suttn.jpg" title="Thomas Sutton's memorial" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
That'd be the aforementioned Thomas Sutton, moneylender to the nation and chief hospital benefactor, who's commemorated here in a building he never saw. For the then-massive sum of £400 three master masons topped off an alabaster effigy of the good man with a <a href="https://ianstone.london/2019/03/18/the-thomas-sutton-memorial-in-charterhouse-chapel/" target="_blank">grandiose memorial</a> carved from stone and marble. Above the central plaque a skull stares out, Time wields his scythe and a massive congregation gathers to pay their respects to their benefactor. Cherubic figures with names like Labour, Piety and Rest are positioned roundabout to provide meaning, the obligatory coat of arms takes centre stage and three dogs' heads poke out up front. I'm not explaining it well, it's best seen in situ, its components explained in another conveniently positioned laminate.
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The museum meanwhile is long and thin, indeed quite hard to weave through if a tour party of retired ladies has turned up and are filling time before their official tour. It tells multiple tales in reverse chronological order, including what it was like to be a pupil here (serious, with bullying), how the hospital was governed (seriously) and how the water supply fed in through mapped conduits (seriously ahead of its time). I don't know of any other museum with a button that says 'Illuminate St Catherine', and when pressed she does indeed light up, she being the remains of an effigy from the late 15th century monastery chapel. At the far end of the second gallery the story ends at the beginning with an actual skeleton of a Black Death victim, reverently displayed beneath a wall of flickering 'candles'.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_febgvJCOex2q25XeDpeew3DAXen-qDqmDQSVzLWlADzC_wBoFQRkuvwGYJXkg_soJfw9ImGg5G6aF9FngYN2OcAXlTYBLnBoyG5-0YGeJuyAoq9N53fSAKpk3lkWlei8s7H4AAPD-TuMnJ3O6Pmm8XGnLUeBsrc3mbn9ot2617KYO8Nwifj53A/s1600/msm.jpg" title="The Charterhouse's mini-museum" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The thread that keeps cropping up throughout is that of the almshouse residents, still known as Brothers even after women were finally admitted in 2018. Numbers are fixed at 40, each with their own private flat and a unique address in almost the very heart of the city. The Brothers aren't expected to live a monastic life, they can come and go as they please, go on holiday, whatever, but there is an unspoken expectation that they'll dine collectively most of the time in the 16th century Great Hall. Some Brothers help guide in the chapel, many help run tours, and others simply enjoy the garden and the peace and quiet. To be eligible to <a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/joining-the-community/almshouse/" target="_blank">move in</a> to the Charterhouse you have to be over 60, single, in financial and social need and capable of living independently, so I'm not yet borderline Brother material.
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Come at 8am or 5.30pm and you can attend a daily service in the chapel. Visit on a Friday morning a big social sitdown takes place where anyone's very welcome. Pre-book on a <a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/explore-the-charterhouse/tours/" target="_blank">guided tour</a> - probably the best option - and you can be shown further treats within, like the garden, the cloisters or the Great Chamber. Or like I did simply <a href="https://thecharterhouse.org/visit-us/" target="_blank">drop in</a> to see the chapel and the museum, free of charge, in this extraordinary retirement haven with its roots in plague and charity.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-9853983133424442962024-03-05T04:39:00.014+00:002024-03-05T04:39:00.126+00:00439In March 2020 TfL published a <a href="https://content.tfl.gov.uk/croydon-bus-study.pdf" target="_blank">Croydon Bus Study</a>, a 54 page examination of the local bus network and how it might need to change in response to proposed development, particularly to the south of Croydon. Essentially it said "if more people are going to live here they'll need better buses".
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One issue was a need for more buses along Purley Way <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>("The Purley Way transformation area will require additional capacity")</i>.</font> Another was the recent removal of buses from Waddon Marsh tram stop <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>("A service could use Waddon Marsh to stand")</i>.</font> And another was historically poor links to the hillier streets in Kenley <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>("A significant section of Kenley is more than 400 metres away from the network").</i></font> So one of the study's key conclusions was to introduce a brand new route <font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;"><i>("We are investigating whether we could restore a bus service to Waddon Marsh and introduce a service into Kenley.")</i></font>
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<a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/routes-434-439-map.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNd9bHm_plTj-rO40PJX92hhtDaYm3Ha3i7oPoMTNb4bB6TztRbHMIqI3Hexk0C3wNh5NyDmxgwJ71WFl2CJc_sSwc1pyIRgu5jI5bGpOu6o1DfbtwSE_63ddbGjsDt_qbPnYLYSUQf8HNh1ChvIy9QiQchysJ-Xt9VahzguwdJD92dbnIV6900g/s1600/434439.gif" title="434 and 439 changes map" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
A brand new route duly started <a href="about:blank" target="_blank">this weekend</a> starting at Waddon Marsh and passing through Purley and Kenley. It's the <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/439" target="_blank">439</a>, a number London buses haven't previously used, which now runs <a href="http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/439.htm" target="_blank">every half hour</a> to the edge of Surrey. But north of Purley it merely shadows an existing route (the 289) and south of Purley it's merely taken over another (the 434). It won’t be reaching the heights of Kenley because that task's been given to the 434, and the 434 doesn't yet reach the heights of Kenley because the roads up there aren't yet bus-friendly. The 439's no groundbreaker, merely treading old ground, but I’ve been to ride it anyway.
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<font size=4 color=#cc0033>Route <b>439</b>: Waddon Marsh - Whyteleafe South</font><br>
<font size=1><em>Length of journey</em>: 8 miles, 35 minutes</font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDKaPbMiDfDTzjEAqf9a1SC1rU1KWBB6P31CXYlXIoCGZG7BrdJ2IpXmu7OsqcOIC1Ag0Z9s9a4XsG-tZHuDNa1Hs0rM3TBYRvvrg6RXZ_Ih-_Mv2WIg9AQJKanR-yY_7fbhyHjtQiyw8kQJ-n453D1wls9yM0PuulyPG1IfDJwljksQRxNo2tQ/s1600/439wadmarsh.jpg" title="439 at Waddon Marsh" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
No the blind still doesn't photograph properly, but imagine it says 439 Whyteleafe South. Nobody waiting here by the tram stop wants to go to Whyteleafe South, indeed most likely have no idea where it is, and the fact that no bus stops yet have timetables won't be helping them to work out where it goes. One potential passenger has to ask "Are you going to The Colonnades?" and only boards once told yes. Last week no buses started here but now two do, the other being the extended S4 (which is taking over from the 455, do keep up). The blind of the S4 doesn't photograph properly either but that's because it doesn't have one, it seems to be another route introduced before the new blinds were ready. At least <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwr6dfj9_OWCj1wAuL3FRyormF8cmN_YogTtrzsK5_-DyTyZfJ72hmoLh3whHBNVr5COPsf-eXMws4laa0Zyuz90_YUqCshXCyB1lA1IshT9yJKfiwwQj_4Fu9mCsSUNT6W6WZHm5l2mZUjZRMgjK2wX0JDZCcxaeonFWfGGuiOp35Fj0h8qSTjQ/s1600/thetiles.jpg" target="_blank">the tiles</a> are right.
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We set off round the back of Sainsbury's, past the supermarket bins and the TK Maxx car park. This is the only bit of the route that's properly new, or at least unserved since 2017, and it's just one stop long. When we pull over prematurely my eyes are drawn to the iBus display which is telling me it's only 9 minutes to Waddon station. It's the same super hi-tech display as on the S2, indeed the route uses the same type of vehicles, but in this case the software is actually working. It's also lying though, it must be, because in an instant the time to Waddon station suddenly drops from 9 minutes to 5. (It turns out to be 7, such is the poor power of prediction).
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8e3RSvQkqBuzoURRh2egtTVjDcMt1hFgCQooxfh3N9DiFduTrMPaW61_VvrpUmkCIxtu4uzpHFZUGYVVllK1I6V8SrQns4s8KVso44EsXa2cSTrQgVWtZnxkYjFsUry_9iAsfM0PBOZdqZiDbI_RvxV8n4CUKXUarvgwtEO1iwhEKpi-rSChu9A/s1600/ibusmk2.jpg" title="new iBus display" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>A word about these modern displays, iBus mk2, because in two ways I find them worse than the original. They only show the time if someone's dinged the bell wanting to alight, whereas on the old style it's exactly the opposite (time before ding only). More peevingly the screen keeps trying to tell you how long it'll be until the bus reaches a key transport node and they rarely get it right. It's also often a stupid transport node nobody's interested in, as here on the 439 where after Waddon the display suddenly gets obsessed with the time to Whyteleafe station. This is 24 minutes away apparently, and nowhere anyone on board would be going, whereas the time to Purley might have been useful to the majority. Basically, programmers, think about your list of locations far more carefully.</i>
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For the next ten minutes we'll be shadowing route 289 down Purley Way. The fortunate folk who live, work and shop along here are getting a bus boost from five services an hour to seven. I’ve blogged <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/01/a23-purley-way.html" target="_blank">a full journey</a> down Purley Way before so I won't submit you to it again, but here are some condensed snippets: Hare and Hounds, Gavin Palmer's belated Mayoral billboard, Fourways, Fiveways, sponsored academy, Grade II listed barn, reversing lorries, Wing Yip cash and carry, Kevin News, former airport, de Havilland Heron, the Colonnades Leisure Park, Costco, Battle of Britain RAF Memorial, cluster of caravans, concrete apron, a heck of a lot of playing fields, more school playing fields, estate agent nirvana, Mock Tudor parade.
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We reach Purley Cross a fraction ahead of a bus on route 434. This is the bus whose route ahead the 439 has just swiped, which means there might be someone on that bus who now wants to switch to ours. They can’t, the timing hasn't worked out, so annoyingly they'd now have to wait another 30 minutes (or walk). Five fresh passengers board at Purley station, having correctly deduced they now need the new number, and in one case is over-excited at having a brand spanking new vehicle. We head under the railway bridge, then veer off up Foxley Hill Road to the lower heights of Kenley. This is what the 434 used to do, and will one day do again before entering pastures new and powering up the full length of Higher Drive. More of that later, because I came back to explore it properly.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hGGaloNJUh3ovfZNxQNaXUn6V72P4tWt3hRkJqLxmxHqDv2U4JeT_u479nu0qGxpeJbnCSMOJPsc_Lm8GACqEJHM5019BcK_uV0Ky5tm_KpHjIE1qQZeiYn_Nc3yBDCNuQaziPE-UH65zItxOS7IXCsNit1h9QT4LTwas5vE1NUJq4N_reHksw/s1600/439higher.jpg" title="439 on Foxley Hill Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<a href="https://osm.org/go/euuoipi6--?m=" target="_blank">Northwood Avenue</a> is both isolated and lucky, sandwiched for half a mile between woods and railway with a half-hourly bus service all to themselves. All these houses run along a steepish slope, as do so many around here, in some cases perched above their garages. The road is narrow and double parked so requires careful driving, plus it's bin day and we’ve been fortunate to have missed the dustcart. The road winds on and on and on, briefly achieving connectivity at Kenley station, then ploughs on past lovely gardens, genteel courts and suburban palaces. On the other side of the railway the 407 and 434 are serving a busy main road whereas we're in another world entirely.
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The last hurrah of this 2½ mile quarantine is a tiny grid of residential avenues where, as previously <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/08/ulez-borderline-cases.html" target="_blank">blogged</a>, one isolated road has been pettily disadvantaged by ULEZ-inclusion. The bins change at the top of Hornchurch Hill as we switch from London to Surrey, then a level crossing heralds the appearance of that Whyteleafe station the iBus has been going on about for the last 24 minutes. Whyteleafe, a Surrey suburb with a Victorian heart, now has <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Dp96yfIx2YBZrT5fAP4kf-As_TDMJjMLdMTrYKMTk4K5W8LqGCYe0JD1bFKZMendpynvmpJ6cVoBZXs_SGlQGFMOYn1QTKpe2BJAfRxYaOmu67LYTiaPwTuI9remMgwMlm6lq-woYTyzkpGtFs9O80JBe4XotBlHCEts0YoOgf3rZfVKmn3tOw/s1600/3tiles.jpg" target="_blank">three</a> red bus services not to mention two stations on entirely different railway lines so lucky them. TfL's accountants would have preferred to terminate the 439 here but it has to continue for another three quarters of a mile down the Godstone Road before there's space for a stand and a roundabout to turn back. If you've ever wondered where Ann Summers HQ is, you'll be turfed off outside it.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCshSABFsHr_i8qfIM38hUgvqEUiizwGP1zndwCPDc2RkuExjKICL2wp72d8kp6wxAAeplWkmTI1PzLXM0DkuVC17lNpUIVCBOKN7aFVjBXOiK9bnTfZipmlx_BY8zKAe_oiA_i2BLMCj0A62lvMpkjGN4i3CXHeFW_T6u2wpuPhh8dksdosWvaA/s1600/439whyte.jpg" title="439 at Whyteleafe South terminus" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The 434 used to terminate here but it's just been extended to Caterham to make way, so that's good. What's less good is that to get here it's had to whizz along the A22 because its twiddles around the heights of Kenley aren't yet ready. It should have plunged headlong up <a href="https://osm.org/go/euuoiYHq--?m=" target="_blank">Higher Drive</a>, as I mentioned three paragraphs ago, indeed nothing's currently stopping it. The road's broad, not too steep and there are newbuild flats going up whose residents would love a convenient bus. A full mile's worth of potential passengers are waiting, although obviously they all have cars because they’ve never had an alternative.
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The underlying problem is that it's easy to get a bus up to the top of Kenley but very difficult to get it back down. There are no convenient roundabouts, no easy turning loops and rather too many narrow lanes linking up here with down there. In particular the <a href="https://osm.org/go/eur98YXf--?m=" target="_blank">left turn</a> out of Firs Road onto Park Road is too sharp, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Iu-ArMk1gbP90P6RrCEXViYLB1YXqbo02Y57X8OCtr_YvGa7od1VSMvPDpTH1fxWVLGn6Ut4NO34BiV0_ic7p6jl_JfYe-z7_-WSmpXdwajE0ll1D0434jm3qECHjyuea7YYa7rccfWcPMg3OyuTL_WDKUgjjHALojUTVdAux9ygzX72MiJ0CA/s1600/toohairpn.jpg" target="_blank">too hairpin</a>, so the obvious route on paper is not an option in real life. Instead buses are going to have to divert round Wattendon Road, a curvaceous <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0wJ7M58yB4oQwucmbhccr7T46KD39jV_LuQJfOQzcisPXXfBMAhiNGlQevbuZt-5n26j2plm9KYsUX-a9tVxc7Q5s48xtwuAkou4i0bVlwVJS_AkPoPdWR4Y5sRLgMUNBvkkjJ0t1b474BqzSYiLp5Ckui4CzMu40l0Q4VUi1sKAq5bYhPvzow/s1600/bungalowed.jpg" target="_blank">bungalowed backwater</a> whose residents could never have imagined it would ever see a regular bus. They're probably up in arms about it, to be honest, but will no doubt use it to nip to the shops once it emerges. Which’ll be just as soon as someone's carried out some enabling works...
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBiqmDwGgTvXDet117CqfGtkRiR_cmQRbhYvhDroc2L5hmeLKt_qJ-OUS07KOLHHoZX0V1aeyFH24nmbo3vV-rBpZ-gJOhaIWHtABKZEDoLolw8kOFTS0anOkdmA9Xi3-m_u61WDR4Ji-2AC40oWdY56GYRx06rV6fYe-H8mO9BZtJD6KH-20g8A/s1600/wattendon.jpg" title="TfL works at the entrance to Wattendon Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
These TfL contractors were out yesterday digging up part of <a href="https://osm.org/go/eur98Th2--?m=" target="_blank">Firs Road</a> by the entrance to Wattendon Road. I thought they were removing a traffic island but after checking Streetview it seems they were more likely adding one. Someone's also painted circles around a number of potholes, because it seems the best way to get these filled in is to suddenly have a bus route diverted your way. It does seem a bit remiss to be tackling this only <i>after</i> the proposed launch day but better late than never, and it could still be months before the 434 gets up here. That'll be proper gamechanging, though, for hundreds of homes and a primary school who'll finally get to experience what millions of other Londoners take for granted.
