tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62710422024-03-05T17:59:00.155+00:00london geezerlots of stuff about londonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1561125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-20853119444532216332020-12-27T16:30:00.001+00:002021-05-30T23:23:29.391+01:0020 things that happened December 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 27th December</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• EU launches mass vaccination programme<br>
• Boxing Day footfall two-thirds lower than normal<br>
• 999 calls in London exceeding spring peak<br>
• South Africa passes 1 million cases<br>
• British skiers flee Swiss quarantine<br>
• more hospital beds occupied than in April<br>
• first NHS patient has <i>second</i> jab<br>
• NHS faces unprecedented pressure<br>
• Essex declares major health incident<br>
• <i>Oxford vaccine approved & set for mass roll-out</i><br>
• many more areas raised to tier 3 or tier 4<br>
• only the Scilly Isles in tier 1 (nobody in tier 2)<br>
• secondary school term to start two weeks late<br>
• second doses to be delayed (from 2 to 12 weeks)<br>
• "Covid loves a crowd" - stay home on NYE<br>
• new variant raises R by 0.4-0.7<br>
• police break up New Year parties<br>
• 'nail-biting' weeks ahead for NHS<br>
• all London schools to remain closed<br>
• India approves Oxford vaccine<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,750,000 → 1,830,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 80,000,000 → 84,000,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 70,405 → 74,570<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 2,256,005 → 2,599,789<br>
<i>Vaccinations:</i> 963,208 → 1,296,432<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> down 1% (6502 → 6460)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 20th December</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• 17 million Britons enter tier 4 lockdown<br>
• daily cases at record high<br>
• Dover/Eurotunnel closed to accompanied freight<br>
• 40 countries ban travel from the UK<br>
• supermarkets say no short term shortages<br>
• Joe Biden vaccinated on live TV<br>
• new variant is 'everywhere' in UK<br>
• 3000 lorries now stuck in Kent<br>
• first cases in Antarctica<br>
• France reopens border for those who test -ve<br>
• calls to use single vaccine dose, not two<br>
• tough restrictions on arrivals from SA<br>
• 2% of Londoners have the virus<br>
• schools may need to close in January<br>
• Trump blocks coronavirus stimulus package<br>
• no Christmas gatherings for 43% of England<br>
• Queen's broadcast - "you are not alone"<br>
• SE England & East Anglia → tier 4<br>
• mainland Scotland & NI back into lockdown<br>
• new variant detected across Europe<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,680,000 → 1,750,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 76,000,000 → 80,000,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 67,075 → 70,405<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 2,004,219 → 2,256,005<br>
<i>Vaccinations:</i> 650,714 → 963,208<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> down ½% (6529 → 6502)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 13th December</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• think carefully about Christmas risk (NHS)<br>
• legal battle over closure of Greenwich schools<br>
• London, most of Essex & some of Herts → tier 3<br>
• new virus variant may be causing faster spread<br>
• month-long lockdowns in Germany/Netherlands<br>
• pressure to review 5-day Christmas bubbles<br>
• redundancies hit a record high<br>
• 130,000 vaccinated in first week<br>
• Wales advises smaller Xmas bubbles<br>
• Scotland advises shorter Xmas bubbles<br>
• PM advises a merry <i>little</i> Christmas<br>
• 11,000 missing +ve tests in Wales<br>
• furlough scheme extended by a month<br>
• French president tests positive<br>
• tier 3 spreads across SE England<br>
• schools overwhelmed by new testing plans<br>
• 90% of hospital beds are full<br>
• new virus variant 70% more transmissible<br>
• <i>tier 4 lockdown in London & SE England</i><br>
• <i>elsewhere Christmas restricted to one day</i><br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,600,000 → 1,680,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 71,300,000 → 76,000,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 64,026 → 67,075<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,830,956 → 2,004,219<br>
<i>Vaccinations:</i> 650,714<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> down ¼% (6546 → 6529)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 6th December</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• overcrowded Nottingham Xmas market closes<br>
• vaccine rollout 'a marathon not a sprint'<br>
• Trump's chief lawyer admitted to hospital<br>
• stay-at-home order in California<br>
• cases rising in Wales (not rest of UK)<br>
• record grocery sales in November<br>
• <i>first NHS patient receives vaccine</i><br>
• world watches Margaret Keenan, 90, get her jab<br>
• Oxford vaccine is safe and effective<br>
• calls for London to enter tier 3<br>
• a few patients allergic to Pfizer vaccine<br>
• record daily death toll in US<br>
• economic rebound slows further<br>
• NHS waiting lists 100× longer than normal<br>
• Canary Isles back on quarantine list<br>
• France introduces curfew after 8pm<br>
• self-isolation reduced from 14 to 10 days<br>
• vaccine not a short-term solution (WHO)<br>
• 5-day Xmas break a mistake, experts say<br>
• highest restrictions eased in Scotland<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,520,000 → 1,600,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 66,100,000 → 71,300,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 61,014 → 64,026<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,705,971 → 1,830,956<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> down 0.06% (6550 → 6546)</font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-65612160749871895422020-11-29T16:27:00.000+00:002021-01-09T16:31:27.741+00:0020 things that happened November 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 29th November</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• new tier system will end on 2nd February (PM)<br>
• "risk of a third wave in the new year"<br>
• Santa's grottos can open if Covid-secure<br>
• 4 weeks of lockdown has cut cases by a third<br>
• shops can open 24h a day (except Sundays)<br>
• Lewis Hamilton tests positive<br>
• Arcadia in administration; Debenhams to close<br>
• no plans for 'vaccine passport'<br>
• 55 Tory MPs vote against tiered system<br>
• <i>Lockdown 2 ends, tiers return</i><br>
• <i>Pfizer vaccine authorised in UK</i><br>
• PM "sure and certain" of normal life by spring<br>
• students testing negative start travelling home<br>
• first vaccine doses arrive in UK<br>
• quarantine lifted for 'high value' travellers<br>
• pubs in Wales barred from selling alcohol<br>
• small crowds return to football matches<br>
• tests for care home visitors ineffective<br>
• Russia begins vaccinations<br>
• Sir Keir self-isolates again<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,450,000 → 1,520,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 61,800,000 → 66,100,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 58,030 → 61,014<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,605,172 → 1,705,971<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> up 3% (6387 → 6550)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 22nd November</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• strengthened tiers will follow Lockdown 2<br>
• borrowing 'cannot go on indefinitely'<br>
• Oxford vaccine 70% effective<br>
• daily tests offered in lieu of self-isolation<br>
• 'Covid Winter Plan' published<br>
• gyms and all retail to reopen next week<br>
• fans to be allowed at outdoor sport<br>
• UK Christmas: 3 households can mix for 5 days<br>
• ...but be careful, say national leaders<br>
• Russian vaccine "up to 95% effective"<br>
• economy to shrink 11% this year<br>
• economic emergency "only just begun"<br>
• 99% of England placed in top two tiers<br>
• only Cornwall, Scillies and IoW in tier 1<br>
• MPs angered by blanket restrictions<br>
• R dips below 1<br>
• Northern Ireland goes back into lockdown<br>
• Black Friday sales significantly down<br>
• vaccine rollout minister appointed<br>
• free vitamin D for 2½m<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,380,000 → 1,450,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 57,800,000 → 61,800,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 54,626 → 58,030<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,493,383 → 1,605,172<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> up ¼% (6351 → 6367)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 15th November</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• 'normal life back next winter' thanks to vaccine<br>
• Test & Trace tell PM to self-isolate<br>
• testing capacity will double in 2021<br>
• US vaccine 95% effective (UK hasn't bought any)<br>
• PM working from home, 'feeling great'<br>
• tier system may need strengthening<br>
• political will to 'save Christmas'<br>
• 11 areas in Scotland raised to tier 4<br>
• PPE contracts: £10bn awarded without tendering<br>
• Hull has UK's highest rate of infection<br>
• head of Test & Trace now self-isolating<br>
• Oxford vaccine showing good results<br>
• New York closes schools<br>
• rescue package for UK sport<br>
• Brexit talks suspended after +ve test<br>
• NI relaxes lockdown... for one week<br>
• infection rates levelling off<br>
• UK setting up vaccine hubs<br>
• R still (just) above 1<br>
• curfew introduced in California<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,310,000 → 1,380,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 53,700,000 → 57,800,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 51,766 → 54,626<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,344,356 → 1,493,383<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> up ½% (6316 → 6351)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 8th November</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• scaled-back & distanced Remembrance Sunday<br>
• Manchester hospitals suspend non-urgent care<br>
• Wales ends its 17-day firebreak<br>
• Biden's team planning ahead for the pandemic<br>
• <i>Pfizer vaccine 90% successful in trials</i><br>
• "life could return to normal by Spring"<br>
• "several more hurdles for vaccine" (PM)<br>
• record number of redundancies this summer<br>
• Wales cancels next summer's exams<br>
• 'lockdown' is the word of the year<br>
• testing operation to get students home for Xmas<br>
• UK death toll passes 50,000<br>
• economy out of recession (still down on March)<br>
• surge in infections in Sweden<br>
• long waits for hospital operations<br>
• Yorkshire Ripper dies in prison from virus<br>
• Dominic Cummings departs Number 10<br>
• R decreasing but still above 1<br>
• Divali goes digital<br>
• Britons warned not to become complacent<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,250,000 → 1,310,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 49,600,000 → 53,700,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 48,888 → 51,766<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,171,441 → 1,344,356<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> up 7% (5910 → 6316)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 1st November</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Test and Trace app set threshold too high<br>
• England lockdown 'may last more than 4 weeks'<br>
• Prince William contracted virus in April<br>
• increased help for the self-employed<br>
• lockdown a 'medical and moral' responsibility (PM)<br>
• everyone in Liverpool to be tested<br>
• UK death rate 10% higher than usual<br>
• shops extend hours/pubs offload beer<br>
• <i>US election - outcome unclear</i><br>
• M&S suffers first annual loss<br>
• 38 MPs vote against lockdown 2<br>
• <i>Lockdown for four weeks across England</i><br>
• furlough scheme extended until March<br>
• new rapid test misses half of cases<br>
• Danish mink hosted virus mutation<br>
• Denmark/Sweden/Germany → quarantine list<br>
• infection rate may be stabilising<br>
• UK bans visitors from Denmark<br>
• St Paul's Cathedral gets £2m culture grant<br>
• <i>Joe Biden announced as US president</i><br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,180,000 → 1,250,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 45,800,000 → 49,600,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 46,555 → 48,888<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 1,011,660 → 1,171,441<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> up 6% (5577 → 5910)</font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-25912904175018462182020-10-25T09:25:00.026+00:002020-11-02T09:30:41.455+00:0020 things that happened October 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 25th October</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Spain introduces night-time curfew<br>
• Wales anticipates another firebreak in January<br>
• row about free school meal vouchers, again<br>
• Nottinghamshire → tier 3<br>
• Tory MPs call for roadmap out of lockdown<br>
• study says antibodies decline rapidly<br>
• sharp rise in deaths across Europe<br>
• Staffordshire → tier 2<br>
• 'too early to say what Christmas rules will be'<br>
• Heathrow no longer Europe's busiest airport<br>
• 2/3 of businesses at risk of insolvency<br>
• second national lockdown in France<br>
• 100,000 catching virus every day<br>
• E Yorks → tier 2, W Yorks → tier 3<br>
• Melbourne emerges from four month lockdown<br>
• ½ million in England had virus last week<br>
• Govt trying to avoid blanket measures<br>
• cases now well above worst-case scenario<br>
• <i>4 week lockdown across England from next week</i><br>
• furlough scheme extended by a month<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,150,000 → 1,190,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 42,400,000 → 45,800,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 44,745 → 46,555<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 854,010 → 1,011,660<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> down 5% (5860 → 5577)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 18th October</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• police allowed access to test and trace data<br>
• Manchester still refusing to join tier 3<br>
• Italy tightens the rules<br>
• <i>2½ week "firebreak" lockdown in Wales</i><br>
• high level restrictions for 6 weeks in Ireland<br>
• 'tsunami' of new infections in Belgium<br>
• Heathrow - tests for those flying to Hong Kong<br>
• tier 3 imposed on Greater Manchester<br>
• ..."a game of poker with people's lives”<br>
• Melania Trump still has lingering cough<br>
• South Yorkshire is next into tier 3<br>
• Chancellor offers extra aid for tier 2<br>
• Scots told to prepare for 'digital Christmas'<br>
• Stoke, Coventry and Slough → tier 2<br>
• Test and Trace needs to improve (PM)<br>
• Scotland to introduce 5-tier system<br>
• PM hopes families can celebrate Xmas together<br>
• Warrington → tier 3<br>
• Polish president tests positive<br>
• yet another (small) anti-lockdown protest<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,110,000 → 1,150,000<br>
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 39,500,000 → 42,400,000<br>
<i>UK deaths:</i> 43,579 → 44,745<br>
<i>UK cases:</i> 705,428 → 854,010<br>
<i>FTSE:</i> down 1% (5919 → 5860)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 11th October</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• second national lockdown possible<br>
• Trump claims he's now immune<br>
• three Nightingale hospitals on standby<br>
• <i>3-tier lockdown restrictions introduced</i><br>
• Liverpool placed in 'Very High' tier - pubs closed<br>
• scientists warn measures are insufficient<br>
• unemployment at 3 year high<br>
• confirmed case of reinfection in Nevada<br>
• Sir Keir proposes 3 week circuit breaker<br>
• PM defends regional restrictions<br>
• NI closes schools for 2 weeks (& pubs for 4)<br>
• Wales bans visitors from tiers 2 & 3<br>
• London, Essex and York move to tier 2<br>
• Italy joins the quarantine list<br>
• masks required in Scottish workplaces<br>
• Manchester holds out against joining tier 3<br>
• R is between 1.3 and 1.5<br>
• fast turnaround tests due in a few weeks (PM)<br>
• month-long curfew in nine French cities<br>
• Israel eases second lockdown<br>
<br>
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,070,000 → 1,110,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 37,000,000 → 39,500,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 42,760 → 43,579<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 590,844 → 705,428<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 2% (6016 → 5919)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 4th October</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• London Marathon for elite runners only<br />
• Cineworld to close all cinemas<br />
• "bumpy through to Christmas" (PM)<br />
• numerous other White House staff test positive<br />
• Trump briefly leaves hospital for a motorcade<br />
• 15841 cases uncounted (& not followed up)<br />
• Trump 'feeling really good' - leaves hospital<br />
• PM looks ahead to a post-Covid UK<br />
• hospital admissions jump by 25%<br />
• shortage of tests across the NHS<br />
• intensive care filling up in Paris<br />
• pubs to close for 2 weeks in central Scotland<br />
• new 3-tier restrictions expected on Monday<br />
• getting Covid "a blessing from God" (Trump)<br />
• cafes/bars in Brussels closed for a month<br />
• economy still 9% below pre-pandemic levels<br />
• cases have 'increased rapidly' (ONS)<br />
• new Job Support Scheme will pay 2/3 of wages<br />
• delayed honours list recognises care workers<br />
• Northern mayors say govt support insufficient<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 1,030,000 → 1,070,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 34,700,000 → 37,000,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 42,317 → 42,760<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 480,017 → 590,844<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 2% (5902 → 6016)</font>
<br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-996911334534510702020-09-27T19:00:00.002+01:002020-11-02T09:24:57.523+00:0020 things that happened September 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 27th September</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• three more Welsh counties face lockdown<br />
• cases at 40 UK universities<br />
• ban on socialising in pubs in the NE<br />
• WHO develops quick low-cost test<br />
• calls to end 10pm pub curfew<br />
• <i>global deaths pass 1 million</i><br />
• PM misquotes new NE restrictions<br />
• four more Welsh counties face lockdown<br />
• students won't face Christmas quarantine<br />
• Speaker demands greater Parliamentary say<br />
• PM calls for "collective forbearance"<br />
• growth in cases could be slowing<br />
• new restrictions in Merseyside<br />
• Poland and Turkey added to quarantine list<br />
• SNP MP broke self-isolation rules<br />
• <i>President Trump tests positive</i><br />
• "everyone got a bit, kind of complacent" (PM)<br />
• President Trump taken to hospital<br />
• latest Bond film postponed again, to April<br />
• conflicting reports on Trump's health<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 990,000 → 1,030,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 32,700,000 → 34,700,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,971 → 42,317<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 429,277 → 480,017<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 1% (5842 → 5902)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 20th September</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Singapore issues Bluetooth tracking devices<br />
• 20% of UK population under local restrictions<br />
• 'last chance saloon' before a 2nd lockdown<br />
• if no action, 50000 daily cases by mid-October<br />
• four more Welsh counties locked down<br />
• <i>UK virus alert level rises from 3 to 4</i><br />
• pubs & restaurants must close by 10pm<br />
• "if you can work from home you should do so"<br />
• "we've reached a perilous turning point" (PM)<br />
• new rules are "for perhaps six months"<br />
• household visits banned in Scotland<br />
• daily cases continue to rise rapidly<br />
• NHS COVID-19 app (finally) launches<br />
• Chancellor announces new Job Support Scheme<br />
• only 28% of tests turned round in 24 hours<br />
• virus spreading in university accommodation<br />
• tighter lockdowns in Cardiff, Swansea & Leeds<br />
• Tesco limits sales of toilet roll & pasta<br />
• R number rises to 1.2-1.5<br />
• 2m deaths worldwide 'not impossible' (WHO)<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 950,000 → 990,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 30,600,000 → 32,700,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,759 → 41,971<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 390,358 → 429,277<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 3% (6007 → 5842)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 13th September</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• care homes warned of rise in infections<br />
• 2nd lockdown in Israel leads to resignations<br />
• UK tests being sent abroad for analysis<br />
• Rule of Six comes into effect<br />
• Labour leader self-isolating<br />
• no tests available in top 10 hotspot areas<br />
• unemployment up, redundancies accelerating<br />
• Home Secretary attempts to define 'mingling'<br />
• entire Irish cabinet self-isolates<br />
• inflation tumbles to 0.2%<br />
• Rhondda goes into isolation/lockdown<br />
• 'very serious situation in Europe' (WHO)<br />
• new restrictions across NE England<br />
• test demand 'significantly outstripping' capacity<br />
• national 'circuit break' restrictions discussed<br />
• London's New Year fireworks cancelled<br />
• new restrictions across NW England<br />
• UK now seeing "inevitable" second wave (PM)<br />
