I've been all over London over the last few days, but only to places I've blogged about before.
On Tuesday I went to the station I wrote about in June 2021 and took the train I told you about in May 2022 to the town whose MP I told you about in January 2026. I alighted my next train opposite the department store I told you about in February 2018 and caught the bus I told you about in June 2016 to the park I told you about in February 2009. Then it was on to the roundabout I told you about in April 2008 via the arterial route I told you about in March 2024 to the restaurant I told you about in Unblogged November 2022. Here I crossed the evacuation route I told you about in January 2014 and the waymarked path I told you about in December 2021 before switching to the tube line I told you about in March 2013. One stop later I alighted near the greenspace I told you about in March 2009 before catching a rare bus I told you about in June 2023 to the section of the London Loop I told you about in October 2014. Here a bus I told you about in January 2020 took me to a statue I told you about in April 2008, and another took me to the level crossing I told you about in July 2023. I went one stop to the town I told you about in January 2008 and caught the bus I told you about in January 2019 past the trig point I told you about in October 2004. My next buses took me past the footballing sights I told you about in April 2009, to the terminus I queried in June 2025, along the seasonal road I told you about in December 2024 and past the power station I told you about in April 2024. My next target was alongside the square I told you about in July 2025 before hopping back to a new station I told you about in March 2019. My final bus, which I told you about in December 2014, took me to a train service I told you about in September 2019, after which I came home past allotments I told you about in September 2021. All previously blogged, so nothing to blog here.
On Wednesday I travelled along the High Street I told you about in August 2008 to the sculpture I told you about in March 2012. Here I caught a train I first told you about in June 2017 to the place on the London Loop I reached in May 2014. My first bus passed the public toilets I told you about in January 2024 and the collection of streets I told you about in April 2018 to a road I told you about in January 2012. I told you about the next suburb in some detail in January 2019, including its fork and its library, also about this bus corridor in December 2019. I switched buses opposite the clocktower I told you about in May 2023, finally boarding the bus whose route number I queried in July 2023. This took me through suburbs I told you about in October 2024 and November 2015 respectively, then past the foot of a hill I told you about in August 2006, August 2014 and December 2022. From the bus station I moaned about in December 2022 I rode the tube line I told you about in June 2013 to the shopping centre I told you about in December 2017. Another bus I told you about in July 2024 took me to a road junction I told you about in May 2004 and the venue of a meeting I told you about in May 2019. A little-used station I told you about in November 2017 then propelled me to a lost river I told you about in January 2010 and a supermarket I told you about in February 2013. Improbably my next target was the start of a walk I told you about in October 2024, then I headed to two towns whose museums I told you about in October 2009 and April 2010. A bus I told you about in November 2014 then took me to a shopping parade I told you about in February 2026. From here I took a train across a section of the Capital Ring I told you about in April 2011 to a station I told you about in March 2022 beneath a sign I told you about in September 2025. Then home to use a kettle I told you about in February 2020. All previously blogged, so nothing to blog here.
On Thursday I passed the statue I told you about in August 2003 to take the train through the station I told you about in December 2007 to a cavern I first told you about in September 2012. I briefly visited a tourist hotspot I told you about in May 2016 before backtracking to a historic building I told you about in March 2024. I next paused beside a gallery I told you about in April 2018 before continuing to a bridge I told you about in April 2013 and passing a museum I told you about in March 2016. From a market I told you about in October 2008 I circuited a shopping mall I told you about in October 2018 to an iconic building I told you about in October 2013 in a suburb whose Olympic history I told about in you April 2008. My next bus took me past a former ice cream parlour I told you about in Unblogged September 2018 to a lost river I told you about in September 2010, then it was back past a cultural centre I told you about in September 2018 and a quick ride on a piddly bus route I told you about in December 2019. I avoided the very long tunnel at the station I told you about in November 2004, continuing to the suburb I told you about in April 2021 and looking down into the tunnel entrance I told you about in June 2008. I'm not doing that one again. From there I walked past the library I told you about in December 2011 and burrowed in a subterranean manner to the capitalist temple I derided in September 2024, before heading home through the hinterland I told you about in March 2018. All previously blogged, so nothing to blog here.
On Friday I nipped first to the cooking sauces aisle I told you about in March 2017 before returning home across the roundabout I told you about in more months than I care to imagine. Suitably unladen I passed the launderette I told you about in February 2005 and rode the tube lines I told you about in April 2013 and September 2013 respectively. I dodged the elephant I told you about in November 2013 and then made three fairly pointless stops: a) by the lost river I told you about in February 2010, b) in the postcode I told you about in January 2020, c) alongside the path I told you about in November 2022. My ultimate destination was near the waterworks I told you about in September 2024, specifically the suburb I told you about in July 2022, but not quite as far as the engines I told you about in November 2007 or the tower I told you about in February 2012. After much wandering I headed to the suburb I told you about in January 2017 because that was the quickest way to the neighbourhood I told you about in July 2025. Stupidly I left the train after the park I told you about in September 2023 because there were no buses so I had to walk past the studios I told you about in July 2008 and the famous window I told you about in March 2005. Alas the railway I first told you about in July 2003 was suspended so I had to head home via the roundel I told you about in August 2013, also the hotel I told you about in September 2019, the pub I told you about in August 2019 and the urinals I told you about in June 2012. All previously blogged, so nothing to blog here.
Yesterday I went all over the place, sorry, including the shopping precinct I told you about in December 2017, the lost river I told you about in August 2010, the plaque I told you about in December 2007, the borderline outpost I told you about in May 2017, the infrequent bus I told you about in December 2014, the town centre I told you about in October 2006, the cocky corner I told you about in July 2022, the isolated estate I told you about in March 2025, the high point I told you about in August 2014, the section of the London Loop I told you about in September 2015, the famous residences I told you about in January 2023, the Superloop route I told you about in February 2024, the constituency I told you about in June 2024, the mansion I told you about in April 2011, another clocktower I told you about in May 2023, the peculiarly-named locality I told you about in October 2022, the bend in the road I told you about in March 2022, the farm I told you about in October 2015, the lost river I told you about in May 2024, another high point I told you about in August 2014, the Olympic venue I told you about in September 2012, the town I told you about in January 2009, the football stadium I told you about in October 2009, the roadworks I told you about in January 2026, the IKEA I told you about in February 2019, the aerial folly I first told you about in March 2011, the sponsored tent I told you about in June 2007, the clocks I told you about in May 2004, the town hall I told you about in May 2006, the art gallery I told you about in June 2004 and the 700 year-old church I told you about in November 2011. All previously blogged, so nothing to blog here.