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<font size=1><i>Sorry, I did warn you back in January that there might be an overdose of bus reportage around the start of March. In good news the next big route change isn't until Saturday, plus that's also my birthday, so you now have a few days off before I bring you a couple more.</i></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-63897848004808577682024-03-04T07:00:00.005+00:002024-03-04T10:29:39.226+00:00S2This is the <a href="https://londonbuses.co.uk/_routes/prefix/s2.html" target="_blank">S2</a>, a bus which ran between Clapton and <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2008/07/s2.html" target="_blank">my neck of the woods</a> between 1970 and 2008, back when 'S' meant Stratford.
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/2631776415" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWZVoBcsPTC1CkDrX3Fc7CEKaW3GDUlQh2ffDEaNDhj8UA5DcFqJWFIbqpBykS0BhTQL7N5N59sDbokl4x3aXo5W0K8VaPEH6zQMhONl6ADWs63NKcPUYQvw7PxI0qXQdq1-UmmC-lMARRJ6o0iJwYSx5XpgCC75jAAxh9jEEb1W-l5ZW53V8JA/s1600/s2old.jpg" title="S2 in Hackney Wick" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
It now means Sutton, there already being an S1, S3 and S4 threading across the borough, but it's taken until 2024 for the gap to be filled with an <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/s2?direction=inbound" target="_blank">S2</a>.
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This new route is part of a major raft of changes in Croydon and Sutton <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020/10/sutton-croydon-bus-consultation.html" target="_blank">consulted on</a> in 2020, confirmed in 2021 and finally introduced on Saturday. The changes have their own <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/croydon-and-sutton-bus-changes" target="_blank">dedicated webpage</a>, previously <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/02/friday-transport-news.html" target="_blank">blogged</a>, which comes with four bespoke maps. This isn't one of them, it's my attempted scrawl of the full 'S' network.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNd7k9mNqycRCCGTvC9fM1k9UxU82DY4HFpX9S-lQ48YHbO3_zvQOvM1wX7ztu3Pt_rNMQAUM_7CXagK4-Kjcv_mEMG3IBZwDUbdKMjWsiTlsdZu_qkpCzpy7RgKsjTeiHk8-CcjslpUmVi-xWOCRnk5gOznaTPBb4Si5P9VuykR4QpqNAEYP2og/s1600/s1s2s3s4.gif" title="The S network in Sutton" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/s2?direction=inbound" target="_blank">S2</a> goes nowhere new, it merely combines half of two previous routes. Firstly it's taken over the northern end of the S4 (so the S4 can be extended to cover the defunct 455) and secondly it's taken over the southern end of the 470 (which was always a bit too long anyway).
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<blockquote><b> S4</b>: <font color=#cc0033>St Helier → Sutton</font> → Roundshaw<br>
<b>470</b>: Colliers Wood → <font color=#cc0033>Sutton → Epsom
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<b>S2</b>: St Helier → Sutton → Epsom</font>
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These are good changes, not least because the S4 and 470 didn't used to run on Sundays and the S2 does. So I went for a ride yesterday, fully embracing the coincidence of new routes called SL2 and S2 being introduced on the same weekend.
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<font size=4 color=#cc0033>Route <b>S2</b>: St Helier - Epsom</font><br>
<font size=1><em>Length of journey</em>: 9 miles, 55 minutes</font>
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The S2 kicks off on Green Lane, one of the main spine roads on the massive 1930s expanse of the St Helier estate. Nearby are the steps down to St Helier station, the 15th least used in the capital so hardly a busy hub, and across the road is a semi-shuttered parade of minor retail staples. Residents can get their coffee at King Cafe, their groceries from Ami's, their chippy tea from Link Fisheries and their hair done at Simply Elegant. The S2's first stop is on the other side of the road pointing the wrong way, so finding it may need a bit of local knowledge, and here I found a brand new electric bus ready to sweep me to Epsom. It's typical of many a vehicle now being introduced across London - wood effect flooring, USB sockets, cosy-looking seats... and a blind that's annoyingly <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVZYQGmM7ywa-ivPYiCSp-1GV4JMv7mGGmLt6D4W4uCpb7ljr7SqWtLwYGZLMp4oPggsjh6ZJsi4Pn6mdyt8UHRy7r9uoz5hyphenhyphen87f51Cf7ibiBAFGeC23PkC1MbtarLrGM5alGjNk6eYc-Cv2LiUeH9CGvaOgJYT3O9RpZ73Ii6KOEIOQ5NUQ_SQ/s1600/s2bak.jpg" target="_blank">unphotographable</a>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqva0znaCmcqLxGoR0-XrT71tsdhaT9du39G-Hh6aoif2y8cZDcOFp1FiuAFCpobd68vNpppr056Nk5QmRy2bomkHgLYObl9rY6mSrIO31yrhVBMOly5cEwOmRoKdhEI4_A3cogBjHU6yKpvlR4Ul1RAdNBRacVM4QYVaQ0sua7PnGQOr8MPEpw/s1600/s2sthelier.jpg" title="S2 at St Helier station" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>TfL didn't used to allow electronic blinds because they were deemed less clear than traditional printed rolling blinds and accessibility is key. But new hi-def LED blinds are much sharper, indeed for the average passenger the lettering's indistinguishable from the usual printed style, plus they illuminate better in low visibility. Expect to see a lot more of these from most bus operators as existing vehicles are eventually replaced. But although the refresh rate's fine for the human eye it's less good for devices that take quick snapshots, hence cameras tend to capture part of the display rather than all of it. I took 25 photos of the S2 yesterday and not one blind came out properly, all I got were horizontal stripes generally depicting half or less. This isn't a new issue, indeed outside London it's been commonplace for a while, but it is going to make it increasingly difficult to photograph buses with an identifiable route and destination. I'll save my best photo, which isn't great, for the end of today's journey.</i>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ_KVocy-Mq0AumWsU_DxDJOLjjGfrYBKjZfIQGYWhkJoWEtaT6GCfEglQadkVVL5tjIumlLLi0re2zzsdlzhcDsRNWVlQrjJrEvi9PEWUuC_PbC5hSIl6Z1vswThlOmFXP7z6pM8SB9dFNAHMmpMrsGG9nYpdSXAM_gh2pPdlZ7XM5EsFCKeCw/s1600/s2strips.jpg" title="strippy S2 blind photos" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Green Lane is properly green and boasts a tree-lined walkable central reservation, but also lacks another bus stop for almost the first half mile. It was hard to tell where the bus stops were because the iBus system wasn't working - no display, no announcements, no nothing - almost like being back in 2004 again. What's more these were new multi-functional digital displays, often impressively clever, but all we got to see was the Navaho homepage suggesting the software wouldn't power up properly. I wondered if it was just this bus having a 'First Weekend' issue but no, I caught another later and it was similarly mute. New technology doesn't always mean better information, or indeed any information, alas.
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The S2 serves two useful places at the start of the route, the busy Rose Hill Roundabout and the beleaguered St Helier Hospital. But then it veers off abruptly into the backstreets to feed through parts of Benhilton that wouldn't otherwise see a bus service. Some of these streets are hard to negotiate, indeed a keep left sign at the junction of Duke of Edinburgh Road and Prince of Wales Road proved particularly tough to edge past. They're also hard to remember, which is why the only other passengers aboard the bus were another S2 driver and her mentor clutching a stapled list of 'Route Instructions. I'd totally have gone the wrong way at one point so it's just as well I'm not a driver myself. As a mark of how tough route-learning is they both alighted just before the town centre, where things get easier, to ride all the way back to the start again.
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Lenham Road is the designated driver changeover spot and here we lingered. The new driver first spent time fiddling with the only non-electronic mirror, then sat tapping on his beeping console like he was trying to enter some 100-digit passcode. It turned out he'd been trying to launch the iBus software without realising it didn't work, and all in all that was five minutes wasted. By now we had half a dozen proper passengers, all of whom had correctly worked out that the S2 was the new S4. We had however left several people behind, one who thought better of it and stepped back, one who it turned out was waiting for the S1 and one standing promisingly in a Hail and Ride section brandishing a large pink suitcase but who was actually waiting for an Uber.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEime-sTPDAo71CgPvQ_D1j3IOJ7VakGOGXznFYZcFCylyBo4S_10rkImbHWmwQBqG1Nyk_V4sl3uIpGxz6b1jRq4i9weY-ErWUOKJcvjA_Auv1isoGEY07C3p9W28LX0QjFURrKeM3Z2KcRWss68rtmItAbr5J9cBaB40IwpCi2j9vIPKxeR9EbAg/s1600/ewellillage.jpg" title="S2 in Ewell Village" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
From the bus you never see the shops in Sutton High Street, only the 80s-looking gyratory that runs parallel to it, and which has three stops along its length. The full complement of local routes is now displayed at each - S1, S2, S3 and S4 - at last a quartet rather than a gappy list. I was pleased to see that all the tiles along the entire route appeared to have been correctly updated to show the S2 (even right at the end in Epsom where it's not TfL's job). We only picked up one new passenger behind the shops (a lady with a crutch and a spangly grey cardigan) but rather more at the station, indeed the bus soon became pretty busy. The remainder of the route now tracks the amputated section of the 470, a Monday-Saturday service, and it was excellent to see so many people taking advantage of the inaugural Sunday connection between Sutton and Epsom.
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But it's very much not a direct route, instead zigzagging north and south to thread through suburban streets on the very edge of London. As the bus progressed the properties got larger, more detached and increasingly verdant, until we were passing half-timbered villas with room to park four cars behind screens of blossom and topiary. A sign on the courts at Cheam Fields Club invited residents to apply for membership to enjoy Tennis, Bowls and Bridge - suggesting Cheam's hardly Hancock's Half Hour, more The Good Life. All the roads round here are Hail and Ride, not that anyone would have realised with iBus not working, indeed if there was a special stop to serve Cheam station I wholly missed it. Eventually we reached the traffic lights at Cheam's central crossroads, where the perfect four shops in prime position were an antiques shop, a WH Smiths, a kitchen showroom and a Caffe Nero.
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We'd been toying with the Surrey boundary for some time and soon, just beyond Nonsuch Park and the cricket club, we finally crossed it. Surrey council still pay TfL for cross border services, hence six red bus routes still make the leap, and their bus stops retain the familiar roundel design. Houses suddenly seemed larger, signs somewhat snootier (Private road, No turning, No L drivers) and parents more likely to drive to collect their kids from football. According to my stopwatch we'd now had the allotted 40 minutes the timetable at the start of the journey had promised. Alas there were temporary traffic lights ahead just beyond Ewell East station, and it took ten further minutes to queue to get past what turned out to be a fairly small hole, and out onto the bypass.
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<a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/routes-470-s2-s3-s4-map.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-EVZIrZihytVfez3SKfJfpp8gG-q8FLOuCyICByZxnRxVaUAZZOyQUxnkIudOyQhbTip7ZRuAUi3kHHhNjwUF4NR_q7vspm6xjev9gSIWLog3CMZM-5OijJcZl9WBfuFCBJi-PRcaODn0bhOKdzRTzTOrdifjtyIvMaH7ccVKC_5Inx5CEkn_yg/s1600/s2map.jpg" title="Sutton changes poster" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
In Ewell Village, with its herringbone brick shopping parade, a mystified pair of pensioners boarded the bus. "I’ve never seen this one before," she said. "Must be new," he replied. "Well at least it says Epsom on the front." I'd encounter them again on my return journey, dutifully scouring the <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/routes-470-s2-s3-s4-map.pdf" target="_blank">map</a> on the yellow poster and unpicking what it'd mean for future shopping trips. The map could have been easier to unpick - beyond Sutton all it really needed to say was 'the S2 is the new 470' - but I think they eventually worked it out. The journey concluded with one long run down Epsom Road, past such disparate buildings as pebbledashed bungalows, commuter flats, a fusion restaurant and a Job Centre Plus, before finally pulling up in Epsom High Street surrounded by a flourish of proper shops. If the iBus had been working I'd have realised it was the final stop, whereas instead I trooped off behind everyone else.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXryBpgMQPp9RoAAoGi1lw1taz5FtOiIM1AwqwID9tVWxZpT57_WHUzkEtn_IOSzcyVH_QImJ9_BylLfKz6Plv3Vz9ut4TB-t6yXJ9evDgS3KnaI0mupLbTUES3WetHwzwwn3CfWy6nmVmkAqpMkS6jSSR-3uJIepukbByQPZ9wAs18vjsv5STQ/s1600/s2epsom.jpg" title="S2 at Epsom Clock Tower" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
It's been 16 years since I last rode an S2 and in that time the engine's gone electric, the seats no longer rattle and the blind's changed from yellow to dazzling white. Progress is inexorable, from Stratford to Sutton, and will eventually be rolling out on a bus route near you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-66351110880136488052024-03-03T07:00:00.122+00:002024-03-03T07:00:00.127+00:00SL2<font size=4 color=#cc0033>Route <b>SL2</b>: Walthamstow Central - North Woolwich Ferry</font><br>
<font size=1><em>Length of journey</em>: 12 miles, 60 minutes</font>
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<i>Headline:</i> The new <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/sl2" target="_blank">express route</a> that completes the loop.<br>
<i>Subtext:</i> This time last year the <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/03/superloop.html" target="_blank">Superloop</a> hadn't even been announced. It now circles outer London.<br>
<i>Caveat:</i> It's not a loop, the Thames gets in the way.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjga_MISlBZVl8bYMLYn3l0CHdKXpm8ntEj_IGhXqeUcDRpZw_FoUd7wBg2p62wuvSO0TA_Pxh78gVDfAtagBexQW9pEbefAlZl811Zi_J1Z18rb0jsgwZp70tEguIwwigJ3l8nHP1RubBnTlFQvqP0QEtisXifsFqsKVAiiXT6eBz0B3VHvucgiQ/s1600/woolish.jpg" title="SL2 at North Woolwich" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Day 1 weather:</i> Intermittently very wet with heavy showers.<br>
<i>Consequence:</i> Windows pretty steamed up, not always easy to see much.
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<i>Spod count:</i> Lower than last week, also more multi-generational.<br>
<i>Things spods did:</i> Brought snacks, nipped off to get a badge, nipped off to get a leaflet, unfolded a paper bus map, sat with Mum, told multiple bus anecdotes.
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<i>Biggest mess-up:</i> Blinds not ready. No destinations on the fronts of buses, just a blank black space.<br>
<i>Reason:</i> Company that makes the blinds has not yet manufactured/despatched/fitted them.<br>
<i>Reaction:</i> General eyerolling, unwillingness of potential passengers to board the mystery bus.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmepyjfYA70UmylEArr0SkSh99AaqNSN7aaFC8tQeAjOe21hXtF8BrzqNYPuSDK60FzpjJbYydra39lElzN_cGeBbx_6O65VdpnhZSAQ3h07IORpYje2PCg8OdVhhcVKpAh6LnFJZxfI-SCymopEVaQi8wt1VLExrBLjXBtKz0VeQZydiyKbAGA/s1600/pierode.jpg" title="SL2 at Pier Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Branding:</i> Most vehicles still unbranded. Only three buses had the Superloop wrap, the others were bogstandard red.<br>
<i>Substitute:</i> One old vehicle had been drafted in. It was unable to display SL2 on the front so the route number was printed on a bit of A4 paper in the window. A pretty poor launch day presentation.<br>
<i>Grammatical error:</i> The map on the wrap suggests that the SL2 stops near Gallion's Reach station, whereas it should say Gallions Reach instead.
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<i>Obligatory <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/07/superloop-nomenclature-committee.html" target="_blank">SL2</a> cultural reference:</i> Ey ey, ba day, ba wadladie day, ay um ba day, ba day, ba wadladie day.