• everyday interactions need to be "dialled back"<br />
• PM plans hefty fines for breaking self-isolation<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 920,000 → 950,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 28,600,000 → 30,600,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,623 → 41,759<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 365,174 → 390,358<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down ½% (6032 → 6007)</font>
<br><br><br>
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 6th September</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• "the economy needs to have people back at work"<br />
• sudden spike in UK cases (2988 is highest since May)<br />
• India overtakes Brazil to be 2nd-worst hit<br />
• Health Secretary wags finger at young people<br />
• seven Greek islands added to quarantine list<br />
• tests unavailable (or ridiculously far away)<br />
• sudden rise in cases "a great concern"<br />
• lockdown cuts off Caerphilly<br />
• the arts are at a "point of no return"<br />
• many people requesting tests "inappropriately'<br />
• <i>social gatherings over 6 to be banned</i><br />
• new rules "for no longer than we have to"<br />
• PM suggests mass daily testing by the spring<br />
• Portugal back on quarantine list<br />
• masks mandatory in shops in Wales<br />
• test and trace app coming on 24th September<br />
• R now between 1 and 1.2 (or higher)<br />
• restrictions on socialising in Birmingham<br />
• daily cases have doubled since this time last week<br />
• looks very much like a second wave...<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 875,000 → 920,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 26,700,000 → 28,600,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,549 → 41,623<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 344,164 → 365,174<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 4% (5799 → 6032)</font><br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-14451844012874818612020-08-30T20:53:00.000+01:002020-09-11T20:54:43.892+01:0020 things that happened August 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 30th August</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• concerns over students returning to universities<br />
• Notting Hill Carnival goes digital<br />
• several cases on flight from Greek island<br />
• Eat Out To Help Out scheme ends<br />
• calls to delay next year's exams<br />
• concern over increase in cases in Scotland<br />
• back to school... back to work?<br />
• visiting restrictions imposed in Glasgow<br />
• Hong Kong starts mass testing<br />
• 40% of UK deaths were in care homes<br />
• retreat on easing Manchester lockdown<br />
• shortage of Track & Trace tests<br />
• US expects vaccine at start of November<br />
• Eng/Wales/Scot/NI quarantine lists diverge<br />
• Batman (actor) tests +ve during filming<br />
• Eat Out To Help Out used 100m times<br />
• testing at airports wouldn't help (PM)<br />
• civil servants should return to the office<br />
• anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne<br />
• tougher lockdown measures in Bolton<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 840,000 → 875,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 24,800,000 → 26,700,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,498 → 41,549<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 332,752 → 344,164<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 3% (5963 → 5799)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 23rd August</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• campaign to persuade parents that school is 'safe'<br />
• increased fines for organisers of mass gatherings<br />
• Tesco add 16000 home delivery jobs<br />
• Scottish high schools to require face coverings<br />
• 1st confirmed case of patient being re-infected<br />
• 1st known UK case was on 21st February<br />
• England follows Scotland on masks in schools<br />
• millions of workers may not return to the office<br />
• Usain Bolt tests positive<br />
• 1 in 4 jobs to go at Gatwick Airport<br />
• low paid to get £13 a day to self-isolate<br />
• Jamaica and Switzerland join quarantine list<br />
• outbreak at Norfolk poultry factory<br />
• Paris makes masks mandatory<br />
• highest number of new cases for 2 months<br />
• Pret to cut quarter of its workforce<br />
• restrictions eased in parts of NW England<br />
• risk to children is 'vanishingly small'<br />
• up to 85,000 deaths in worst case winter scenario<br />
• virus badly affecting several Pacific islands<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 800,000 → 840,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 23,000,000 → 24,800,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,423 → 41,498<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 324,601 → 332,752<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 1% (6001 → 5963)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 16th August</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• shielding ends in Wales<br />
• Public Health England to be replaced<br />
• New Zealand delays election<br />
• Ryanair cuts flights<br />
• A levels, belatedly, to match teacher assessment<br />
• MP's wife to head PHE replacement<br />
• M&S to lose 7000 jobs<br />
• masks compulsory in French workplaces<br />
• NI at risk of 'a slippery and treacherous slope'<br />
• Florida death toll passes 10,000<br />
• ONS to test 150,000 people a fortnight<br />
• GCSEs match teacher assessment<br />
• fewer test results ready in 24 hours<br />
• Portugal off the quarantine list, Croatia on<br />
• government debt exceeds 100% of GDP<br />
• ban on socialising in Blackburn/Oldham/Pendle<br />
• R value may have risen above 1<br />
• eviction ban extended for another month<br />
• pandemic "could be over in two years" (WHO)<br />
• virus "will be with us forever" (SAGE)<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 770,000 → 800,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 21,300,000 → 23,000,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,361 → 41,423<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 317,379 → 324,601<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 1% (6090 → 6001)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 9th August</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• "moral duty" to reopen schools (PM)<br />
• Brazil passes 100,000 deaths<br />
• soft play reopens in Wales<br />
• 'suppress, suppress, suppress' (WHO)<br />
• contact tracing team to be reduced by 6000<br />
• retail sales rise, employment falls<br />
• Russia registers first vaccine<br />
• 10m Ate Out To Help Out last week<br />
• 4 cases in NZ (after 100 days with none)<br />
• France "going the wrong way"<br />
• UK in recession after 20% quarterly fall<br />
• Govt reduces deaths total by 5400<font color=red>*</font><br />
• 13% of Londoners have antibodies (6% nationally)<br />
• examless A-level awards prove unsatisfactory<br />
• outbreak at Northampton sandwich factory<br />
• France added to UK's quarantine list<br />
• tourists in France scramble home<br />
• UK cases levelling off (ONS)<br />
• bowling alleys, casinos and theatres re-open<br />
• South Africa eases lockdown<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 720,000 → 770,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 19,500,000 → 21,300,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 46,566 → 41,361<font color=red>*</font><br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 309,763 → 317,379<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 1% (6032 → 6090)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 2nd August</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Melbourne under curfew<br />
• employers now contributing to furlough<br />
• PM considers response to second-wave scenarios<br />
• opening schools in September "a priority"<br />
• virus now 'extraordinarily widespread' in US<br />
• 90 minute tests for hospitals and care homes<br />
• Eat Out to Help Out scheme begins<br />
• test and trace not yet good enough for autumn<br />
• exam-less grades for Scottish pupils<br />
• localised lockdown in Aberdeen<br />
• UK 'underestimated virus threat from Europe'<br />
• cases rising in France, Spain and Greece <br />
• Govt has bought 50m unusable NHS masks<br />
• downturn less bad than feared (Bank of England)<br />
• Belgium added to UK quarantine list<br />
• India is the third country to pass 2m cases<br />
• stricter lockdown measures in Preston<br />
• masks required in museums, churches, etc<br />
• ¾m care home test kits recalled<br />
• redundancies up fivefold<br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 680,000 → 720,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 17,700,000 → 19,500,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 46,193 → 46,566<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 303,952 → 309,763<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 2% (5897 → 6032)</font><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-62290818048787583862020-07-26T20:50:00.000+01:002020-09-11T20:51:13.507+01:0020 things that happened July 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 26th July</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• tourist industry hit by Spain→UK quarantine<br />
• Westminster Abbey announces redundancies<br />
• masks mandatory on public transport in Wales<br />
• health strategy to tackle obesity<br />
• pet cat tests positive<br />
• UK economy might not recover until 2024<br />
• "signs of a second wave in Europe" (PM)<br />
• Belgium re-tightens social restrictions<br />
• Govt refuses to loosen Spanish quarantine<br />
• "Young people must do more" (WHO)<br />
• Barclays want their staff back in the office<br />
• self-isolation increased from 7 to 10 days<br />
• lockdown solidarity 'starting to fray'<br />
• England has Europe's highest % of excess deaths<br />
• Trump suggests delaying Presidential election<br />
• home visits suddenly banned in NW England<br />
• PM postpones further easing of lockdown<br />
• "we need to pull back a bit" (CMO)<br />
• to reopen schools, pubs may have to close<br />
• shielding ends <br />
<br />
<font size="1"><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 640,000 → 680,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 15,800,000 → 17,700,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 45,738 → 46,193<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 298,681 → 303,952<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 4% (6123 → 5897)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 19th July</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• "we will not need another national lockdown" (PM)<br />
• outbreak at Test and Trace centre in Lanark<br />
• Govt signs deal for 90m vaccine doses<br />
• France: masks compulsory in confined public spaces<br />
• Oxford Uni vaccine trial results promising<br />
• EU signs off on €750bn recovery plan<br />
• it won't be over by Christmas, experts warn<br />
• 25% of Delhi's population have had the virus<br />
• Trump predicts pandemic will get worse<br />
• masks compulsory in public in Melbourne<br />
• handshakes are “probably out forever”<br />
• visits to care homes allowed again<br />
• shielding ends in Scotland<br />
• first coronavirus death in Uganda<br />
• 30m will be offered a flu vaccine this winter<br />
• face coverings now compulsory in shops<br />
• retail sales bounced back in June<br />
• "We could have done things differently" (PM)<br />
• indoor gyms, pools and leisure centres reopen<br />
• Spain suddenly added to UK quarantine list<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 600,000 → 640,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 14,100,000 → 15,800,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 45,233 → 45,738<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 294,066 → 298,681<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 3% (6290 → 6123)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 12th July</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Trump finally seen wearing mask in public<br />
• outbreak on Herefordshire farm - 200 in isolation<br />
• mixed messaging on masks<br />
• seven National Trust houses reopen<br />
• immunity from virus may be short-lived<br />
• "countries headed in the wrong direction" (WHO)<br />
• face coverings to be compulsory in shops<br />
• California reimposes indoor restrictions<br />
• winter wave "could be much worse"<br />
• Blackburn could be another Leicester<br />
• PM promises an independent enquiry, later<br />
• Oxford vaccine trial progressing well<br />
• 650,000 jobs lost during lockdown, so far<br />
• Leicester lockdown to be eased<br />
• "anyone may use public transport" (PM)<br />
• "hoping for the best but planning for the worst"<br />
• in future, local not national restrictions<br />
• "significant normality" by Christmas, maybe<br />
• daily deaths data halted for statistical reasons<br />
• 150 new virus clusters in Spain<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 560,000 → 600,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 12,600,000 → 14,100,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 44,798 → 45,273<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 288,953 → 294,066<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 3% (6095 → 6290)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 5th July</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• job centre staff will be doubled<br />
• clap to celebrate the NHS's 72nd birthday<br />
• £1.5bn emergency funding for the arts<br />
• Wales ends 5 mile travel limit<br />
• Northern Ireland reopens beauty salons<br />
• Scotland opens beer gardens and pavement cafes<br />
• 80% of those testing positive have no symptoms (ONS)<br />
• Trump pushes US schools to reopen<br />
• Brazil's President Bolsonaro tests positive<br />
• £30bn budget stimulus for jobs and the economy<br />
• 'Eat Out To Help Out' (50% off in August)<br />
• stamp duty cut with immediate effect<br />
• Chancellor's plans 'not value for money'<br />
• virus may spread by airborne transmission (WHO)<br />
• reopening date set for pools, gyms and nail bars<br />
• UK relaxes quarantine from 75 countries<br />
• ONS estimate - one in 3,900 have the virus<br />
• PM considering mandatory face masks in shops<br />
• Belgium places Leicester on its red zone list<br />
• cases accelerating in several US states<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 530,000 → 560,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 11,100,000 → 12,600,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 44,198 → 44,798<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 284,900 → 288,953<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 1% (6157 → 6095)</font><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-38243105121613600272020-06-28T20:47:00.000+01:002020-09-11T20:47:35.742+01:0020 things that happened June 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 28th June</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• global cases pass 10m, global deaths pass ½m<br />
• non-essential shops open in Scotland<br />
• "the worst is yet to come" (WHO)<br />
• virus spike sees Leicester locked down<br />
• Broadway to stay dark until January 2021<br />
• infrastructure programme to boost the economy<br />
• planning laws loosened<br />
• UK death rate returns to normal<br />
• 'expect more Leicesters'<br />
• thousands of job losses announced<br />
• EU borders reopened to 15 'safe' countries<br />
• two Southampton theatres to close permanently<br />
• face coverings must be worn in Scottish shops<br />
• number of UK cases falls 10% after reclassification<font color=red>*</font><br />
• England lifts quarantine from 'low risk' countries<br />
• "grab a drink and raise a glass" (HM Treasury)<br />
• "let's not blow it" (PM)<br />
• <i>hairdressers and pubs reopen</i><br />
• many rush to drink and/or eat out<br />
• nine Melbourne tower blocks totally locked down<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 495,000 → 530,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 9,900,000 → 11,100,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 43,514 → 44,198<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 310,250 → 284,900<font color=red>*</font><br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 0.03% (6159 → 6157)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 21st June</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• outbreak at Anglesey chicken plant<br />
• pandemic is far from over (WHO)<br />
• face coverings mandatory on transport in Scotland<br />
• non-essential shops reopen in Wales<br />
• shielding to end in July<br />
• major easing of lockdown from 4th July<br />
• social distancing reduced to "one metre plus"<br />
• pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers to open<br />
• social distancing legislation becomes 'guidance'<br />
• daily news conferences end<br />
• number of cases accelerating in the US<br />
• many UK councils fear bankruptcy<br />
• "too much mingling could set the UK back" (PM)<br />
• 1 in 14 care home residents have died<br />
• WHO warns of resurgence in (Eastern) Europe<br />
• heatwave crowds - major incident at Bournemouth<br />
• Texas and Florida roll back reopenings<br />
• 'air corridors' to boost European travel<br />
• "most SAGE evidence is ignored or politicised"<br />
• cases soaring in Delhi<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 460,000 → 495,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 8,700,000 → 9,900,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 42,589 → 43,514<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 303,110 → 310,250<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 2% (6292 → 6159)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 14th June</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Govt to review 2m distancing rule<br />
• German holidaymakers return to the Canaries<br />
• face coverings mandatory on public transport<br />
• shoppers rush back to the high street<br />
• Isle of Man scraps social distancing<br />
• school meal vouchers extended through summer<br />
• Dexamethasone cuts death risk for seriously ill<br />
• Royal Ascot goes ahead behind closed doors<br />
• hospitals in Delhi overwhelmed<br />
• NHS tracing app will be ready “for the winter”<br />
• Premier League returns (with a nil nil draw)<br />
• Bank of England pumps £100bn into economy<br />
• test & trace app switched to Google/Apple model<br />
• contact tracers fail to reach 25% who test +ve<br />
• <i>UK alert level lowered from 4 to 3</i><br />
• UK debt now exceeds size of economy<br />
• £1bn of funding for educational catch-up<br />
• Brazil second country to exceed a million cases<br />
• road traffic back at 75% of normal<br />
• enormous hints that 2m will become 1m<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 430,000 → 460,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 7,700,000 → 8,700,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 41,662 → 42,589<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 294,375 → 303,110<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 3% (6105 → 6292)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 7th June</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• places of worship to reopen for private prayer<br />
• mass gatherings at anti-racism protests<br />
• daily death toll in Scotland hits zero<br />
• quarantine begins for incoming travellers<br />
• some dentists reopen<br />
• New Zealand declares itself virus-free<br />
• Govt drops plans to fully reopen primary schools<br />
• 9m UK workers covered by furlough scheme<br />
• Test and Trace system 'not fit for purpose'<br />
• NHS waiting list growing fast<br />
• virus could hit UK economy hardest<br />
• 'support bubbles' for single adult households<br />
• earlier lockdown would have halved death toll<br />
• calls to cut 2m rule to 1m<br />
• UK economy shrank by 20% in April<br />
• approximately 1 in 1700 Britons infected (ONS)<br />
• deprived areas hit twice as hard (ONS)<br />
• Brazil's death toll now exceeds the UK<br />
• Trooping the Colour cancelled<br />
• fresh outbreak at Beijing food market<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 400,000 → 430,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 6,800,000 → 7,700,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 40,465 → 41,662<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 284,868 → 294,375<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 6% (6484 → 6105)</font><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-28388356704728348542020-05-31T20:43:00.000+01:002020-09-11T20:44:38.552+01:0020 things that happened May 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 31st May</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• 200,000 daily testing target exceeded, allegedly<br />
• sunny weekend = lockdown breaking down early<br />
• 2.2m 'shielding' can leave the house again<br />
• lockdown eased despite alert level remaining high<br />
• schools reopen, but turn-out mixed<br />
• racing at Newcastle kickstarts sport's return<br />
• Spain reports no virus deaths today (UK still 100+)<br />
• Govt criticised over use of testing data<br />
• Parliament votes to abandon remote voting<br />
• Business Secretary develops symptoms <font size=1>(but tests -ve)</font><br />
• 14 day quarantine a 'killer blow' for travel sector<br />
• record profits for teleconferencing company Zoom<br />
• UK hosts virtual vaccine summit<br />
• face coverings to be mandatory on public transport<br />
• 40% of global deaths are now in Latin America<br />
• WHO now encourages use of face coverings<br />
• IoW MP apologises for going to barbecue<br />
• regional R may be greater than 1<br />
• do not assemble to join a protest (Gov)<br />