That's the problem with a blog that's been all over London, you've heard it all already.
London's borough councils are up for grabs in the local elections next month, including Tower Hamlets where I live. Sometimes things can go off the rails here so I've had a go at researching who's standing for what, just in case they do again.
But first a quick historical recap.
1964-1982: very safe Labour
1986-1990: Alliance/Liberal Democrat interlude
1994-2002: very safe Labour
2006: no overall control (George Galloway intrudes)
2010: very safe Labour switch to elected Mayor
2010-2014: Lutfur Rahman swipes it
2015: 2014 election declared void
2015-2018: John Biggs (Labour)
2022-2026: Lutfur Rahman swipes it back
Sorry, my recap includes a prediction of who's going to win the upcoming election, but it's such a dead cert that I won't be wrong.
Council elections were relatively normal in Tower Hamlets until 2009 when a dodgy petition triggered a referendum on introducing an Executive Mayor for the borough. This seismic change passed with 60% of the vote. The subsequent ballot was won by Lutfur Rahman, now running his own party after a massive falling-out with former Labour colleagues. No matter that Labour had 63% of Tower Hamlets councillors, by becoming Mayor Lutfur took full control of everything and the majority opposition could only sit and watch.
Rahman won again in 2014 although the result was much closer, the cursed 52%-48% ratio. But a lot of well dodgy practices had taken place so in 2015 the electoral court declared the previous election void. Labour's John Biggs duly took over after a 55%-45% victory and Lutfur was banned from politics for seven years. But as soon as those seven years were up he came back, stood again and won, because here in Tower Hamlets we have no qualms in voting for a dubious not-quite criminal and gifting him total power.
In 2026 there are nine candidates for Mayor, one of whom is Lutfur who's going to win again.
» Lutfur Rahman: Aspire
» Sirajul Islam: Labour
» Mohammed Hannan: Liberal Democrats
» Hirra Khan: Green
» John Bullard: Reform UK
» Dominic Nolan: Conservative
» Hugo Pierre: Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
» Zami Ali: Tower Hamlets Independents
» Terence McGrenera: Independent
The only credible alternative is Sirajul Islam for Labour, or would be were the party more popular nationally which it absolutely isn't. Labour's John Biggs got 33% of the Mayoral vote last time but that percentage can only go down. No other party got more than 10% in 2022 and the Greens didn't even put forward a candidate. It's entirely possible that the Greens will do rather well in neighbouring Hackney, but this is Tower Hamlets and there's no hope of a Green surge for the Mayoralty.
mini bios
• Lutfur Rahman (Aspire) has been found "personally guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both"
• Sirajul Islam (Labour) is the current leader of the opposition on Tower Hamlets council
• Mohammed Hannan (Liberal Democrats) came last in Canary Wharf ward in 2022
• Hirra Khan (Green) co-leads an environmental charity and is also standing as a councillor in Bromley-by-Bow
• John Bullard (Reform) is thus far a mystery, likely parachuted in to fill a gap
• Dominic Nolan (Conservative) has been a councillor in Fife, but won only 6% of the vote in Poplar in 2022
• Hugo Pierre (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) is certainly a trier, this is his 4th Mayoral election
• Zami Ali (Tower Hamlets Independents) has his own website but hasn't added any news since January, a no-hoper
• Terence McGrenera (Independent) is a local journalist disillusioned by Tower Hamlets political bickering
Here in Tower Hamlets we also vote for 45 councillors across 20 wards, but their main job is either to agree with the Mayor or hold him to account. In 2022 Lutfur's party Aspire won 26 seats, Labour won 19, and the Conservatives and Greens one each. Since then five of those candidates have become independents, which would have been enough to put the council into 'No overall control' were Lutfur not fully in control anyway. The only by-election in the last four years was for my ward, Bow East, after one of the Labour councillors was unexpectedly elected as MP for Cities of London and Westminster.
Aspire, Labour and the Conservatives have all managed to put forward a full range of candidates in each of the 20 wards. The Greens, Liberal Democrats and Tower Hamlets Independents each have two gaps. Reform UK failed to fill ten slots although they've managed to cover every ward. Only residents in Bethnal Green East get the opportunity to vote for The Forward Party, which appears to be the one-man soapbox of a Tiktokker called Adham who likes parading round parks while you read long captions across his head.
Bow East candidates
» Aspire: Hamida, Mansur & Yusuf
» Labour: Abdi, Amina & Marc
» Liberal Democrats: Dan, Daniel & Folkert
» Green: Jonathan, Mads & Ottilie
» Reform UK: Gary, John & Kevin
» Conservative: Georgie, Jade & Robin
» Tower Hamlets Independents: Hira, Salim & Shofiqul
» TUSC: Naomi
Here in Bow East, Aspire are currently winning the letterbox battle with two massive expensively-produced leaflets. One's a folded sheet of A3 covered in bullet-pointed things Lutfur's council has achieved over the last for years, several of them bilingually. The other is ward-specific, half the size, and features our grinning leader alongside his three Aspire candidates. However absolutely no attempt has been made to link any of the party's policies to Bow East ward, merely to dazzle.
Labour have also sent two leaflets, one general and one specific, although these are rather smaller. Sirajul does at least look to have been in the same room as the three Bow East candidates when the cover photo was taken. There are specific mentions of Roman Road Market and 'Vicky Park', generally decrying how Aspire should be looking after them better. Marc Francis has been a Labour councillor here since 2006, but may very well not be in a month's time.
The Greens have sent two copies of something they call Bow East News, generally in the hope I'll be on first name terms with their three candidates. They have the localest policies, even down to litter in a single street, also two attempts at making 'genocide in Palestine' sound locally relevant. The trio have a decent chance of getting at least one of them elected, Bow East being one of the Green's four target wards hereabouts (along with Bow West, Mile End and Bromley North).