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<u>Let's go for a ride...</u>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfA_QcNqLeuYVOcsb5EJHHEx489pFSg3KVmnomImC1fo5vA_gG3UmeTmeLGKv1ezTvc2Mo3Lml4VkTRtfnZY6aItGs84iovmqlPQ3o7bOVyUNz616UasM39g2EiafHRfz2YzP588CL445jDw33PhnCuUSxMYokILGgfGudg5lDNYtYYJh5yf5x8w/s1600/newtons.jpg" title="decrepid SL2 at Walthamstow Central" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033>Walthamstow Central:</font> No timetables, spider map not updated. Starts in bus station but ends outside, nearer the station, along with similarly outcast route 34.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Walthamstow Market:</font> Bus stop served by both the SL1 and SL2 (but heading in very different directions).<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Waltham Forest Town Hall:</font> Best changeover point between SL1 and SL2, avoiding dawdle into Walthamstow. From here we're shadowing route 123 to Ilford.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Wood Street:</font> Formerly Wood Street Library, but that closed/relocated in 2020 and the site is now an 11 storey block of flats. Ooh look, they're so late adding roundels to the top of bus shelters that the guy with the white van and stepladders has only just turned up.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJZCHHFVefUkf7snjV1s99c9tal9z3YqM4w1jIIdfJgwEn3ugWLoKRz3QW9i6nCU7VEV68eHZRQaA76upc4gtkbhLMp0rFIJ_fuoQu-wrS-UL_jBW8SYGHxYfd4Zp3_FQYUtJtUZQLR2ktm0ogqtq_h83Wg4JcKQU_GHej3cv2h4Le3F8uwqVJXg/s1600/ladder.jpg" title="SL2 at Wood Street" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033>High Road/South Woodford:</font> Ballardian bus stop in a concrete canyon on the North Circular, which here is ten lanes wide. Not exactly convenient for South Woodford but sorry, we're not wasting time twiddling off into the centre.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Woodford/Roding Lane North:</font> It's about time we stopped again so we do, bang outside the Toby Carvery. Not really Woodford, more borderline Clayhall.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Gants Hill station:</font> First time we’ve stopped at a station since leaving Walthamstow half an hour ago.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Ilford station:</font> Drop off our first angry dinger, who wanted to get off about a mile ago but hadn't realised this was a new express bus.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEScxb_2S7mDWvCoMtAoavN7PD2MRWW0Bngnsfq5o1ZNDSos6_lR_UUItwC3_RGv1yZNsWFAI1bN-E4DEN3UNF7rNaoTeg04lzWgebvJOYuWGE4l1dnrMc3BJsWUqtjJAJfen2x3GEl7o9doI5DEt8EbeXJzRidYwObDqNnxh30OXpQod0JH6N6A/s1600/leaflit.jpg" title="Sl2 at Pier Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033>Ilford/Chapel Road:</font> Driver changeover point. The leaflet hander-outer offered the new driver a pin badge. Countdown display is displaying <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/stop/490004986P/chapel-road?" target="_blank">weird information</a>, seemingly convinced that routes 25, 123, 147, 167, 179, 364, 425, 462 and W19 are also going to North Woolwich.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Barking station:</font> The section between Ilford and Barking is the slow bit, constrained to a busy single carriageway street (although we did manage to overtake two other buses). Barking now has an EL2 and an SL2.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Barking Town Centre:</font> From here it's a fast dash down the North Circular, a route not taken by any other buses. Second time we’ve crossed the River Roding.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Armada Way:</font> That's unusual. Brand new bus stops have been added at the end of the access road to the Gallions Reach shopping centre, but both bus stops are closed... we stop anyway.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKEPun8Ys_0qYzjuCrQHlht4cctJOHSh2N_8ThYprNbfOASsLpJ4qZSXYeGJK6CeYunvPo_enGW2cqTj_Tzlqy5Mfl8KGvVDDHwiHZek4OYemIlL5quJQ7_OGZllWZ44kNkGmKIgiowFCbG2fxXAl7DFLMtGEfgLauMwJqcDzJWDNZv4hiCw3Ifg/s1600/gallions.jpg" title="incorrect apostophe" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=#cc0033>UEL Docklands Campus:</font> This is the bus stop with the apostrophe error on the map on the side of the bus. The 366 takes over 20 minutes to get here from Barking but we’ve just managed it in half that.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>Pier Road:</font> The useful stop for residents of North Woolwich who don't want to schlep down to the ferry to catch a fast bus.<br>
<font color=#cc0033>North Woolwich Ferry:</font> Odd place to terminate, not helped today by the fact the Woolwich Ferry is closed. Ideal place for spods to assemble, mingle and take photos.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YTBYO6mHqgd7TDKONiL3y-IhG2TvPS_T6JGNae417BFvFNtpB3qgO-qOKklI51jcfaUvAnTr0bbWSE2PRR0Ke_PxC2B0a2ATQbHQln_XPvH3ngVO2EkVpI__CTZZMzNJu3AmlZKzh7xbee0GiJ8tp5H4DVcc3rqTNrTFs82P5pbNFEGp8mhvCA/s1600/woolyh.jpg" title="SL2 at North Woolwich" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>To continue the loop:</i> In the absence of the ferry descend into the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, then catch a 472 to Thamesmead.<br>
<i>Alternatively:</i> Walk back and catch the DLR to Woolwich Arsenal, then continue to Abbey Wood and catch the SL3 there.<br>
<i>Alternatively:</i> Don't continue the loop, never do this, it's an entirely impractical discontinuation.
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<i>Overall verdict:</i> A useful orbital route, feels properly limited-stop. Can't see it being busy south of Barking. I think I got lucky doing it in a hour, could get severely jammed in several locations. And sort your vehicles out.
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<i>Will you be riding the entire loop now it's complete?</i> No I will not be wasting my life in this manner. Last summer I rode <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2023-06-17T01:00:00%2B01:00&max-results=3" target="_blank">just three</a> of the current Superloop routes, those then numbered X, in 5 hours 22 minutes. Seven sequential buses would be purgatory.
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...however what I have done is time the entire route virtually. Yesterday afternoon I pretended to turn up at <a href="https://lvf.io/#LDN|73982" target="_blank">Thamesmead</a> at 2pm and checked the timings of the first SL3 to depart for Bromley. Then I tracked the next SL5 to Croydon, then the next SL7 to Heathrow, all the way round to the eventual SL2 to North Woolwich. It's amazing what you can check online from home these days. Here are the timings for this virtual chain of journeys...
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<font color=#cc0033><b>SL3</b>:</font> Thamesmead <i>(14:06)</i> → <i>(15:12)</i> Bromley North<br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>SL5</b>:</font> Bromley North <i>(15:18)</i> → <i>(15:49)</i> East Croydon<br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>SL7</b>:</font> East Croydon <i>(15:56)</i> → <i>(17:58)</i> Heathrow Central<br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>SL9</b>:</font> Heathrow Central <i>(18:11)</i> → <i>(19:13)</i> Harrow<br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>SL10</b>:</font> Harrow <i>(19:15)</i> → <i>(19:56)</i> North Finchley<br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>SL1</b>:</font> North Finchley <i>(20:15)</i> → <i>(20:49)</i> Walthamstow Central<br>
<font color=#cc0033><b>SL2</b>:</font> Walthamstow Central <i>(20:58)</i> → <i>(21:55)</i> North Woolwich
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So that's 7 hours 49 minutes for the entire loop, or would have been. The SL7 took longest, like it always does, and the SL9 seems to have got delayed in traffic north of the airport. The lengthy gap at North Finchley is because the 20:00 SL1 departure was cancelled. The SL5 was speedy because it's short and the SL1 was speedy because the North Circular's fast in the evening. Overall it would have taken almost eight hours to circumnavigate the capital by bus, and probably a lot lot longer had it been a weekday, so never ever do this. The very last thing you should do is treat the Superloop as a loop.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-34093509666034363222024-03-02T07:00:00.035+00:002024-03-02T13:20:37.880+00:00Green Link Walk 1For those of us who like walking, yesterday was a red letter day. A new official London walkway was launched, the first in over a decade - the first of <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2021/04/six-new-greenways.html" target="_blank">six potential new Greenways</a> proposed by the London Ramblers in 2021. It's been a while because waymarking and accessibility take time, indeed even now it's not yet the case that all the signage is in place. But <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHloggSXIAEkYyN?format=jpg" target="_blank">the great and good</a> of the walking/wheeling world duly gathered in Clerkenwell yesterday to welcome the <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/green-link-walk" target="_blank"><b>Green Link Walk</b></a>, and you too can follow suit because we now know precisely where the walk goes.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3Rsp65GmtUS7wWnoYe0RPuHqvbmF2YKpQ1-DJQLDoQMBsl-PmJuhWeL6hbHnA6G5jFYmThkCgtuE1w9r40aoSZrSiVJ03nQpBMqXUzKu_h3pBZXuEqr79mcau0reVGA5RBg20kboU_UZHgJF0M36s1yYoVkty9DAvGrRNp5Z68dgHS6whLf_hw/s1600/glw.jpg" title="Green Link Walk map" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
» One place to see the route is on the <a href="https://footways.london/the-green-link" target="_blank">Footways website</a> where it appears as a clear pink line on a scrollable map. This is great for zooming in to see the detail, but less great for using while out walking ("oh bugger it's zoomed out again" [pinch, scroll] "oh bugger it's zoomed out again" [pinch, scroll] etc).<br>
» Another place to see the route is on the <a href="https://walks.gojauntly.com/collections/green-link-londons-newest-walk-200" target="_blank">Go Jauntly</a> <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/11/go-jauntly.html" target="_blank">app</a>. The onboarding's a bit of a faff but it'll guide you round the whole 18 miles on your smartphone via auto-updating itty-bitty step-by-step directions illustrated with reassuring photos.<br>
» Another place to see the route is on the TfL <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/green-link-walk" target="_blank">Walk London</a> webpage. A proper summary on Day One with links, splendid.<br>
» Another place to see the route will be on the <a href="https://innerlondonramblers.org.uk/articles-62328/news-category/446-green-link-walk-launched.html" target="_blank">Inner London Ramblers website</a>. They’ve already done phenomenal work mapping and logging the Capital Ring and London Loop, but apparently their guidance and maps for the Green Link Walk can't be completed without the signage being in place so there might be a long wait.
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What I chose to use was <a href="https://walks.gojauntly.com/walks/green-link-walk-complete-route-1030393435626607086?cId=200" target="_blank">Go Jauntly</a>'s resource for app refuseniks, a <a href="https://cdn.gojauntly.com/walks/pdfguide/cf711a26-54bd-469a-b6e0-7d5421505d2f.pdf" target="_blank">45 page pdf</a> of the entire route featuring umpteen maps and a 318-step set of instructions. It's a bit twee in places ("Step 6: After some time enjoying the peaceful sights and sounds of the woods, continue along the tarmac path") and contains too many fawning plugs for local businesses for my liking ("Prepare for a taste explosion with unique flavours and plates full of personality") but it certainly does the job.
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The route is divided up into four stages, each of about four miles. I plan to tackle one a week, rather than overloading you with sequential reportage, starting with the <a href="https://walks.gojauntly.com/walks/green-link-walk-section-1-1294582388536840686?cId=200" target="_blank">northern section</a> across the borough of Waltham Forest. I walked this yesterday in a mixture of sunshine, rain and hail showers, and what I'll say up front is that the Green Link Walk wasn't very green and I'm still not sure what it links.
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<font color=green><b>WALK LONDON<br>
<i><u>Green Link Walk</u></i></b> <font size=1><i>[section 1]</i></font><br>
<font color=#996600></font><b>Epping Forest to Lea Bridge</b> <i>(4½ miles)</i></font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLpA5IrfUzFYUA0JryajmYXiAW9kyl4OcoJ2FLt2KlYEY9PFszVfQn1SZLfixPGfBrmdu2KJuJxMjlVkglt8yoZg8-lgSZ0Aza_8f6scW8fOLxHC0IfxC0pHbHVzncZJY9vpWBeWyikIOUJ1Q_sIR-5GR2ZuRXgIuGT17y17vx9tpWZZ14T5Mjg/s1600/glw1.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Epping Forest" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
The <a href="https://osm.org/go/0EERVmSX--?m=" target="_blank">starting point</a> is odd, a bus stop beside Woodford New Road in the middle of comparatively nowhere. It's not near a station, it's not simple to get to and it's not on any existing strategic London walk. What is here is the southern tip of Epping Forest, a stripe of thick woodland that ultimately connects to Chingford (and beyond) via the unsignposted <a href="https://ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?path_name=Epping+Forest+Centenary+Walk" target="_blank">Centenary Walk</a>. But after all the rain we’ve had that's currently a waterlogged quagmire, whereas the GLW has been specifically designed to be step-free and accessible for wheelchairs and prams so it sticks instead to the safely tarmacked St Peter's Path. Blink and you'll miss it, it's only 140m long, and it does seem a tad ridiculous to have been encouraged all the way out here to experience a teensy cross section of an enormous forest.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj59EObemcsgVgqenWJFF4IR7zAyEOy4z84_Pwqme1jCUsBSl9bbJV3GY8EqPfixt4qf7izKfS491rIO_arRh5jITJCz6S09DQBniAHdsk2dCtl934fiq9S0U1AFmffUwE9UF9nzuPaaCBD9S3xjvj6w5dpc9RyuOxO1MgQHgShIULZ51dgEGQkg/s1600/glw2.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Wood Street" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Prepare for a lot of road walking, indeed it'll be another three miles before the GLW hits its next properly green patch. The first official waymarker appears at the top of Upper Walthamstow Road and points downhill, the first stop of note being Wood Street station and its accompanying 2nd hand bike shop. If you're following the Go Jauntly version of the route you'll already have been advised of the importance of "being careful when crossing the side roads", you're about to be urged to "carefully cross over the zebra crossing" and then comes the plug for the Balkan eaterie. This is <a href="https://www.thelacynook.com/" target="_blank">The Lacy Nook</a> on Barrett Road, a friendly-looking conservatory-style pop-up, although it's probably too early in the walk to pause for feta parcels, chorizo hash or beef cevaki.<br>
<font size=1 color=#666666>The custodians of the GLW have done a deal with a Local Buyers Club card to get discounts here and at a dozen other establishments along the route, and this will either thrill your wallet or make you roll your eyes at capitalism evilly encroaching on the ancient art of walking.</font>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53562295318" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Bg5VsG5OpwXx7JpLEl4FgzDtPUz1vd0__wJdc_Akcr9glxbCNgXerKeaUD2thM-ZkGlNTjBQfqIqo199Sl3HrzzIlJ6y-8qLT2gszarm74gEYcmFHsrKhezsVhkBFMBOUJBJubPG6Rmbb4fX7H3NtiJnp4NzSxeUUaH3RdrsA5K8A4Q4KoIIDA/s1600/glw3.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Walthamstow Village" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
Further pavementing leads past a vibrant yellow acacia, clusters of mini-daffodils and along a lot of typically-desirable Walthamstow streets. This opening section has been fully signed, at least since the station, which helps a lot with the weaving nature of the route. On reaching Shernall Street the Go Jauntly instructions merely say "continue past the entrance to the industrial park" whereas I knew this was the entrance to Instagram mega-magnet God's Own Junkyard, plus being Friday it was actually open, so I diverted inside to be wowed by the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53562295318" target="_blank">kitsch neon onslaught</a>. Pay attention to the unmentioned is what I'm saying. The next stop is Orford Road, the gentrified part-pedestrianised heart of Walthamstow Village, which "has lots of independent shops to enjoy." If you're used to the Capital Ring and London Loop leading you to parks, woodland and riverbanks, this is the Green Link Walk deliberately deviating to offer retail therapy.<br>
<font size=1 color=#666666>Three shops are singled out by Go Jauntly, one with "a wonderfully curated collection of clothing, jewellery, accessories and homeware", one "stocking small independent brands for mum's-to-be and babies" and one "the place to go for poké bowls, açai and smoothies!" Anyone in walking shoes might well prefer the pub, or simply to keep plodding on.</font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_JVSeDGD1Z6ZFrvFiUrG7j6uLmKvv99J7EVxnrWHUxnwqaJkuJ8qvKI9M8yWXUAGm5njisVd9d5cz9DBmetPlTfcdKNZ2FnHXDkPsjKppC6hhD9O7Mp5t7F6NgRR-G6G2JHFEPPADxCb6vDzpgwBw_qPU8euR5nzHVU3AMzC1zBXDDpmEA02evw/s1600/glw4.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Walthamstow Central" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Second Avenue is currently full-on cherry blossom all the way down, but the GLW instead takes First Avenue which alas is only minorly pink. This leads to Hoe Street, Walthamstow's main artery, which is crossed via an as yet incomplete paved plaza. The hustle and bustle continues as we pass between the station and the bus station and then cross the grass outside the shopping mall, which is the first bit of 'green' since three paragraphs ago. Stalwart walkers may then be surprised to hear that the Green Link Walk follows the High Street for half a mile, pretty much the full length of the market, so there may be a lot of stalls and shoppers to dodge. Even Go Jauntly gives up here with absolutely nothing to say, whereas if you're after tracksuit bottoms, clutch bags, bowls of fruit, samosas, mops, suitcases, foam pillows, belts or olives you'll be in your element.<br>