• weekend press conferences discontinued<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 370,000 → 400,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 6,000,000 → 6,800,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 38,376 → 40,465<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 272,826 → 284,868<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 7% (6076 → 6484)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 24th May</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Cummings "followed instincts of every parent" (PM)<br />
• Step 2 begins 1st June - schools to reopen<br />
• Even the Daily Mail attacks Dominic Cummings<br />
• Dominic explains his motives, but without apology<br />
• Step 2: outdoor markets/car showrooms can reopen<br />
• non-essential shops can reopen on 15th June<br />
• polls show government support in decline<br />
• Remdesivir shortens recovery time 'by four days'<br />
• South America showing rapid increase in cases<br />
• New Zealand now has no hospital cases<br />
• Track and Trace launches in England and Scotland<br />
• ... but won't be fully operational until end of June<br />
• Durham police say Dominic Cummings broke the law<br />
• from Monday, groups of 6 allowed to meet outdoors<br />
• ...but groups of 8 in Scotland, from Thursday<br />
• 10th (and final?) Clap For Carers<br />
• Premier League to restart in three weeks<br />
• too early to ease lockdown, say scientists<br />
• Trump plans to withdraw the US from the WHO<br />
• sport can resume behind closed doors from Monday<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 340,000 → 370,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 5,300,000 → 6,000,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 36,675 → 38,376<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 257,154 → 272,826<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 1% (5993 → 6076)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 17th May</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• reopening schools in doubt over safety concerns<br />
• most of Europe past virus peak<br />
• hospitals in São Paulo overwhelmed<br />
• loss of taste/smell added to UK symptoms list<br />
• food industry seeks 'pickers who are stickers'<br />
• tests now available to anyone with symptoms<br />
• death toll in Brazil overtakes UK<br />
• Trump is taking hydroxychloroquine<br />
• inflation tumbled to 0.8% in April<br />
• contact tracing to begin in June<br />
• track and trace app delayed until June<br />
• 17% of Londoners may have had virus<br />
• Scotland to start easing lockdown next week<br />
• UK buys 10m antibody tests<br />
• global death toll accelerating<br />
• 14 day quarantine for those entering the UK<br />
• UK borrowing at record high<br />
• Dominic Cummings broke quarantine while infected<br />
• ...this was abhorrent behaviour/perfectly OK<br />
• (and may also have driven to Barnard Castle)<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 310,000 → 340,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 4,600,000 → 5,300,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 34,466 → 36,675<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 240,161 → 257,154<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 3% (5799 → 5993)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 10th May</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• <font style="font-variant:small-caps;">Stay Alert - Control The Virus - Save Lives</font><br />
• PM announces conditional plan to ease lockdown<br />
• nation tries to unravel what little has changed<br />
• PM tries to clarify what he said yesterday<br />
• rules now different in England to Wales/Scotland<br />
• furlough scheme to continue for four more months<br />
• death rate in care homes now falling<br />
• after seven weeks, lockdown eases marginally<br />
• England nudged back to work/golf courses reopen<br />
• public urged to avoid public transport<br />
• New Zealand back to (new) normal<br />
• every country in Africa now affected<br />
• UK economy shrank 2% in first quarter<br />
• Govt approves Roche antibody test<br />
• 0.27% of the population currently infected (ONS)<br />
• coronavirus may never go away (UN)<br />
• unions say June too early to be reopening schools<br />
• plan to test all care home staff and residents<br />
• anti-lockdown protesters gather in Hyde Park<br />
• football restarts in the German Bundesliga<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 280,000 → 310,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 4,000,000 → 4,600,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 31,587 → 34,466<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 215,260 → 240,161<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 2% (5935 → 5799)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 3rd May</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• focus turns to how and when to reopen what<br />
• contact tracing app to be trialled on IoW<br />
• Govt misses testing target again<br />
• Italy starts to ease lockdown<br />
• Govt paying almost a quarter of workers' wages<br />
• privacy concerns about new contact tracing app<br />
• UK now has Europe's highest death total<br />
• lead epidemiologist resigns over lockdown affair<br />
• Germany reopens shops (masks compulsory)<br />
• "It's time to reopen business" (Trump)<br />
• PM hints lockdown could be eased from Monday<br />
• newspapers widely leak next week's announcement<br />
• PM urges caution ahead of lockdown announcement<br />
• PPE gowns from Turkey are unusable<br />
• VE Day anniversary commemorations under lockdown<br />
• Wales to allow exercise more than once a day<br />
• US unemployment rate rises to 15%<br />
• 14-day quarantine proposed for air passengers<br />
• Govt announces £2bn for walking and cycling<br />
• garden centres can reopen next week<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 240,000 → 280,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 3,400,000 → 4,000,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 28,131 → 31,587<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 182,260 → 215,260<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 3% (5763 → 5935)</font><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-60650206083059597092020-04-26T20:39:00.000+01:002020-09-11T20:44:49.920+01:0020 things that happened April 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 26th April</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• 3-10% of UK population may have been infected<br />
• Birmingham's Nightingale hospital still empty<br />
• NZ has successfully ended community transmission<br />
• PM returns to work after 3 weeks<br />
• "this is the moment of maximum risk" (PM)<br />
• Small firms to get 100% govt-backed loans<br />
• highest weekly death total since records began<br />
• Germany may have eased lockdown too early<br />
• testing to be extended to care homes<br />
• PM's fiancee gives birth to son<br />
• half global workforce in financial peril (UN)<br />
• UK daily deaths figure now includes care homes<br />
• record falls in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions<br />
• PM returns to daily press conference after 5 wks<br />
• "we are now past the peak" (PM)<br />
• Trump suggests virus originated in Chinese lab<br />
• Govt unexpectedly hits 100000 daily tests target<br />
• nobody's caught it twice, South Korea confirms<br />
• death rates higher in poorer areas<br />
• adults in Spain allowed outside again<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 200,000 → 240,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 2,900,000 → 3,400,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 20,319 → 28,131<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 148,377 → 182,260<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 0.2% (5752 → 5763)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 19th April</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• "PM skipped five COBRA meetings" (Sunday Times)<br />
• 6½m jobs at risk if lockdown continues<br />
• delivery of PPE from Turkey delayed<br />
• no plans to reopen schools any time soon<br />
• Italy finally seeing fall in number of cases<br />
• US oil prices turn negative<br />
• weekly UK death total hits 20-year high<br />
• Parliament returns, mostly virtually<br />
• Germany eases lockdown; Spain extends it<br />
• row over inadequate government preparations<br />
• UK testing regime not up to speed<br />
• Trump suspends immigration to the US<br />
• "don't expect a return to normal life this year"<br />
• over half of European deaths are in care homes<br />
• Oxford University starts vaccine trial<br />
• Trump muses on injecting disinfectant<br />
• testing extended to all essential workers<br />
• virus test website swiftly overwhelmed<br />
• 'no evidence' recovery confers immunity<br />
• road traffic levels rising again<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 155,000 → 200,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 2,300,000 → 2,900,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 15,464 → 20,319<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 114,217 → 148,377<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down ½% (5786 → 5752)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w//b 12th April</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• Queen offers Easter message of hope<br />
• PM discharged and recuperating at Chequers<br />
• UK may have Europe's highest death toll<br />
• Spain starts to loosen restrictions<br />
• no plans to lessen UK lockdown this week<br />
• concerns over high death tolls in care homes<br />
• <i>forecast:</i> UK economy to slump 35% by June<br />
• <i>forecast:</i> UK unemployment to rise by 2m<br />
• Trump suspends US funding for the WHO<br />
• 99 year-old army veteran raises £25m for NHS<br />
• UK "probably" reaching the peak of its epidemic<br />
• "only a vaccine will end social distancing"<br />
• <i>UK lockdown will last at least three more weeks</i><br />
• so far, Nightingale hospitals barely used<br />
• Trump plans to reopen the US "in three stages"<br />
• London Mayor calls for compulsory masks<br />
• Romanians fly in to help pick British fruit<br />
• NHS staff running out of protective gowns<br />
• WHO warns antibody tests still unreliable<br />
• Japan hit by fresh wave of infections<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 110,000 → 155,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 1,750,000 → 2,300,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 9875 → 15464<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 78,991 → 114,217<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 1% (5842 → 5786)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 5th April</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• sunny parks raise lockdown fears<br />
• Queen broadcasts to the nation<br />
• <i>"We will succeed... we will meet again"</i> <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52176208">(HM)</a><br />
• PM admitted to hospital 'for tests'<br />
• Several 5G masts vandalised<br />
• PM taken into intensive care<br />
• Dominic Raab takes control<br />
• China records no new deaths<br />
• Paris bans outdoor exercise<br />
• first patients enter NHS Nightingale<br />
• £750m support for UK charities<br />
• PM 'improving and sitting up in bed'<br />
• "the worst recession in almost a century" (IMF)<br />
• too early to lift UK lockdown<br />
• PM out of intensive care<br />
• warm, sunny Easter weekend begins<br />
• EU agrees €500bn rescue package<br />
• lack of PPE putting NHS staff at risk<br />
• PM "able to do short walks"<br />
• USA death tally overtakes Italy<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 60,000 → 110,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 1,150,000 → 1,750,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 4313 → 9875<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 41903 → 78991<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 8% (5415 → 5842)</font><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-47458139534819646962020-03-29T20:29:00.001+01:002020-11-02T09:43:12.361+00:0020 things that happened March 2020<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 29th March</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• strict measures could last 'a significant period'<br />
• all parts of UK 'on emergency footing'<br />
• Italy and Spain have most global deaths<br />
• Dominic Cummings tests positive<br />
• £75m fund to fly home Britons abroad<br />
• Forces policing lockdown inconsistently<br />
• UK testing regime criticised<br />
• contactless payment limit rises to £45<br />
• Glasgow climate summit postponed<br />
• Wimbledon cancelled<br />
• Government sets target of 100000 tests per day<br />
• known cases worldwide top 1 million<br />
• World Bank sets up $1.9bn emergency fund<br />
• weekly round of applause for NHS<br />
• New York tells citizens to wear masks<br />
• NHS Nightingale Hospital opens<br />
• Spain now has more cases than Italy<br />
• PM remains in self-isolation<br />
• 'Stay at home' campaign as temperatures rise<br />
• <i>"There will be a lot of death, unfortunately"</i> (Trump)<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 30,000 → 60,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 650,000 → 1,150,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 1019 → 4313<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 17089 → 41903<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 2% (5499 → 5415)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 22nd March</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• <i>"don't visit your mother on Mothers Day"</i> (PM)<br />
• (nation goes to parks and the seaside instead)<br />
• 1½m most vulnerable told to isolate for 12 weeks<br />
• Global economy will suffer for years to come (OECD)<br />
• <i>UK goes into lockdown for at least 3 weeks</i><br />
• public gatherings of more than two people banned<br />
• "one form of exercise a day" permitted<br />
• Summer Olympics postponed until 2021<br />
• daily Govt press conference goes virtual<br />
• launch of NHS Volunteers<br />
• 4000 bed hospital established at ExCel<br />
• situation worsening in Spain and New York<br />
• Prince Charles tests positive<br />
• unemployment skyrockets in USA<br />
• government to pay 80% of self-employed income<br />
• South Korea starting to ease restrictions<br />
• nation applauds the NHS at 8pm<br />
• PM and Health Secretary test positive<br />
• testing to be rolled out to frontline NHS staff<br />
• USA now has more cases than any other country<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 13,000 → 30,000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 300,000 → 650,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 233 → 1019<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 5018 → 17089<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> up 6% (5191 → 5499)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 15th March</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• many countries introduce lockdown measures<br />
• now more cases outside China then within<br />
• without action, 8m Britons could be hospitalised<br />
• <i>"stop non-essential contact with others"</i> (PM)<br />
• <i>"stop all non-essential travel"</i> (PM)<br />
• <i>"avoid pubs, clubs and other venues"</i> (PM)<br />
• stay home for 14 days if member of household is ill<br />
• £330bn financial rescue package announced<br />
• foreigners abroad scramble to get home<br />
• Euro 2020 and Eurovision delayed until 2021<br />
• schools close until further notice/exams cancelled<br />
• London transport services slimmed down<br />
• interest rates cut from 0.25% to 0.1%<br />
• <i>"we can turn the tide within 12 weeks"</i> (PM)<br />
• health service in Italy overwhelmed<br />
• government to pay 80% of employees' wages<br />
• pubs, cinemas and restaurants forced to close<br />
• social distancing required "at least most of a year"<br />
• <i>"be responsible when you shop"</i> (Gov)<br />
• NHS buys up private hospital capacity<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 5500 → 13000<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 150,000 → 300,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 21 → 233<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 1140 → 5018<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 3% (5366 → 5191)</font><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>20 things that happened w/b 8th March</u></b> #<i>coronavirus</i><br />
<br />
• "highly likely" virus will spread in a “significant way”<br />
• worldwide recession anticipated<br />
• country-wide quarantine in Italy<br />
• new cases start to decline in China<br />
• WHO says COVID-19 outbreak now a pandemic<br />
• UK Health Minister diagnosed with virus<br />
• Budget: £12bn stimulus in response to virus<br />
• interest rates cut from 0.75% to 0.25%<br />
• Trump suspends Europe → USA travel for 30 days<br />
• UK strategy moves from 'containment' to 'delay'<br />
• <i>"Many more families are going to lose loved ones"</i> (PM) <br />
• schools/universities closed in many countries (not UK)<br />
• panic buying of toilet roll/pasta/tinned food/etc<br />
• continuous cough + fever = self-isolate for 7 days<br />
• UK strategy is to "build up herd immunity"<br />
• local elections postponed for 1 year<br />
• professional football suspended until April 3<br />
• London Marathon postponed until October<br />
• several European countries close borders to visitors<br />
• Spain and US declare state of emergency<br />
<br />
<font size=1><i>Worldwide deaths:</i> 3500 → 5500<br />
<i>Worldwide cases:</i> 103,000 → 150,000<br />
<i>UK deaths:</i> 2 → 21<br />
<i>UK cases:</i> 206 → 1140<br />
<i>FTSE:</i> down 17% (6463 → 5366)</font><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-63180384866034699172019-11-01T09:25:00.000+00:002019-11-19T10:09:13.197+00:00Miles west of London<font color=#663399><b><u>Miles west from central London</u></b><br />
<br />
<i>The centre of London is generally taken to be Charing Cross, specifically the statue of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/27069552956">Charles I</a> in the middle of the roundabout. I've visited the points one mile due west, then two miles, then three miles, all the way up to ten miles, to see how London changes the further west you go.</font> <font size=1><a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1weUryeqgVGYFgLtPNeuyp4tnd_-_NURE&usp=sharing">[map]</a></i></font><br />
<br />
<font color=#663399><u>ONE MILE WEST</u>:</font> <b>Audley Square, Mayfair</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(on South Audley Street, behind the Dorchester)</i></font><br />
<br />
<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJCaZuB3T31ZpfnO-j5AZIOuZ7zLe25u_x56C37eBRC_emo5I_9wFVpW8dZPaf7JrPpWzp_di2Q7fk37FbzvKYwNSS_4ZVydXhRwZAKB7Nv4PApqLjL5sdfhu1jEyzICrjTPLu9w/s640/w1mayf.jpg" title="Audley Square" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Mayfair is a different world. Its streets are old and narrow, and plied by a better class of vehicle. Five consecutive taxis drive towards me along South Audley Street, which I suspect isn't in any way abnormal. One drops off a headscarved woman outside The Embassy Of The State of Qatar, where the doorman checks she has appropriate business to be allowed inside. Across the road is a Merc with diplomatic plates, and another with the personalised registration QTR 1 (the first letter of which must've involved some high-level string-pulling). Yet another Merc is parked up round the corner with a chauffeur at its wheel, awaiting the call to action.<br />
<br />
Most of the men who walk by are middle-aged, wearing suits in fractionally different shades of blue. One couple are carrying a property portfolio. The handsome sandstone building at number 2 Audley Square, with the cornucopia relief, has been owned by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.universitywomensclub.com/the-club/history-heritage/">University Women's Club</a> since 1921. A Union Jack is wrapped several times around its flagpole. The sash-windowed townhouse nextdoor at number 3 is perfectly presented, and conceals a luxury <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wolffarchitects.co.uk/projects/audley-square/">5-bed dwelling</a> with knockthroughs and basement swimming pool behind its flawless facade. But number 4 is missing, as are the former 5, 6 and 7, because the remainder of Audley Square is a levelled demolition site behind a wall of blue hoardings.<br />
<br />
What's been taken down is a public <a target="_blank" href="https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/audley-square-garage">multi-storey car park</a> inserted in 1962 and the disused petrol filling station behind, to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.audleysquareredevelopmentmayfair.com/">make</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://caudwell.com/businesses/">way</a> for "the finest residential apartment building (and facilities) ever built in Mayfair and in the wider London area". The billionaire speculator making this massive boast is <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Caudwell">John Caudwell</a>, former owner of Phones4U, whose snail's pace project was only given the go-ahead when he agreed to build some affordable housing three streets away in a former street-sweeping depot. He bought the site for £155m, but hopes to flog the three penthouses for £100m each, which should make the lower 27 apartments pure profit. One mile from the centre of London, a whole lot of shenanigans are going on.<br />
<br />
<font color=#663399><u>TWO MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Kensington Gardens</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(on the banks of the Long Water)</i></font><br />
<br />