Nothing as yet from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or Reform UK, partly because it's still early days and partly because they don't have a hope so why waste money.
Politics in Tower Hamlets is rarely dull but I suspect it will be this year, however much reshuffling takes place at councillor level, as Lutfur Rahman wins his fourth election for Executive Mayor. Technically the end result is always in doubt until the final votes are counted, but it would be nice to live in a borough that wasn't quite so one-sidedly anomalous.
The lowest number that isn't a nightbus: 4
The only overnight bus that starts with a letter that isn't N: EL1
Five consecutively numbered nightbuses: N25, N26, N27, N28, N29
Can you show me a map of all the nightbuses? Yes, here's one. I generated it using route-mapster.vercel.app(which if you like bus map facts is seriously brilliant)
[Night routes in orange, 24-hour routes in blue]
The extremes of the nightbus network Most westerly: N9 (Heathrow Terminal 5) Most northerly: N279 (Waltham Cross bus station) Most easterly: N86 (Harold Hill) Most southerly: N68 (Old Coulsdon)
The only nightbus to go outside London: the aforementioned N279
Nightbuses that go nowhere near the daytime route with that number
N5: Trafalgar Square - Edgware (not Canning Town - Romford)
N20: Trafalgar Square - Barnet (not Walthamstow - Debden)
N97: Trafalgar Square - Hammersmith (not Stratford - Chingford)
Nightbuses whose numbers aren't used by daytime buses: N118, N472, N550, N551
How many nightbuses start at Trafalgar Square? 22
Earliest start for a nightbus: 2300 (on the N140 from Harrow Weald) Latest start for a nightbus: 0115 (on the N133 in both directions) Earliest finish for a nightbus: 0512 (on the N28 in both directions) Latest finish for a nightbus: 0717 (on the N140 to Harrow Weald) (and on Sunday mornings, 0807 on the N9 to Heathrow)
The three most frequent nightbuses
N15 (every 10 minutes, every 8 at weekends)
N25 (every 8 minutes, every 10 at weekends)
N29 (every 10 minutes)
n.b. the vast majority of nightbuses run every 30 minutes
When was the first nightbus? 1913, on route 94 (here's a photo of the B-Type outside Piccadilly Circus station)
When was the first 'N' nightbus? 12th October 1960
Here's an N83 timetable (Charing Cross - Tottenham) from July 1961.
What was the nightbus network like in 1972? There were 19 proper Night Bus routes, numbered consecutively from N81 to N99, which generally bore no relation to similarly-numbered daytime routes. Of these only the N97 survives today. Four other routes ran overnight, the 11, 109, 168 and 185. I've blogged about this before.
Number of nightbus routes 25 years ago: 61
The following year 24-hour services lost their N prefix.
Here's a nightbus map from 2005 (by Mike Harris).
And here's the 2015 Central London nightbus map.
The nightbus route that travels the furthest every year: N15 (390,156 km, way way ahead of the N29)
The nightbus route that travels least far every year: N472 (47,709 km)
A long way away from an overnight bus: Northwood, Pinner, Ickenham, Mill Hill East, Marks Gate, Upminster, Biggin Hill, Wallington
London's five least busy nightbus routes (2024/25) 1) 486 North Greenwich - Bexleyheath (39,000) 2) 213 Kingston - Sutton (44,000) 3) N33 Hammersmith - Fulwell (52,000) 4) 365 Orchard Estate - Havering Park (54,000) 5) 85 Putney - Kingston (55,000)
The next ten: 474, 321, N72, 158, 24, 119, N381, N472, 93, 264
The only single decker nightbus routes: N33, N72
The only nightbuses to start and finish in the same place: N5 and N113 (Trafalgar Square - Edgware bus station)
London's newest nightbuses
N472 (North Greenwich - Abbey Wood) [24 January 2026]
N118 (Trafalgar Square - Ruislip) [17 January 2026]
N263 (Moorgate - North Finchley) [6 April 2025]
The three bus stops served by the most nightbuses
Southampton Street/Covent Garden (A)
Bedford Street (J)
Savoy Street (U)
...all served by the N9 N15 N21 N26 N44 N87 N89 N91 N155 N199 N343 N550 N551 (n.b. three routes were missing from the tiles when I took these photos in 2024)
Bus stops that are only used by nightbuses
N8: The Lowe (in Hainault)
N9: Holland Road, Nene Road Roundabout, Newbury Road/Compass Centre (north of Heathrow)
N199: Murray Road (in St Mary Cray)
N205: Warton Road (will be served by the D8 later next year)
N551: Tobacco Dock, Wellclose Street
N3/N87: Abingdon Street (outside Parliament) [dubious]
N133: The Drive (in Morden) [very dubious]
London's longest night bus routes 1) N199 Trafalgar Square → St Mary Cray 21.92 miles 2) N89 Trafalgar Square → Erith 21.33 miles 3) N9 Heathrow T5 → Aldwych 20.94 miles 4) N68 New Oxford Street → Old Coulsdon 19.74 miles 5) N15 Romford → Oxford Circus 18.75 miles
The shortest nightbus route: The N97 is 6.13 miles long
The shortest overnight route: The 238 is 4.83 miles long
Nightbuses which run within a single borough: 64, 278, 365
The borough with only one nightbus: Sutton (plus three 24 hour routes)
The borough with 49 nightbuses: Westminster (77% of the total)
Have you ridden on all the nightbuses? Yes I have, it took three nights, although this was in 2018 and there were only 50 back then.
Has anybody else done this? Geoff's just ridden all 64 and made a video about it.
Has anybody else done this? Yes.
It's now 13 months since long term works at the Bow Roundabout were supposedly completed, but they remain partly out of use. The reverse contraflow lane beneath the flyover has never reopened, despite being the focus of a substantial portion of the works, despite a great deal of time and money having been spent re-engineering it. I told you this last month. Since then two things have changed.
The first is that the wobbly plastic barriers sealing off the contraflow have been replaced by chunky concrete blocks. This gives the closure a more long-term feel, and also prevents overheight lorries and mischievous cars from crashing through the barriers. I presume this is why the spindly security camera overlooking the barriers has now been removed.
The second is that the information on TfL's Silvertown Tunnel webpage has been updated. It used to say...