<font size=1 color=#666666>It may be heretical of me to suggest this, but if you started the Green Link Walk at St James Street station, rather than beyond Wood Street, you wouldn't be missing much.</font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijujdaD-s6ew-FpaFI5EjyWq64mXXLHkgu-PNPlZCJX0H1rKGHjfKNq1IXPQNOge51WIQh8nmXkq_Olzaojpy_5WZGqXMZseGacptcXTzK9gqPkiZu1ixYyumMWTPxZ9ue54j1SPmHyxt-iLlEuwf0AOo9dsCBMir2XChOYYQuC9GfUbOMehlX6Q/s1600/glw5.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Coppermill Lane" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Coppermill Lane is where E17 makes a break for the marshes, and that is indeed where we're heading. Initially it's more pavement bashing, enlivened by some dazzling murals on the ends of houses, plus the GLW's first park (which quite frankly is more of a local playground). Only when you cross the Dagenham Brook into the Lea Valley, an hour and a half after this walk began, does the scenery finally open out. On one side is a massive reservoir complex, the Walthamstow Wetlands, beyond whose waterfowl the towers of Tottenham Hale and Blackhorse Road are clearly seen. On the other side is a massive water treatment works, Thames Water's Coppermill facility, beyond whose gravity filtration tanks the towers of Docklands and the City are clearly seen. Coppermill Lane threads between the two, suitably quarantined, before finally being released from captivity beyond the line of pylons. Hell yes, this is more like it.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKRIcTASnc_WY7QiCmpQX381NSz3w9wlRaDoa3TDW5qkzLXjRKjXk3afjUjHVkU_02MM0nWiw_BO9Hjf7U_8LLfHic8NkAPtlh0MjpUN9ViMDf7dAHaaqoCS6OX5zrNWSRbtykVO58gpuOXBKiHbuwvnMOsIw5V_ARhcneGDxUub9o6XxngQnRQ/s1600/glw6.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Walthamstow Marshes" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Green Link Walk signage abruptly stops at the end of the lane but no, we're not going under the famously low (1.5m!) low bridge, we're turning left onto the marshes proper. The best mile of the walk starts here. Look, catkins, magpies and actual grass to roam on, plus if you climb the bank to the benches on the first bend there's a rollicking thickety view. Somewhere on the far side of the marshes <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/capital-ring" target="_blank">Capital Ring Section 13</a> is doing its thing, but this eastern flank is has an entirely different vibe and hurrah for the GLW bringing it to wider attention. A painted subway curves beneath the railway viaduct and on the far side things properly open out, with Lammas Meadow intermittently seen behind a wall of brambles. It looks well squishy down there at present but thankfully our path is raised and solid so still wheelchair- and pram- friendly. Also the blossom is great if you come soon.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzeWWwpuCbqZn22jSdVFphojLLd3q64FAbOvE3G-jBJxXuia-laIhNs8aIS1KhPzhmbgVCp0BgkoEkMx3JbRy1PdHvEqNcqscJ2UCjFjtIa4DCT_PRFpKNSlYnrauRxxGwLB-cwGSvErg3hDjrOcy1vTCfq9JaflSPUieDAkMaqklc4TusTCeKg/s1600/glw7.gif" title="Green Link Walk - Lea Bridge Road" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Just before the underpass, where the footpath is currently flooded, the route bears off to meet the main Lea Bridge Road. One lone GLW marker confirms location, but wouldn't have been anywhere near sufficient help if you were trying to walk this route without assistance. Section 1 ends beside the revamped bulk of the Lea Valley Ice Centre, officially at Bus Stop W, or you could walk up to Lea Bridge station and escape that way. I'll be back in a week to walk the next section to the Angel Islington, which I suspect is even less green than the first but let's not prejudge. Feel free to give it a try yourself before then, because a good walk is always a good walk, however Green or Linky it may be.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-41216512423506187792024-03-01T07:00:00.097+00:002024-03-01T10:26:19.414+00:00Unblogged February<b><u>29 unblogged things I did in February</u></b><br>
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<i>Thu 1:</i> While I was in Trafalgar Square today I stood in the shadow of Nelson's Column and took a photo of it stretching towards the National Gallery. It's <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53504349995" target="_blank">much better</a> than the photo I used last week in <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/01/in-shadow-of.html" target="_blank">my post</a> about the shadow of Nelson's Column so I've replaced it, not that I expect many people will ever notice.<br>
<i>Fri 2:</i> This year's National Trust handbook has arrived, and I see half of the 12 properties in London now expect you to book in advance rather than just turn up. If heading to <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/red-house" target="_blank">Bexleyheath</a>, <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/carlyles-house" target="_blank">Chelsea</a>, <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/2-willow-road" target="_blank">Hamp</a><a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/fenton-house-and-garden" target="_blank">stead</a>, <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/rainham-hall" target="_blank">Rainham</a> or <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/575-wandsworth-road" target="_blank">Wandsworth Road</a> beware.<br>
<i>Sat 3:</i> On this month's list of BBC Sounds programmes I enjoyed and you might too, the 'Archive on 4' documentaries about i) the evolution of Glasgow - <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vzm7" target="_blank">Motorway City</a> ii) the life and times of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wh58" target="_blank">Barry Humphries</a>.<br>
<i>Sun 4:</i> "Don't worry," Dad said, "you can't prune a rose bush too severely." I fear I’ve just pruned my rosebush too severely, but we'll see.<br>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEY74C_xjlBNCFTAuyGj6rPfu0GHKV0GESb8NIXgz9M10MAL6xEf28DvWq3cbvXayge_fy3jT_lushTKLX1oPWwtfm1tz__odWtukoYsbIOM9nkuDjgA35fjJ2TqxMidHrvThA-bRoUYpZwB3u8TFmwzaHQ5wCea3DzmzhLeMLouiOVKDhjkvEEQ/s1600/bowkoron.jpg" title="Bow Coroner's Court" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Mon 5:</i> Local Bow Road news: After a year of frankly makeshift notices stuck beside the door of Bromley Public Hall, Bow Coroner's Court now has a proper sign with a suitably reverential black background.<br>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, mono;"><i>Tue 6:</i> Something small and flaky just slipped through the 'D' key on my laptop's keyboard, and I'm now having occasional trouble with keys in the bottom left hand corner not working. Letterswise that's Z, X, C and V, so it ould be worse, but ery annoyingly it's also making ut and paste a bit intermittent.</span><br>
<i>Wed 7:</i> I finally went back to the cinema for the first time since February 2020, which may be my longest ever gap. At least one of the pre-roll adverts was the same.<br>
<i>Thu 8:</i> Subsequent to <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/02/counties-visited.html" target="_blank">revisiting</a> my 2004 map of 'counties visited', I've now discovered <a href="https://www.mapchart.net/uk-postcodes.html" target="_blank">an online map</a> that lets you tick off all the UK postcode areas you've ever been to. My sole omissions within England and Wales are BB, HD and SR, i.e. Blackburn, Huddersfield and Sunderland, so I now have <i>another</i> list of geographic targets to aspire to.<br>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4mNU6cteDlzwV0LDWoPF6glWEV-p23rvlQKDpU46v0bXkjVIdcmBeieK9k0whyphenhyphenGiBCEEky8gdZNUzzQcvffMtvMDsVCexUyAehMiXo2KD5ZWa37S2UFDSPudx-0on8cu0ebdf_ziViqZwHEjOT1XhY9X_0_HqStFoUgzsbbfdjYvxTXG-Y7vzUQ/s1600/bbhdsr.gif" title="untrodden postcode areas" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Fri 9: Supermarket update</i> I see the number of packets of Mini Cheddars in a big bag has just been reduced from 14 to 12. Same price, but that's effectively a 17% price rise overnight. Bloody shrinkflation.<br>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, mono;"><i>Sat 10:</i> The Z, X, C and V keys on my laptop are still misbehaving, in that they tend not to work initially but then ease back into life like they've warmed up and then there's no problem, mostly. It's not a good sign, but my laptop is almost 9 years old so I'm impressed it's got this far before starting to play up.</span><br>
<i>Sun 11:</i> I ignored the invitation in my inbox to an 80th birthday bash in June because I didn't recognise the name, nor the address, nor the email. Turns out it's from the couple at whose wedding I was a page boy, but I was only 4 at the time which I think is a reasonable excuse for not remembering them.<br>
<i>Mon 12:</i> Between <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/02/vehicle-registration-pairs.html" target="_blank">today's</a> <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/02/vehicle-registration-letters.html" target="_blank">post</a> on spotting numberplate letter pairs and the end of the month I've seen another six, bringing my total to 495 out of 519. I finally saw MG on an MG in Barking on Wednesday so that's all the M's done. FYI the pairs I've yet to see are GT, NR, OF, PV, RC/RG/RL/RM/RP, UE/UH/UT/UV/UX, VB/VH/VJ/VL/VR/VS/VY and XG/XW/XY.<br>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhVSqDfpBwl9pBxABP0LtloPUiZZrQgBs2wZqVUYYishyl90rHmDQBXRi5WnkL3dTGdYg5WuWWJn9y93qbYCcJNr0yBq8FWXLgtdPAVQus5zo6OJQQYvSo8IJjJodh9Rn_mB3GwvsOQ6Tr9n56NiOxEiDq9ehY3zOKiml-o7ecNtQfg1XYFiAUAQ/s1600/ashlawnres.jpg" title="Ashlawn Cutting Nature Reserve" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Tue 13:</i> While I was in Rugby I walked part of the <a href="https://industrialtour.co.uk/great-central-walk-rugby/" target="_blank">Great Central Railway</a>, now the <a href="https://www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/AshlawnCutting" target="_blank">Ashlawn Cutting</a> <a href="http://rugbywildlife.info/category/all-sites/ashlawn-cutting" target="_blank">Nature Reserve</a>. It passes through the town in a deep wooded cutting, ideal for cycling, dogwalking and observing a long notch full of wildlife. On my way down I passed an <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqhm7HaziAUygbD6k41aOg2BhDD2gTEObOF3Q1O7bIWH0Ngc7fmOihgqE6c_3Wk6qYBWvq7RU8d2DyTq8yiBWVoS0c8X97PfqaGM56_eJ4EobVgej7l-vqz-g3mgcW_H5gNkPPqUStIfV48vO5cAl_Pkpj4kOU5SvvNd8iF03pS11x9joKw7jo-g/s1600/ashlawn.jpg" target="_blank">information board</a>, from which I learned lots, but on my way out three council operatives were midway sawing through the board's legs and carting it away on the back of a truck. They had proper uniforms so I don't think they were metal thieves, but it saddens me I was the last person ever to read it.<br>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, mono;"><i>Wed 14:</i> The password which unlocks my laptop includes the letter 'v', always has, and today I had the forethought to realise this wasn't a good idea in these current keypressing circumstances. So today I changed it lest I be logged out of my machine forever, because I realised this could easily happen, and as it turns out just in time...<br>
<i>Thu 15:</i> Over breakfast the Z, X, C and V keys stopped working and never came back to life. I am now working on a laptop with only 22 funtioning letters of the alphabet. Fuk. I still managed to write 1900 words about the new Oerground line names for tomorrow's post but it wasn't easy, especially with ut and paste inaessible too.</span><br>
<i>Fri 16:</i> If you'd sent me a note rather than knocking on my door I'd have replied sooner, sorry.<br>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuosz5nXrKa3h9Q2PiOsq0a17mYTyw04LA4VdM2rw5XuhdUtGd73Ot-sxenw3CqGvtIZ1248mNU4Fo6_yQNAkFV5s5SpG1dos8Oe-bXMzBSe8l5-UN8P9vVZTX1VAi87uaWAhXobc5RXifjIq5AFClnhTACcFmnOEw41UDR6fRDZsRUzQijJSDlg/s1600/arsena.jpg" title="Arsenal v Manchester United" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Sat 17:</i> This morning I found myself walking through dense crowds around Arsenal's stadium, which at first seemed odd because I knew the men's team were playing away at Burnley, but then I realised this was the <a href="https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/women/2024-Feb-17/women-3-1-manchester-united-match-report" target="_blank">women's team</a> playing Manchester United at home. All the usual matchday shenanigans were present - burger vans, souvenir scarf-floggers, hordes surging up staircases - but also a lot more female supporters and young fans. Apparently it's the first time the stadium's sold out for a women's fixture... and how far the game has travelled in such a short time.<br>
<i>Sun 18:</i> Somewhere new I walked through but never blogged about: the East Acton Golf Links estate. I bet there's some history there - <a href="https://eaglra.wordpress.com/our-history/" target="_blank">ah yes</a> it's a former golf course - and look they named one of the roads Long Drive, ha!<br>
<i>Mon 19:</i> Today I spotted comedian and raconteur <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Anderson" target="_blank">Clive Anderson</a> on the platform at Drayton Park. Celeb-wise I'm trying to work out if that trumps sharing a lift with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Reynolds" target="_blank">Tanya</a> <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7737332/" target="_blank">Reynolds</a>, the actor who plays Lily in Sex Education, at Belsize Park station on Saturday.<br>
<i>Tue 20:</i> If you liked the <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-circular-tube-map.html" target="_blank">circular tube map</a> which was plastered up around the Circle line recently for sponsorship reasons, the good news is that an <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-3998-2324" target="_blank">FoI request</a> has unearthed <a href="https://foi.tfl.gov.uk/FOI-3998-2324/CIRCULAR%20TUBE%20MAP%20FEB%202024.pdf" target="_blank">a detailed pdf copy</a>... and best of all it's entirely unbranded.<br>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53558688179" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOix4P_lIdSdobAADXKUngUQUaoSi5XpkGwAxOV-w7O8uS1ZTqic8tfpY9ER76jF7XkVH3G_QZMkk6CgJRtR_H3NYq5raYoYkpaG7NC-P0PBciW04nh3Ov-PB3y5Qb5ad5U4SRBo8drniQ4TCWFMe0J3_VCKiItXIu-Icq5DglbeOSZT0VYzoyTA/s1600/elektrik.jpg" title="Electric Boulevard" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"></a><br clear=all><br>
<i>Wed 21:</i> 'Electric Boulevard', the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/53558688179" target="_blank">swooshy walkway</a> leading from Battersea Park Road to the lower floor of Battersea Power Station, is now fully open. It doesn't lead to the tube station (yet) so you won't be using it when you arrive, but I bet loads of shoppers funnel themselves down it suboptimally on the way out.<br>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, mono;"><i>Thu 22:</i> Oooh, the Z, X, C and V keys suddenly came back to life this evening, I was so happy. But only for an hour and then they stopped working again and they haen't worked sine. The last 'c' my laptop ever typed is somewhere in the text of my post about the Brue Groe waiting room.</span><br>
<i>Fri 23:</i> One of this month's more unsung bus route changes is that the 189 now goes to Brent Cross West station by <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/route-189-from-17-february-2024.pdf" target="_blank">double-running</a> down a new road where nobody yet lives. So far it mostly annoys passengers who'd rather not waste 4 minutes twiddling. I dinged the bell to alight at the station but the driver sailed straight past, so I dinged again on the second pass. This time she slowed down, looked back down the bus and called out "Are you sure?", somewhat incredulously, before finally opening the doors. I guess there aren't many takers yet.<br>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK5YJrTIWcUejyL9fb9mB2t7qHTd8Y2UIJB4DFTNSmJe6CUL4jNp-YJTCymwioHVDIAw9drKyIYVnOSvcI0cFBv2YZCVoyCkcb9ef9KrAW-xlhFd8MW5D1ln0oF4NiPVFUJhsZIDELLRkanu5CAImvguFjLL697_wJavwD3u1BzY9lsh4tAjY26Q/s1600/189bus.jpg" title="189 at Brent Cross West station" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<i>Sat 24:</i> Other things that Mason and KJ discussed on the top deck of the SL3 included Quality Line nostalgia, where Colin and Jeff had got to, the fact that Abellio are everywhere, bus garages in Enfield and a game of 'look at this photo, name that station' - 'ooh, Sundridge Park'.<br>
<i>Sun 25:</i> The new exhibition at the National Archives in Kew, <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/great-escapes/" target="_blank">Great Escapes</a>, is an excellent assemblage of personal histories and documentation charting great bravery and resistance during WW2, and a timely reminder that there were innocent PoWs on both sides of the conflict.<br>
<i>Mon 26:</i> If you haven’t seen them yet, the newly-launched <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/project/tfl-archives" target="_blank">TFL archive pages</a> on Google Arts & Culture are absolutely excellent. The collection includes over 2000 images and documents in umpteen <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/search/exhibit?project=tfl-archives" target="_blank">themed portfolios</a>, for example the <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/_gWh3u3B-YyZ4Q" target="_blank">Hammersmith & City line</a>, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/wwXh0suvEiqLvw" target="_blank">women in the workforce</a>, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/lQUhN4gPNwPwhw" target="_blank">celebratory maps</a>, and the <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/XgWRfkwKunWg-A" target="_blank">Dangleway</a>. Apparently they took three years to put together and it shows, the quality is flawless. That said the presentation is a little bit coffee-table, more something to swish around on a tablet than for the serious extraction of information, but how lovely to have a heritage resource as good as this.<br>
