Before I get round to telling you about my latest trip, I'd like to ask your advice about my next one.
I've booked a cut-price daytrip to Belgium on Eurostar.
I'm going on a weekday before the end of the month.
I'll arrive in Brussels around 10am, and depart around 8pm.
This is a regular add-on deal which allows me to travel to any Belgian station.
First I get the train to Brussels as usual.
Then I'm allowed one extra leg to any Belgian station.
Small print
» An Any Belgian Station ticket covers travel all the way from the UK to anywhere in Belgium and back.
» You travel with Eurostar to Brussels-Midi, then it’s a simple change to an SNCB train to continue your journey through Belgium.
» High speed Thalys and ICE trains, as well as the Brussels Metro and trams aren’t covered by your ticket.
» You won’t have a seat booked on the local train, so just hop on and find a seat.
The great thing is I didn't have to specify which Belgian station in advance...
(and I've never been to any ofthe others)
...which begs the question...
It's not yet the longest day, but dawn is already on the turn.
Sunrise in London was at 4.42am this morning, the earliest it ever gets, indeed it's at 4.42am for the full week 14th-20th June. But the middle of that week was yesterday, which means today's sunrise is a few seconds later than yesterday's. The mornings are already drawing in.
The evenings aren't drawing in yet, indeed there still some way to go. Sunset in London today is at 9.20pm, whereas the latest it ever gets is 9.21pm, which it'll be across the period 19th-30th June. The very latest sunset, by a couple of seconds, is on 24th June, which is pretty much a week away.
Enjoy the long summer evenings ahead - the next fortnight is as good as it gets.
But yes, sorry, dawn is already on the turn.
n.b. I wrote a post explaining the asymmetricality of solstice sunset times here
n.b. I wonder if 24th June is called 'Midsummers Day' because it has the latest sunset time.
n.b. Various sources give various times for London's sunrises and sunsets, because precise times depend on precise location, and not every source uses the same location.
n.b. Actual sunrise and sunset times vary considerably across the country. For example, the latest sunset in Dover is 9.14pm, London 9.21pm, Bristol 9.31pm, Manchester 9.42pm and Glasgow 10.06pm.
n.b. Sorry today's post is brief, but I'm currently in a city where sunset is at 9.48pm.
9♣ Lewisham The borough we now know as Lewisham was assembled from two component parts, the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford and the Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham. I've been to the latter, by far the larger of the two, my quest this time to visit some of the highest points of land. Some notable peaks lie just outside the borough boundary, such as Point Hill, One Tree Hill and that covered reservoir off Kynaston Road. But I trekked up half a dozen within the boundary - the hills of Lewisham.
The Hills of Lewisham
Wow, eh? But no, this is the view from Point Hill overlooking Greenwich, 100 metres outside the Lewisham border. For my first summit I'm heading 100 metres in the opposite direction, onto the residential flank of Blackheath.
My word there are some lovely houses around Blackheath, for example where Dartmouth Hill meets Dartmouth Row meets Dartmouth Grove. The first Georgian residents nipped in and nabbed the premium space at the top of the rise, and it's surely the perfect spot for a 'Church of the Ascension' too. On the western side of Dartmouth Row the villas have long walled gardens stretching down to Morden Lane, a gated backwater meandering gloomily past private garages. There used to be a viewpoint here, where the land falls away, but now a lone bench decays behind railings and a padlocked gate, and a sign warns Beware Hazardous Slope. Housing at the foot of the drop strikes a very different tone, with a snake of neglected concrete apartment blocks concealed against the hillside. This is the Lethbridge Estate, part of a "complex decant and phasing strategy" hereabouts and due for demolition by 2021.
Perched upon the avenues of Ladywell sits a convex park called Hilly Fields, an extensive green space boasting fine views over Docklands and the uplands of Dulwich. Victorian developers devoured most of the surrounding area in the late 19th century, but this verdant hillock was saved from residential destruction by Octavia Hill, one of the founders of the National Trust. At its summit are tennis courts and half a secondary school, a popular playground and (frequently) the Jaz'May ice cream van. A perfect spot for a minor kickaround, for watching your dog let off steam or for sprawling in the shade of a horse chestnut, and much loved locally. Lines are still on you, Hilly Fields.
Other local hilltops were wholly or partially built over. One such lies a mile to the south in SE23, a proper contoured peak sloping up from Brockley Rise. I've not been able to identify a name, but the eastern flank includes an open space called Blythe Hill Fields, and the two streets rising parallel towards the summit are Duncombe Hill and Lowther Hill. Between these lies a private 'social club', namely Brockley Hill Park, supporting woodland and tennis courts and rising in three stepped terraces. This four acre recreation space has no road access to maintain exclusivity for residents whose gardens back onto it, so unless you snap up a local property or know someone who lives there, you'll never visit.