<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJohLOBqCAabPJ3tBCYDvhBfGVTZNugD36pAcCC0YpwGBlUfbzZnlfn3aHSo8Fhu5sgmvjd7vleh9OIbpFY0u0FBvFjAQf1uALBHADHCMMa8gb-wAItfJNyHBZNzfLu9uWrVhTw/s640/2west.jpg" title="the Long Water, Kensington Gardens" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Here's a lovely spot in Kensington Gardens you might just know, the first waterside vista to the south of the Peter Pan statue. Kensington Palace is to the west, on a sightline behind the Physical Energy statue, while Henry Moore's 37 ton <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington-gardens/things-to-see-and-do/memorials,-fountains-and-statues/the-arch-by-henry-moore">Arch</a> lies immediately across the lake. You may know it as the Serpentine, but officially this end is the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Water">Long Water</a>. Pleasureboat-free, it's the sanctuary waterfowl prefer. One gull has perched on each of the wooden posts along the water's edge. Two swans glide by. A moorhen disappears with a ripple.<br />
<br />
The footpath is busy, with tourists and hire bikes and over-bellied joggers. One well-prepared party pauses to scatter crumbs on the ground, which is the signal for avian scrutineers to hotfoot over. The air is briefly full of ducks. Several geese hop out of the water. All but three of the wooden posts are now empty. The crumb-sower whips out his phone to grab the photo he wanted, beaming to camera, than quickly walks on. The geese progress further onto the lawn, where an entwined couple are finishing off a treat from the Hummingbird Bakery, surrounding them on two flanks. I hope they looked carefully at the grass before they sat down.<br />
<br />
A long bench runs down to the water, one of its wooden slats uncomfortably missing. I grab a seat at the far end after a retired couple have departed, and just as a single yellow leaf floats down and lands beside me. The green box which is supposed to contain a lifebelt appears to be empty. Two Peroni bottle caps lie on the tarmac. A rustic-looking sign urges "No bathing, fishing or dogs permitted in this lake". Most of the ducks and geese have had enough of waddling and have returned to the lake. The trees across the water look splendid. Nobody else is here because of the precise distance it is from Charing Cross, but sometimes following the numbers pays off.<br />
<br />
<font color=#663399><u>THREE MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Kensington Place, Notting Hill</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(at the junction with Hillgate Street, W8)</i></font><br />
<br />
<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj00KkI74gVfoABTLQQOy2Wzvo-bYNdoX7yLTz7R87zsS94H-KnKOCRwgm0U4vlZCjGboXqYlNlbsPhTk3ENqOm3gETwD2M6QB9GVAGGFIS1GYXnCOzqVxjXW8WnWrXfUUxd0lU8A/s640/w3mile.jpg" title="Kensington Place, Notting Hill" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Kensington Place runs a couple of streets back from Notting Hill Gate, sloping down towards Kensington Church Street, and is nowhere the hoi polloi would normally go. One side is perfect pastel terraces with sash windows, basement steps and prices approaching three million apiece - ideal for purchasers who want reconfigurable internal space with hardly any garden to fuss over. The other side is a school playground, colourfully marked, and a block of brown flats built on the site of a garage on the site of a disused reservoir. The street could have traffic both ways, but folks need to be able to park their Mini Coupés out front so it has to be one way only.<br />
<br />
A kid from the flats speeds down the pavement on his silver scooter, and thanks me ever so politely for stepping to one side. Two floppy haired blonds with brogues and Barbours walk down the middle of the road, confident of not being run over. Some terribly nice vases are on show on parlour tables, unless the shutters are down because there's nothing, or too much, worth ogling. Someone in the unpainted stretch has got the scaffolders in. The primary school offers weekend classes in Family Yoga. A copper-spired church on Campden Hill dominates the top of the street. The display of autumn colours at number 30 is currently stunning. What a difference a mile makes.<br />
<br />
<font color=#663399><u>FOUR MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Westfield London</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(i.e. Shepherd's Bush, not Stratford)</i></font><br />
<br />
<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr27uw0ZOG_EzjKfAhwdzR-i9eQwu3Bewh1hr61klFsQDGenl9rnlTiHpdv4-IMk60Cb9EUta9IrX7y-AFLrtRD9qFZYhNgC3y9UYB-fxRoaQVHf6DuIS77kPFbhpgS0xexwS41A/s640/w4wstfld.jpg" title="Westfield London" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Four miles west of Trafalgar Square delivers us to Europe's largest shopping mall, within the confines of the retail maelstrom that is <a target="_blank" href="https://uk.westfield.com/london">Westfield London</a>. The specific spot is along the promenade linking the central atrium to the upmarket 'Village', where the shops that would never thrive in Stratford are clustered. It's lofty, it's spacious, and because I've turned up on a Sunday afternoon it's quite busy. Those in their 20s and 30s generally have carrier bags in their hands, those in their 40s more likely small children. Triangular skylights reveal the outside world shoppers aren't meant to notice. Private security personnel keep a careful eye on proceedings.<br />
<br />
Up on Level 1 the mall passes between Zara and a boarded up unit, new retailer (hopefully) coming soon. In the centre of the aisle is an 'outdoor' overspill for Pret, plus a sushi vendor with fewer, shabbier banquettes. Oud Milano are offering 50% off their selection of oriental beauty products, this small kiosk their only outlet this side of the Alps. A lowly operative wheels over her trolley to empty the litter bin, which is mostly full of empty cups. Wave your phone at the QR code on Zara's shop window for exclusive details of sales promotions within. The music pumping out from somewhere overhead is so mainstreamly modern that I recognise none of it. <br />
<br />
Downstairs, or rather down-escalator, the units are smaller and more fashionable. Armani, Versace and Calvin Klein are amongst the famous names bedded in, the latter exclusively for the sale of underwear. I worry that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.toryburch.co.uk/">Tory Burch</a> might be a political faction's HQ, but instead its gold shelves are sparsely dotted with not many handbags. One young couple pause to look over the watches and Ray-Bans slotted into a mid-aisle display. A very patient-looking dad pushes his offspring forwards inside a hired red miniature sports car. Another family have hunkered down on some benches and unleashed the kids' packed lunches, spilling crisps and Haribo onto the carpet. Westfield is their day out, Sunday is no day of rest, and once more round and then we'll go home.<br />
<br />
<font color=#663399><u>FIVE MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Ollgar Close, W12</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(where Shepherds Bush meets Acton)</i></font><br />
<br />
<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh3o0TOW1OEBB6LOGTAOZOAV6sad7OXAZsUxvH2qOp4xld9LmTdjseOiP2-UaZuSd2mcBctY2617ZbuyAT43Nr3PepyPLOqjxNDkJRE0NCTAORFtmePqSw0EnPcXLRZ63SiwZjQ/s640/5wollgar.jpg" title="Ollgar Close" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Here's dull. We're on the Uxbridge Road one mile west of Westfield, at the point just before Hammersmith & Fulham morphs into Ealing. Ollgar House is a 1980s-looking development of three redbrick blocks of flats, the shorter two poking out at right angles from the longest to create square landscaped gardens. It was designed to make better use of the open space behind the shops on the main road, now demolished, and is a resolutely private affair. Gates into the estate are padlocked, signs warn interlopers away, and the only access for non-residents is the access road round the back. Fortunately for this post, and unfortunately for the reader, that's where the exact five-mile marker falls.<br />
<br />
Ollgar Close starts between a very modern school for autistic children and a tiny cottage offering French polishing expertise, then progresses past a row of lock-ups and a fence covered with obviously fake-foliage. Before long it reaches the ugly backside of the longest block of flats, where a handful of parking bays are labelled with signs telling visitors not to park here unless they want a £100 fine. I was trying to work out how on earth residents get up to their flats, there being no stairs, when a lift door opened and the caretaker emerged with a mop and bucket. He wandered off to the plant room, a rumbling chamber of grubby machinery, and I carried on walking towards the shrubbery at the far end like I had some reason to be here. The capital's fourth fatal stabbing of 2018 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42674914">occurred here</a> when an argument on Instagram escalated and a male model was fatally wounded, his killers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2016-london-45600752">subsequently</a> jailed for life. Private places always look more appealing from the front.<br />
<br />
<font color=#663399><u>SIX MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Cromwell Close, W3</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Acton, off the High Street)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdbG07DcCwUBd52OmfwLwBbVrN8GJNRe0gB-5S5txhwASVpYdyOhrXoJwAwTseKSvKgy5KDVchpfqChH1UyrK38GZoKXUT7biVG6GmRa6VTq0-B1uAChyp0fB3A35D-bx07nMeaw/s640/6w.jpg" title="Locarno Road, leading to Cromwell Close" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Acton's smart and dapper, at least in the slice between Churchfield Road and the High Street. Desirable Victorian terraces cut through, conveniently located for shops that sell craft beer, vintage clothes and farmhouse cheese. Turn off Grove Road halfway down to find Grove Place, and turn left off that to enter Cromwell Close. Its residents would rather you didn't because they've slapped Private Property signs everywhere in an attempt to deter unwanted parking, and in the vain hope that pedestrians won't discover it's a cut-through. These flats are rather newer, the central block resembling a converted mill whereas it's absolutely nothing of the sort. Before 1971 this was the site of Acton Technical College, in its later life a campus of the fledgling Brunel University, whose demolition left a hole ripe for redevelopment. No Cycling. No Ball Games. No Dumping. CCTV In Operation. And lots of space for parking.<br />
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Through a gate on the far side is Locarno Road, a brief cul-de-sac connecting to the High Street. As well as being packed with Pizza Hut delivery bikes it has two tiny shops, one a barbers and the other an entirely unbranded cafe with space for four chairs outside on a scrap of astroturf. The streetsign high on the wall behind a drooping cable is headed 'Borough of Acton'. Looming across the main road is the clocktower of redbrick <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acton,_London#/media/File:Actontownhall2.jpg">Acton Town Hall</a>, as was, deemed surplus to requirements by Ealing council and sold off as a valuable asset. The building's now emblazoned with signs advertising <a target="_blank" href="http://theoldtownhall.site-sales.co.uk/">58 luxury apartments</a>, and its marketing suite and showhome are open seven days a week. Ealing's housing register contains over 12000 applicants, but priorities post-austerity are somewhat skewed.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SEVEN MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Ealing Common, W5</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Gunnersbury Avenue, aka North Circular Road)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxmWHpkmEi4soOIeB89vCc3tjmKj1m0Fc11tHcFa1KmqvtXAaPUd0PQsgv733czfZje56JJJHfOTDYGHwP6GmpdHUwSLiuVlancV1rwB6bXrcnRn7F_cCzMXuX-XeX5ji-fq43Q/s640/wseven.jpg" title="Crosslands Avenue/Gunnersbury Avenue" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
When you think of the North Circular you think of a drear dual carriageway, but here in Ealing it's a narrow tree-lined avenue. No planner ever dared encroach upon the common, or deprive the villas along Gunnersbury Avenue of their front gardens. These have highly decorated gables crafted with overlapping terracotta tiles, and intricate arched porches that plead with you to come inside. The two houses guarding the entrance to Crosslands Avenue even have turrets. They're built on the <a target="_blank" href="https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=51.5093&lon=-0.2914&layers=163&b=1">site</a> of Ealing Common Farm, and the estate beyond used to be its orchard. Today's residents perch pots of pansies on their gateposts, and drape hosepipes across their front lawns to refresh their rosebushes, and park their Mini Countrymans beside their BMWs, and live out an idyllic Thirties suburban dream as if in a quiet corner of Chorleywood but in zone 3.<br />
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The corner of the common that abuts the North Circular is closed to all traffic but bicycles. One bright orange steed has been left propped up beneath a sycamore, this one of the Chinese-funded Mobike fleet that still attempts to eke out a dockless living across <a target="_blank" href="http://bikes.oobrien.com/londonmobike/#zoom=12&lon=-0.2836&lat=51.5038">Ealing</a>. The common bristles with rich vegetation, grassy stalks and scattered wildflowers. Follow the sandy track to a bench where you can watch the delivery lorries go by, or spy the tower of the local parish church, or flop back with a podcast and a wrap. Close scrutiny of the horse chestnuts reveals clusters of tiny spiked green cases preparing autumn's conker harvest. Beyond the treeline the Eid In The Park festival is getting underway. Best not rush ahead to eight miles too soon.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>EIGHT MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Waldemar Avenue, W13</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(at the corner of Lyncroft Gardens)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghNXTMTQKMm32cHcLSNhgRJV6JnViRGVj3hk8LFCOdlb6ciXzH1qlSJ4XOCncs3IUf5WExpMPP42nQ3ABLq3SRjYf849J4750-xrol10e3auKYn4QdaW66vIeOHe0FSj89xD2RGQ/s640/w8.jpg" title="Waldemar Avenue, West Ealing" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
And briefly to West Ealing, a stone's throw from Walpole Park, amid a web of bucolic Edwardian avenues. This is prime middle class territory, mixing palm-fronted properties, redbrick villas and 4-bed semis with the twiddliest of external features. An old garage has been left to fall apart behind a broken fence. Gnarled roots erupt repeatedly from the pavement. LED bulbs droop from original fluted lampposts. Number 10 has thrown several chunks of their back garden into a set of skips. The inaugural <a target="_blank" href="https://ealingbeat.org.uk/">Ealing Art Trail</a> takes place next weekend, please take a brochure. Sorry, there's little to say about life hereabouts, other than it looks like a lovely place to live.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>NINE MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Maunder Road, Hanwell, W7</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(off Boston Road)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8p3yikxNAqaKNutaUtzbz21svIJsawgu5oL6moGkGQaB7-yDgFI7GsZC0BnRmQwHlnqZIk1BtVFQl4OTSgtERtOXLp0QvuwGX9uOqHseClNMXJ126XcdEj6IMD6tORIf39E6pg/s640/w9i.jpg" title="Maunder Road, Hanwell" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
<a target="_blank" href="https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/hanwell/">Hanwell</a>'s a lot older than it looks, and used to be important until Ealing overwhelmed it. At its heart is the Uxbridge Road, and off that a triangular one-way system, and off that the brief dogleg of Maunder Road. It's been here since Victorian times when it ran down to some fields, whereas now it merely dodges the back of Lidl. One of its corner shops is occupied by a beauty bar, which is smart by local standards, although looking around that isn't hard because the gentrification <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bostonroad-hanwell.co.uk/">whirlwind</a> has yet to hit. The other corner shop belongs to some solicitors, while across the road is a shuttered unit called LookingForBargain.com, a website which probably never existed (and probably never should).<br />
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Maunder Road is "<font style="font-variant:small-caps;">Unsuitable For H.G.V.S.</font>" according to its street sign, partly because parked cars make it too narrow but mainly because of the sharp bend at the end. Twenty terraced houses have been squeezed in along its length, each with barely any garden front or back but still boasting a half-million price tag. Only proper hanging baskets grace their frontage, there'll be none of those cheap topiary globes here. Most of the houses have a single attic skylight in the centre of the roof, but number 7 has had the builders in to give their extra bedroom some decent width. Only one resident has a Garage In Constant Use, and only one a Driveway In Constant use, neither of which I saw being used. It's all delightfully ordinary, and ever so convenient for Crossrail.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TEN MILES WEST</u>:</font> <b>Great Western Industrial Park, Southall UB2</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(at the bend in Dean Way)</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49087568347"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Tw2UM2oE9NLvLnDySDXeWzjKED25QCgQSq6q8WKVIvK-Q4bn9jhAk8BbF_IRMlBJw_UQeR18kBAB5-uecCFwYI9UO2SNoJ_-7CkrcaFAoMG1LEWD_il-wfFBSl65pug_uVcFnw/s640/w10.jpg" title="Great Western Industrial Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
If you know the Uxbridge Road, or indeed the Great Western Railway, we're by the Iron Bridge. The quirky <a target="_blank" href="http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/features/windmill_lane_bridge/">Three Bridges</a>, where Isambard Kingdom Brunel slotted a road bridge above an aqueduct above a railway line, is close by. In 1927 <a target="_blank" href="https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=51.5082&lon=-0.3614&layers=193&b=1">this site</a> was chosen by <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Equipment_Company">Associated Daimler Co Ltd</a> for their <a href="https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW019292">new factory</a>, and it's where A.D.C. (soon renamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/AEC">A.E.C.</a>) spent the next half century manufacturing commercial and passenger vehicles. They specialised in chassis for buses and lorries, plus the occasional artillery tractor, and are perhaps most famous for turning out classic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEC_Routemaster">Routemaster</a> double deckers. In the 1960s <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aecsouthall.co.uk/">A.E.C.</a> was the largest employer in Southall, with a labour force exceeding 5000, but in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aecsouthall.co.uk/southall/works.htm">1979</a> British Leyland closed it down and the flattened site is now an industrial estate.<br />
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Great Western Industrial Park is a Screwfix, Topps Tiles and Carpet Town affair, plus a large Matalan to help draw the crowds. But drive fractionally further in and the large grey sheds are less public, mostly warehouses, freight depots and factories for the processing of food. Up Dean Way, where we're heading, two statuesque elephants guard the entrance to Noon Foods, the heart of a Southall <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulam_Noon,_Baron_Noon">entrepreneur</a>'s ready meal empire. If you pinged a chicken tikka masala in your microwave during the early years of convenience food it may well have come from here, and the Waitrose lorries parked out front suggest business is still hot. Across the road we find <a target="_blank" href="https://www.delifrance.com/uk/about-us">Delifrance</a>, automated manufacturers of artisan bread, whose <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49087568347">factory</a> is flanked by tall metal silos and a row of red, white and blue flags. And at the end of the road trains to Cardiff can occasionally be seen rushing by, but that's One Hundred And Thirty Miles West and I am very much stopping at Ten.<br />
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<i><a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_08_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES NORTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_09_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES EAST</b></a> <br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_10_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES SOUTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_11_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES WEST</b></a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-12489626631824138362019-10-01T09:24:00.000+01:002019-11-19T11:22:52.048+00:00Miles south of London<font color=#663399><b><u>Miles south from central London</u></b><br />
<br />
<i>The centre of London is generally taken to be Charing Cross, specifically the statue of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/27069552956">Charles I</a> in the middle of the roundabout. I've visited the points one mile due south, then two miles, then three miles, all the way up to ten miles, to see how London changes the further south you go.</font> <font size=1><a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1weUryeqgVGYFgLtPNeuyp4tnd_-_NURE&usp=sharing">[map]</a></i></font><br />
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<font color=#663399><u>ONE MILE SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>John Islip Street, Millbank</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(just north of Tate Britain, by the junction with Marsham Street)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviHtBh3AZO-5DeKLuAPsqNaJyQtOlJIiNDFE9nz7F-YdP_MYt9ZYqMpACUaIdGtU5x9dVS5JWxC6m9i0_PNfEr1PT5PqtOHMbLENcDP-OOLoOWs60Zm0KA_3kHnlQAHQmrr5lgQ/s640/s1pim.jpg" title="John Islip Street" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