That's passing the buck for you. I'm not aware of what these measures might be, but "bus priority projects on High Street Stratford" were apparently put forward at a council meeting in January. Their implementation might thus be months off, and could involve a lot or only a little further disruption, but this does mean the saga of the Bow Roundabout upgrade lingers on and on.
I have, on severaloccasions, lambasted the Next Train Indicators at Mile End station. Originally it was because you couldn't see them, then it was because some became hidden, then it was because they moved and you couldn't see them from different places. At one point HM Inspector of Railways turned up and urged the removal of a blocking sign to prevent a possible decapitation risk on platform 1. That was sorted but the underlying issue has not changed, which is that you cannot see the time of the Next Train from a substantial proportion of all four platforms.
The chief issue is that there are only four Next Train Indicators and they are all at the far end of the platforms. Walk down the stairs or arrive on a train at the western end of the station and you can easily see when the next trains are due. But arrive on a train at the eastern end of the station and you can see bugger all, this unless you have the eyesight of a hawk and can read small orange letters 100m away. I can't do it, plus the key information like the number of minutes is often hidden behind protruding objects so couldn't be seen anyway.
Four small Next Train Indicators have been added halfway down the platforms, each on the inside of a pillar, these designed to assist platform staff in marshalling passengers during busy rush hour periods. But most of them face west, not east, so can't be seen by anyone in the eastern half of the platform either. The entire Next Train Indicator get-up at Mile End is an impractical mess seemingly installed by cretins.
This regularly proves awkward, generally when changing trains, because you can't tell if the next train is 1 minute away or 11. Usually it's 3 or less but occasionally it's a very big number and you can't tell so you stand there like a lemon on the platform because you don't realise the service is borked. As happened yesterday.
I got off the front of a Central line train and crossed to the District line platform, expecting a train to carry me one stop to Bow Road but unable to confirm this. After a few minutes I started to get suspicious and walked all the way down to pillar 13 to check on the small screen... and sure enough the next train was still 7 minutes away. For Mile End that's disastrous, and it looked like there was then an 11 minute gap coming along behind. Meanwhile on the opposite platform, a 15 minute gap! Nobody in the control room had made any announcements so everyone was just standing there, the eastern half in total ignorance of imminent trainlessness.
The issue arose in 2009 after inept infraco Metronet were given the job of upgrading Mile End station with modern electrical paraphernalia. Their solution included introducing a suspended ceiling to hide all the wiring and other gubbins, but this decision also reduced headroom so it was no longer safe to hang a Next Train Indicator from the ceiling. The boxes were thus all moved to the far end of the platforms where nobody could hit their heads, and suddenly passengers on half the platform could no longer see when trains were coming.
Annoyingly Metronet went bust in 2007 and were taken over by TfL in 2009 before the suspended ceiling was fitted. But because Metronet's plans were so far advanced TfL had no choice but to go along with them, installing a substandard information system while making other aspects of the station better.
What hurts is that Mile End's now been substandard for well over 15 years and nobody's attempted to improve things, bar those tiny boards most people can't see either. Various solutions would sort it, like adding thinner overhead boxes or simply adding Next Train Indicators at the eastern ends of the platforms so everyone could see one. But there must be no money, or no resources, or no willingness, or just an assumption that the current system works when plainly it does not, as those of us who use the station know to our cost.
And so we continue to keep our fingers crossed that a train's coming, hopefully soon, and just occasionally it's not.
Six years ago I followed a seriously uncompromising footpath round the back of Beckton sewage works as far as Beckton Creekside Nature Reserve. This creekside haven was as remote as I dared go at the time, there being no alternative exit from the lengthy access road down to the Barking Flood Barrier. But this time I took company and walked all the way to the main drainage outfall of Bazalgette's great sewer, gazing out at the unfinished wedge of Thamesmead across the estuary, along what might be London's longest dead end path...
The path with no exit has two entrances, neither of them especially appealing. The most direct access starts opposite the 5-a-side on Jenkins Lane adjacent to convenient bus stops on routes 325 and 366. It used to start beneath a rusty welcome arch courtesy of Thames Water but that's now vanished, its replacement a scrappy laminated sheet tied to the first security gate. The fenced slalom ahead is optimistically titled the Northern Lagoon Walkway, not that anything tropical will be visible as you wend between brackish scrub and empty warehouses for slightly too many minutes. We didn't go that way.
We walked in underneath the A13, in fact we walked all the way from Barking, attempting to follow the river Roding as it morphed into the muddier Barking Creek. A quiet path hugs the edge of Cuckold Haven Nature Reserve, currently bursting out into shades of spring green, with occasional glimpses of flats and reeds where the treeline thins. At Whitings Trash Screen the Environment Agency prevents gunk from exiting a small drainage channel and a final stepped path drops in round the back of Shurgard Self Storage. The A13 is supported on chunky concrete supports, an underside that barely anybody sees but is sufficiently graffitied to confirm you're not the first ones here.
Beyond the bridge is where the Beckton Showcase cinema used to be, but that closed in 2022 and has subsequently been replaced by four huge white sheds called Valor Park. These have a lot of tall flappy doors suggesting future use as a distribution depot, and also a rim of saplings recently planted in the hope of blocking out clear sightlines from the footpath. Employees might one day be able to exit through security gates to a bench freshly placed on the riverside, perhaps to enjoy a smoke in view of the Bestway cash and carry, but thus far the only occupants are a security handler and their vanful of canine defence. And beyond that is the all-important kissing gate, we're going in...
Everything ahead, which is a thin strip of just over a mile, is the property of Thames Water. Beckton Sewage Works opened in 1864 as the endpoint of Joseph Bazalgette's sewage solution, initially covering 9 acres and since expanded to 250. Most of the former marsh was covered in a mosaic of settlement tanks and circular sludge pools, since augmented by hundreds of pipes, modern plant and the end of the Lee Tunnel. If your toilet lies north of the Thames then your organic waste may ultimately be dried here and burnt as 'cake'. You get the best view of the sewage works on the first bend, a ridiculously extensive landscape of concrete structures and sudden drops, alien enough that you might expect characters from Blakes 7 to come running through at any minute.