Beckenham Place Park, Beckenham (67m)
Two hills lie within the grounds of Beckenham Place Park, on the southern edge of the borough, including the hump on which the mansion is situated. This imposing building is now open to the public (for a limited time) following the recent closure of the adjacent municipal golf course, the first fruits of a sweeping masterplan drawn up by the council. On my visit children were happily frolicking in the bunkers, and a totally new sport had arrived courtesy of the London Drone Racing Club. Their members were standing en masse on a grassy bank, VR headsets donned, while a horde of tiny drones buzzed around an obstacle course of hoops and flags. From what I saw, these amazing aerial gizmo battles can only gain in popularity going forward.
Across the park, on the other side of the thickest woodland, a higher peak rises to over 200 feet. Here the views stretch towards Croydon and the transmitter mast at Crystal Palace, across a meadow of long grass speckled with birds-foot trefoil. At the summit the park ends abruptly at a row of houses, this postwar infill marking the boundary with the borough of Bromley. Follow a footpath into the trees and down a rooty slope to reach Ravensbourne station, one of London's least used, and too remote to be passed by a bus service. But this hilltop is a lovely spot, as are so many unsung rural corners across the capital.
I'd never been here before either - I'd walked through Downham's postwar estate several times previously but never spotted the hill. It's not exactly a small hill either, nor entirely covered with housing. A long ridge of parkland rises from the brick semis on the estate's spine road, Downham Way, to an open brow ringed with clustered oaks. On the reservoir-facing flank is a flatroofed modern building containing a lively swimming pool, with a fenced-off astroturf football pitch outside. A broader-than-usual panorama covers lowland Beckenham, with Croydon's highrises poking up beyond the intermediate suburbs, a display I paused to admire for longer than expected. Central London's glories were visible only from the upper deck of a bus, briefly, on the ride down to Grove Park station.
There's no longer a forest on Forest Hill but there is a hill, which you'll know if you've ever been to the Horniman Museum, South London's most eclectic repository, and taken time to explore the grounds. The gardens rise towards a bandstand with a sharp drop beyond, offering excellent views across Dawson Heights towards the spires and towers of central London. But the hill climbs a little further past daisy lawns, through a gate and out onto Horniman Drive. The ridgetop is lined with pristine white semis and several angular Modernist retreats, because lofty elevations tend to attract better-than-average architecture. The highest point is marked by a triangular green, fenced off and ballgame-free by order of the council, with a cluster of oak trees bursting forth within.
Tower Hamlets once had a really poor recycling rate. Ten years ago only 12% of recyclable waste was recycled, against a national average of 31%, the main problem being that recycling from tower blocks is much harder than recycling from ground floor properties. The council's pink bag scheme, and a slew of positive publicity, helped to get the figures up.
Today the recycling rate is 28%, which is hugely better, if still not great. But the pink bag thing isn't going well.
• Originally, Tower Hamlets council delivered a roll of pink bags to your door at regular intervals.
• A few years ago the council stopped delivering pink bags to your door at regular intervals and you had to request them instead, either online or by phone. Someone then popped round and delivered some, just to the people who asked. This saved some money.
• A couple of years ago they started sending out flimsier pink bags, which was fine if you only recycled cartons and tins, but the bags now tended to break if you filled them with newspapers or bottles. Never mind, this saved some more money.
• Last year the council decided to stop sending out pink bags, and instead you had to go to your local Idea Store (i.e. library) to collect them. This saved even more money.
• Unfortunately it saved too much money, because the updated system was excessively miserly. Pink bags were now only available at five of Tower Hamlets seven Idea Stores, and only during brief fortnightly slots. In Bow for example they were only available every other Monday, and only for three hours, either from 10am-1pm or 3pm-6pm. If you worked and didn't get home in time, you'd never be able to collect any pink bags at all. Still, this all saved plenty of money.
• What's more, every time you turned up to collect pink bags, you had to show ID. Someone behind the counter then had to check your details online, and enter the type of ID you'd brought, and only then did you get your roll of bags. Collecting bags on behalf on another resident was strictly forbidden. This new procedure prevented the misuse of pink bags by residents who didn't need them, or local businesses trying to dispose of waste for free, but it created long queues and was bureaucratically insane. On the bright side, it had saved money.
• Back in January thankfully the council saw sense and the procedure was changed. Pink bags are now available at all seven Idea Stores, not five. Pink bags are now available every Wednesday and Saturday, not just fortnightly. Pink bags are now available all day, not just for three hours. This saved face, if not money.
• What's more you only have to flash your ID rather than it being scrutinised, and the librarian barely looks at it because she's sick of dishing out bags. Instead she simply reaches under the counter and picks out a roll of sacks and hands it over, sometimes at the same time as talking on the phone or serving another customer. This refocuses scant resources where they're most needed, making more efficient use of money.
• I asked why it was pink bags were only available on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when obviously they were kept in a box under the counter all the time, and was told some rubbish about this "ensuring stocks were always available". I suspect the real reason is not to give away too many bags, i.e. to save more money.