One road back from Millbank, all is quiet. John Islip Street is a road of two halves divided, roughly at the point where I'm standing, into an unchanged older part and a sleeker modern quarter. The older part includes what looks very much like an atypical council estate, with four parallel blocks named after painters, the exterior perfectly maintained and the courtyard sparkling with potted flowers. Across the street is Tate Britain's administrative building, where the offices are, with a splendid redbrick frontage topped by a sugar-magnate crest. Lorries creep in up the side. Occasionally a lowly member of staff pushes the binbags out on a trolley.<br />
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Across the fault line is Millbank Court, a quintessentially 1970s concrete apartment block with pebbledash inserts, and a first floor lobby extending forwards between granite slabs. It looks the ideal place for a secret agent's liaison - MI5 are based just around the corner - or somewhere a provincial parliamentarian might have their pied à terre. The DoubleTree Hilton is a more recent intrusion, all glass and taxi bay, whose menu looks reasonably priced until you spot the small print saying "dishes are small and designed to share - we recommend three per person".<br />
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The pavement outside Abell House has been sprayed with red, white and blue marks, including the location of an Empty Duct. A helicopter flies across. Three workmen sit chatting on a gap in the topiary, then move to stand outside a garage door, then disappear. A stream of civil servants and Burberry employees drip down from the top of the street. It's not hard to deduce who's who.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TWO MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Thorncroft Street, SW8</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(off Wandsworth Road, not far from Nine Elms tube)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjzMr_fAw7-CxXxNETxi1qpDAqBbrPywO73qOZem013sXWueEIsQImpqxknak43uyF05QEp02Rv8-FfMAkn_6-z9DYGN03el65dSpiJLzfQt6Ul-k4Eskn4PPg__upr4trbKe3A/s640/2south.jpg" title="Thorncroft Street" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Thorncroft Street is an unremarkable residential road in South Lambeth, a few hundred metres in length, its former terraces erased after WW2. Their replacements are sturdy multi-storey blocks - Dean Court, Sheldon Court and Burden House - the latter proudly owned by the Church Commissioners. Given the choice, Burden House looks the nicest. You will not be getting into any of their railinged gardens.<br />
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We may be only two miles from the centre of London, but owning a car is really popular here. A red Corsa arrives, radio pulsing, and manages to find a gap in the parking bay. A young couple emerge, unlock the boot and take out a week's shopping and two cat carriers. Another couple have driven back from the gym, with hubby in beach shorts carrying a stuffed Lonsdale bag. The cabbie with the light blue taxi drives off so his mate can fill the vacant space with an estate. I smile when I see that the driver of the white van from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.harveyandbrockless.co.uk/">Harvey & Brockless</a>, "the fine food co", is stuffing his face with a saucy chicken takeaway. <br />
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Luke, the golden retriever, has stopped to be admired by the neighbours. His owner questions what might be stuck around his mouth, then walks very slowly in the direction of Sainsbury's. A pink suitcase with a butterfly design has been abandoned on the pavement beside most of an apple. Someone has dumped a broken chair next to the bins. Finches flock to the feeders on a balcony brightened by tubs of geraniums. An old man limps past the basketball court towards the pub on the corner, the sole building to survive postwar demolition. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/55935853@N00/3838933859">The Nott</a> is an uncomplicated careworn boozer offering Chinese cuisine, rock'n'roll on Fridays and a night of misspelt Halloeen entertainment. For those in need of karaoke, a banner above the door lists Elvis's mobile number.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>THREE MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Cottage Grove, Clapham</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Fenwick Estate, nr Clapham North station, SW9)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkO2hQbZgeYY0XfJoWs6iZzrlgy6Pn2SnLj_OkZ8_ShVWzQZtVInTz-Dnqwl_z77pF2D00CqqyO03bbcix1VrmoQTlAvd-s7aaN7MwgmhffovXFD6YC58a0XnGUR6dxQYWu7V0-g/s640/3miles.jpg" title="Cottage Grove, Clapham" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/55935853@N00/3556270031">The Falcon</a>, with its mustard frontage and beer terrace, is certainly trendy enough for Clapham. But Cottage Grove alongside is the gateway to a dead end council estate, knocked up in the 1960s and hidden away beside the railway embankment. The Fenwick Estate, a loop of courtyard and linear blocks, has seen better days. The Vehicle Testing Station on the way in is a big clue, with its blue MOT triangles and the offer to fix CARS, MOTOR CYCLES, THREE WHEELERS. Shabby wooden doors face the pavement, or can be accessed up backstairs along balcony walkways. A tabby cat looks down from a concrete ledge. Children kick about in a high-fenced football corral. A <a target="_blank" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy3ZCzwGbb7rHwhmcQpGMHjr5ZLrDyRTjdvN3rshfuapNalIvbDd3A8c4UC3JKBBVPXlU6aKpkUGs5rvg7yhnLydo9CQFyzKMeFB3OshklfD9KxaLxG0ORk6zRfcvHn1NMPhyphenhyphenOeA/s1600/s3mile.jpg">mural</a> commemorates <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brixtonblog.com/new-appeal-on-tenth-anniversary-of-billy-cox-murder/42900">Billy Cox</a>, 1991-2007. Someone's rice takeaway fills a puddle. The Residents Association Winter Party is pencilled in for mid-December.<br />
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A few runs of flats are boarded up, their windows firmly pinned shut. Squibb Group Limited started demolition last month within a zig-zagged sliver alongside the railway. The site's being <a target="_blank" href="http://karakusevic-carson.com/work/the-fenwick-estate">developed</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-fast-tracks-more-land-for-affordable-homes">by TfL</a> as part of their new role as the Mayor's housing provider, and will shoehorn 55 all-affordable flats into this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/16248147.55-new-homes-and-a-community-centre-for-fenwick-estate-lambeth/">awkward</a> space. If I say bricky and balconied, you already know <a target="_blank" href="http://karakusevic-carson.com/system/dragonfly/production/2015/07/13/6x9uqp9z6u_Fenwick_RENDER_View_02_Updated2.jpg">exactly</a> what they'll look like. The remainder of the <a target="_blank" href="http://estateregeneration.lambeth.gov.uk/fenwick">Fenwick Estate</a> is on Lambeth council's <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2018/09/lambeth-council-looking-for-a-further-10m-as-part-of-the-borrow-to-bulldoze-estate-regeneration-scheme/">regeneration</a> list, hopelessly delayed, but already pumping out newsletter after newsletter to keep existing residents informed. Everyone'll be sequentially decanted, rather than kicked out in favour of rich incomers, but not for a while yet. Don't expect open staircases in the replacement.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>FOUR MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Saxby Road Estate, SW2</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(close to Brixton Prison)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicdHmOVHlWJboU5wZF1OVzhBaS12xZtexz6NJ7X_TJOwshRBDvXbO-LgmYw0GZkKxjISOBnF3ZSYvIQfE4Qx3yUX_Al4PkRnBOy20AaKHacjwxr9Hv8SE_tioupiX2onK1tEBKXA/s640/saxby4s.jpg" title="Saxby Road Estate" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Where precisely a geographical marker lands is a bit of a lottery. A slight nudge to either side and we'd have landed amid Victorian terraces, not always immaculately maintained... a little further and we might have hit a dense LCC estate or even prison cells. Instead welcome to the Saxby Lane Estate, an enclave of postwar council housing a couple of streets from the South Circular. A sign showing the staggered layout of these 70 homes has been planted into a low-walled lawn at one end, along with a few emerging daffodils. Lambeth's architects weren't over-keen to give most residents front gardens, so have provided communal shrubberies, raised beds and lawns instead. One such raised bed is empty other than a mattress, a broken table and chairs, plus a fridge-freezer. Rose bushes have been ferociously pruned. Dogs are forbidden from squatting. Balls must not be kicked. <br />
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I take a seat on the central bench, with its plaque in memory of Alim Uddin, son and brother. Noticing that he died aged only 17 I do a quick Google search and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29723785">discover</a> that he was stabbed quarter of a mile away after an argument over a failed bike purchase. Around the foot of the bench are numerous fag ends, scatterings of freshly-mown grass, a bottle top and a single bacon-flavour corn-based snack I still think of as a Frazzle. The phone box still works, unexpectedly, although these days functions mostly an advert for Rennie. A pasted-up sheet of paper announces that Mehret is offering holistic pain-free pilates taster sessions 25 times a week in January, which suggests she's rather short of custom. I count 22 satellite dishes on the surrounding flats and houses, plus one England flag. Saxby's tenants could be holed up somewhere far worse.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>FIVE MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Streatham High Road, SW16</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(at the end of Leigham Avenue)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qsKYxnLwf-2O9UIgwHsOrbvU2cb5Txh4wvxn5s-mo38MpMs1HTz2Ukk-0Ezbyje1-RhhzcXXZLoZquGVpnlGNUQP6vrjvDVX7Y60i_dY5q_AlLrDC1Aaz2lVYJI9n77AHKywUA/s640/5Slaleham.jpg" title="Streatham High Road" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Streatham's high street lays claim to being the longest in Europe (which means we'll still be on it at Six Miles South). On this occasion we're at the top end, nearer Streatham Hill, slap bang in the immediate vicinity of Nando's. Diners at windowside tables can be clearly seen tucking into peri-peri, forking salad into their mouths or fiddling with their phones while they wait for chicken to arrive. Across the street is <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.tariqhalalmeats.com/">Tariq Halal Meats</a>, its windows larger, its counter display brighter, its website more prominent and its meat offering more varied... mutton, lamb, goat, quails. For coffee and e-cigarettes, try Caffe Vape. For disco equipment, obviously Fizz DJ. On a Saturday afternoon businesses are ticking over nicely.<br />
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What's unusual is that the shopping parades meeting here both sit beneath enormous mansion blocks. Leigham Hall forms one end of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.streathamcourt-manorcourt.co.uk/">Streatham Court</a>, designed in classic late-30s style by Reginald Toms, hence the lovely coppery-green tiles arrayed along porches and roofs. Across the street is The High, built one year later with similarly Art-Deco-ish entrance doors tucked inbetween the shops at ground level. Look up, however, and the windows of The High are original and miserably peeling, whereas Leigham Hall's have been renewed and look like they might keep the heat in a bit better. I'm not sure if either <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/__data/assets/image/0017/304181/the-high-00072-640.jpg">still</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/lambeth/lambeth-assets/galleries/streatham/manor-court">boasts</a> a Billiards Room or Uniformed Porters, and rents must now be well above the original £80 per annum, but how great to live at the heart of things in a building of character.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SIX MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Streatham Common</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(southwest corner)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13wQQw-3rIB_JyLsreASPHqpX3F8EU-oEXNa3IcMy1cGJx72yRU2cz3OmMA2zRSDIPvyYYbMyEQ-vM-SoQv7QKagSnTQAcm8C5KiOwX1HhNrZmeO97bqI2rubgyI_U8CCjaQFrQ/s640/6s.jpg" title="Streatham Common" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Six Miles South serendipitously lands in the bottom left-hand corner of Streatham Common, alongside the High Road, just opposite Sainsbury's. Lush slopes, intermittently fenced off with orange netting, spread uphill towards the tearoom and the distant Rookery. Down here there's simply an avenue of horse chestnuts, in full blossom, and a plane tree which may or may not be dead. Criss-crossing paths lead off across the common, carefully following desire lines so nobody feels the need to divert onto the grass. Shoppers trudge by, variously laden, followed by a glum youth in a NASA hoodie smoking a rollup. A gardener from Lambeth Landscapes edges his white van down the footpath taking care not to run anybody over. <br />
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At the bus stop a posse of homebound schoolkids in maroon blazers hurl swear words, and in one case a heavy log, at one another. A procession of hearses crawls by, kicking off with <font style="font-variant:small-caps;">Grandad</font>, then a floral tribute in the shape of a football, then various members of his family. The Friends of Streatham Common invite you to a Bat Walk on Friday, a Bird Box Survey on Saturday and a Kite Day on Sunday. Silvana Ices have parked up opposite the entrance to the playground hoping that someone will take their advice and 'try a twin cone today'. The clock on the tower of Immanuel and St Andrew's Church is 70 minutes slow. Dad kicks a football through the dandelions, and Small Son passes it back. 'Celebrate Streatham', says the banner hung from the streetlamp, and here you would.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SEVEN MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Northborough Road, SW16</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Norbury/Pollards Hill)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtBN8Eq9oT3KUDQaWNJfifK7ObFWWoYT36-5I4BANMjaSj2NDwUUGD1V1qvyhoAr2FE97tbml7rwudGaNxbNXcWAlPEFpA3srCUdbtj4Ctcmiu9-SWtCz2jZ0HDGIBZgzZW_ZHQ/s640/sseven.jpg" title="Northborough Road" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Northborough Road breaks off from the main road by Norbury's Wetherspoons and dives deep into Edwardian suburbia. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.jamesalexander.com/norbury/">estate agent</a> on the corner appears to have the monopoly on house sales and flat rentals further up. Initially they're quite terracy, with front gardens barely large enough to hold Croydon's full complement of three bins. Then a few gabled properties intrude, then it gets quite mixed, but always stitched together with no direct rear access. The house numbers are my favourite feature, each embedded in the wall as separate digits on glazed tiles, one brick's length from the edge of the porch. The precise location we're looking for is in the high hundreds, by the stinkpipe, right on the brow of the hill.<br />
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The view to the west is remarkably lowrise, with Merton Civic Centre the sole tower along a woody skyline. Lined up to the east are the Crystal Palace TV mast, a church spire and the former <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kake_pugh/16236551447">Windsor</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2015/10/concerns-over-plan-to-split-up-homeless-families-in-converted-office-block-flats/">House</a> office block. A learner from the Polka Driving School ascends the road with caution, slowing for each hump, trailing a procession of vehicles behind her. The council streetsweeper smiles by, earbuds drooping, although he has yet to reach the fox-ripped bag spilling takeaway trays across the pavement. A family emerges from behind a high hedge in their Eid finest before piling into an estate and driving off to celebrate. Two recycling sacks have been left on a damp pillow at the end of Norton Gardens. A blackbird sings.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>EIGHT MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Mitcham Road Cemetery, CR0</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(previously Croydon Cemetery)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Uvq_z4lOkmTEa75nGt9uhNZnSJygbM4fi5QaR0sfyBBVzghCIFooPNTSl5g5KzPAM0uciIUdJRIElK96rwOE5sV1vxBOUFBQkmZ4y71pkj7SuZPQkbjl8ZnPduO_q5JPEHuvpg/s640/s8.jpg" title="Mitcham Road Cemetery" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
I wondered how long it'd take this feature to hit a cemetery, and here we are, if not quite dead centre. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=CRO046">Croydon</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitcham_Road_Cemetery">Cemetery</a> opened in 1897 as overspill for Queen's Road Cemetery, the other side of Thornton Heath. It's big and it's irregular, having been extended once in 1935 towards Mitcham Common and again in 1937 towards Mitcham Road. 8 Miles South is to be found within the northwestern strip, specifically in section U, just over the wall from Archbishop Lanfranc Academy. Look for the Jamaican flag, then nudge back a bit towards the central lime avenue. Other parts of the cemetery had mourners, shortcutting pedestrians, even learner drivers enjoying off-road practice, but nobody interrupted me here.<br />
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The graves hereabouts are a particularly motley assortment, mostly from 1935 but with infill from dates clustered around 1960 and 2014. Older headstones commemorate Alfreds, Louisas and Mildreds, the most recent Luigis, Franciscos and Murildas. Most graves are low-edged and weed-topped, a few sparkle with plastic blooms and it seems only Jane merits real gladioli. A deflated balloon hangs from Margaret's temporary marker. A tennis ball and an empty can of Scrumpy Jack rest in the trimmed grass. Most of the interred had a good innings, notably Major Dorothy Bristow who hit 93, but Skye barely reached 15 and Our Baby Eileen Patricia just 2½. Undoubtedly the saddest tale is that of Cicely Boswell who lost her husband in an accident in May 1939, then her 18 year-old son in an accidental drowning on Easter Day 1949, while she herself lived on until 1998. Here they all lie, the remembered and the forgotten.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>NINE MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>Beddington Industrial Area, CR0</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(junction of Marlowe Way and Beddington Farm Road)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizRUcCUMYRDETamNWY1Fk8ACMmOOHTW1l1nIgxPleznc13-Y_9V34OwSSPPXiotV0MwsY3yOWB-POGv1YTq40sHqqoto1Ax5jH8jg6eG0NTzyLEoes3RZ3KBPS9bfTA30Lg-pG1A/s1600/s9.jpg" title="Marlowe Way, Beddington" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
This isn't pleasant. We're on the site of <a target="_blank" href="https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=51.3786&lon=-0.1313&layers=10&b=1">Beddington Sewage Works</a>, since relocated to the other side of Beddington Lane to leave space for a huge wodge of industrial estate. The closest landmark is Croydon's IKEA, but that and the remainder of the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Park_Retail_Area">Valley Park Retail and Leisure Complex</a> is deliberately segregated from the Beddington Industrial Area resource management hub, which is very much Sutton's grubbiest quarter. I trekked in dodging trucks and vans, and a one-off pony and trap, heading for the line of pylons crossing Marlowe Way. At the end of the road is the backside of a very big Asda, and across the road a major distribution centre for another supermarket, namely Sainsbury's. Most of it is lorry park, and several of the dozen bays have Eddie Stobart containers poking out.<br />
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The Nine Mile point is occupied by the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.beddingtonconference.co.uk">Beddington Conference Centre</a>, reputedly "the ideal place for organising business meetings, conferences or a complete solution for events and receptions ideal for corporate clients". I hope the interior's something special because from the outside my first thought was provincial motel. A rim of barbed wire and a security guard with a barrier combine to ensure nobody gets to wander in off-spec. Also within this perimeter is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shw.co.uk/news/2018/brandon-houseone-of-croydons-biggest-industrial-lettings-this-year.html">HQ</a> of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fruitfuloffice.co.uk">Fruitful Office</a>, a company who deliver baskets of fruit to offices because that's a thing now. Their chief selling point is that they split the bunches of bananas and grapes in advance to stop employees taking too many, but they must be doing well because I counted 20 delivery vans outside. If your company needs a regular wellbeing perk, never ever tell your staff that their plums arrive via a former sewage works.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TEN MILES SOUTH</u>:</font> <b>The Chase, South Beddington SM6</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(backing onto Godalming Avenue)</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49087567707"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLAgwSMdEaPqmjCZofRlsDLYHznPqpvuCcukJxA4TO1t8bsLf0nEOp1ycCPGZucDg8SvStlXkgo-AzInW2sQbpE8ESIU2zbYRjlxNO8tdqk_AtNpuKDCaN2lYiq0GNq6JKwUTeQ/s640/s10.jpg" title="The Chase, South Beddington" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Finally here's another residential one. We're in Beddington, between Wallington in Sutton and Waddon in Croydon, and administratively in the former. A hundred years ago these were open fields outside the hamlet of <a target="_blank" href="https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/bandon-hill/">Bandon Hill</a>, facing an aerodrome that would shortly become London's first airport. The march of suburbia then claimed the available space between main road and railway, forming the High View Estate, hence I find myself amid very Thirties houses along very Thirties avenues built with the lower middle class very much in mind. The Chase is the spine road, and runty Central Avenue would have provided the retail focus but has now been reduced to three shops. One's a convenience store that still does newspaper delivery, one's the HQ for a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.traffi-co.co.uk/">slotcutting</a> company and the third belongs to the 'Sausage Master'. Drop in and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sausagemasters.co.uk">Daniel Parker</a> will sell you Pork, Stilton & Cranberry, Black Porkies or a full-on Venison, because that's what <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sausagemasters.co.uk/history/4586747866">fourth generation</a> butchers now do.<br />