A few minutes down, just off-road, is the entrance to Beckton Creekside Nature Reserve. This approximately triangular enclave, hemmed in on two sides by mudflats, comprises mostly scrubby woodland and is home to several species of flora and fauna. Marked paths guide visitors away from the riverside and past the foot of a hulking pylon, its four feet planted in a reedy pool. One track leads up a very slight elevation to a 'view'point with a single picnic table, for hardy sandwich-munchers only. You might meet conservation volunteers here once a month or, as in our case, a seated visitor keen for our human incursion to go away. At the far end is a second gate back onto the road, this where nervousness originally nudged me back but this time we were going all the way.
The access track continues straight along the edge of the sewage works proper, specifically alongside a concrete trench in which a river of sorts flows inexorably towards the Thames. It fills from dubious culverts and frothy sluices, carrying best not think what, all safely contained behind a barb-topped fence. Signs warn of deep danger and also that this road is liable to flood at high tide, although I think it'd have to be a big spring tide to do any damage. Eventually the reeds open out to reveal the very end of Barking Creek, also the backside of the industrial warehouses at Creekmouth on the opposite bank. The pylons ahead are super-tall so they can cross the creek with ease.
I was expecting the tip of the path to be empty but instead a team of workmen had driven here in two vans and were busy hacking down surplus undergrowth around the sludge valves. A separate hi-vis worker was sipping a hot drink by the seawall, presumably on a break, and having had the sense to cycle here rather than walking. We had to wait for him to ride off before we got the estuary to ourselves.
The Thames feels massive here, as do the surrounding structures safely tucked out of general view. The Barking Flood Barrier is 60m high and of 1980s vintage, a fluvial guillotine ready to do its protective duty if the Thames ever threatens to invade.
This is a great place to watch birds, for example the wildfowl swimming happily in the swirling effluent from the outfall conduit. On our visit the tide was also coming in, creeping visibly across the mudflats and rising around a crescent of gulls standing on a semi-submerged bar until forced to fly off. Creepiest of all were the rooks perched individually on all the fencepoles screening off the water treatment works, occasionally flying down to the concrete wall but mostly just being sinister and watching our every move. But it still wasn't as scary as I'd previously anticipated, indeed I might now even be tempted to walk it solo.
The access road bends here to follow the Thames, soon ducking beneath two thick green pipes. These stretch way out into the river onto a wooden jetty and are part of Boris Johnson's fiasco of a desalination plant which has operated only five times since 2010. The gates underneath are labelled 'These gates must be kept locked at all times' but were intriguingly open, indeed temptingly so. We wondered if they were only open because the workmen had driven through so decided against exploring, but I understand others have continued round several bends towards an 'attraction' Google Maps describes as The Two Benches. If that's the case you might be able to go another quarter mile to a properly locked gate just round the back of the Gallions Reach Retail Park, and if they ever unlock that a fabulously bleak looping footpath could be possible. In the meantime perhaps I've tempted you to visit the backside of a sewage works down what might just be London's longest dead end.
Update: several of you have confirmed that it is possible to walk further, indeed you've done just that, along a further stretch of tank-overlooked riverfront. This makes the dead end a full mile and a half long (i.e. an hour to walk it there and back)
Twenty-five years ago tonight I met BestMate for the first time. There was no inkling that he was BestMate at the time, nor that he'd ever turn out to be, but that's the way things happened. It took a while as these things do, but here we are quarter of a century later and the friendship's strong as ever. How surprised am I?
My life's not been big on friendships. I got through primary school with some good friends, though not really best. My first best friend at secondary school semi-faded away, while the next best friend turned out not to be. At university I fell in with a crowd of soulmates rather than a single wingman, all of whom I subsequently lost touch with. I spent the next ten years entirely without anyone you could describe as a close friend, getting on with life without the need to socialise much. When things got unexpectedly tough I found strong emotional support where I might not have expected it, so thanks for that. And then out of the blue, in April 2001, BestMate turned up.
Our friendship didn't ignite until I moved to London a few months later, our homes now considerably closer. Before long my evenings and weekends changed dramatically. Instead of me sitting at home on that new internet thing we'd go out and drink beer in a variety of interesting places around town. Rather than staying in and watching my telly I could go round and watch his. I had someone to talk to about stuff and he had someone to talk to about stuff too, either in person or via an online Messenger service. You probably think nothing of having a friend on call because normal people always have friends, but for me this was an inertia-busting transformation.
I saw a side of life I'd almost certainly have missed out on otherwise, not least because some things are so much better done in two-or-mores than ones. I wouldn't have dreamed of spending a week in New York by myself, nor dining solo at a top London eaterie, nor repeatedly staying out all night and rolling in at 4am, but friendship took me there. I look back through my 2002 diary now with a sense of dazzled opportunity. Records show that by February 2003 I was spending far more nights out than nights in, which is pretty much unheard of in my introverted world, but that's what ganging up with an extrovert does for you.
If some people collect friends like Panini stickers, BestMate has a complete albumful. He knows everyone and everyone knows him, so he can't have been lacking a posse of friends in his life. That's been useful for me because I was exposed to a broad cross-section of society whenever we went out, who otherwise I'd just have stood in the corner and observed. But I'm still not really good friends with any of his really good friends, because I simply don't connect like that. Back in the day he'd have been climbing the walls if he didn't see any of his friends in a 48 hour period, whereas I can go for weeks with no ill effects. It makes it all the more surprising he's hung onto me ahead of all the rest.
Our friendship was sorely tested when he suddenly upped sticks and went to live on the west coast of America. Suddenly I couldn't pop round for a cup of tea, let alone hand deliver his birthday card, so things moved onto a different level. The internet allowed us to maintain conversation, helped by the fact that late evening over there was breakfastime over here and I was the only UK friend awake and online. Had this been ten years earlier, I don't think being long-distance penpals would have worked quite as well.
This transatlantic hiatus lasted four years, during which time I got to re-experience what not having a best friend in my physical environment was like. Quieter, simpler, and more opportunity to concentrate on blogging rather than socialising to fill my spare time. But we still picked up again afterwards where we'd left off, pretty much, and it was great to have that listening ear back around the corner. Our social whirl never quite returned to those early days but it never died down either, not until middle age hit us both and an evening in with wine started to beat a night out with beer.