• The latest change is that the pink bags are no longer pink. Instead they're transparent, and fractionally flimsier, so it's even harder to fill them up with anything heavy. Also, we're now allowed to use any transparent bags, we don't have to use the council's, and they hope we won't, so this saves even more money.
In summary, flat-dwellers in Tower Hamlets are now having to make more of an effort to recycle stuff than they used to. This means less recycling takes place, but it also means the council gets to use fewer resources than before, so it saves money. This transfer of responsibility is very much in line with the way council services are going generally, as funding for non-essentials dries up and citizens are increasingly left to do their own thing. The pink bags were only the start.
As this blog has frequently noted, many of the NextTrainIndicators on the London Underground aren't all they're cracked up to be. So it's great to be able to confirm that dozens of them are about to improve, specifically on the sub-surface lines where customer information has often been very limited.
It's all part of the 4 LinesModernisation programme, a long-term long-delayed project to update signalling and thereby run more trains. A new system of Automatic Train Control is being introduced, and due to go live next year, which will mean far more accurate data can be shared regarding where trains are and when. As a precursor to this, existing Trackernet data is being fed to newly-reprogrammed Next Train Indicators, so that passengers are already seeing benefits before ATC finally kicks in.
The first tranche of stations, where displays have already been added or upgraded, is as follows:
Hammersmith & City: Paddington, Royal Oak, Westbourne Park, Ladbroke Grove, Latimer Road, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush Market, Goldhawk Road Metropolitan: Harrow on the Hill
The second tranche, due for completion by April 2019, is rather larger:
District: Ealing Broadway, Chiswick Park, Barons Court, West Kensington, Putney Bridge, Parsons Green, Fulham Broadway, West Brompton, Paddington, Bayswater, Notting Hill Gate, Earl's Court, Gloucester Road, South Kensington, Westminster, Embankment, Temple, Blackfriars, Mansion House, Tower Hill, Aldgate East, Stepney Green, Mile End, Bow Road, Bromley-by-Bow, West Ham, Plaistow, Upton Park, Upney, Becontree, Dagenham Heathway, Elm Park, Hornchurch, Upminster Metropolitan: Aldgate, Farringdon, King's Cross St Pancras, Great Portland Street, Rayners Lane, Croxley, Chorleywood, Chalfont & Latimer, Amersham, Chesham
That's an impressively long list... although look closely and several intermediate stations have been omitted, for example Stamford Brook, High Street Kensington, St James's Park, East Ham and Dagenham East. Watford isn't included either, whatever that may prove. I'm particularly chuffed to see Bow Road on the list, so hopefully my local station's ineffective Next Train Indicators will be able to display meaningful information within the next two years.
What's more the first two stations in this second tranche are already up and running, namely Aldgate East and Plaistow, so I've been along to take a look. This is Aldgate East.
This level of information might look normal to those of you who use the deep tube lines, but here at Aldgate East it's an amazing improvement. Previously all this Next Train Indicator could display was the destination of the next train, assuming it was less than a minute away, with no indication of when anything else would arrive. Now passengers can see the destinations of the next three trains, not just one, with up to eight minutes warning of their arrival. For those stood waiting for a Hammersmith & City line train, not just yet another District, this is transformational.
And then I went to Plaistow.
Again I was impressed. Both Next Train Indicators now list three trains rather than one, plus they give considerably more advance warning than before. Previously the westbound NTI only flashed up when a train was three minutes away, but that interval has now been extended to fourteen minutes, in both directions, which is unheard of. My camera couldn't capture the flickering display, sorry, but I can assure you all three lines of information are there. I should also confirm that these are precisely the same electronic boxes as before, they're just receiving better information, which shows the power of good data and a bit of decent coding.
Well done TfL, I thought, well done. And then I stood around and waited for a while, and then I changed my mind.
It soon became apparent that what Plaistow's Next Train Indicators were promising wasn't necessarily what was happening. Times jumped about. Intervals lengthened. Destinations chopped and changed. Trains failed to appear. Indeed by the time I'd been waiting quarter of an hour for the next Hammersmith & City line train, I'd learned not to trust the new information at all.
Let's start on the eastbound. Eastbound trains at Plaistow are generally going either to Upminster or to Barking, sometimes Dagenham East, and every train has been on this line since seven stations previously, so the system really ought to know what's on its way. It clearly doesn't.
When I started watching, the next three trains were all due to be going to Upminster, and were 1 min, 9 mins and 11 mins away respectively. Over the next seven minutes the first train on the board remained 1 minute away, and the others slowly ticked down, but no train ever arrived. During this period the destination of the follow-up trains sometimes changed to Barking or to Check front of train, before reverting to show Upminster again. But all this time the first train only ever said Upminster 1 min... and when it eventually arrived it was going to Barking.
As for the westbound indicator, that was differently unimpressive. This time there are usually four possible destinations, namely Ealing Broadway, Richmond and Wimbledon on the District, and Hammersmith on the H&C. The NTI seemed to get the destination of the next train correct, but those following shifted and changed as if jockeying for position, and didn't necessarily bear any resemblance to what eventually turned up.