<i>Tue 27:</i> Blimey, it's like all the magnolia trees across London have decided it's spring and unfurled their pink cups, without realising it's still February and no insects will be flying in any time soon.<br>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHn30Nk8GCo3dUXU9OK1mK3GhY-XiPPxdbD5YSfz1k22HHwMWPJvFKmQINZnfwegKz_zp2_nUE_jl-mvKeeYLhsECC5dhReEpy5d1piyPu2OmTKeu8OJ8Wi6vD_MaxZM6fJ_XTYwGfUrMHBKKPVhyphenhyphenc6f2AwpMO2FqvLWVQgF71xxy28f3Nvm9Vvg/s1600/wertsdfg.jpg" title="fuked keyboard" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, mono;"><i>Wed 28:</i> I'e now been koping with a 90%-funktional keyboard for a fortnight, during whih time I have somehow turned out 20000 korretly-spelled words for the blog. It's inwolwed a lot of right-klikking and kunning use of spellkhekkers, and wasted a lot of my time, but it kan be done. Yes I know I should piggybakk another keyboard onto my laptop - that'd make things easier - and yes I am now looking seriously into buying a replasement. But oh god there's so muh khoise, things hawe totally mooed on sinse 2015, so I want to get this right before I deside. You may hae thoughts so here's a speqial komments boks ekklusiqely for my laptop/keyboard situation.</span> <font size=1 face="sans-serif"><a href="http://tridentscan.jaggedseam.com/dg/26243212624321" onclick="TridentScan('26243212624321');return false;"><i>comments </i><script type="text/javascript">if(postComments['26243212624321'] != null){document.write(' (' + postComments['26243212624321'] + ')')}else{document.write(' (0)')};</script></a></font><br>
<i>Thu 29:</i> I'm reading a library book where the premise is that all the action happens on 29th February, the two protagonists' birthdays, every four years from 2004 to 2024. It's sort of clever but ultimately, unsurprisingly, too contrived to take seriously. To maximise appropriateness I saved the last chapters to read today on the day they were supposed to happen. A saccharine letdown, alas.<br>
<br>
<font size=1>Finally, let's see how my annual counts are going...<br>
• <i>Number of London boroughs visited:</i> all 33 (at least three times each)<br>
• <i>Number of London bus routes ridden:</i> all 545 (100%, including the two new ones)<br>
• <i>Number of Z1-3 stations used:</i> all 350-odd (100%)<br>
• <i>Number of Z4-6 stations used:</i> 0</font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-22779596327496742902024-02-29T00:29:00.114+00:002024-02-29T12:39:21.829+00:00Leap day<img hspace=4 src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ELyotOqc-YM/VtNyBfczNeI/AAAAAAAAVqU/l35siJ5EuV0/s200/frog.gif" title="leap year" align=right border=0><font color=green><font size=4><b>Leap day</b></font> - <strong>29 leap facts for February 29th</strong></font><br>
<br>
<b><i>1)</i></b> Leap years occur quadrennially, that's <a target="_blank" href="http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html">every</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/LeapYear.html">four</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year">years</a>. They're required because a solar year is almost exactly 365¼ days long, and over a four year period those four quarter-days add up to make one whole extra day.<br>
<b><i>2)</i></b> Today is the 516th leap day to be observed since the first in 45BC.<br>
<b><i>3)</i></b> The first thirteen leap years were 45BC, 42BC, 39BC, 36BC, 33BC, 30BC, 27BC, 24BC, 21BC, 18BC, 15BC, 12BC and 9BC. At this point Roman priests spotted they'd been adding leap years every three years, rather than every four as Caesar decreed, so all leap years were temporarily suspended. They restarted in 8AD, after which they continued every four years as intended.<br>
<b><i>4)</i></b> There are only 24 leap years this century because 2100 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dpbsmith.com/leapyearfaq.txt">won't be a leap year</a> (ditto 2200, 2300, but not 2400). This is because a year isn't precisely 365¼ days long, but eleven minutes short.<br>
<b><i>5)</i></b> Algorithmically, a year is a leap year <i>if ((year modulo 4 is 0) and (year modulo 100 is not 0)) or (year modulo 400 is 0)</i>.<br>
<b><i>6)</i></b> Leap year babies celebrate their birthday only once every four years. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leapyearday.com/raenell-bio">Raenell</a> is one, and her <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leapyearday.com">website</a> celebrates the joy of being special.<br>
<b><i>7)</i></b> You have a 1 in 1461 chance of being born on February 29th. The odds are a lot higher if your parents have sex on May 29th the previous year.<br>
<b><i>8)</i></b> Over a 400 year period, the odds of being born on February 29th lengthen to 1 in 1506.<br>
<b><i>9)</i></b> About 46000 people in the UK, 225000 people in the USA and 5½ million people worldwide are leap day babies.<br>
<b><i>10)</i></b> Leap year babies endured seven consecutive years with no birthdays from 1897 to 1903, and will again from 2097 to 2103. The Queen sent no centenarian birthday telegrams on February 29th 2000 because there was no February 29th 1900.<br>
<b><i>11)</i></b> Pope Paul III was born on February 29th 1468, the composer Rossini on February 29th 1792, actor Joss Ackland on February 29th 1928 and rapper Ja Rule on February 29th 1976. Traditionally, Superman's birthday is also February 29th. More leap day birthdays can be found <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leapyearday.com/famous-leap-day-babies">here</a>.<br>
<b><i>12)</i></b> In a leap year salaried workers get paid the same for doing one day's extra work. Schoolchildren, on the other hand, get one day's extra holiday.<br>
<b><i>13)</i></b> The Gilbert & Sullivan operetta <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirates_of_Penzance"><em>The Pirates of Penzance</em></a> revolves around a February 29th birthday. Frederic is a pirate's apprentice, free to return to respectable society on his 21st birthday, except that at the age of 21 he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WTSlr_WRgo">realises</a> he still has 63 years to go. A leap child's lot is not a happy one.<br>
<b><i>14)</i></b> This is the first February since <a target="_blank" href="http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1996">1996</a> to have five Thursdays (the next will be <a target="_blank" href="http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=2052">2052</a>). Leap Day next falls at the weekend in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=2032">2032</a>.<br>
<b><i>15)</i></b> If you have a leap day birthday you have to decide whether to celebrate it on February 28th or March 1st in non-leap years. In legal situations, for example learning to drive, UK law dictates March 1st. By contrast, New Zealand presumes February 28th. Taiwan goes early, Hong Kong goes late.<br>
<b><i>16)</i></b> The origins of the tradition of women being allowed to propose marriage on February 29th are uncertain, and <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor%27s_Day_(tradition)">may</a> or may not involve St Bridget and St Patrick. Forfeits for refusal in various parts of Europe include a silk gown, the fabric for a skirt or a pair of gloves.<br>
<b><i>17)</i> </b>In any 400 year period there are 97 leap years, after which the calendar repeats. The <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_29">most likely</a> days of the week for February 29th to fall are Monday and Wednesday. The least likely are Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.<br>
<b><i>18)</i></b> When Julius Caesar introduced leap years the extra day wasn't February 29th, it was February 24th. The Romans repeated the sixth day before March 1st, or <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/chrmisc.php#leapday">"dies bissextus"</a>, and leap years are still sometimes called bissextile years.<br>
<b><i>19)</i></b> Living through a leap day means one day longer to wait for your birthday and one day longer to wait for Christmas.<br>
<b><i>20)</i></b> <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Milne_Wilson">Sir James Wilson</a>, former Premier of Tasmania, was born on February 29th 1812 and (unbelievably) died on February 29th 1880 - his 17th birthday.<br>
<b><i>21)</i></b> Leap Day number 1s of the past six decades would make a fascinating compilation CD: Anthony Newley <i>(Why, 1960)</i>, Cilla Black <i>(Anyone Who Had A Heart, 1964)</i>, Esther & Abi Ofarim <i>(Cinderella Rockefella, 1968)</i>, Chicory Tip <i>(Son Of My Father, 1972)</i>, Four Seasons <i>(December '63 (Oh What A Night), 1976)</i>, Blondie <i>(Atomic, 1980)</i>, Nena <i>(99 Red Balloons, 1984)</i>, Kylie Minogue <i>(I Should Be So Lucky, 1988)</i>, Shakespear's Sister <i>(Stay, 1992)</i>, Oasis <i>(Don't Look Back In Anger, 1996)</i>, All Saints <i>(Pure Shores, 2000)</i>, Peter Andre <i>(Mysterious Girl, 2004)</i>, Duffy <i>(Mercy, 2008)</i>, Gotye <i>(Somebody That I Used To Know, 2012)</i>, Lukas Graham <i>(7 Years, 2016)</i>, The Weeknd <i>(Blinding Lights, 2020</i>) and Beyonce <i>(Texas Hold 'Em, 2024)</i>. <i><font color=green size=1>[twelve years ago I compiled a <a target="_blank" href="http://open.spotify.com/user/dgeezer/playlist/3xhCHbdX5wHP0AFQ0j8d4d">54 minute Spotify playlist</a>, but as a free user I can no longer edit it, sorry]</font></i><br>
<b><i>22)</i></b> Leap day is also <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/feb/29.htm">St Oswald's Day</a>, named after a 10th century archbishop of York who died during a feet-washing ceremony on February 29th 992. His feast is celebrated on February 28th during non leap years.<br>
<b><i>23)</i></b> The Academy Awards have twice been awarded on February 29th - in <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Academy_Awards">1940</a> <i>(best picture: Gone With The Wind)</i> and <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/76th_Academy_Awards">2004</a> <i>(best picture: Lord of the Rings III)</i>.<br>
<b><i>24)</i></b> French satirical newspaper <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/LA-BOUGIE-DU-SAPEUR-188451597866181/">La Bougie</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Bougie_du_Sapeur">du Sapeur</a> (The Soldier's Candle) only publishes on February 29th. Today's <a target="_blank" href="https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/haute-saone/une-nouvelle-bougie-pour-le-sapeur-le-29-fevrier-on-vous-dit-tout-sur-ce-drole-de-journal-qui-parait-seulement-tous-les-4-ans-2930538.html">12th edition</a> has a cover price of €4.90 and a <a href="https://scontent.ffab1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/421843202_922114509918428_8199856430111040363_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=783fdb&_nc_ohc=lM7MA4brv9EAX9VdOrK&_nc_ht=scontent.ffab1-1.fna&oh=00_AfDWkCPcl4fYQAxSSqPIIpkWf9eJNDVrAU-5kM1hFBupXw&oe=65E49952" target="_blank">cover story</a> about artificial intelligence. Its 200,000 print run is expected to sell out.<br>
<b><i>25)</i></b> Leap year rules make the Gregorian calendar accurate to 1 day every 3236 years. But <a href="http://www.timeanddate.com/date/perfect-calendar.html">better still</a> is the modern <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Hijri_calendar">Iranian calendar</a> (eight leap days inserted into a 33-year cycle) which is accurate to 1 day every 110,000 years.<br>
<b><i>26)</i></b> In the Chinese calendar, a leap month is inserted if there are 13 moons from the start of the 11th month in one year to the start of the 11th month in the next year.<br>
<b><i>27)</i></b> Normally on a special date I visit an obscure street with a relevant name but alas there are no Leap Streets in London. There is a Rabbits Road in Manor Park, and I could simply have subjected you to reportage about Bounds Green, but I thought it'd be better to skip it. <br>
<b><i>28)</i></b> There has, just once, been a <a target="_blank" href="http://io9.gizmodo.com/5889200/how-the-quest-for-the-perfect-calendar-accidentally-created-february-30">February</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/gregorian.php#sweden">30th</a>. It happened in Sweden and it happened in 1712. The Swedes needed to lose 11 days to come in line with the Gregorian calendar, but forgot to miss out February 29th in 1704 and 1708 so had to add an extra leap day in 1712 to get back in sync. Pity the Swedish babies born on February 30th 1712 because they never saw another birthday.<br>
<b><i>29)</i></b> Brothers and sister <a target="_blank" href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/209723-most-siblings-born-on-leap-day/">Heidi, Olav and</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/OMAOq/trippel-skuddaarsfeiring-for-soesknene-henriksen/">Leif-Martin Henriksen</a> of Stavanger, Norway were all born on February 29th - in 1960, 1964 and 1968 respectively.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-2258315638620507142024-02-28T07:00:00.516+00:002024-02-29T07:24:32.051+00:00Count 2024<img border="0" hspace=4 src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OXFw9ikY1YQ/S2XpccIAhqI/AAAAAAAAEHk/6faztuMzdOI/s400/thecount2.GIF" title="vun.... two.... three...." align="left"><i>During <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2003/03/count-so-i-spent-whole-of-february.html">February 2003</a> on <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/">diamond geezer</a> I kept myself busy by counting things. Ten different counts, to be precise, in a none-too thrilling daily feature called <b><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2003/02/count-as-those-who-know-me-will-attest.html">The Count</a></b>. My 28-day tally chart may have been deathly dull to the rest of you, <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2004/02/count-2004-last-february-on-diamond.html">but</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">I've</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">con</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">tin</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2008/02/count-2008_28.html">ued</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html">to</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html">count</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">those</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">cat</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">egor</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2014_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">ies</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">ag</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2016_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">ain</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2017_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">every</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">sin</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2019_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">gle</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2020_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">Febr</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2021_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">uary</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">si</a><a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023_02_01_diamondgeezer_archive.html">nce</a>, purely to keep tabs on how my life is changing. Twenty-one years later I can confirm it's changed quite a lot and I have the data to prove it. Below are my counts for <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-count-2024.html">February 2024</a> accompanied by the previous statistics and some deep, meaningful pondering.</i>
<br><br>
<font color=#666666 size=1><i><b>n.b.</b> The month hasn't finished yet so all this year's totals are best guess estimates, but I'll come back and update/rewrite the post as February draws to a close.<br>
<b>n.b.</b> in leap years, only the first 28 days count.</i></font><br>
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<b>Count 1 <i>(Blog visitors)</i></b>: It's been the best February yet for people turning up to read what I've written, which is nice. What's more the previous record has been smashed by a margin of over 16000, which is an amazing 20% uplift. I'm now averaging 3300 visitors a day, or about 40 doubledeckerbusfuls, and that's just people who turn up in person rather than reading via the magic of <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/atom.xml" target="_blank">RSS</a>. One reason seems to be that Google have loosened the brakes and are sending a lot more search engine queries this way, i.e. it's a torrent of one-off readers, but hopefully a few of them will decide to stay. It amazes me sometimes that anyone comes back when there's the risk of reading about buses in Bexley, memorial benches in Barking or housing estates in Warwickshire, which is hardly "must read" subject material for the average person in the street. But I do try to provide a varied diet where possible, rather than endless recycled press releases, because I believe there's still demand for original subject matter. As one of my regular three thousand, I assume you either keep coming back for the variety or can put up with the personally-irrelevant stuff inbetween.<br>
<i><u>Total number of visits to this webpage in February 2024</u>: 93789</i><br>
<i><font size=1 color=#666666>(2003: 2141)...(2008: 32006)...(2013: 55369)...(2018: 68993) (2019: 69102) (2020: 66682) (2021: 65701) (2022: 69714) (2023: 77244)</font></i><br>
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<b>Count 2 <i>(Blog comments)</i></b>: There's nothing quite so unpredictable as comments. Some days this blog attracts hardly any, while other days the discussion catches fire and you add dozens. This month we've been averaging about 30 a day, which is par for the course of late but still well above numbers in my first decade. For a blog in the 2020s I'd say it's also damned impressive. Most blogs either no longer allow feedback or have commenting zones resembling tumbleweed, but somehow you lot always seem to carry on talking, nipping in with a pertinent reference, a pedantic correction, a nostalgic nod, some schoolboy grandstanding or a bit of insider know-how. Admittedly it doesn't take much to set a few of you off, particularly if the topic is transport-related, and some days the gradient between sparkling and tedious can be steep. But one amazing statistic is that 350 <i>different</i> people have commented this month, chipping in when they have something relevant to say, and that variety is truly humbling. I also note that only nine people have left more than 10 comments, and that 10% of my commenters are called Andrew, David or Michael. Thanks everyone, because it's you that helps to bring this page to life.<br>