When it comes to BestMate's OtherHalf, and there've been several, I got to be the objective one as the relationship began and the supportive one as it fell apart. The latest, we both agree, is a keeper. I've been honoured to be invited along on several holidays, usually long weekends, to such farflung spots as Amsterdam, Blackpool and Reykjavik. I fear that without BestMate I'd have maxxed out on day trips to the seaside and weekends touring the outskirts of Hillingdon rather than properly experiencing Berlin, Rome and Copenhagen. I'm still never going to compete with OtherHalf for his time and attention, but that doesn't stop us sharing an understanding or a bottle or a trio of cinema tickets or whatever.
It's great to have a sounding board, someone who's always there to bounce off when the need arises. He can advise on my finances and I can advise on his downstairs neighbours. I know which is his least favourite Yes Minister episode and he knows not to try and hide sweet potato on my plate. We have twenty-five years of common acquaintances and shared experiences to riff off so the conversation never runs dry. A lot of what we communicate simply goes unsaid, which is something you only get with years of experience.
He puts up with the fact I count things. He puts up with the fact that I go round to his far more often than I invite him round to mine. He puts up with all the things we don't have in common as well as all the things we do. He puts up with me never answering my mobile because it never normally rings so I'm not paying attention. He even puts up with me turning down his offer of a night out because I have a bus stop visit to write up. He understands, and, trust me, that's rare.
For our first anniversary we had an early morning bagel in Brick Lane. For our fifth we could only chat online from different continents. For our tenth we started the day in one pub and ended the night in another. For our fifteenth we splashed out and let Jamie Oliver's underlings serve us in Fifteen. For our twentieth we met up mid-pandemic for a walk along the same creekside path we followed on day one. And for our twenty-fifth he's planned something he's not yet let on about, somewhere up in town, but slightly delayed because filial duties come first.
I'm still not quite sure how I ended up with a BestMate, nor do I believe I could ever recreate the situation where it might happen again. To be honest, the whole set-up only works because he's the one who says "why don't we?" and I say yes. But the last twenty-five years have been hugely enriched by me knowing him, so I simply wanted to express my amazement and appreciation. Thanks, and here's to quarter of a century that wouldn't have been half as much fun otherwise.
The thing about a lot of the Norfolk Broads is that you can only see them from the water, surrounded as they are by wetland and woodland. Many aren't even accessible by public footpath, let alone a road. But Malthouse Broad is fully visible and also car-park-adjacent, assuming you can find a space. Head for the staithe - the local term for a landing stage - where all kinds of boats moor up around a small square of grass. 24 hours max if you come by water, with a £12 overnight fee unless you're a parishioner in which case mooring's free. The village of Ranworth is small by national standards but normal for Norfolk, a few miles from the A47 not quite as far as Acle. I should point out that the Visitor Centre is more a visitor shop, that scooped ice creams can be found in the Granary and that the local pub is closed until 21st April following a winter spruce-up.
From the staithe a footpath leads alongside Broad Road to the edge of a patch of wet carr woodland. Think alder and birch trees growing from squidgy pools, with plenty of grasses and reeds and the occasional burst of yellow irises. Thankfully a wooden boardwalk has been constructed to enable further progress, zigzagging onward for a good few minutes and occasionally wide enough to permit the overtaking of dawdling families. At the far end half-hidden behind tall reeds is a thatched two-storey ornithological hideaway, courtesy of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, where you can either buy bird goodies or point your binoculars across the water in search of tufty feathers. I don't know what the Queen spotted when she opened the place in 1976 but we spotted a great crested grebe as well as several swans and a big Mississippi-style paddle steamer.
This is actually Ranworth Broad, a separate swathe of water to the broad beside Ranworth. Beside the sole access point is a jetty from which a reed-lighter called Little Tern sets off on 40-minute wildlife-spotting trips, although the heritage aspect is a smokescreen because it's all electric now. Miss that and you're walking back, but you can vary the route and loop pass the parish church instead. St Helen's is sometimes known as the Cathedral of the Broads, more for its treasures than its scale. The painted rood screen is one of England's finest, the illustrated prayer book is late medieval and the church tower can be climbed for a suggested £2 donation. The 89 spiral stairs are teensy, then come two actual ladders to get you past the belfry before pushing open a trapdoor to emerge on the roof. I turned down this opportunity, I believe for the second time, but if you truly want to see the Broads there's nowhere topper.
This is the latest artwork on The Line, the meridian-adjacent sculpture trail between Stratford and Greenwich. It's attached to the back wall of Three Mills Studios and is called Dreams Are a Language Made of Images. The artist is Zineb Sedira and the text is based on a quote from the Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. It says DREAMS ARE A LANGUAGE MADE OF IMAGES. IN CINEMA, EVERY OBJECT AND LIGHT MEANS SOMETHING, AS IN A DREAM if you can't be bothered to click on it. Apparently the work 'encourages reflection about the interrelationship between dreams and cinema, here with the added element of the river', although I just thought the aluminium letters looked pretty with the sun on them at that angle.
I see a lot of these little key boxes stuck to the wall outside blocks of flats, all with combination locks or push-button pads. I've never seen so many as here, though, on a block of flats in the middle of Thornton Heath. Why do people do this, why don't they just carry keys? Or are these spare keys, or for Airbnbs, or something HMO-related? And isn't this risky too, I mean I could stand outside on the pavement and try several codes, and if I did it enough times over enough weeks I could eventually break into your flat. You've even labelled the flat number for me, cheers!
They've done up the Octagon Building in New Addington, the first thing you see as you get off the tram, with jaunty green paint and a digital sign and a really rather good local map. But why, I wondered? Turns out it's a project funded from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a levelling-up cash-pot established by the previous government in 2022. Croydon council received funding for projects here and in Thornton Heath, Selsdon and Purley. In New Addington they also refurbished the market square stage and created some new lamppost banners, and it certainly brightens the place up but I guess half a million doesn't go very far.