When I started watching, the next three trains were supposedly to Richmond 1 min, Ealing Broadway 9 mins and Ealing Broadway 10 mins. The Richmond train duly turned up, correctly, and one of the Ealing Broadway trains behind converted magically to a Richmond. Up flashed a message - Next train to Richmond 13 mins - when only a few seconds previously the display had been suggesting 10. The second train on the list then became Check front of train, then Check front of train switched to third place, then vanished to be replaced by another Ealing Broadway. By this point I was really quite confused.
There is a genuine issue with predicting westbound trains on this line, which is trains filtering onto the tracks at Barking. It's not always possible to know where in the sequences these H&C and District line trains will be slotted, so any train further back than Barking is quite likely to be leapfrogged before it arrives. At Plaistow this means details of any train more than eight minutes distant could well be inaccurate, so the new 14 minute envelope isn't necessarily helpful.
I watched as the next Hammersmith & City train supposedly edged closer... 8 mins, 7 mins, 5 mins ... at which point it changed briefly to a Check front of train. Eventually the countdown reached zero, but no train was in sight, despite the display suggesting an H&C was imminent. Baffled passengers spent at least two minutes wondering where the zero-minute train had got to - which isn't something they'd have wondered here previously - before it eventually rumbled into the platform. As a postscript, thanks to yesterday's terrible fire at Ladbroke Grove the H&C was in fact only going as far as Edgware Road, but the display still said Hammersmith because the number of programmed destinations remains limited.
In summary, despite containing much more information than before, Plaistow's Next Train Indicators are displaying misleading and inaccurate data. Times jump about. Intervals lengthen. Destinations chop and change. Trains fail to appear. It seems the only truth passengers can definitely rely on is the destination of the next westbound train... which is the full extent of the information the unimproved display used to show before.
Come 2019, when the new 4LM ATC system is powering several dozen reprogrammed displays, let's hope these inadequacies will have disappeared. In the meantime the upgraded displays are still relying on a truly ancient and unreliable feed, so aren't yet to be trusted. If the Next Train Indicators at your local station suddenly spring into action with fresh levels of information, yes, rejoice, but be prepared to take what they have to say with an enormous pinch of salt.
An alternative religion has grown amongst us. It has millions of adherents across the country. It inspires their hopes and dreams. It dictates their lifestyle choices. It motivates their actions. It shapes their weekends.
That religion is Consumerism, and this is its creed.
The Consumer loves to eat and drink and shop. The Consumer embraces the holy trinity of expenditure.
We are all of us consumers, we all eat and drink and shop. But only some of us are Consumers, to whom spending comes naturally, for whom paid-for gratification is a natural state of mind.
When the opportunity arises, and free time allows, a Consumer chooses to spend their free time spending money.
There are thousands of free or inexpensive things they could be doing, like playing sport, or gardening, or going for a long walk, or sitting outside in a deckchair, or making jam, or reading a book, or going for a run, or making a cup of tea, or listening to music they already own, or talking with friends, but no. Their free time is filled with things that cost, because that's the way Consumers are hard-wired.
Visit any Consumer cathedral on a Sunday and you'll see them. They wander round shopping malls looking for things to buy and bags to carry. They pick up a coffee on the way in and a cup of diluted sugar on the way out. They stop off halfway round for an unnecessary burger or a bowl of noodles, then perch on a plastic seat to wolf it down. Their day out consists of multiple purchasing opportunities, sequentially linked, as if this were an entirely natural state of affairs.
True Consumers worship a multiplicity of brands, and will go out of their way to spend more on these than other lesser rivals. To these people Nike is a goddess, Amazon is a warrior, and Olympus is the choice of kings.
True Consumers always read their consumer bibles, embracing marketing spiel as if it were the gospel truth. When a disciple enthuses over some must-have must-visit experience, or when a sacred pop-up ceremonial is announced, they'll make a date and they'll be there.
True Consumers love to embrace their faith online, following false prophets and searching diligently for satisfaction. What's more they'll always spread the Word, sharing the Good News to confirm to everyone what good Consumers they have been.
The devout pay extra to bike in takeaways, rather than creating meals at home themselves. The devout spend their wages on thimblefuls of mass-produced liquid not because they like the taste but because it's the thing to be seen to do. The devout purchase stuff they already own, replace stuff before it's broken, and throw away stuff they never used. The devout eat, and drink, and shop, without giving it a second thought.
And that's the way big business likes it.
There is no money to be made in a nation of unbelievers. Every adult walking in the countryside is a wasted retail opportunity. Every child enjoying a glass of water ought rather to be enjoying a carton or a can. Every family cooking their own dinner means an entrepreneur somewhere is losing out. What's needed are evangelical citizens whose happiness relies on paying others for a service, even when they don't have the financial means to do so, because the generation of profits must come first.