<i><u>Total number of comments on this webpage in February 2024</u>: 861</i><br>
<i><font size=1 color=#666666>(2003: 166)...(2008: 504)...(2013: 546)...(2018: 810) (2019: 706) (2020: 702) (2021: 946) (2022: 850) (2023: 830)</font></i><br>
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<b>Count 3 <i>(Blog content)</i></b>: The number of words in my posts is still rising and now averages 1350 a day, the highest it's ever been. That's not to be sniffed at, indeed it's the equivalent of writing seven novels a year and I wonder how many of you write that much on a regular basis? I often start out thinking "I doubt this'll be a long one" but by the end have written loads because I've uncovered more along the way. Equally I fear I often write too concisely, packing loads of facts and observations into a single sentence when I could have written an entire paragraph. It's always a balance between adding detail and avoiding burnout, between making sure you have enough to read and making sure I get enough sleep. At least London remains a broad enough canvas that there's always plenty more to write about, which remains an excellent way to keep myself occupied.<br>
<i><u>Total number of words in diamond geezer in February 2024</u>: 38040</i><br>
<i><font size=1 color=#666666>(2003: 14392)...(2008: 17606)...(2013: 29410)...(2018: 30680) (2019: 33361) (2020: 29099) (2021: 32122) (2022: 33056) (2023: 34291)</font></i><br>
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<b>Count 4 <i>(Hours out)</i></b>: If lockdown taught me anything it's to leave the house every day becuase you never know when that might no longer be possible. I have indeed done that this month, and for what turns to be just over five hours a day. That's about a quarter of my time, which isn't bad when I don't have an office to go to, although it's not as long as I spend each day in bed asleep. I normally only make one big trip a day but it all adds up, not least because places like Purley and Pinner take a while to get to and get back from. My total's a bit lower than last year, however, because I've only been on one super-lengthy excursion.<br>
<i><u>Total number of hours spent out of the house in February 2024</u>: 150</i><br>
<i><font size=1 color=#666666>(2021: 96) (2022: 113) (2023: 164)</font></i><br>
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<b>Count 5 <i>(Nights out)</i></b>: I'm not an especially social person of an evening, as you can tell by the fact that this count only once surged into double figures. This February's trips have been no further than BestMate's sofa (where we watched Thursday night telly and put the world to rights), with no additional jaunts to pubs, restaurants, cinemas or the like. Admittedly I have been to watch a film and meet up with people during the daytime, but because this is a 'Nights out' count these bursts of sociability don't count. Don't worry it's all fine, and you'd never get a blog to read if I went out as often as I did in that heady February twenty years ago.<br>
<i><u>The number of nights in February 2024 I went out and was vaguely sociable</u>: 3</i><br>
<i><font size=1 color=#666666>(2003: 21)...(2008: 7)...(2013: 4)...(2018: 3) (2019: 4) (2020: 4) (2021: 0) (2022: 4) (2023: 4)</font></i><br>
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<b>Count 6 <i>(Alcohol intake)</i></b>: For the purposes of this long-term count my definition of alcohol had always been a specific gassy bottle of German lager. I clung to Becks for familiarity and ease of ordering, plus the fact it doesn't give me <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2002/10/hic-i-suffer-from-one-very-unfortunate.html">hiccups</a>, but it's become increasingly hard to source in recent years so now any bottle of lager will do. BestMate surprised me with a genuine Becks in a giant bottle the other week, much to my delight, but unfortunately that was at the end of January so didn't count for the Count, which is a sad fat zero.<br>
<i><u>Total number of bottles of lager I drank in February 2024</u>: 0</i><br>
<i><font size=1 color=#666666>(2003: 58)...(2008: 28)...(2013: 2)...(2018: 5) (2019: 0) (2020: 0) (2021: 3) (2022: 1) (2023: 3)</font></i><br>
<br>
<font color=#996600><b>Count 7 <i>(Tea intake)</i></b>: Apart from one dodgy year when workplace kettle usage was banned, my monthly tea consumption has remained impressively consistent and almost always falls within a narrow range of 120-135. My mug total dropped a little after I left work because I was no longer desk-bound and kettle-proximate, and rose again during the pandemic for approximately the reverse reason. Things have now settled down, brown-liquid-wise, so I'm back to being a four-and-a-half cups a day man. Milk, no sugar, thanks.<br>
<i><u>Total number of cups of tea I drank in February 2024</u>: 123<br>
<font size=1 color=#996600>(2003: 135)...(2008:134)...(2013: 127)...(2018: 123) (2019: 121) (2020: 122) (2021: 128) (2022: 132) (2023: 116)</font></i></font><br>
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<b>Count 8 <i>(Trains used)</i></b>: This count's normally been pretty consistent too... always just over a hundred a month (unless the government decreed otherwise). But this month's total is ridiculously high, indeed almost double any previous year, because I've been working on another mini transport challenge behind the scenes. Since the start of the year I've swiped my Travelcard at every single zone 1-3 station (tube, DLR, and National Rail), finishing on Sunday, and it's involved taking a heck of a lot of trains. It's nowhere near as many as the number of buses as I rode last month when I was doing 'all the routes', but even that total's back down to 81 this month so expect normality to be restored soon.<br>
<i><u>Total number of trains I travelled on in February 2024</u>: 265<br>
<font size=1 color=#666666>(2003: 103)...(2008: 117)...(2013: 139)...(2018: 110) (2019: 135) (2020: 136) (2021: 0) (2022: 17) (2023: 141)</font></i><br>
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<b>Count 9 <i>(Steps walked)</i></b>: For me a normal amount of walking is just under half a million steps a month, i.e. about seven miles daily. That's lower than the ten miles I managed during turbocharged lockdown roaming, but also higher than the four miles I was averaging when I had an office job. I still reckon fourteen thousand steps a day is a half-decent total, and thus far it does seem to have kept my waistline below 2019 levels, but on the downside another pair of trainers is now ready for the bin.<br>
<i><u>Total number of steps I walked in February 2024</u>: 452000</i><br>
<font size=1 color=#666666><i>(2013: 273300)...(2018: 342000) (2019: 464000) (2020: 405000) (2021: 671000) (2022: 627000) (2023: 434000)</i></font><br>
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<b>Count 10 <i>(Mystery count)</i></b>: Sorry to disappoint you all, again, but the legendary <a href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/">diamond geezer</a> Mystery Count continues to be nil. I know, I'm as unimpressed about the outcome as you are. I can also confirm that the mystery event has never happened on February 29th, when I wouldn't have to count it, neither do I have anything non-zero scheduled for tomorrow. Apologies.<br>
<i><u>Total number of times that the mystery event happened in February 2024</u>: 0<br>
<font size=1 color=#666666> (2003-2023: 0)</font></i>
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I also asked you for an 11th count, so here are the totals I've accumulated for some of your suggestions.<br>
• <i>Number of flights of stairs climbed:</i> 1015<br>
• <i>Number of escalators walked up:</i> 46<br>
• <i>Number of books you read completely:</i> 4<br>
• <i>Number of letters versus advertising flyers you receive:</i> 10 versus 6<br>
• <i>Number of times you enter a shop and buy something:</i> 10<br>
• <i>Number of times that 'TfL' appears in your web posts:</i> 42<br>
• <i>Number of hours watching TV:</i> 75<br>
• <i>Number of hours listening to radio:</i> 241<br>
• <i>Number of hours spent outside Greater London:</i> 7<br>
• <i>Number of times you cross the Thames:</i> 32<br>
• <i>Number of hours spent on the laptop writing the blog:</i> 170<br>
• <i>Number of times you've jumped:</i> 0
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I did suggest that you might count something specific during February 2024, so do let us know if you did. Life's more interesting when you count it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-6282011018309031222024-02-27T07:00:00.001+00:002024-02-27T07:00:00.235+00:00Why did they say that?This post is about announcements I’ve heard on TfL services recently.
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When I hear one that makes me think "hang on..." I jot it down.<br>
All these are from the last three months.
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The announcements split into two groups.<br>
<i>a)</i> Why did they say <i>that</i>?<br>
<i>b)</i> Why did they say that <i>now</i>?
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<b><u>Why did they say <i>that</i>?</u></b>
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Let's get this classic out of the way first.
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<b>"Customers using the escalators are advised to carry pets at all times"</b><br>
<i>[Whitechapel station, on the escalators]</i>
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They actually announced that! It's so obviously badly worded it's amazing it ever got approval. You can see there might be a genuine safety issue here - pets on escalators - but this is ridiculously phrased.
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The problem is that the announcement addresses the wrong people, i.e. "customers using the escalators", whereas it should address "customers with pets". It would be better to say "Customers with pets are advised to carry them on the escalators." If you want to be really pedantic it should say "Customers <i>travelling</i> with pets are advised to carry them on the escalators", but sometimes being pedantic just makes the announcement longer.
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Next, to two stops up the line.
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<b>"Please stand behind the yellow line at all times."</b><br>
<i>[Mile End, on the platforms]</i>
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This one's really commonplace, it's not just heard at Mile End, nor just on the tube. The issue here is the "at all times" bit, because if you stood behind the yellow line at all times you'd never be able to get on the train. I always thought that was obvious.
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It would be much better, and indeed shorter, to just say "Please stand behind the yellow line". Indeed it's notable that when the member of staff on the platform addresses waiting passengers in the morning peak they do indeed say "Please stand behind the yellow line" and not the silly bit. It's not just being pedantic, it's common sense.
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I didn't jot down the whole of the next announcement, just this snippet.
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<b>"...and use the handrail if needed."</b><br>
<i>[Bow Road, stationwide]</i>
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We're always being implored to use the handrail. Fair enough, some very nasty trips and falls occur on stairs and holding the handrail could help prevent them. But why add "if needed" on the end? Obviously you would use the handrail "if needed", it's entirely superfluous.
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It can be hard to get the balance right between advice and lecturing. "Always use the handrail" is too strong. "We recommend you use the handrail" is too weak. "It might be a good idea to use the handrail" is too wordy. "Thankyou for using the handrail," sounds silly. "If you don't use the handrail don't blame us if you end up breaking something" is more to the point but plainly unacceptable. It's all very well disliking certain wording but you have to have something better to put in its place.
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This one took me by surprise.
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<b>"Customers wearing hats and scarves are advised to remove them before going onto the platform. This is because train movements can cause them to blow onto the tracks. Please remove them, don't lose them."</b><br>
<i>[Embankment, on the platforms]</i>
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Hang on what?
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It's winter, loads of people are wearing hats and scarfs. Are TfL really expecting everyone to take them all off, every last designer wrap and baseball cap, on the off chance they might blow away? I’ve never seen it happen so I guess the probability is very low, individually speaking, plus there's no certainty that a displaced item would end up on the tracks anyway.
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And why here? What is it about Embankment that singles it out for flying garments? I’ve stood on escalators with far whooshier downdrafts than this. I'll tell you what this sounds like, it sounds like staff at Embankment are tired of passengers asking them to retrieve lost hats and scarves from the trackbed so have recorded this message to try to make it happen less often. But the end result is a lengthy nannying spiel, broadcast too late and too infrequently to be of any practical use, urging passengers to pointlessly undress.
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This is also oddly specific.
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<b>"Please do not run or jump on the escalators."</b><br>
<i>[West Ham, central concourse]</i>
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Running on escalators is bad, sure, but is jumping on them really a thing? People don't jump up and down while riding on an escalator, even in a leap year.
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I guess it's possible that feral youth passing through West Ham station treat the bank of escalators like a parkour obstacle, but if that's the case the last thing that's going to stop them is an occasional announcement.
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Which brings us to...
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<u><b>Why did they say that <i>now</i>?</b></u>
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Sometimes it's right announcement, wrong time.
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<b>"Please give your seat to others who might need it more."</b><br>
<i>[District line train, off-peak, at every stop]</i>
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This one was introduced a few years ago as part of a Travel Kind campaign encouraging greater awareness of others. I much prefer this wording to the original "please look up to see if anyone needs your seat more than you do", because that seemed to be encouraging endless eye-raising vigilance.
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What niggled this time was the timing, the message being repeatedly played on a quiet train with loads of empty seats. Nobody with special needs would have had any trouble sitting down so why lecture the rest of us, especially at every single stop? Some announcements are only appropriate at certain times, so please find a way of turning them off when they're not.
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Here's another on-board announcement.
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<b>"Please be aware Oyster is not valid beyond West Drayton."</b><br>
<i>[Aboard a Crossrail train bound for Heathrow T4]</i>
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This is very useful advice to certain passengers heading west on Crossrail. Don't try tapping out using Oyster beyond West Drayton, it won't work and it could be an expensive mistake. But it's <i>not</i> useful if you're on a train heading for Heathrow because that won't be passing West Drayton later in its journey. Nobody on board needs to hear it so why play it?
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It may be the case that the software doesn't know if it's a Reading train or a Heathrow train so plays the announcement anyway. It's just the sort of thing the programmers, who got so much else wrong, wouldn't have thought of in advance. But how annoying that the message chips in anyway, potentially worrying anyone using Oyster, even when the train isn't going anywhere near the problem.
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Back to the dangers of escalators.
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<b>"Please look after your children on the escalators and keep their feet away from the edges."</b><br>
<i>[At Camden Town, on the spiral staircase]</i>
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Fair enough, not everyone realises that the edges of escalators can be dangerous, especially children. But on this occasion the announcement was being pumped into our ears as we headed miserably down a spiral staircase because the downward escalator was out of service. The last thing we need while plodding down 96 steps was advice on something we'd much rather be using but couldn’t.
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Again I suspect it's not always possible to target station announcements to specific locations, hence the spiral staircase gets the same message as everywhere else. But if that's the case, rather than playing something which doesn't apply to incoming passengers, why not temporarily turn the safety advice off? Or perhaps it can’t be turned off, it's automated so beyond local control, I don't claim to be an expert.