There are a lot of these revamped See It Say It Sorted adverts cropping up everywhere, a new blue-background series encouraging you to clock suspicious behaviour amongst your fellow passengers. The usual dodgy suitcase stuff (THAT LOOKS A BIT ODD), skulking doors (ARE THEY GOING SOMEWHERE THEY SHOULDN'T?) and lurking ne'erdowells (ARE THEY AVOIDING THE AUTHORITIES?). In this case the exhortation is to query WHY HAVE THEY BEEN HANGING AROUND FOR SO LONG?, something which could have a perfectly innocent explanation. I find it sad that they're suggesting alerting the authorities, especially when someone's hugely more likely to be waiting for something rather than an evil terrorist. Also if you've noticed that someone's been hanging around for a long time then you probably have too, so just turn yourself in and be done with it.
This looks nice, except it's in Beckton so how can it be? Beckton Park doesn't have the greatest of reputations, a lot of blank grass with occasional pylons and a rat infestation at the northern end. But this is the southeastern corner, just opposite the DLR station, and it's had a full-on glow-up over the last couple of years. It now has two acres of wildflower meadow, currently roped off so it's pristine next month, also a path across the middle called the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Pathway. They had to get the Palace's permission to call it that. It's a bit worthy (they've planted 7 red oak trees, one for each decade of the Queen's reign, also a Dutch Elm 'demonstrating resilience and strength'). But it is a splendid improvement on before, for which we thank the Beckton Parks Masterplan, the Mayor of London's Rewild London Fund and the University of East London Sustainability Research Institute.
This is the new extension to the ExCel exhibition centre in the Royal Docks, recently opened. They built it across a former car park, this because multi-storey exhibition halls and conference suites are more valuable than windswept parking spaces. It's vast and generally empty, more full of bored-looking security guards than people, and also a dead end so you can't walk through it like the rest of the complex without looking a bit suspicious. But it's also very swish, with banks of escalators up and banks of escalators down, so you may one day find yourself here when attending a commercial gathering or while dressed as Darth Vader.
• Beat the softened butter until creamy. Add the golden syrup, vanilla extract and salt. Mix well. Gradually add the powdered sugar until a smooth and thick dough forms. Add a few drops of yellow food colouring to a quarter of the mixture and form into small balls. Wrap the remaining mixture around the yellow centres and shape into small egg-shaped pieces about 1 inch in length. Place on a baking sheet and chill for at least 30 minutes in a refrigerator.
• Chop the milk chocolate and combine with the vegetable oil. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring inbetween, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
• Remove the chilled filling from the refrigerator. Dip each egg-shaped filling into the melted chocolate, ensuring complete coverage. Return baking sheet to the refrigerator and chill the eggs for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the chocolate coating is set.
• Alternatively, buy a box of real ones because these will be a huge disappointment.
The UK census* is held every ten years*, and has been since 1801*.
* 1941 was skipped for wartime reasons
* Technically it's three censuses, one for England and Wales, one for Scotland and one for Northern Ireland
* Scotland held their last census a year after everyone else due to the pandemic
It's always around the end of March or the start of April, this because it minimises potential distortion due to seasonal agricultural work or holiday travel. It's never the Easter weekend, instead always 2-4 weeks away.
1981: Sunday 5 April (Easter April 19)
1991: Sunday 21 April (Easter March 31)
2001: Sunday 29 April (Easter April 15)
2011: Sunday 27 March (Easter April 24)
2021: Sunday 21 March (Easter April 4)
2031: Sunday ?? ????? (Easter April 13)
We don't yet know when the 2031 census will be because they haven't decided, but my best guess would be 24th March or 27th April.
And that means we are pretty much exactly halfway between censuses, the last being five years ago and the next in five years time. Assuming it happens, that is.
It takes a very long time to prepare a census, in this case six years. In July 2025 the Cabinet Office wrote to the Office for National Statistics requesting them "to conduct a mandatory, questionnaire-based, whole-population census of England and Wales in 2031", having deemed it nationally worthwhile. Two subsequent consultations, nowclosed, have considered which topics should be included and "the needs for additional response options in a future ethnicity standard". If you don't ask optimal questions you get suboptimal data.
A Census Taskforce is now scopingplans and building on the experience of Census 2021, preparing for "an inclusive, digital-first census". You can thus expect to complete an online form in spring 2031, certain previous questions tweaked, with postal or face-to-face alternatives for those unable to access digital services. But what if it never happens?
This Labour government clearly believes in the importance of a national snapshot because they've triggered the process again. But some politicians have argued that we could instead sample the population, asking say 5%, and this would give broadly accurate answers while saving a lot of money. More drastically a White Paper in 2018 suggested that the Conservative government's ambition was that "other sources of data" would be used after 2021, thus the population would never need to be asked again.
The UK census is the gold standard in data collection but this counts for nothing in the world of politics. Indeed it would be a point of some pride for certain politicians to cancel a bureaucratic state-focused busybody survey prying into the lives of private citizens, saving millions of taxpayers money at the same time. Populists famously have no time for experts, so scrapping the census would be a bold policy win. Who needs accurate data when we could instead have lower taxes, or at least the promise of them?
We're due a new government by 2029, at this stage likely to be more right wing than the current administration. If that's the case then 2029 is plenty early enough to scrap a census in 2031, saving the majority of the intended costs. It'd be an easy policy win, a promise of hundreds of millions saved, also a trimming of the civil service' remit, also a swipe at woke questions about gender. One successful manifesto promise (or one capricious whim) and Census 2031 would be dead in the water.
We'd cope without a census because everything's estimatable. But without accurate data several decisions would become harder to make, that is assuming the government of the day were interested in data which isn't a given, because who needs facts when you have common sense? It would however be a damned shame to scrap the census for short term reasons, ending a sequence stretching back over 200 years, just because capricious politicians weren't interested in it any more.
UK
England
London
Tower Hamlets
1801
10,942,000
8,331,000
1,097,000
144,000
1851
27,369,000
15,289,000
2,651,000
377,000
1901
38,237,000
30,072,000
6,510,000
597,000
1911
42,082,000
33,561,000
7,162,000
570,000
1921
44,026,000
35,230,000
7,387,000
529,000
1931
46,075,000
37,359,000
8,110,000
489,000
1941
48,216,000
38,084,000
8,615,000
419,000
1951
50,225,000
38,669,000
8,197,000
231,000
1961
52,709,000
41,159,000
7,997,000
206,000
1971
55,515,000
43,461,000
7,452,000
166,000
1981
55,100,000
45,978,000
6,713,000
143,000
1991
57,439,000
48,198,000
6,394,000
153,000
2001
59,113,000
49,139,000
7,172,000
196,000
2011
63,182,000
53,107,000
8,174,000
254,000
2021
67,026,000
56,490,000
8,799,800
310,000
2031
????