If Britain's populace can be conditioned to buy first and think later, all the better. If behaviours can be nudged and tweaked to naturalise a commercial lifestyle, a multitude of shareholders will be the long-term winners. If children can be inspired to want, and yearn, and need, then another generation of Consumers will emerge to support the system for decades to come.
Britain is essentially a Consumer nation, and our economy would collapse if it were not.
But I'm pleased to be an atheist, immune to impulsive expenditure, and I often wonder why so many of the congregation still believe.
THE NORTH DOWNS WAY[Day 3] Westhumble to Merstham(10 miles)
Here's a ten mile stretch of the North Downs Way which isn't in London, but both ends of which you can reach by London bus. Inbetween are the glories of Box Hill, the glories of Reigate Hill and the glories of Gatton Park, on what's definitely the best walk yet. It even starts at a bus stop called North Downs Way.
Barely a couple of minutes from the bus stop, through the trees, your adventure begins. Seventeen famous stepping stones cross the Mole, and you can too if you tread really carefully and the river's not in flood. One family I met here demonstrated that this was just the right amount of adventure for an intrepid six year-old, while another ummed and ahhed and then retreated to take the five minute detour into the woods and over the footbridge.
And that was the easy bit. What follows is a relentless ascent up the western flank of Box Hill, where one zigzagging flight of wooden treads follows another follows another. In winter it's a proper mudbath, but at this time of year the only enemy is your lungs, so feel free to pause awhile if the climb gets too much, and expect compassionate looks from those striding past on the way down. The view from the summit is always worth it, though, with a broad green panorama across the Weald spread out below the Salomon's Memorial. A National Trust cafe is hiding behind the treeline if the hike's already defeated you.
However busy the top of Box Hill may be, the North Downs Way finds a quiet path to slip away. A shady track follows the top of the escarpment, at one point passing a lone gravestone inscribed to "an English thoroughbred" (1936-1944). Eventually it breaks out around the top of a huge chalk quarry gouged out for the production of lime, before descending gently below the rim of a second. Betchworth's quarries were once a mainstay for the filming of Doctor Who and Blake's Seven, but the alien landscapes where Sarah Jane and Servalan held sway have long since been covered with landfill and nature is regaining control.
A few post-industrial remnants later, the path becomes a lane lined by an appealing row of cottages. According to the village noticeboard D'Arcy Trinkwon will be giving an organ recital at St Michael's on the 24th, and an alarmist poster urges Betchworth's residents to ring the Counter Terrorist Hotline if they see or hear something that could be suspicious. Best move on quickly before you're shopped for looking out of place. A short stretch of pavement bashing swiftly diverts up a parallel wooded path, then breaks off across fields to return to the foot of the scarp, a line which the next mile and a half dutifully follows.
I first walked this stretch three years ago, and it was here I first decided I ought to give the North Downs Way a go. One particular clearing beneath a chalky slope inspired me, where I stumbled upon a slowworm on the path and a host of tiny purple orchids on the bank. No slowworm this time, but the orchids were again resplendent, and I got to play the timeless game of How Close Can You Get To The Rabbit? Entranced beneath the early summer sun, my decision to walk the full 153 miles now seemed entirely vindicated. What I'd forgotten was the subsequent need to return to the top of the North Downs, which meant another breathless ascent of a seemingly never-ending hill, the second of the day.
I was looking forward to traversing Colley Hill and Reigate Hill, because the views are ace, but soon found myself walking behind a stooped lady with an unpredictably misbehaving dog. I held back to avoid getting too close, correctly as it turned out, aghast as the dog located a group of cattle and barked frantically for a full minute while the owner ignored their plight. It then bounded off to the grassy slopes ahead where several families had settled with picnics, selecting one of these and running off with their coolbag, followed by a particularly angry mother. The dog's owner refused to accept anything was amiss and berated the picnickers instead, and so an irate stalemate ensued. End result - the dog dropped its chewed prey and nosed off elsewhere, the grumpy owner spluttered off, and the victimised family folded up their picnic blanket and packed prematurely for home. When the National Trust advises "please keep your dog under control", there is a reason.
The M25 runs unnervingly close to the North Downs Way along parts of this hilltop, often heard but never seen. On the unspoiled flank are a Victorian fort, an Edwardiandrinking fountain and two wingtips marking the crash site of a US wartime bomber. England's oldest reinforced concrete footbridge crosses high above the A217, with a set of steps either side to allow horseriders to dismount. On the far side is the car park used by non-ramblers, surrounded by benches with a view and individual deckchairs, plus the Junction 8 refreshment kiosk and the entrance to Gatton Park.
Gatton Park is a 250 acre estate landscaped by Capability Brown for an ancestral line long since terminated, part owned by the National Trust and a gorgeous spot for a wander. For maximum access to all the gorgeous corners, come on the first Sunday of the month. Accessible at any time are the Millennium Stones, a circle of ten Caithness flagstones each inscribed with a quotation lifted from 200 years of Christianity. Away from the park and gardens a large part of the site is now home to a boarding school, so the North Downs Way gets to weave past dorms and tennis courts and the chapel. Amusingly it also passes an electronic sign which informed me I was approaching at 3mph, which I suspect counts as close to speeding around here.