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But what I do know is that multiple badly-phrased and ill-chosen announcements are played every day across the TfL network, often in locations where they are entirely inappropriate. When there are important things to tell us, tell us properly or not at all.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-3823773146373337832024-02-26T07:00:00.077+00:002024-02-26T14:53:15.331+00:00A nice Starbucks walk<font color=brown style="font-variant:small-caps;"><b>A Nice Walk</b>:</font> <i><b>Tottenham Court Road</b> (½ mile)</i>
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<i>Sometimes you just want to go for a nice walk, nothing too taxing, a bit of a stroll, lots to see, centrally located, historic buildings, well connected, retail proximity, easy to follow, multiple refreshment opportunities, won't take long. So here's a pleasant half mile treading pavements on the edge of Fitzrovia, nowhere near enough to make a day of it but a nice walk all the same. Throw in a few stops to enjoy all that <a href="https://www.starbucks.co.uk" target="_blank">today's sponsor</a> has to offer and a couple of hours should cover it.</i>
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Our walk today takes us from the foot of the Euston Tower to a point halfway down Tottenham Court Road. Effectively we're walking one stop on the Northern line - that's Warren Street to Goodge Street - but you could also arrive via Euston Square station if you like. It's not a long walk but it's far enough for February.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHH6NCiFjJ-geStEBMJIkLWhDPnJ2MqzlnWgP1q_ZcV8lwdh_efTu1HQ0j2FPYVPddtTeS11wrSwuXsc5OCsQ57tNk90-fCmq8S3DlejJNmSmYes3HGWJdN0trmpJ3SQ-nECBhQ8duiTFxKLfSFAYjHOAKkAoSqc9IQyKr9ZFPaq9OoSP2Z1fGGw/s1600/starb0.jpg" title="Triton Square, under the Euston Tower" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Our <a href="https://osm.org/go/euu4PcfY--?m=" target="_blank">starting point</a> is Triton Square, a fine example of private public realm on the edge of a fully-managed mixed-use campus. To translate, that means it's a mostly-empty space surrounded by multiple modern office blocks overseen by security, CCTV and a long list of behavioural expectations. One of the largest buildings is occupied by Spanish bank Santander as its UK HQ, and edged by more cashpoints than the local working population could possibly need. Another was leased by Facebook, sorry Meta, but it seems they never moved in. Trees and raised beds of shrubbery supposedly provide eco-credentials for the development, each surrounded by slatted wooden benches as somewhere you might sit in nicer weather. The gardeners have done well because one bed is abloom with mini daffodils and hang on, seriously, primroses in mid-February.
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The other end of Triton Street is more interesting, it has a moving artwork by Julian Opie called <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/8354264787/" target="_blank">Ruth Walking In Jeans</a> and an indoor bouldering wall, but best focus on Triton Square because there's no point in extending the walk unnecessarily. The most well-known building here, and by far the oldest, is the Euston Tower. Its 30 storeys opened in 1970 and in their time have been occupied by Capital Radio and various civil servants, but currently it's all stripped-out awaiting <a href="https://euston-tower.co.uk/" target="_blank">rebirth</a> as a sustainable workspace paradigm. Thankfully the downstairs units remain open, one a gallery of sorts, another a bar of a kind, plus a ubiquitous Pret A Manger. None of these quite hit the spot for pre-ambulatory refreshment, however, so before we set off best drop into Starbucks for a warming beverage.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtRJwkTtrUSNCKzFA7yR2J_odLex2ZpOg5uZywSoztMxm3vh2x7kVGb3ELPONn9S04p0jZJtNERjoZiRcWH0S9AkZR2C6Kr9mNyen7bMt_IYrysgf6byjRy9Cnm1gXHKId3qdSJ4y-N8dYpUqs_vqWB0Ib3Cfvek8uqrXSMEbK1n4YR-jPpSF3w/s1600/starb1.jpg" title="Starbucks Euston Tower" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=brown><b>Starbucks Euston Tower</b> <i>(Unit 1A Podium Regents Place NW1 3DP)</i><br>
The famous wavy-haired logo welcomes customers to the only coffee outlet on the east side of Triton Square. Drop in for the usual array of drinks and fine food, served from the counter by cheery baristas who'll be looking forward to interacting with all your hospitality needs. Perhaps enjoy a Grande Americano for just £3.55, paired with a tasty Spinach & Pea Falafel Wrap to fill a hole before the proper exercise begins. A small poster tucked into a basket urges punters to Keep Hydrated Throughout The Day, so why not pick up a bottle of still water to sustain your thirst going forward. If it's too inclement for a patio chair, best sit in the window and place yourself on full public view.</font>
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Suitably refreshed, it's time to head off on the first leg of this arduous journey. Head round the foot of the tower to the edge of the underpass and prepare to cross the busy Euston Road. This esteemed thoroughfare will be appearing next month in my sequential reportage of the Monopoly board so best not say too much now, save to urge you to look very carefully if you choose to take advantage of any supposed gap in the traffic. On the far side of the crossing is the entrance to Warren Street tube station, a portal to elsewhere, but instead continue past the small hut that sells all the tourist essentials - vapes, mobile covers and cheap brollies. Most importantly don't be in too much of a hurry to speed ahead along Tottenham Court Road, instead look to your right down the actual Warren Street where a few doors down you can drop into Starbucks for an essential refreshment stop.
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<font color=brown><i>(→ 200 metres →)</i></font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg909PIaQ7I8GblXpeggARb6r7O0BMsTO6TtsQYLftN_fQbzRZcpmWIasd_O7IvZ96f3PGpTYFHrMB0gvVBn_xPOGK1Qt5t_OR5-1NzfvaV3LdHyD271v1Q3R4JL_3MK7sGpRKsotGowOIbuJmwWlaH7JerAjBEQEb18fryANAOVyC5IYuyMF6EOA/s1600/starb2.jpg" title="Starbucks Warren Street" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=brown><b>Starbucks Warren Street</b> <i>(5 Warren Street W1T 5LA)</i><br>
The famous wavy-haired logo once again beckons to travellers in need of flavoursome sustenance. This is a relatively small outlet but nonetheless attractive with a message of welcome on the chalkboard ably illustrated with sprigs of cherry blossom. Admittedly there's little room for seating, indeed a family of 4 would find it impossible to cluster, but such are the priorities of a branch that mostly serves office workers on the go. Perhaps enjoy an Almond Biscotti Oat Latte, or any other combination of nutritional buzzwords the marketing department have chosen to combine for your sensory pleasure. Rest assured that when it's quiet, which would be most of the weekend, staff are encouraged to keep themselves busy by repeatedly cleaning all visible surfaces.</font>
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Suitably refreshed, it's time to head off on the second leg of this arduous journey. Head back round the corner into Tottenham Court Road which we'll now be following all the way to our destination. You might be interested to know that the Lidl on the far side of the road used to be a Sainsbury's, whereas the Tesco Express on this side celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. One of the most intriguing shops is a newly-opened M&S/WHS hybrid - food one side and a few books and periodicals on the other - the two halves combining to create as insipid a retail experience as the 21st century can muster. Ignore Santander and Pret because it's ridiculous they both have outlets so soon after the last. Also ignore Spearmint Rhino because it's closed, perhaps for refurbishment, perhaps forever, nobody’s certain. What's more its drinks menu was always vastly inflated, so how fortunate that you can instead drop into another Starbucks on the corner of Capper Street.
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<font color=brown><i>(→ 300 metres →)</i></font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fa8l15aYrUG8wCW4MzwGO04W6YYkCFRflTHpjSKj6i629xSdRqXxXLwrOh4giUruRjiu-aQMCq65-fYg2YKrI9SRCkFKga2nGK2plVz6xO-Sj6FIMYf-E5XWfmjnpWJLDRMKkvFs0cNK_NZcGkCm1fynMjrBdbDZoQ2jhYhQiULkNZ6HG5Umpw/s1600/starb3.jpg" title="Starbucks Capper Street" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=brown><b>Starbucks Capper Street</b> <i>(175 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 7NU)</i><br>
The famous wavy-haired logo once again signals the welcome availability of hospitality in a cup. This is a more substantial outlet with space for proper seating, although you could still sit in the window and people-watch if you choose. Mugs and reusable cups have been made available for the Starbucks connoisseur to add to their collection. Perhaps enjoy a new Golden Caramel Hot White Chocolate, hopefully for a limited season only, and best throw in a Ham and Cheese Panini because you're bound to be ravenous after all that walking. February is not really the time to take your delicious purchases outside to sit on one of Camden council’s woody stumps, but do admire the crocuses now bursting through.</font>
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Suitably refreshed, it's time to head off on the third and final leg of this arduous journey. Tottenham Court Road continues unabated, although now without the slew of electrical goods outlets and hi-fi dealers once synonymous with this world-renowned thoroughfare. Instead lower your sights to greetings cards and furniture - so many sofas - or up your game and admire the middle class beacon that is Heal's department store. It's great to know that some classic TCR traditions survive. But prepare to be jolted swiftly back to reality by the tented village outside the Lutheran church - so permanent a fixture that its homeless residents have installed their own shelving units and a dartboard. And if you're flagging fret not, we're virtually done, so you'll be pleased to see another Starbucks in a corner unit offering a perfectly timed final pitstop.
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<font color=brown><i>(→ 200 metres →)</i></font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgqftHWRXo8HDX00ec_BiZz7_PvaT44YreebrgkQlGmj4_qatr0ndPJTIyEiGFY2m0WryGS1mUvxFgZ2K8Gq1DD9ABqbJ_MX_27Ce268o0GqUye3vfaGXoatC00s3UK1g9HIeseYI5YUGFxfVwjAoz0958r9pS_2Zo4BS9fH7t5Zeg5h2fxJs0g/s1600/starb4.jpg" title="Starbucks Tottenham Street" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
<font color=brown><b>Starbucks Tottenham Street</b> <i>(77 Tottenham Court Road W1T 2HQ)</i><br>
The famous wavy-haired logo shines out like an old friend above the door to this esteemed customer-facing establishment. The exterior has been painted a vibrant matt black, whereas step inside and the digital menus and cheery baristas are as bright and familiar as ever. Perhaps enjoy a Tall Iced Chai Latte for just £4.25, which is certainly a bargain as far as a cup of tea goes, coupled with the indescribable offering that is a Cheese and Marmite Mini Ciabatta. If you'd used the store's mobile pick-up service you could’ve ordered them two paragraphs ago so they'd be ready and waiting to press into your greedy hand straight away, and what a suitable finale to a highly memorable walk that would be!</font>
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If it's all been too much, even with four refreshment stops, the good news is that the walk ends two doors down at the entrance to Goodge Street tube station. Before descending into the depths it might be a good idea to pick up a bunch of tulips from the In The Meadow florist as a souvenir of a classic urban ramble. Be aware that there are no public toilets in the vicinity after all that drinking, but cheers Starbucks, your bonhomie is never more than a short walk away.
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<hr><br>
<font style="font-family: Georgia, Times, serif;">Longstanding readers may remember I wrote a similar <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2005/09/sponsored-walk-through-21st-century.html" target="_blank">'You won't believe how close together some Starbucks are'</a> post in the autumn of 2005. In that case I walked from St Paul's Cathedral to Dr Johnson's House - an even shorter journey than above - and managed to clock up a faintly ridiculous six branches of Starbucks along the way.
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<blockquote><font color=brown>1 Paternoster Sq</font> → 75m → <font color=brown>30-32 Ludgate Hill</font> → 50m → <font color=brown>57 Ludgate Hill</font> → 150m → <font color=brown>32 Fleet Street</font> → 75m → <font color=brown>90-91 Fleet Street</font> → 125m → <font color=brown>151-152 Fleet Street</font><br>
</blockquote>
Who'd have guessed that Starbucks density in central London is much lower now than it used to be 19 years ago? I really had to scour the <a href="https://www.starbucks.co.uk/store-locator" target="_blank">Store Finder</a> map hard to find even four stores in such close proximity, suggesting either a thinning out or considerably more competition from other brands. I was also surprised to see that only one of the half dozen Starbucks in my 2005 chain is still trading, the first of the six, and all the others have faded away.
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Longstanding readers will also be aware that I stopped for a coffee in absolutely none of the above.</font><!--
<hr><br>
<font size=1>I’ve also used the <a href="https://www.starbucks.co.uk/store-locator" target="_blank">store finder</a> to see which <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/02/starbucks-map.html" target="_blank">London boroughs</a> can’t currently muster more than four Starbucks apiece, and my results suggest that these are the most decaffeinated (or least chain-obsessed) areas of the capital.
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<font color=brown><b><u>4 Starbucks</u></b></font><br>
Bexley <i>(Bexleyheath, Crayford, Erith, Sidcup)</i><br>
Bromley <i>(Bromley×2, Beckenham, St Paul Cray)</i><br>
Enfield <i>(Enfield, Edmonton, Southbury, Winchmore Hill)</i><br>
Kingston upon Thames <i>(Kingston×3, New Malden)</i>
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<font color=brown><b><u>3 Starbucks</u></b></font><br>
Hackney <i>(Dalston×2, Shoreditch)</i><br>
Havering <i>(Romford×2, Hornchurch)</i><br>
Lewisham <i>(Lewisham, New Cross Gate, Sydenham)</i><br>
Redbridge <i>(Ilford×2, South Woodford)</i><br>
Sutton <i>(Sutton, North Cheam, Worcester Park)</i>
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<font color=brown><b><u>2 Starbucks</u></b></font><br>
Barking and Dagenham <i>(Barking, Dagenham)</i><br>
Haringey <i>(Muswell Hill, Tottenham Hale)</i><br>
Harrow <i>(Harrow, Pinner)</i><br>
Waltham Forest <i>(Walthamstow, Leyton)</i></font>-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-29251805994032381212024-02-25T07:00:00.011+00:002024-02-26T09:07:18.831+00:00SL3<font size=4 color=#cc0033>Route <b>SL3</b>: Thamesmead - Bromley North</font><br>
<font size=1><em>Length of journey</em>: 14 miles, 75 minutes</font>
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCi8OYFH_fWGq-mV4lI8y8GGXvfg7HRgyVjcEJkMk_A0dJTzb8BqjRvB0_BXVDgfjNua80szyLOg2vs87Bz7KBxooFpc0faM4SfZtmRifFE2W4YiVfEmydLo1h2tUeA3nEiVOke7opM9ijaw-HncLcXamdg8HVmXDFwrgF1Z8HyvKSvAvT0YCD2Q/s1600/sl3tems.jpg" title="SL3 departing Thamesmead" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all>
<blockquote><b>SPOD CLUB MEET-UP</b><br>
<i>Location:</i> Thamesmead Town Centre<br>
<i>Date:</i> Saturday 24th February 2024<br>
<i>Time:</i> 10:30am<br>
<i>Purpose:</i> To ride the SL3!!!!!<br>
<i>In attendance:</i> BusTokker09, Ian, Jings, Markie, Rizzo, Tim<br>
<i>Apologies:</i> Colin
</blockquote>
It's not every day another Superloop bus launches so the whole gang rendezvoused in Thamesmead to ride the full length to Bromley. Spods assemble! Most of the crew arrived by Lizzie line to Abbey Wood - top training! - so got a sneak preview of the SL3 there. Markie said he'd be coming direct by DLR but that's not been built yet so in the end his Dad had to drive him. It was cool to meet up again because it's been all of three weeks since we rode the Enviro200s on the SL5 to Croydon. Jings was wearing his three Superloop badges he got last time. Tim had his staff pass ready. Tokker's phone was fully charged.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6KP5ZI3Joh3RMMuPUCQUXdtrZI4I-hZr8JgwT_LSs3U8ZBt-lzgBtZBHcZYQ4aWobEe_mo0FOC7AvmXPP5iTAd5LoInXew9vLHVPbmtoqldcQ1xvxuMery4s_no-9RFmhuRbvUXXavLM1vbE8cqJraiQKXYZWaZetiU1ti88Gq2OiAcJMJ4kGA/s1600/sl3thems.jpg" title="SL3 at Thamesmead" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Thamesmead's an odd place because you can't see the Thames, not from a bus anyway. Instead the route starts near a clocktower, a library and some shops. I noted that something electrical by the shelter had been burnt to a charred stump. A lot of sad families kept turning up with bags from Morrisons, although it turned out they only wanted the slow buses so we never saw them again. I was excited to see a 16-reg Enviro400H on route 177 parked opposite because you don't get much Stagecoach in my neck of the woods. According to the SL3 timetable the full journey to Bromley takes only 46 minutes, but that sounded well fictional.