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The local housing stock consists of what looks like several semis <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49087567707">joined together</a>. This makes rear access tricky, so the architects also squeezed long narrow alleyways round the back between the avenues. This is also where they stuck the garages, because motorists' needs were less important then, but driving today's vehicles in and out would be far more impractical so everyone now parks out front. Down The Chase each front garden is large enough to accommodate a family saloon, but on Godalming Avenue most bonnets poke out onto the pavement. Because I visited on Sunday morning cars were being washed, hoovered and generally worshipped. Unmodified porches still had their original stained glass house numbers. The lower branches of one conifer were heavy with bird feeders. One pink rose looked like it'll hang on into winter. A tabby cat padded past. Such is London life, ten miles from the centre.<br />
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<i><a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_08_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES NORTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_09_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES EAST</b></a> <br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_10_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES SOUTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_11_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES WEST</b></a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-19352789018233520872019-09-01T09:24:00.000+01:002019-11-19T10:04:12.412+00:00Miles east of London<font color=#663399><b><u>Miles east from central London</u></b><br />
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<i>The centre of London is generally taken to be Charing Cross, specifically the statue of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/27069552956">Charles I</a> in the middle of the roundabout. I've visited the points one mile due east, then two miles, then three miles, all the way up to ten miles, to see how London changes the further east you go.</font> <font size=1><a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1weUryeqgVGYFgLtPNeuyp4tnd_-_NURE&usp=sharing">[map]</a></i></font><br />
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<font color=#663399><u>ONE MILE EAST</u>:</font> <b>Blackfriars Road</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(just south of Blackfriars Bridge)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP5j2-VRy7lZMBAtWFBgvrXnzsO47B0tIYpcBVopW96yO0KqjWnCPKOeJCAU6yP4I98r4NG0m7c4X5KH_9kbYzRGTovBZYB0Bg795FOinSWqxuLJHI1T7znB4hquH46S4u20XuJw/s640/e1bfriars.jpg" title="Blackfriars Road" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Queues of cars and vans and trucks and taxis line up in four directions, awaiting permission for onward passage. Cyclists have their own separate highway, busy enough that when a recovery truck driver jumps the lights and attempts to drive across it, a display of raised fists holds him back. The wind whips one man's spectacles into the path of a stalled taxi, which thankfully sticks at red long enough for the myopic stooge to locate his prey. A woman walks past clutching six kitchen rolls, a Kinder Bueno and two pints of milk. A cloud of unseen raspberry vapour lingers. Whoever commissioned the streetsigns which spell out 'Blackfriars Road' did so in a jarringly over-emboldened typeface. <br />
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Utterly dominant hereabouts is the 52-storey boomerang of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.berkeleygroup.co.uk/developments/london/southwark/one-blackfriars">One Blackfriars</a>, whose marketing team's desire that Londoners would come to call it The Vase has understandably not come to pass. Those with business or an apartment within disappear through its revolving doors into a luxurious lobby. Mere hoi polloi can perch outside on the rim of what passes as a garden - three raised beds filled with immaculate plants and a wet riser inlet disguised as a silver globe. The white flowers in that tasteful tub at the rear turn out to be artificial. Sealed off behind temporary barriers is the low-rise chunk of the development, Sales And Marketing Suite Now Open. <br />
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Not to be outdone, the opposite side of the road awaits transformation into <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sampsonandludgatehouse.com/">Bankside Quarter</a>, a significant destination gateway (insert your own buzzword here). The previous office blocks were deemed wasted potential so have been demolished, and will soon arise as a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.plparchitecture.com/sampson---ludgate-house-mixed-use.html">cluster</a> of rigidly orthogonal towers with no aesthetic sympathy for the giant banana across the way. 40% of <a target="_blank" href="http://35percent.org/ludgate-and-sampson/">future residents</a> will get a parking space, because transport policies are for flouting, and Southwark council are more than happy with the windfall. A tiny suggestion box is attached to the hoardings, although it's too late to complain now.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TWO MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Pool of London</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(River Thames, off the starboard side of HMS Belfast)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhojM2XwHnGOzbpZ2_zLiKG7Qu7SDH_2Bpc1FO0-fKV1gTDyp75gZZqq3BwN7igOUcMbdfolsfC_oF0TggJKM_770-lLJ3DkEHaJe79KOS2E1Z1JmYH6rooGSefTr53Tc9YLuDLng/s640/2east.jpg" title="Pool of London" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
You can't stand here, in the Pool of London, but you can float. I suspect more tourists have been here than long-term Londoners. The river is initially clear but choppy, with the twin obstacles of HMS Belfast and Tower Pier slimming the channel. A flock of seagulls has settled on the water in the shadow of the gunship. A couple of visitors can be seen nosing around the gun emplacements at the bow before clambering back below deck.<br />
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A Thames Clipper motors off from Tower Pier and spins upstream, leaving a curve of churning froth in its wake. Just for a second it crosses the point precisely two miles east from Charing Cross and becomes a useful photographic marker. A logjam of further boats arrives, jostling for position beside the pontoon or waiting patiently for the hubbub to subside. One of the vessels is a tourist launch named <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thamesriverservices.co.uk/mercedes.cfm">Mercedes</a>, the oldest Westminster Party Boat, its upper deck crammed with revellers who had hoped the weather was going to be warmer. Those wishing to board a City Cruise should manoeuvre to the tip of the pier, but only once they've shown their inkjet printout to the ticket gods on the gangway. Don't waste time snapping Tower Bridge from here, you'll be underneath it in a few minutes.<br />
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The section of the Thames Path closest to the 'two mile' marker has been sealed off for the construction of luxurious Barratt homes. On the approach is a cluster of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://londonist.com/london/news/igloos-thames-coppa-club-london">fake igloos</a>, a winter promo inside which toasty families can be seen ordering drinks from the dedicated gin menu. Far cheaper fun is to be had on the narrow beach uncovered by the low tide. Here mudlarkers pick across pebbles and sand, and a line of wooden posts reveals the damp stunted remains of former wharves. I attempt to join them, treading carefully down the slippery stairs, until the antepenultimate step proves to be entirely covered with an inch of gloopy mud, and my trainers think better of it.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>THREE MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Park Vista Tower, Wapping</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Cobblestone Square, opposite Tobacco Dock, E1W)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILx3m8mdsVQ-eXjoYaK55Bt_IIKlfqusAehgcsn_UA9G_XQG-dmf46DnFuKZSVkcwOLuF6dKNuYn6HT7o02-fpYMSnCOm9KnHYd3z8NPavgoHtWPamSkwGVjBXCFFwZWiQqXZ1A/s640/e3mile.jpg" title="Cobblestone Square, Wapping" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Go back forty years and this spot was off-limits within the London Docks, midway between the Western and Eastern Docks, bookended by two swing bridges. Then the basins were filled in for extensive housing, none of it especially highrise because this was the 1980s, leaving a single <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/161925274">ornamental</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/39991657320/">canal</a> to snake through the development. But what I've managed to hit here, quite by chance, is Wapping's sole <a target="_blank" href="http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/park-vista-tower/17144">multi-storey tower</a>, squeezed in where <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wappingliving.co.uk/Wapping_blocks/cobblestone_square.html">Ballymore</a> spotted a slim gap. It's long and thin and stacked and silver, with an Italian restaurant at the bow, rising increasingly steeply to a penthouse pair. It's very 2014, so glass not brick, which is probably in its favour.<br />
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Whoever called this Cobblestone Square was having a laugh, or a liar hoping the name'd put prices up. A long slabbed walkway leads to a locked gate which keeps the riffraff of Wapping Woods out, but also the joggers of Park Vista Tower in. A fake canal runs along one side, pumped to ensure movement. An empty chamber of muscle-flexing machines props up the ground floor, because residents have paid extra for gym and concierge. Somebody's moving out today, their worldly goods being trolleyed in taped-up boxes into the back of a van. At the end of the road London's hippest musical youth are milling by, making their way into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.introducinglive.co.uk/about">BBC Introducing Live</a> at Tobacco Dock. Early arrivals are taking advantage of a break between masterclasses by smoking alongside the pirate ships. I feel hideously off-trend.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>FOUR MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Limehouse Reach</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(River Thames, between Limehouse and Rotherhithe)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mSPDXE1zenKVQZNtaaMndozNOD0J94JnXpCfrWdV13xNh_3r7Euqw5xw9bcc-_E3f0ptfiQgZma4iEzzCyGLzT8x3oO6vQ8D80wvYsQAgpBjG98C2LtOd9Qi7L3WQ2YpyPO2VQ/s640/e4limerother.jpg" title="Limehouse/Rotherhithe" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
For the second time my 'Miles From' journey has led us to the middle of the River Thames (and will do so again at nine). We're right on the sharp bend where the Thames first curves to loop the Isle of Dogs, with the newest towers in Docklands climbing rapidly just to the east. To reach the actual spot would require a boat ride, and even that would likely miss, so instead I choose to visit the banks on either side (with an almost hour-long journey inbetween).<br />
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On the northern side is the most famous part of Limehouse, Narrow Street, and the early Georgian terrace where Sir Ian McKellan owns a <a target="_blank" href="https://thegrapes.co.uk/">pub</a>. Because these buildings date back to wharfier days only the residents have riverfront access, enjoying a covetable panorama downstream to Deptford and upstream to the City. The Thames Path is forced to follow the street instead, and even the entrance through Duke Shore Wharf has been sealed off while some very slow repair works take place. Only from the windowboxed promenade round the back of Dunbar Wharf is a view of the river regained, or from the wiggly footbridge which carries several of Canary Wharf's lunchtime joggers. Cyclists are specifically not welcome. The Thames is very grey, very broad and very quiet, until a cruise boat floats by with only the hardiest sightseers on the upper deck.<br />
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Over on the southern bank the inside of the bend forms the remotest end of Rotherhithe. This used to be Pageant's Wharf, now Pageant Crescent, which was built so early in the redevelopment of the London Docks that the builders thought two-storey three-bedroom terraced houses were the best use of the land. These days the properties merit a million pound premium, with at least one Range Rover, Porsche, Merc and BMW out front, and who knows what parked in the garages underneath. The unmarked <a target="_blank" href="https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2018/07/20/pageant-stairs-obelisk/">obelisk</a> at one end of the terrace was positioned here in 1992 and aligns precisely with the axis of the Docklands estate - a kind of Canary Wharf Meridian marker, if you like. Being near enough low tide a decent-sized <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/22858685459/">beach</a> has been revealed below the river wall, dotted with silent seagulls resting on the sand, which gets a soaking half a minute after a Thames Clipper speeds by.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>FIVE MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Aspen Way, E14</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(marginally north of Docklands)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlD3akWdl_2IAmuQNHCTX8hzavpHFXCZHoCKVgILYg4a47s8u7F7bQLJTwNsh73h3k0tJVG9mZYqkyKKqRdVjoOLsEkX-b_wINzE2FJYYux336U3YY7S50jEIURfzbAwlelhH0Rg/s640/5easpway.jpg" title="Aspen Way" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
This could have been really interesting - the towers at Canary Wharf are ever so close and Billingsgate Fish Market closer still. But no, the vagaries of compass direction have sent us instead to the middle of the dual carriageway that sweeps across the neck of the Isle of Dogs, a strip of bleak infrastructure which exists so that the nearby financial district can thrive. Traffic thundering out of the Limehouse Link follows Aspen Way towards the Lower Lea Crossing, or veers off here for the Blackwall roundabout. The DLR rises onto a split concrete viaduct immediately behind. Adverts for Easyjet and Santander blaze in both directions on the overpass. A speed camera waits to trap drivers over-enjoying their downhill run. What looks like a pavement on the northern side of the road leads only to a road junction you'd need a deathwish to cross, then peters out at crash barriers below Poplar station. Basically you breathe in at your peril.<br />
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Immediately to the north is the Poplar Trading Estate, or at least as much of it as hasn't been demolished for the building of luxury flats. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.telfordhomes.london/manhattan-plaza">Manhattan Plaza</a> has been slotted in beside one of the DLR's squealiest curves, overlooking the depot, and is currently advertised as 95% sold. Book now for your exclusive appointment and the nice lady will show you the gymnasium, 21st floor showhome and roof garden. To the south we find Billingsgate's car park, also fated to be residentialised one day, and Tower Hamlets' magnificent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/locosteve/23376648800/">traffic</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pakinuttah/12194927243/">light</a> sculpture. This used to be located more prominently but was demoted mid-roundabout a few years ago, and sadly isn't flashing red amber and/or green at present. As for the McDonalds alongside, that's been flattened and surrounded by black hoardings, and may eventually become a pair of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.2trafalgarway.com">Infinity Towers</a> (with a replacement drive-thru on the ground floor). There are more pleasant, better-connected places to be.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SIX MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Thames Wharf DLR station</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Scarab Close, E16)</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/7462464198/in/album-72157630331970942/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnjB8MSuZwdDeLt7mrYk4Y3DbV9ie5S-KcgzQL8vX9H3ykZ48EFKU7CVJHoPrqa4iRgc-Wn7ATfj8vM0HX40RuGh92zcE_NSCPqFVYuuA-gDqARnXlDe5Ne24gcM-4e0-Jul8h-A/s640/dang.jpg" title="Thames Wharf" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
With almost pinpoint accuracy, welcome to a DLR station that doesn't yet exist. We're on the site of the former Thames Iron Works shipbuilding yard, close to the mouth of the River Lea, where a sheaf of railway sidings once ran down to the dockside. After the Royal Docks closed the area was given over to scrappy industrial uses, notably metal recycling and waste management, because the land was polluted and cheap and nobody else wanted it. The DLR extension to Woolwich sped through it on a viaduct without stopping, and Dangleway passengers get to inspect it in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/7462464198/in/album-72157630331970942/">unnecessary detail</a> as they rumble all-too-slowly above. The road into the heart of the site is called Scarab Close, perhaps deliberately named after dung-rolling beetles, and is not somewhere any urban explorer should be venturing. Access is off Dock Road, home to five tall readymix concrete silos, a lockup for the storage of JCB diggers and a <a target="_blank" href="http://sodastudio.co.uk/projects/the-silver-building/">Brutalist</a> office block abandoned long ago by Carlsberg-Tetley.<br />
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This is the very last corner of the Royal Docks to be redeveloped, but plans for 7000 homes are now on the table and even the Chancellor has thrown in some money. The project's called <a target="_blank" href="http://keystone-london.co.uk/thameside-west/">Thameside West</a>, because that sounds nicer than Brownfield Dump, and its residential towers are expected to be particularly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2019/01/17/new-station-coming-to-dlr-network-on-the-woolwich-branch/">densely packed</a>. But they'll only sell if the <a target="_blank" href="http://keystone-london.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Approach-Aerial-Shot-01.jpg">DLR</a> stops, hence the intention to build <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/11/01/the-dlr-is-getting-a-new-station-and-more-trains/">Thames Wharf</a> station between Canning Town and West Silvertown. The name's been programmed into the onboard display system for years, <a target="_blank" href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2011/03/dlr-dot-matrix.html">you may remember</a>. A major catch is that the <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/silvertown-tunnel">Silvertown</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/rivercrossings/silvertown">Tunnel</a> is due to emerge alongside, indeed Dock Road is due to be transformed into its <a target="_blank" href="https://i1.wp.com/www.mayorwatch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/silvertown_tfl_consultation_booklet.jpg">northern portal</a>, gushing forth traffic towards a reconfigured Tidal Basin roundabout. Two major building projects side by side is a recipe for pollution, disruption and delay, so don't rush to buy a flat, and don't expect to be disembarking from a train here anytime soon.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SEVEN MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>ExCel</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(in the car park, eastern side)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoVbNnQ29Ob7VLk714pmQfD4WIs1K8LRQKgBcaFROh77OXALR24J_qsfJqnldaHz05pEtF8jo1pjabye0Z_CN0dupIT5hHHu7dYu5cPqiD1ltJvTdg0jDMXWkVYuxyvMLN3uEISg/s640/eseven.jpg" title="East Car Park, ExCel" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
The interior of the ExCel exhibition centre can be pretty desolate during non-conferences, but that's nothing compared to the car park out the back. Its sprawling rectangular grid lies empty behind a lowered barrier, occupied solely by birdlife and the occasional wandering pedestrian. It seems ridiculous that so large a chunk of prime development land lies fallow, but vehicles must be catered for, and at £20 a time (when operational) it's a nice little earner. Mothballed in one corner is a squat black prefab marked with the Avengers logo, this a Marvel <a target="_blank" href="https://www.avengersstation.co.uk/faq-page/london">"multi-room experience"</a> for die-hard fans packed with suits, screens and props in cases. It closed months back, godawful <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d15610778-Reviews-Marvel_Avengers_Station-London_England.html">TripAdvisor</a> reviews perhaps to blame, and awaits transfer to fleece the population of Cardiff.<br />