To finish; a gatehouse, a residential lane, a leafy track, a golf course and a cricket pitch, plus sweeping views of the next hill to be ascended on Day 4. But Merstham is the place to stop for now, a commuter village which grew up where the road and railway to Brighton cut through the Downs. It's also where to catch the 405 bus back to Croydon, if you've opted for the Oyster-to-Oyster variant of the walk. This comes highly recommended.
You may find some of this relevant and/or of interest.
Oxford Street slim-down
Last November TfL issued a consultation proposing to remove several buses from Oxford Street. Next weekend the first fruits of their cull are taking place, and six bus routes are being diverted or shortened.
» Route 6 (Willesden-Aldwych) will no longer pass down Oxford Street or Regent Street, and will run instead via Park Lane and Piccadilly instead. One down.
» Route 8 (Bow-Oxford Circus) has been temporarily cut back to Tottenham Court Road for some time, and that chop will now be made permanent. Two down.
» Route 73 (Stoke Newington-Victoria) is being shortened by over a mile, and will now terminate at Oxford Circus rather than Victoria. Three down.
» Route N73 (Walthamstow-Victoria) is being similarly shortened. Four down.
» To make this work, Route 242 (Homerton-Tottenham Court Road) is being cut back to St Paul's to make way for the 8 at Tottenham Court Road, and Route 172 (Brockley Rise-St Paul's) is being diverted to Clerkenwell to make way for the 242 at St Paul's.
» Route 390 (Archway-Notting Hill Gate) will still run along Oxford Street, but will then be switched to run to Victoria rather than Notting Hill Gate. This maintains the connection previously followed by route 73.
And this is only the start. On 15th July route 137 will be cut back from Oxford Circus to Marble Arch, route C2 will be cut back from Victoria to Regent Street, its former route through Mayfair will taken over by route 22, and route 3 will be diverted to the British Museum. The overall upshot of June and July's shenanigans will be five fewer bus routes along Oxford Street, and several other routes nudged away to terminate elsewhere.
TfL also have their eye on half a dozen further changes to help make Oxford Street less congested, but haven't yet scheduled when these will happen. Interestingly, one of their plans is to extend the 425 to Ilford, and someone added '425' tiles to all the extra bus stops over a month ago, despite no launch date being set.
Meanwhile we're into the last week of another consultation, a very general one, asking Londoners what they'd like to see happen on Oxford Street. If you'd like to see more pedestrianisation, fewer taxis, a tram, whatever, do contribute, else TfL's planners will get to do whatever everyone else thinks.
» You can keep an eye on permanent changes to the TfL bus network by bookmarking tfl.gov.uk/permbuschanges
» You can keep an eye on temporary changes to the TfL bus network by bookmarking tfl.gov.uk/tempbuschanges
» You can keep an eye on all upcoming changes to the TfL bus network in this fortnightly pdf
London bus maps
If you were hoping to see the results of these and other recent bus route changes on a map, think again. TfL haven't published new paper versions of their quadrant maps since March 2016, and cost-cutting measures mean they're unlikely to publish a set of paper bus maps ever again. That's Sadiq's fare freeze in action, that is.
And if you were hoping to go online and look at the pdf versions of the maps instead, bad luck. The online quadrant maps are also 15 months out of date, with all the 'latest' versions dated 10.3.16, because TfL can't be bothered to update them any more. It appears that resources which allow Londoners to plan their own multi-bus journeys, like maps and timetables, are being phased out in favour of digital 'Journey Planner' solutions. The future is computer-generated spoonfed routes, rather than allowing passengers to think for themselves. Bad show, I say, very bad show.
Low Emission Bus Zones
One of Sadiq's big environmental policies is the introduction of 12 Low Emission Bus Zones by 2020. These are corridors with low air quality where it's guaranteed all the buses will have exhausts meeting the highest emission standards. This will be achieved by introducing new vehicles on specific routes when their contracts come up for renewal, and then declaring the zone operational once all its bus routes have been upgraded. A few thoughts...
The first Low Emission Bus Zone, delivered in March, was Putney High Street. This sounded excellent, and generated several column inches, but was a stretch of road barely 500 metres in length. I suspect some City Hall minion looked on a map and spotted a bit of street where all the buses were low-emission, or were just about to be, and so awarded Putney High Street LEBZ status. Seven bus routes pass this way, so it's great they'll all be less polluting, but (as the map below shows) the first Low Emission Bus Zone is tiny.
The other zones are all much longer, and will require a considerable number of bus routes to be upgraded to make them happen. At least twelve different routes follow the Uxbridge Road corridor, for example, with an even greater number between Brixton and Streatham. It's also good to see precisely where the Stratford LEBZ will go, after the Mayor's initial press release listed a geographically impossible set of endpoints. The actual zone will be from Mile End to the edge of Ilford, which is an impressive four miles, and by my calculations encompasses at least ten different routes.