????
????
????
We are pretty much exactly halfway between censuses, the last being five years ago and the next in five years time, but only assuming the next one happens.
33 things we learnt from TfL FoI requests in March 2026
1) Seven parts of the DLR network have their own names: North route (All Saints to Stratford), East route (Blackwall to Beckton), South route (Heron Quays to Lewisham), West route (Westferry to Bank & Tower Gateway), Central area (Poplar, West India Quay and Canary Wharf), London City Airport extension (West Silvertown to Woolwich Arsenal) and Stratford International extension (Canning Town to Stratford International). 2) Planning documents for the first tranche of Superloop routes have been made available, in case you'd like to know why they go where they go as often as they do. 3) If you have a 'DLR spotting book' and are wondering what happened to '4 Wheel Diesel Hydraulic Locomotives Numbered 5610 & 5611', there's no evidence that either ever existed.
4) The speed restriction between Charing Cross and Leicester Square on the Northern line is to reduce and mitigate against train shoebeam damage caused by track geometry from tunnels built over 100 years ago. The restriction will be removed when the situation improves. 5) In February TfL began a 12 month trial of video‑analytics technology at Stockwell, Clapham North, and Clapham Common focusing on counting people entering and exiting the gateline. This will strengthen understanding of fare‑evasion levels and help assess how enhanced data could support more effective deployment of enforcement officers across the network. 6) TfL don't know why there's a bollard at the junction of Furlong Road and Holloway Road because it was installed in November 2015 and they bin all documentation after 7 years.
7) The timetabled running time from Pimlico to Vauxhall is 65 seconds (but 68 seconds in the opposite direction) 8) In the last 12 months Tram Safety Officers have interacted with customers with regards to smoking/vaping on 146 occasions. No penalties were issued. 9) TfL fleecingtons (showerproof soft-shell jackets) have modal branding and are available in 10 sizes from XXS to 5XL. Before washing the zipper should be closed and the garment turned inside out. Fabric softener must not be used.
10) When the bus stop "Hume Way" was renamed "Highgrove Pool & Fitness Centre", it cost £328.12. 11) By undertaking further mileage running restrictions, the current DLR timetable can be sustained until at least the end of March 2026. TfL are exploring other options to extend this date. 12) The floor inside an Elizabeth line carriage is 1145mm above rail level. Overground trains are slightly higher (Class 378 1148mm) (Class 710 1155mm).
13) TfL awarded Stagecoach a £1,967,010 contract to operate the Silvertown Tunnel Cycle Shuttle for 3 years. Demand continues to be around 110-130 cycles on weekdays, lower at weekends. 14) In the month of February, only 8 passengers used a paper ticket to enter Chigwell station. By contrast 1567 passengers used Oyster and 1122 used contactless. 15) Mood lighting has been disabled on new buses "as we have been experiencing issues of these lights being used instead of the main lights".
16) 83 current TfL employees have been off work sick for more than 24 months since 2019. 40% of employees have been off work for 4 weeks or less during that period. 17) 156km of TfL roads have had a speed limit lowered under the Lowering Speed Limits programme. 18) Names proposed for Santander Cycles for International Women’s Day, but not used, include Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Kittie Knox, Rose Yates, Sylvia Pankhurst and Queen Marie of Romania.
19) Lost property found on buses last year included 15570 telephones, 11396 rucksacks, 9385 spectacles, 2915 umbrellas and 444 suitcases. 20) When making manual announcements on the Bakerloo line, the driver presses 1 for 'Let customers off the train first please', 2 for 'Please move right down inside the car', 3 for 'Please stand clear of the doors' and 4 for 'All change please, this train terminates here'. 21) The refurbishment of the toilets at Amersham station has been delayed by unforeseen asset issues in the male facility.
22) Last year 35,166,468 sales were recorded at London Underground ticket machines. The fewest sales were at Emerson Park with 6188. 23) The most popular journey on the Underground last year was again Bank to Waterloo with 1,315,723 taps. The reverse journey was made 1,268,090 times. 24) In last year's sole parakeet incident, the Traffic Signal Controller located on the A23 Purley Way/Commerce Way became heavily contaminated with bird guano, preventing engineers from safely accessing the unit. The contamination resulted from parakeets roosting in a privately owned plane tree situated above the controller.
25) Last year there were 15390 incidents of damage to TfL buses resulting from collisions and crashes, down from 15939 in 2024. 26) 701 candidates applied to the TfL General Management Graduate Scheme last year, of whom 272 passed the online tests, 36 attended interviews and 10 were appointed. 27) If you try to find out why the new Piccadilly line stock is late by asking "So, Hey TFL FOI Team, We Could Pick The Random Date From: Between: Dec 2026 To: June 2027, With The Drumroll, Please? Thanks", expect the response "TfL does not hold the requested information".
28) Last year 88 wigs were logged as lost property, 11 of which were returned to their owners. TfL have had no success returning two sets of false teeth, nor an urn containing ashes. 29) Fitting out Woolwich station for Crossrail cost £294,203,000. Additional Compliancy Works at Canary Wharf cost £122,414,000. 30) Members of the Royal Family do not receive free travel on TfL services, but 'Gold Level' athletes have been eligible for a free Athlete's Oyster Photocard since May 2006.
31) The borough whose residents received the most ULEZ penalty charges last year was Enfield (64,140), followed by Haringey (48,082) and Barking & Dagenham (42,356). 32) If you ever wanted to know precisely where all the 272 Labyrinth artworks are, here's a list. 33) When a suspicious muppet asked "I wish to fact check a series of articles published on the IanVisits website. I have tried looking all over your website and could not find the information. As the author of these articles does not provide sources or links to supporting documents, I believe this is potential fake news until verified", TfL responded by linking to the four supporting documents and confirming in each case that Ian was correct.
London's borough councils are up for grabs in the local elections next month, including Tower Hamlets where I live. Sometimes things can go off the rails here so I've had a go at researching who's standing for what, just in case they do again.
Human altitude records
Recipe for making a Creme Egg