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Look carefully to see a rail embedded in the concrete a few yards back from the water, this a remnant of the tracks once used by dockside cranes. A shorter parallel rail has been preserved slightly further along. In the water are a quartet of paddleboarders, the most athletic of whom has just slipped and soaked himself, to the amusement of his gawkier companions. Three rowers walk past from the direction of the London Regatta Centre, bantering about that time they caught crabs. A bottle of Ribena floats by. A car alarm blares. Every few minutes a DLR train weaves along a viaduct between the Aloft, Premier Inn and Doubletree hotels. Meanwhile across the dock the entire <a target="_blank" href="http://www.pateltaylor.co.uk/works/urban-design/silvertown-quays">Silvertown Quays</a> lot remains vacant, long pencilled in for intensive mixed use development, but to date home only to a few abandoned 2012 entertainment pavilions.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>EIGHT MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Royal Albert Dock, E16</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(alongside London Design & Technology UTC)</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/48673396026"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgknbfve-PRVCJTP7g94_5uD4bh8chTYKENivw4uTZIqIla6hSPk5CqekjfTVPMjsZklDiespGA9M8SCU6oFqugeEwTVPxz_pPCOsSNIQTOT6F8tTfYhME9Lz09C7FXNoKONoLOwg/s640/8e.jpg" title="ABP, Royal Albert Dock" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I couldn't have got here before summer 2019 because the disused northern edge of the Royal Albert Dock was firmly sealed off. As far as Newham's council offices yes, and as far as UEL's library block yes, but the half mile of waterfront inbetween absolutely not. The catalyst is the opening up of the first phase of a <a target="_blank" href="https://rad.london/assets/img/maps/masterplan.png">35 acre</a> Chinese-funded <a target="_blank" href="https://rad.london/masterplan">commercial neighbourhood</a> alongside Beckton Park DLR. Architecturally it's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/48673394736">stunningly bland</a> - four long cuboids divided by a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/48673420626">dark canyon</a> called Mandarin Street, and watched over by circulating security. Office units are numbered 14-27, and as yet generally unfilled. Raised beds fill a pristine square beside empty recycling bins. If you want to see what London's turning into, come visit soon.<br />
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One day the eight mile spot will be covered with something symmetrically similar, but for now it's a patch of cleared dockside where a row of enormous warehouses once stood. A freshly opened path follows the water's edge, constrained between a wire fence and already-graffitied hoardings. The rail once followed by dockside cranes is still intact, whereas back at ABP it's been replaced by a strip of darker tiles. I had to dodge out of the way of a man with a megaphone on a bike, occasionally yelling encouragement at an eight rowing through the choppy waters. An Alitalia plane taxied up the runway opposite, reversed and revved its engines, sped past the windsock and roared into the sky.<br />
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At the end of the path is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/48673396026">big black box on yellow stilts</a> which houses the London Design & Technology <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ldeutc.co.uk">UTC</a>. This opened three academic years ago, adjoined to the UEL campus, and isn't somewhere a non-student would have dallied before this new path opened. I was thankful I'd turned up before the start of term, while the ground floor canteen was empty, nobody was playing outdoor table football and the only human presence was a group of cleaners come to wash the windows. A dozen humanoid <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bpbqnL39w">robots</a> stared out from one ground floor laboratory alongside a glut of mechanical arms, because D&T's moved on a lot since you were at school.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>NINE MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Gallions Reach, River Thames</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(between Royal Albert Wharf and Thamesmead)</i></font><br />
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This is the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/10/2-miles-from-central-london.html">third</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2019/01/4-miles-from-central-london.html">time</a> a Miles East waypoint has landed in the middle of the Thames. This time it feels properly estuarine, the landscape flat, the banks only partially developed. One bank is on the underconnected edge of Newham, at the mouth of the Royal Docks, and the other's in that corner of Thamesmead nobody's ever got round to doing anything with. One day a Gallions Reach bridge may span the Thames here, and I'd have a way to reach the midpoint, but for now all that crosses the water are low-flying planes seconds out from City Airport. Because I'm a glutton for punishment I visited both sides of the river, and wasted a lot of time travelling inbetween.<br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6WcREw9wJheowMtqeDKLI768FlpFEoE45V-H9JwWEeIf-dKYlxSiW_m9IDGhIvqp8-iO56-Er7hwmtvf5IvW_E6SBGIlNH76pJxF7300n_hJM3hK_rJggM7_M-BM2j9ytQHEyQQ/s640/e9.jpg" title="Gallions Reach, Tripcock Ness" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
To see the Nine Mile point from the western side, take the DLR to Gallions Reach and keep walking past the newly-erupted flats towards the river. If you've ever followed the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2011/12/capital-ring-15.html">last</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/beckton-district-park-to-woolwich">section</a> of the Capital Ring you will have done this, and perhaps wondered what godforsaken wasteland you were entering. A few benches overlook the flood barrier by the former gas works, while the riverside follows an increasingly overgrown path behind a towering radar mast. Intermittent laddered <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/6518161917/">steps</a> lead up and over the concrete wall. It is not a spot to linger. But behind the grey railings a sequenced transformation is taking place as a wall of flats erupts to form <a target="_blank" href="https://fcbstudios.com/work/view/Great-Eastern-Quays-Phase-2">phase 2</a> of so-called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalalbertwharf.com/">Royal Albert Wharf</a>. One block is externally complete, its neighbour is getting its balconies added, its neighbour is getting its windows fitted and its neighbour is still a scaffolded brick shell. Once residents are fully on board this riverfront zone will be <a target="_blank" href="https://fcbstudios.com/images/Raw/0-fcbstudios_1832_geq2_.jpg">opened up</a> with textbook boardwalks, mini-playgrounds and prim rows of trees - you know the score - but for now an edge of character remains.<br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2OedvP87EmW5Uh3pP5JbJvWiJDL4PuYQyLPgXw36DIZYwPGQo9ngqYntaHSGeGW-sUeWloiqG0TOPBhPsmVedGpBwKtzYYyBCeH_bT8Vry5yqdqe24IjsGtOJHZcKcpvIjUIXeA/s640/ee9.jpg" title="Gallions Reach, Royal Docks" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Over on the eastern bank any intention of building flats is many many years away. The last vestiges of West Thamesmead splutter out after a cul-de-sac named Defence Close, beyond which the developers have bequeathed a strip of park hardly anyone uses, beyond which the Thames Path continues alone. Inland are high fences shielding a vast brownfield site despoiled in the days when the Plumstead Marshes were for explosive use. The riverbank by contrast is wooded and occasionally <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/14586676881/">open</a>, should you fancy picking your way through long grass and thick brambles. At one point Greenwich council have provided the most vandalproof bench they could think of, a solid concrete slab, and here the foreshore has been littered with dozens of discarded bottles and cans. Just <a target="_blank" href="http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.249/Plan-showing-the-locality-of-the-Princess-Alice-collision-on-14-September-1878.html">offshore</a> is the very spot where in 1878 the paddle steamer <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_SS_Princess_Alice">SS Princess Alice</a> collided with a coal ship and sank, flinging over 600 passengers into sewage-churned waters. It remains Britain's deadliest inshore shipwreck, an unimaginable end to a jolly day out, commemorated by a now-illegible information panel beside the navigation light at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/48914064776">Tripcock Ness</a>. Should you choose to proceed further, the next escape point is almost one mile distant.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TEN MILES EAST</u>:</font> <b>Morrisons, Thamesmead SE28</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(in the car park, front right)</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49086081573/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3HyHe2pMlbPuKjgIxS7iugV3m5HVyMHr8YochwfRbT_ywNjkuVIB3CEnHAhBBdCMv3t1ywMw0O0YnSgBc-rrur8tU4wmPIH07N4Us4DimnzeHa2fkeAFcLxClbZ1Mammgu2bBw/s640/e10.jpg" title="Morrisons, Thamesmead" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I love the fact that travelling ten miles east from Trafalgar Square brings you to the beating heart of Thamesmead, specifically its shopping centre, specifically the car park outside Morrisons. This isn't the original shopping centre, the peculiar huddle round the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/25817486394/">clocktower</a> with its <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/andyworthington/7952431662/">waterside piazza</a> and umpteen ducks, but the larger retail park that's evolved out back. The first supermarket to move in was <a target="_blank" href="http://www.deansfamily.com/safeway/stores.htm">Safeway</a>, in the giant store now occupied by Morrisons, but Thamesmead's shoppers now also have the option of an Iceland and, once they've finished completely rebuilding it, an Aldi. At the weekend this is a place of pilgrimage for thousands, streaming in with their reusable bags, plus partners, children, flatsharers or mates in tow. You can even get your hair cut in a modified shipping container plonked outside.<br />
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The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49086081573">precise spot</a> in the car park is a couple of lanes to the right of the main entrance, immediately before the trolley store. Here I watched one couple return semi-laden, already eating one of their snackier purchases, before climbing into their Lexus and driving away. A replacement family arrived shortly afterwards, looking very much like they'd be filling a cheaper trolley, and faffed a bit before heading shopwards. A lifesize cutout of a policeman welcomes shoppers venturing inside Morrisons' hallowed portal, and beyond that at this time of year is a Christmas tree with baubles saying Let It Snow. A rack of newspapers and flavoured Tic Tacs still has prominence, along with a wall of chocolate selection boxes on special offer. And when you're done, perhaps throw in a trip to Poundland, a browse in Peacocks and lunch from KFC to make a day of it.<br />
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<i><a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_08_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES NORTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_09_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES EAST</b></a> <br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_10_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES SOUTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_11_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES WEST</b></a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-46362283293404318982019-08-01T09:24:00.000+01:002019-11-19T10:00:27.743+00:00Miles north of London<font color=#663399><b><u>Miles north from central London</u></b><br />
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<i>The centre of London is generally taken to be Charing Cross, specifically the statue of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/27069552956">Charles I</a> in the middle of the roundabout. I've visited the points one mile due north, then two miles, then three miles, all the way up to ten miles, to see how London changes the further north you go.</font> <font size=1><a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1weUryeqgVGYFgLtPNeuyp4tnd_-_NURE&usp=sharing">[map]</a></i></font><br />
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<font color=#663399><u>ONE MILE NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Russell Square</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(western corner, by the Cabmen's Shelter)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGMStMUP9VAsB8Wu2Fzow73JXChaPt2vriqcV1OeMY0MaSKohSWXiUiioyDiU23KjVOdjIX93F4EMnwP5luPTtQmy8TXWPrM9VC1vAHKk6xtHkU0fs82RUetOdgvTgLIAz_G3e5A/s640/n1russq.jpg" title="Russell Square" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
The <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/russellsqcabhut">Little Green Hut</a> in the corner of Russell Square is one of just 13 remaining Victorian <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180430-the-secret-green-shelters-that-feed-londons-cabbies">shelters</a> providing rest and sustenance for London's cabbies. They get to hide away inside with a cuppa and a fry-up, but anyone can <a target="_blank" href="https://scontent-lht6-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/9d61040d749c64f83fe0bd0090454236/5C61525D/t51.2885-15/e35/41463072_1464302227033004_9076712737956924422_n.jpg">step up to the hatch</a> and place an order. A cup of tea's a quid and the holy grail of an egg and bacon roll is £3.20, the same price as a liver sausage baguette. The hut's exterior is draped with hanging baskets, tubs and bunting, while two tubs of geraniums brighten the outside benches. Why so many students are heading back to lectures clutching a Costa remains a mystery.<br />
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The red phone box by the garden gates is locked. Inside are a stool, a shelf and a couple of power points, courtesy of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/londons-phone-boxes-are-being-transformed-into-tiny-offices-091316">Pod Works</a> mini-office start-up, although they've gone bust so the computer screen is missing and the clock's stuck on 00:00. At least ten trucks and trailers are parked around the square facing Senate House, hired from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.btf-services.co.uk/">Bristol TV Film Services</a>, whose catering staff are tidying away the serving trays after the lunchtime rush. I don't know what they're filming, but the names stuck to the dressing room doors suggest I should look out for Camille, Heather, Jake and Sebastian in the credits at a later date.<br />
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Through the gates, Humphrey Repton's restored gardens are primed for relaxation and recuperation. A woman sits cross-legged on the grass beside a suitcase, reading a book. The approach of a sleek black labrador startles a group of pigeons. A small boy kicks through the bare minimum of fallen leaves. Four office workers arrive in sports clothes and proceed to jump, squat, jog and wave their arms, or indeed any other athletic movement the fifth member directs them to perform. A whiff of spliff walks by. Two students are practising their lines from a playbook. A woman on an electric tricycle circles the lawn before spotting an empty bench and occupying it with a beer and a sandwich. Someone's attempting one last sunbathe before autumn draws in. Plane trees rustle. Fountains gush.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TWO MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>St Pancras Lock</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(Regent's Canal, by the gasholders)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3PjOAaFuqd-LTtPoVrMhhJapU4TiHCqZ57nWUnOJrNs5HYrLcJbXo-bVxSwCYEZjiJ4eb3LNoN4XYIcZP23a1G_w5XyOv9T2fOxKwGOS-JoXADkFuRLimry_PRcjrkVtVV4QBw/s640/2north.jpg" title="St Pancras Lock" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
I'm in King's Cross, less than fifty metres from Coal Drops Yard. This is <a target="_blank" href="https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/media-centre/filming-and-photography/our-filming-and-photography-locations/st-pancras-lock-regents-canal">St Pancras Lock</a>, one of 13 on the Regent's Canal, which has been here for 200 years. Across the water is an old lockkeeper's cottage, its garden now tended by the <a target="_blank" href="http://dev.stpancrascc.co.uk/">St Pancras Cruising Club</a>. They're particularly keen on boats, for the avoidance of doubt. The lock's top gates are open and the lower closed, although nobody is barging through. An Arctic wind ripples the surface of the water in the chamber alongside, which spills over the rim into a separate gully. Several leaves and an M&Ms packet are caught in the weir. An iron gate, treated with anti-climb paint, ensures that only those with a key can cross to the central island.<br />
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Where there used to be one towpath, now there are two. The original cobbled track hugs the canal, where a horse could still use it, but the newest rises up to deliver passers-by into the heart of the Coal Drops. It's like a filter, the serious walkers with boots and rucksacks staying low, and potential shoppers with pristine trainers and smart jackets climbing high. Bags dangling in the opposite direction suggest treats and trinkets have been purchased. One couple rocking a beret'n'beard combo stop by the lock to frame the perfect selfie, then release it via 4G before proceeding. A train bedecked with poppies crosses the canal heading into St Pancras, followed at a safe distance by a double-ended rainbow, because it's important for rolling stock to send messages these days.<br />
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"Those used to be gasholders," says a well-wrapped bloke to his partner, who looks like she may never have seen one before. "People live inside them now!" An unmade bed is clearly visible inside one of the lower apartments. Nobody is out on their tiny balcony, but a smattering of metal furniture hints at warmer days past. The sole unfilled gasholder, with its mirrored pergola and copious benches, is a lot less busy now a shopping centre has opened in the vicinity. All the flower beds fronting the development are still replete with floral colour, and the teardrop lawns pristine. But scrubby vegetation reigns alongside the towpath, the demarcation line between private and public gardening all too plain.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>THREE MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Hilldrop Lane, Holloway</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(behind St Mungo's on Camden Road, N7)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQcecB6Zi6-cDovpbsXGHkjmHh4UjRlSSWqiiQWIwHbp_Rxzm7jRcn0CXWZerUVbZFqXh2eSorO7k1wmVNmX16wSTCB8oMiEaK-FdzbHhGDur3tJIvz3GTueixy1udhAfEjf7-w/s640/3milen.jpg" title="Hilldrop Lane, Holloway" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
This isn't pretty. I had hoped it might have been. Walking towards my target destination I passed through several streets of solid four-storey Victorian villas, but also crossed several undistinguished modern estates, and this road felt closer than most to the bottom of the heap. A back lane, divided by a barrier, once home to greenhouses and a garage, now a row of mundane flats and lock-ups. No front gardens, just an iron grille facing onto tarmac. Some homes have floor-to-ceiling grilles behind their ground floor windows, just in case. In the shared garden, someone's discarded three broken office chairs. Humps ahead, maximum speed 5mph.<br />
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Lined up on one windowsill, a collection of commemorative beer glasses. Pinned up on one door, Beware of the dog. Attached to the foot of several up-and-overs, a mechanical 'Garage Defender'. Last time the lockups saw fresh blue paint, heaven knows. Private parking only, with permit, penalty £100. Just two streetlamps, and good luck after dark on the stretch inbetween. No access to Belmont Lane. A row of bollards. The Tansley Close Community Garden, leaf-strewn and locked. The sound of drumming from the Baptist church at the end of the lane. A trio in trapper hats walk past drinking from cut-price cans. The shadow of Moelwyn Hughes Court. For several Londoners, home. One mile from New King's Cross, three from Trafalgar Square.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>FOUR MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Fairbridge Road, N19</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(not far from Upper Holloway station)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGMXYrulJMmUi771z81Ih8DowyZPG8jphHE6KS9bgkm5pc-i7c8PMjaC-nOgfYuit-OHyWCLeAaDbkLsa6TpnC3zSP_SJNlmJKZ87g4eRpthpgXRV5JFGYg654GhMbpvu0VkDrw/s640/n4fairbridg.jpg" title="Fairbridge Road, N19" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Near the top of the Holloway Road, immediately beyond the railway bridge, pause at the kitchen showroom on the street corner opposite the church. Here begins Fairbridge Road, a long street of fine Victorian villas running parallel to the Overground. Come on the first Sunday of the month and this is a <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/_4S3cmoAFoY?t=87">playstreet</a>, as a traffic sign on a lamppost warns and some paper lanterns hanging from a tree assert. The rest of the time it's quiet-ish, a string of gabled attic windows looking down over tiny front gardens scattered with shrubbery and recycling bins. Three greyhounds are being taken for a walk by three smiling dogwalkers, and sniffing every potential treat along the pavement. "Oh I can see a baguette! No you can't have it." A woman harangues the UPS driver who's dared to park outside her house whilst delivering to a neighbour. A street sweeper pauses to check his phone. At the top of the street the bells of St John's chime the hour.<br />