But, and it's a big but, what should we call all the other bus corridors in London? By definition, if the Mayor's office doesn't think they can be labelled as Low Emission Bus Zone, there must be at least one bus route still belching out unimproved emissions, which isn't good. London will still be overrun with these High Emission Bus Zones until well after 2020, because upgrading the capital's bus fleet takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Don't breathe in just yet.
In other bus news...
» If you ever wondered which bus company runs which London bus route, worry no more, because here's a list. (Top fact: the only company to run only one London bus route is Uno, based in Hatfield, who run the 383)
» Citymapper's next London bus pilot should involve running bus route CM2 between Highbury & Islington and Aldgate East on Friday and Saturday nights, pencilled in to begin in mid-July. Dalston and Shoreditch clubbers, rejoice.
» Plans are at the drawing board stage for a new bus route in outer Havering to meet increased demand when Crossrail arrives. Route 497 would run twice an hour from Harold Wood station via the new Kings Park estate and Chatteris Avenue to Harold Hill.
» Earlier this year I totally slagged off TfL's Route 94 tourist itinerary for being geographically inept. TfL have since made a couple of changes to the document, specifically changing one of the bus stops and completely removing the map. The itinerary is now even harder to follow, and just as farcical as before.
» Ten days ago I mentioned that Bus Stop M in Bow had lost two of its three timetable panels, and six of its seven timetables. Someone swiftly came out to reinstall the two missing panels, thank you. As yet, however, they've only replaced one of the missing timetables, so unless you want the 108 you're stuffed.
London's bridges are changing, in reaction to recent terrorist attacks.
This was Westminster Bridge in March.
This is Westminster Bridge today, with added Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Barriers.
These were installed last weekend along the full length of the bridge, to protect pedestrians from vehicles driven by anyone with murderous intent.
Vehicles are prevented from entering either end of the pavement area by streamlined metal barriers, of the kind that have been used around Parliament for many years.
Pedestrians are no longer able to cross the bridge, except at either end.
The same thing has happened on Waterloo Bridge.
The new barriers have a temporary feel, but there's no telling how long they might remain, nor whether a more permanent arrangement will be introduced.
Pedestrians used to be able to cross the bridge at any point, via the central reservation. This is no longer possible.
The bridge may be safer for pedestrians but the cycle lane is now about half its previous width, making it more dangerous for cyclists.
A more disruptive installation has taken place on Blackfriars Bridge.
Both entrances to the North-South Cycle Superhighway, and the pavement either side, have been blockaded with heavy metal barriers.
Cyclists are only able to ride through the obstruction in single file, which is causing hold-ups at peak periods.
Here's one cyclist pedalling through the wrong gap to overtake a slower cyclist.
Meanwhile two bus stops on the bridge have had to be closed, because the barriers mean it's no longer possible for passengers to get on board.
The only advice for would-be passengers is a generic notice saying "Please use next available stop", with no indication where that is, or how far.
Oddly at Southwark Bridge, the next road crossing over the Thames, no changes have been made.
The only barrier is a low concrete ridge about a foot high, installed a few years ago as part of the segregation of Cycle Superhighway 7.
Concrete blocks have not been added at either end of the bridge, so it remains perfectly possibly to drive a vehicle up onto the pavement/superhighway for its entire length.
Presumably Southwark Bridge isn't deemed famous enough for terrorists to consider it a target.
London Bridge, however has been swiftly barriered off.
The full width of the bridge used to be potentially accessible to pedestrians, cycles and rogue vehicles. Now cars are kept to the road and pedestrians are restricted to the pavement.
However, the barriers have been erected in a bus lane, which is now too narrow to be easily used by buses.
At the southern end of the bridge is a poignant reminder of why these barriers have been deemed necessary.
If two famous bridges can be targeted by terrorists, who'd bet against a third?
Even Tower Bridge has been given additional protection.
There have been safety barriers across the central span, where the bridge rises, for many years.
What's new are these barriers on the northern approach, where the bridge runs along the edge of the Tower of London's moat.
They're not exactly scenic, compared to the ironwork, but they do prevent vehicles from mounting the pavement.
They also prevent buses from opening their doors.
Two bus stops have been closed until further notice, and again the advice provided is less than helpful.
Inconsistently, there are no barriers on the southern approach.
There are also no barriers at thousands of other spots across London where a vehicle could drive into pedestrians and cause carnage.
This extra protection has served to move the problem elsewhere, and made our bridges harder to use and less safe to cycle across. Let's hope these hasty obstructive barriers won't become a permanent fixture.
The SNP's majority of 21 in Perth & Perthshire North would have been wiped out if just 11 people who voted for the SNP had voted Conservative instead. Not voting one way brings the majority down to 10, and then voting the other way creates a Conservative majority of 1.
Here are the next seven most marginal Conservative losses.
Had these seven majorities also swung to the Conservatives instead of Labour then the Conservatives would have had 326 seats out of 650, which is technically a majority. And for that to happen, what's needed is for half of those forming the majority to switch from red to blue.