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We were surprised to see so many old men gathered to ride the new route. Bus crewing is normally a young person's thing but they were standing round like they'd all done this 'first day' thing before. Some had big cameras, timetable printouts and actual notebooks to write in - proper old school. One grey-haired bloke spent all his time moaning about the Countdown display in the shelter refreshing too slowly, even though it was operating perfectly normally. If you'd used your phone like a normal person, grandad, you wouldn't have had that problem. According to the official in the tabard, one bus had already broken down this morning and some buses were being turned early due to roadworks. Jings tried to get another badge off him but apparently he didn't have any.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHVoOOF3qwvSf9uRZC_4QInDa8wq1ilkun-5W2tLyshaZRqwef_r1ocmW4b6vaHXhOk0safKkAk00wckzEj403sMDoD-s5_aYYR5hAjGT5LpUhBzd1tMxKL5zZBKETx4_FScG5dWABe-wsq_one1ztmddJRVGz9F4Pt4M2QGHvnsiqIfjgtNQ7w/s1600/sl3tripods.jpg" title="spod crew filming at Thamesmead" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
When LT 132 arrived from Bromley - nice wrap! - an opposing crew leapt off and started filming. "I hope you're not camera shy!" said the ringleader as he stepped out in front of the bus. Then he put his phone down on a little tripod in the road and continued the recording. The driver gave a big thumbs up before manoeuvring off, but he had to do this very carefully to avoid running anyone over. Thankfully the other crew held off boarding because they must have realised they weren't going to get the top seat. Instead Tokker ran upstairs and grabbed it, sticking his phone to the front window with blutak. Then Ian attached his GoPro alongside... I can't wait to watch both videos in full later.
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Hurrah, we were now off on the big ride! One day this'll be the start of the whole loop via Heathrow and Harrow but until next week you can only get as far as Walthamstow. The crew are deffo going to do the full circuit but not until the school holidays, obvs. It was annoying when an incoming SL3 passed us on a roundabout because we couldn't get a decent photo. I don't know who Harold Wilson was but one of the council blocks in Thamesmead is named after him. It was amazing to see white blossom spreading all along the Southern Outfall Sewer and it's only February. I also loved watching two geese swooping low over Southmere, but I didn't tell Markie because he only sees beauty in buses.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4e1wiaUuzgeShUzWx3sQd7Dn28RWVEDgra2wAqC2YHKfN9d0cNcHx7RIXe9utC3x7vpnw9fMFOwsQWR_eDbudLSL2aP3tyWNX1q1Tstv-RuCWM5mRX0FLteGLEaGAVyD2AEtBYnGF_WJogiOe3-sUnh9XggJ8qVQQ1v19Vv8WHcljnSaexGlJg/s1600/sl3abbw.jpg" title="SL3 at Abbey Wood" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Stop number three, which came pretty damned quick, was on the flyover opposite Abbey Wood station. We'd been here earlier and what's appalling is that neither of the stops up here have SL3 timetables, indeed the southbound stop doesn't have any timetables at all! Also the only spider maps on display are very faded printouts dated 2020, i.e. totally out of date, unless you happen to spot the brand new map up the road facing the station, behind the Jehovah's Witnesses. Three lads rode by on a horse and cart which Rizzo tells me is pretty normal for Thamesmead. There was still frost on the grass below Lesnes Abbey Woods. Colin Whatsapped to apologise for not being here, he got his dates mixed up and went to North Woolwich instead.
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The obvious way ahead would be up Knee Hill but TfL have never managed to get a route up there so the SL3 climbs New Road instead. It looked well muddy in those woods. The next stop was over two miles away because this bus does some mighty leaps, but several men with giant lenses were still poised to take photos of us as we passed. This next bit was like a proper residential labyrinth, it went on and on. Tim used the time to record a quick short of the iBus display as it switched to an asterisk and back again. Amazingly nobody wanted to get on or off the bus at Bexleyheath station so we sped straight past. But then we got caught in a long queue trying to turn left out of Avenue Road into the Broadway - five minutes! - which annoyed Tokker because even at double speed that's well tedious.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKaFVZUQrYJ3X_WLPyyrfrTo8suHJHKkGNUdKy_DhmL-5FnLQWmPbiq6dAy22qapBsHEa6gLXwDu6Eyuh6Bm4WLbjYBQwO0k2fOKwVxYWmrKGzkOqA4lg5GUfSHS1VGQwsQgOeST2c1KGJr6U9F8_EEC9nvHhCUmfPs-G32OKu6PGfz6BpW1Ehg/s1600/sl3side.jpg" title="side of the SL3" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Not until the third stop in Bexleyheath, outside the library, did we pick up any more passengers. Some of them were clutching paper handouts - a throwback for the non-digital generation. Jings doesn't like the route diagram, he says it fails to show how clustered many of the stops are in real life, but Rizzo says anyone who can't be bothered to download an app deserves to be confused. But the clustering's also clever because it means the driver doesn't have to take any particular route between Bexleyheath and Sidcup, they can go whichever way has the least traffic. Today that freedom proved particularly pertinent...
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It's the SL3's bad luck to launch midway through six weeks of roadworks by the Blendon roundabout. Tim said northbound buses were speeding down the A2 to avoid it, but annoyingly we weren't doing that because I'd love to see a NB4L get up to 50. Instead we diverted east to Bexley - actual Bexley village! - just like the slowcoaches on the bogstandard 269s. Tokker was well annoyed because it meant what he was recording wasn't even the normal route, plus our hairpin wiggle took a full 15 minutes. Tim said an excitable roadside granny should put her cameraphone down because the novelty white bus wouldn't be stopping anywhere near where she lived. By the time we reached Sidcup station we'd had our full 46 minute allocation and were only just over halfway. The shelter's Superloop roundel topper was fully illuminated and it wasn't even dark.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ZEdcwQ_eeGjwwkJUeccKwOvk2Fsn3SUNw2p4lz3wl_hL-efNPIRm7NoiDe-qZQMduC7KUM2pSgez5vgnQ2AhpdMrDTHcGITY1KHgX5HgNDJ4Tav1hScpR5aXq5_gQAgd4mHgK0pciIUxDp6IKrDCkee2XdQ9K9KRj73K7YS6jtVD2fnSgBcm_Q/s1600/sl3map.jpg" title="route diagram aboard the SL3" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
A small child bounded up to the top deck telling her Dad "the nice man gave me a badge", so Jings shot her a sideways look. The smell of Lynx Africa heralded the arrival of fellow obsessives Mason and KJ to the top deck. They sat further back and did impressions of door opening sounds on various operators' vehicles. "Do you remember Blue Triangle?" asked KJ. "I love the noise that handbrake release makes," said Mason. "They keep putting Enviros on the 144 but Geminis suit it better," said KJ and Mason agreed. Mason got halfway through explaining why Red Rose drivers were awful - something to do with always having headphones in - before KJ interrupted by exclaiming "That Arriva bus has got the old logo!" We left Mason and KJ well alone.
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From Sidcup onwards the SL3 felt more like a proper limited-stop bus and less like being on a suburban safari. Some bits were fast, past old half-timbered pubs Ian's parents would probably like. Other bits were less fast, like queueing to get past Chislehurst war memorial because it's Saturday. One of the elderly passengers - she must have been at least 40 - was incredibly excited to see Superloop badges being given out by Chislehurst station, then felt sad because she wouldn't be getting one. KJ and Mason took the opportunity to alight here and catch a train to Grove Park... and would be hiding in the toilet if the ticket inspector turned up, if their final conversation was anything to go by.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSeGqFspPeyq998UAFBF0p0egAkZXYQ-01hrnFBA061ZY6cUgeke79_7euk0wsEfzSl1uIG3CRDxhJVmJnLAJVPHactoT-OeniglM4StuboUhn_Fkt5wATOzmMJZAses4sHqsnM4ZlsFLp0fcOGbLJMoKjJrtFaVe3EUzdw7M0DBgLKluYAc3jhA/s1600/sl3bikley.jpg" title="SL3 at Bickley" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Oh joy, more temporary traffic lights. A water main burst near the station midweek so a tiny patch of roadworks was generating extensive queues. Markie had become much less excited at the prospect of riding the Superloop all the way round than he had been when we started. Thankfully we slipped through the lights much faster than those heading east, and then we were into some suburb called Bickley. Lucky locals now have an express bus to the shops, although given the gap between services there's no guarantee it'll be worth waiting for. Jings bolted early because it looked the pink-haired tabard lady had a stack of badges as yet undistributed.
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A very helpful bus lane helped speed us into Bromley. The next two stops were very close together, one either side of the ring road, but most passengers waited for the second outside the shops. One particularly well-fed family waddled swiftly downstairs, straight across the road and in through the doors of Nando's. Only the spods were left for the last run up to Bromley North station because not everyone thinks it's important to be completist. Tokker waited until everyone else had alighted before finally pressing stop on his video, the timestamp now showing a full hour and a quarter. Rizzo followed, returning his GoPro to his Regatta rucksack, and then we all walked down to the bus stand to take another albumful of photos.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SuY0_eiuY-6tOOUP2DTpg-fivddBI9YEzD8CTw0TwVPpGZK6wtLw1b8mOB7PSTzUGKMdm_2Sd0MtlJKcTP0u2Nbj1lejsdU2TOwj18lFHHrS-CGivLURRWctWbFjcGdcDpyDdzYqNcUjXrwVy3MZJYiuQP0bUqNKkg0oYE4sY5wk6hQ4H-GQ-A/s1600/sl3bromn.jpg" title="SL3 entering Bromley" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
"Look," said Ian, "the first stop for the SL3 is right next to the first stop for the SL5... shall we?" We didn't, partly because we were zonked after our long slog on the SL3 and partly because there were some much more interesting Streetlites and single door Enviro200s to investigate instead. But Spod Club will most definitely reassemble in North Woolwich next Saturday when the SL2 launches and the Superloop is complete. We Whatsapped Colin to remind him to be there.
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<font color=cc0033>• <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/SL3">Route SL3</a>: route map<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="http://traintimes.org.uk/map/london-buses/#SL3">Route SL3</a>: live route map<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/sl3-superloop">Route SL3</a>: route consultation<br>
• <a target="_blank" href="http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/SL03.htm">Route SL3</a>: timetable</font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-25931898183801838652024-02-24T07:00:00.018+00:002024-02-24T08:02:57.678+00:00completely screwed at the momentI was on the Central line the other day and there was a 15 minute gap between trains. You might expect this kind of thing at the extremities or late at night, but not at Bethnal Green mid-morning. "Sorry, we're going to be held here for 5 minutes," said the driver. "This is due to the service being completely screwed at the moment." He wasn't wrong.
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The issue is <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/tube/central-line-disruption" target="_blank">motor failure</a>, an increasingly prevalent <a href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2023/06/fewer-trains-longer-gaps.html" target="_blank">problem</a> with the Central line's 30-year-old rolling stock. Engineers are doing their best, indeed a rolling repair programme has been underway since 2020, but motors are failing faster than they can be returned to service. This has reduced the number of available trains and made the timetable impossible to deliver... so they're introducing a new one.
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On Monday a new weekday timetable kicks into action - call it temporary, call it emergency, whatever - in an attempt to provide the least worst service for Central line passengers. It can be run with just 60 trains whereas the previous version needed 71 (and even that was a reduction from a more normal 77). That's quite a chop so the trains that do run may be rather fuller than normal, but at least the long gaps between trains should be evened out.
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My graphic shows typical off-peak intervals between services up and down the line. 'Normal' is the service operating this time last year.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKaHgaToMybggrylXGgcEoG45XA5DKakThwNP0F33fuAOlQtj5XgXiFbgthspoULVpQjeYHgYSeJDtwjc6ULYgCrN4aHmjkRO3JjrhxWa-I5Ww5RlXQyR1MW4CSCUF67mhGWtg70_gut07By3gcqksTsQ1eUi7KW6McqaRdmoGjMf5yVnCVjKlg/s1600/sentraline.gif" title="Central line service intervals" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
Previously, very roughly speaking, a 5 minute service on each of the branches combined to provide a train every 2½ minutes in the central section between White City and Leytonstone. From Monday the interval on the central section increases to every 3 minutes, on average, with a little extra padding introduced to allow for slower boarding of trains.
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It's not as bad as it could be on the outer branches thanks to the cunning way the timetable has been constructed. Previously several trains terminated early, say at Northolt, Newbury Park or Loughton. But in the latest timetable they go all the way to the ends of the line, preserving throughflow on the outer branches. It might even mean a <i>better</i> service beyond Northolt or between Newbury Park and Hainault.
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<blockquote>• West Ruislip-Epping <i>(9 trains per hour)</i><br>
• Ealing Broadway - Hainault <i>(6 trains per hour)</i><br>
• White City - Hainault <i>(6 trains per hour)</i><br>
» <i>(central section 21 trains per hour)</i>
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The timetable is also deliberately flexible. If more than 60 trains are available they can add more in, and if the number of trains falls further they can cut it back to 58, 56, 53, even 49. That said, even 49 trains would have been problematic on some days recently, so things may get worse before they get better.
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» So far this is only for Mondays to Thursday, although a revised timetable for Friday to Sunday is likely to be introduced later.<br>
» It may be a worse timetable but if TfL can stick to it then they'll no longer have to display 'Severe delays' as a service status because the benchmark has changed.<br>
» Things are so bad at the moment that TfL are running <a href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/tube/central-line-disruption#on-this-page-3" target="_blank">bus shuttles</a> at peak times from Epping to Chingford <i>and</i> Loughton to Chingford, every 15 minutes.<br>
» It's fortunate that Crossrail opened fully before the Central line collapsed, otherwise east-west travellers would have been in serious trouble.
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Also, according to <a href="https://twitter.com/RossLydall/status/1761085184097604095" target="_blank">Ross Lydall</a> at the Evening Standard the "machine that checks track has broken, meaning speed restrictions are in place and a “special” (ie Boxing Day) timetable will be in place this weekend." Eek! So best keep away if you can, the Central line really is completely screwed at the moment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766428.post-1499471145702469632024-02-24T01:00:00.006+00:002024-02-24T08:06:02.907+00:00Energy shockIt's 2 years today since...
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<i>a)</i> all Covid-related legal restrictions were withdrawn<br>
<i>b)</i> Russian invaded Ukraine
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The blissful period between these two events lasted approximately three hours.<br>
You likely slept through all of them.
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It's also two years since the start of the energy shock that hoicked our gas and electricity bills to unheard-of levels. On the day of the invasion the annual energy cap was £1277. One year later it was £4279, a three-and-a-bit-fold increase. Thankfully it's now down to £1928 and due to fall to £1690 in April, but that's still a 32% increase on two years ago which is still pretty terrible.
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Here's a graph of the price cap taken from an excellent research briefing just released by the House of Commons Library - <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9714/" target="_blank">Gas and electricity prices during the ‘energy crisis’ and beyond</a>.
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgADcBL9nYsR2_WsISuy9eqOTEp3amfSftsGvP0tEJrz-G6CrK9EEgv_Low4ShMBnQUvx5thi1XcOZJ_UZ83J_HtEH-_VE9vde7XttE4aND1FNrpJeNnoaUIi2l5AsNJhMUjaSXmDqxxUwyd584wco5zsUfxnBXAN8c_fd9lxAUJHtB4S6_XAAEbQ/s1600/energygraph.gif" title="energy cap graph" align=left hspace=0 border=0 data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500"><br clear=all><br>
It shows how high bills would have risen in 2022/2023 had the government not introduced the Energy Price Guarantee (minutes before the Queen's ill-health toppled the country into mourning). From October 2022 to June 2023 nobody paid the price cap because the EPG was lower. In July 2023 the EPG became redundant because the price cap fell back.
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I wondered how much the energy shock had affected our bills so I've done some rough calculations to work out how much the average household would have paid year on year since 2020. Figures relate to the quarterly price cap where it applies and to the EPG ceiling inbetween. The 2024 figure is a prediction.
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<blockquote><b>2020:</b> £1136<br>
<b>2021:</b> £1149 <i>(1% more than 2020)</i><br>
<b>2022:</b> £1930 <i>(70% more than 2020)</i><br>
<b>2023:</b> £2227 <i>(96% more than 2020)</i><br>
<b>2024:</b> £1650 <i>(45% more than 2020)</i>
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Very roughly then, compared to where we would have been, in 2022 we paid two-thirds more than normal, in 2023 twice as much as normal and this year will spend about 50% more than normal. Energy prices may be coming down but we are still forking out way more than might have been the case. Cheers Putin.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com