Adding the switcher figures for all eight constituencies gives a total of 399.
399 voters choosing to back Theresa rather than the opposition would have raised Tory support sufficiently to create a majority Conservative government.
Caveat: Sinn Féin never turn up at Westminster, so the winning post is effectively 323. And 323 seats is a target the Conservatives could have reached with just 75 more votes!
However the figures fall, the fact remains that there are fewer than 400 voters on whose choice the outcome of this election hinged. If you changed your mind in Perth, Dudley, Crewe or Canterbury, one of those people could be you... and you changed the future.
21:59 The polls close in one minute's time. Is Theresa May heading for a landslide, or has Jeremy Corbyn inspired a Labour surge which'll hold her in check? It'll be the former, surely... 22:00 Bloody hell, what happened there? The exit poll shows the Conservatives on only 314 seats, which is less than they got in the last election, which is miles off what the opinion polls had been predicting. If that's correct then... oh blimey, let's all pick ourselves off the floor and work out what this means. 22:30 The pound has collapsed two cents already. The markets hate uncertainty. 23:00 Newcastle declares, beating Sunderland to the first result, with a 2% swing to Labour. A swing to Labour, golly. 23:45 The other Sunderland seat suggests a swing to the Conservatives, so maybe they're doing better than expected, which is still worse than expected, maybe, it's all still really unclear. 00:25 If you're reading this in the morning you probably have a good idea what's happened. We're still not really sure. 00:50 With early results trickling through, it looks like the Conservatives might be doing well in the north of England while Labour are doing better than expected in the south, which is opposite to the way things used to be, but might reflect the Leave/Remain divide. Maybe. 01:15 More results, better for Labour than expected, not that much was expected. Theresa can't be enjoying this. 01:40 In results thus far, a 1% swing from Conservatives to Labour, which nobody would have believed four hours ago. Someone just mentioned a minority Labour government for the first time, though still not entirely convincingly. 02:00 London is going heavily red. The North and Midlands might be turning bluer. Scotland's SNP yellow is slipping away. But how will it all add up? 02:15 The BBC forecast nudges up to 322 for the Conservatives - still short of an overall majority, but within practical touching distance. 02:40 Jeremy's leadership looks safe, Theresa's premiership much less so. And what of Brexit? Huge questions, no answers. 02:45 There goes Nick Clegg, because Coalition kills... but straight afterwards Cable comes back. 03:15 In Islington, Jeremy's majority is greatly increased. In Maidenhead, Theresa easily outflanks Elmo and Lord Buckethead. 03:30 University towns have seen huge swings to Labour. Paul Nuttall's UKIP challenge disintegrates. 04:00 With 200 seats still to be called the forecast is C318 L267 SNP32 LD11, which looks to be a Parliamentary mess, but a few more seats either way could realign the final outcome. 04:15 The sky is brightening blue. The country isn't. 04:20 Alex Salmond loses his Gordon seat. The Home Secretary is enduring a tight recount. 04:30 Projected vote share is Con 43% Lab 40%. The final poll of polls said 44% 36%. The last time the two main parties both topped 40% was 1970. 04:50 Michael Portillo is long gone, but Enfield Southgate flips back from Conservative to Labour again. 04:55 Simon Hughes fails to retake Bermondsey and Old Southwark. The Home Secretary narrowly survives in Hastings. 05:00 Will the DUP's ten MPs ally with the Conservatives (318?) to prop up the government? 05:15 Jeremy Corbyn has delivered a much better result than expected (with the support of an invigorated youth vote), although is nowhere near winning (so has failed). 05:20 Theresa May called an election to confirm her mandate, but has thrown away her majority and probably won't be around for long. But who will replace her? (Oh God not Boris) 05:30 On mornings like this, it's so hard to decide when to grab some sleep.
08:30 Right, what happened there? Blimey, what a mess. 08:32 OK, so Thurrock (maj 345) just about stayed blue, Zac Goldsmith squeaked back in Richmond Park (maj 45) and Kensington remains too close to call. Labour's vote share in the capital looks like being around 50%. 08:35 The Conservatives look like they'll fall half a dozen seats short of an overall majority, and "the PM has no intention of resigning". Yeah right. 08:55 Here comes that coalition of chaos they warned about, led by the people who warned against it. 09:00 Likely electoral calculus... Con+DUP=318+10=328 ... not strong, not stable. 09:30 Mathematically the ideal coalition would be a Conservative/Lib Dem coalition, but hard experience will prevent that from happening. 10:30 The DUP appear to have come to an agreement with the Conservatives, based on unspoken (but crucial) NI-related conditions, so Theresa May will be able to go to the Palace to ask the Queen to form a government. 10:40 UKIP leader Paul Nuttall resigns. 12:00 Theresa May's election gamble has backfired, just as David Cameron's referendum gamble backfired. No Tory will be keen to ask voters again soon... but expect to be asked again soon.
Vote2017: The morning after