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Take time to admire the <a target="_blank" href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DOvEGqOXUAAlgUy.jpg">Hovis advert</a> painted on the wall of what used to be A. H. Fryer, Baker & Confectioner. Be surprised to find that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.trumpers.com/services.cfm">Geo. F. Trumper</a>, the esteemed Mayfair barbers, are actually based in a lowly ex-cornershop on the corner of Sussex Way. But for the four-mile point head to the junction with Ashbrook Road, amidst a flank of elegant brickwork somewhere in the vicinity of number 50. Most of the windows along here are net-curtained, but in some of the others can be seen colourful cushions, a black and white jacket, a rainbow flag and the pegs of a guitar. Officially the four-mile target is round the back of these houses, in one of their hidden gardens, therefore best seen from a passing train. Thankfully there are still some on the Goblin at the moment, not that a lengthy fence and a wall of undulating rear extensions reveal enough to make the trip worthwhile.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>FIVE MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Bedford Road, N8</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(close to the heart of Crouch End)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTkdRtGX2dpXUDCUJrnCq1i4Vzx5_4ERycHl2m2Wws5tX2lfq_9FCFayJHwg623O-dEdxxt1LgkBH8jf_QHjhRtbUW_xWdtJZeNgehXQpX8D_NQ3dIvsK6HV96Q4WPShq80qBhg/s640/5nbedf.jpg" title="Bedford Road" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Crouch End's clocktower is precisely five miles north of Charing Cross station, but I'm not measuring from there so have ended up marginally further west. Take Crouch Hall Road to climb gently into the suburban backstreets, flat roads very much not being a thing round here. Whoever named these streets in the 1880s had a thing about the letters B and C, hence we find Birchington, Berkeley and Bryanstone, as well as Clifton, Coolhurst and Coleridge. The shortest of these is <a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=529855&Y=188399&A=Y&Z=110">Bedford Road</a>, the only street T-junctioned at both ends, and cramming in no more than two dozen fine Victorian villas. The houses are constructed primarily of red brick with white painted banding, prominent square bay windows and shaped gables. One leaflike decorative motif appears several times on the odd-numbered side. Four of the cast iron lamp standards are original. One of the streetsigns predates alphanumeric postcodes, stating simply <font style="font-variant:small-caps;">Bedford Road, N</font>.<br />
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Only from the very top end of the street do you get a sense of hillside living. Further downslope is more intimate, with well-kept hedges shielding small shrubberied gardens. Everyone has two green bins, each displaying a different evolution of Haringey council's logo. Two red-ringed roadsigns warn drivers not to exceed 20mph, not that it'd be possible to go much faster without crashing at the end of the street. Residents Parking restrictions apply only between two and four in the afternoon. A car drives off with a sulking son in the back seat. Another returns with planks on the roofrack. One family's storing a tricycle in their recessed porch, another a toboggan, and one has a plastic rack for milk bottles on their front step. Two houses are out of action behind bright orange hoardings, courtesy of Mulroy Architects and Ingenious Construction Ltd. If London still has middle class enclaves, here's one.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SIX MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Alexandra Palace</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(on the grassy slope out front)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88SBY-bbz0pRZuVxJ8KzZVodlsWmaG50PnebbaYlipjxvuYBXcbRw9JyfOTkUicU1u9Bsqk77uwvcBD7Qmka8clsjpMvA6yJl9QGd5R9iSp5ZI_8a03KW_Bk0VVqJITKVY9r1Fg/s640/6n.jpg" title="Alexandra Palace" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Having been to some pretty dull residential corners on this mileage quest, this is a proper treat. Six miles due north from Charing Cross lies Alexandra Palace, the heritage entertainment bastion (plus TV mast) on its high hill overlooking the capital. I'd not been recently, and was mighty impressed by the upgraded theatre entrance in the <a target="_blank" href="https://theatre.alexandrapalace.com/the-east-court/">East Court</a>. This vast space has been spruced up with a multi-coloured geometric floor, a rather good historical <a target="_blank" href="https://theatre.alexandrapalace.com/story/">exhibition</a> (from Wild Bill Cody to the BBC) and the deadest cafe you ever did see. But the precise spot is outside, across the road and down a bit - so not quite at 'perfect vantage point' level. Head down the steps and turn left, towards the tallest tree, stopping where the path bends back on itself. Bingo.<br />
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The grass is freshly mown, scattering dandelion heads, lolly sticks and fag ends amid the cuttings. Leaves rustle. Birds sing. Frisbees are thrown. A Green Flag flutters. Up on the South Terrace a double decker bus rolls by. A flurry of foliage blocks sight of Docklands and the City, but the consolation prize is the Spurs saucer, a couple of towers in Ilford and possibly riverside Woolwich. A few steps away behind a picket fence is the entrance to the Ally Pally <a target="_blank" href="https://www.alexandrapalace.com/pitch-putt/">Pitch and Putt</a> course, unusual in having ten holes. Jack has this month's best score, with 36, while Helen leads the women with a 57. One round plus equipment hire clocks in at just under a tenner, but come before 2pm on a schoolday and they'll let you go round twice. Only two players are taking advantage, and the lad in the hut looks a bit bored. Perhaps they'll ask him for a Solero when they hand their clubs back.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>SEVEN MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Bounds Green Road, N11</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(junction with Warwick Road)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-c4gCgJQdwzPSosUR83XqOJMuRwZqhF97cm2fl7SlIjzWB3OSl1reLaBjoixJ662iwHxrKVN2EUwmcfF2-GfWxnCDeu0fcFxP5DWi9LRyGDxujKYm__yzOzYhQjqfNOu5V5iGkQ/s640/n7.jpg" title="The Ranelagh, Bounds Green Road" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
It turns out there is a green in Bounds Green, and here it is, marked by a <a target="_blank" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUaPIqjpFlgoE0qlZ3FQj05atfkSM_Po9nQXkBWLp13Zsxf4BquVmQ6SD8-IHAdMXdqZbmCPY_NXlXGqnUA6BZwdYj1kfoJMRFAgaAuP38GiuV00gRVGE_jfmPLLAlFYM3UcykiA/s1600/nseven.jpg">green sign</a> saying Welcome To The Green. A narrow grassy stripe tapers towards the North Circular, at this end broadening slightly to encompass a cluster of wooden exercise equipment and a retired couple on a bench. He's reading something weighty, she's reading about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heroic-Failure-Brexit-Politics-Pain/dp/1789540984">Heroic Failure</a>. The pub on the corner is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theranelaghn11.co.uk/venue">The Ranelagh</a>, a free house since 1899, brightened by a rim of lush flowers tumbling over the claret woodwork. The chef's idea of fish and chips is "ale-battered cod with triple-cooked chips and tartare sauce", plus "posh mushy peas" on the side as an optional extra. At the adjacent Sunrise Cafe it's "egg, bacon, tomato, sausage, fried slice and tea" all-in for a fiver. Outside Sonjig's off licence two men from Shutters Ltd have climbed stepladders to wrestle with some improperly-descended metalwork, while the shop assistant brushes fallen detritus towards the kerb.<br />
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By my calculations the precise seven mile point is outside the bus shelter opposite, where the 221 pulls up after its brief descent from the tube station. Illuminated posters advertise 7 Up and Muller Light. The bench rattles. Here is where the big houses stop and a sequence of flats intervenes, behind a raised public lawn that would otherwise have been front gardens. The block behind the bus stop is called Warwick Court, which is odd because so is the block on the other side of the road, which is odd because that road isn't Warwick Road it's Passmore Gardens. Its residents held a street party on Sunday, the only trace of which is a permission notice tied to a lamppost. Just beyond is <a target="_blank" href="http://www.scoutpark.org.uk/">Scout Park</a>, an eight acre compound offering plenty of space for camping cubs, opened in 1928 on the site of a pottery and now offering opportunities for archery, air rifle shooting and climbing. I bet more than one of you has slept here overnight.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>EIGHT MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Brycedale Crescent, N14</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(junction with Arnos Grove)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtWsJi67CZkvRUhCvqYs45Qf1OfTeIFMKm8ZX2CBnDSiJtwgL7sG4LEsJM7ZgBzMYLmXAhBUsRKw3fs4EYHFdfkJkg3ME6mJe4wkdfXUHQBc92_VZOjk5YLyqqkof8OvsSezR3Q/s640/n8.jpg" title="Brycedale Crescent, N14" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Long before <a target="_blank" href="https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/arnos-grove/">Arnos Grove</a> was a tube station it was a <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnos_Grove_house">manor house</a>, originally called Arnoldes Grove, located half a mile uphill from where the Piccadilly line stops today. The house survives today as luxury apartments, but the <a target="_blank" href="https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=51.6234&lon=-0.1289&layers=168&b=1">estate</a> was sold off in the 1920s for housing and to create Arnos Park. The estate's spine road was also called Arnos Grove, just to add one more into the mix, and boasts the grandest houses as it descends from Southgate Green. The uppermost tier is Minchenden Crescent, named after the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minchington_Hall">even older</a> country house nextdoor, but the eight mile point comes one rung lower at Brycedale Crescent. This is a Neighbourhood Watch Area. Kill Your Speed. Road Works Ahead.<br />
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These are big chunky semis, far enough out not to have been subdivided into flats, although one postwar pebbledash intruder has been inserted at the head of the street. Front gardens have space for horticulture as well as parking, including crazy-paved roses and longstanding conifers. One resident has a Range Rover designated SWA99A, another a Nissan called B5VVY. The rear alleyway on the odd-numbered side is firmly padlocked. Several gateposts are topped with lanterns, several bay windows augmented by dishes. But the feature which really makes this road stand out is a strip of mixed shrubbery along the edge of the pavement, some of it privet, some alive with purple blooms, some dripping with hips. One mini-hedge has a blue stripe painted up the side and another a red line daubed across the top, because Thames Water are preparing to dig up the road and someone's been overzealous with the coloured aerosols. They'd better not be planning on deforestation.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>NINE MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Chase Road, Southgate N14</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(near the junction with Chelmsford Road)</i></font><br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAwwC1x5aG2-IuBGsczsWnGgJ2pNqLrDZktZA2Tl6pdjljYqvVCqSaDE56CMwMOsLJm7cmjogIKGop7dkWkRrxoe7FHIm-2C1NZ1RzM7krWODZ9rx8_bWwTZ1y3pAlZVCS738Pg/s640/n9i.jpg" title="Chase Road, Southgate" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
If only a mile were slightly shorter I'd be reporting from Charles Holden's magnificent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/128199683@N02/24824373419">Southgate</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/34407410360">station</a>, but instead we've overshot and started to climb the hill beyond. This was once the southern edge of the royal hunting forest of <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_Chase">Enfield Chase</a>, hence the name South Gate, and it's also why the road we're on is called Chase Road. One side has a short burst of Victorian terrace, but the majority of housing hereabouts consists of large Thirties semis built after the arrival of the Piccadilly line. The gradient from the pavement up to the front door provides householders with a landscape challenge which some address with a ramp, others with steps and a few with terraced shrubbery. Workmen are busy paving over one front garden... smoothing the soil, lugging a hod, splitting bricks and tessellating furiously.<br />
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Those waiting patiently on the oversized traffic island can pass the time gazing down towards the minor towers of Southgate. An ambulance has turned up to collect a patient, her fold-up wheelchair abandoned by the side of the kerb. Someone's cat pads through a hedge, then pauses to inspect some spiral topiary. A chain of red buckets emerges from a loft extension and opens its mouth above a skip in the street. A handful of roses and sunflowers are holding out into autumn. Everyone's bin has had a tag attached explaining how the council is ending free garden waste collections <a target="_blank" href="https://new.enfield.gov.uk/services/rubbish-and-recycling/upcoming-changes-to-bin-collections/">at the end of the month</a> (pay your £65 now to get 17 months for the price of 12). A handyman pushes a reappropriated supermarket trolley up the hill, his stepladder balanced on top, his brushes wrapped in plastic bags within. The bus from Eight Miles North to Ten Miles North occasionally overtakes.<br />
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<font color=#663399><u>TEN MILES NORTH</u>:</font> <b>Trent Park Equestrian Centre N14</b><br />
<font size=1><i>(along the back fence, alongside Trent Park Golf Club)</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49086079898"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiVlu-90F_mxiru5rKzm24480wN0XoDe1pTsw_dlbRZq5puPuRGTU6JCiBuv8_MyIj5xbAdJW709qJsqswinxsbHG0Sp3rdAJO1H474N4-q9BRS-BAuRGI6XdtReP6hUKCIPme8Q/s640/n10.jpg" title="Trent Park Equestrian Centre" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Precisely ten miles north from central London the houses stop and open country begins. The houses are in <a target="_blank" href="https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/oakwood/">Oakwood</a>, a well-to-do housing estate which followed the arrival of the Piccadilly line in the 1930s, its tube station a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/2913671254/">triumphant</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/871224485/">box</a>. A lengthy parade of surprisingly good shops stretches off to one side, with barely a chain or fried chicken shop amongst them, rather restaurants, salons and the occasional florist. For those used to inner-city living, it's eye-openingly comfortable out here. But on the opposite side of the road the Green Belt prevented further development, so Eastpole Farm never metamorphosed into leafy avenues. Instead its fields became a golf course and its stables became an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/49086079898">equestrian centre</a>.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://trentpark.com/">Trent Park Equestrian Centre</a> is one of London's larger horsey hubs, with stables, livery facilities and exercise areas across several acres. It's well shielded from the road, allowing £62 lessons, children's parties and mucking out to proceed in private. Every so often a line of black helmets bobs above a hedge. Occasionally the clopping of hooves can be heard. Head up the muddy bridleway towards <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Park">Trent Park</a> proper and you might meet a group of proficient riders out for a hack. But what you won't be doing is walking in off the street to reach the precise Ten Miles North location at the rear of the site, because that's off limits.<br />
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The only other way to reach the right spot would be to play a round on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.trentparkgolf.co.uk/course/golf-course-london-course-map">Trent Park Golf Course</a>. The fairway for the tenth hole brushes up against the back of the equestrian centre, should you ever be interested in coming (non-members welcome, weekdays £17). But there's no convenient public footpath across the course, and the screen of woodland around the outside is deliberately obstructive, so I never managed to point my camera at the designated location from any angle. Instead I glimpsed a few youthful golfers through the trees, smartly dressed and fashionably capped, and watched their buggy glide silently by. Ten Miles North is solely for private playtime, be that on two feet or on four.<br />
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<i><a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_08_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES NORTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_09_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES EAST</b></a> <br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_10_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES SOUTH</b></a><br />
<a href="http://lndn.blogspot.com/2019_11_01_lndn_archive.html"><b>MILES WEST</b></a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-43300962500624999142018-08-09T11:50:00.000+01:002018-08-26T08:55:24.585+01:0051½°N<font color=#b22222><font size=5><b>51½°N</b></font><br />
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<i>Greenwich is world famous as the point on the Earth's surface which defines the zero line of longitude. But London's line of <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latitude">latitude</a> is far less numerically satisfying, hence much less well known. The <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_parallel_north">51st parallel</a> passes well to the south of the capital, somewhere around Haywards Heath, while the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_parallel_north">52nd parallel</a> passes well to the north through Milton Keynes. Greater London lies slap bang between the two, indeed the line for 51½°N slices the capital pretty much in half.<br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh904Wlf_cSW9xEzoFKz_yfahZa_5QdAFjQkAguzI9MjooRKnrS_P4uZZGxb7pHvNCAwcQTEKN8lKhKAm0PjJWIaTljx0EMhtB97HuJdhmJzPB5BlB_rG74f30nOjCEWPrwq093PQ/s640/51point5.gif" title="51½°N" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
So my intention is to undertake a journey along this fifty-one-and-a-halfth parallel, the line of latitude also known as 51.5°N or 51°30'N. I'm not walking it, not least because this particular line crosses the Thames as many as six times, and only one of these has a bridge. But I will be stopping off at numerous locations which happen to lie precisely on this imaginary line, i.e. exactly 103 one-hundred-and-eightieths of the angular distance between the equator and the North Pole.<br />
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Because this is essentially a random east-west line, it traverses some utterly mundane parts of London and just misses several places of genuine interest. But sometimes the mundane bits can be the most fascinating, and don't worry, there are some amazing direct hits along the way. I'll be starting out east, on the edge of Thurrock, and crossing at least a dozen London boroughs on my way to the river Colne in almost-Buckinghamshire, thirty-one miles later.</i><br />
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<b><a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/sets/72157696788042892"><font color=#b22222>My 51½°N gallery</font></a></b> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" border="0" id="flickr_badge_wrapper"><tr><script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=5&display=random&size=s&layout=h&source=user_set&user=36101699310%40N01&set=72157696788042892"></script></tr>
</table>» <i><a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/sets/72157696788042892">130 photos taken along 51½°N</a></i><br />
» <i><a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/sets/72157696788042892/show">slideshow, from east to west</a></i><br />
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<i>...and here's <a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fl9cwgCc5bxYN965HijZFPh1fE6Ju6PF&usp=sharing">a map</a> showing the line of 51½°N across London</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=554813&Y=180249&A=Y&Z=115">Wennington interchange</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.229°E]</font><br />
Bang, right at the very edge of the capital we have a direct hit on a major road junction. I'm standing above the A13 dual carriageway, on a bridge between two feeder roundabouts, amid a Ballardian landscape of marshland and central reservations. Immediately to the east the A13 passes into Thurrock, and sweeps round towards M25 J30, where the London orbital makes a break for the QE2 Bridge. And to the west the A13 rises up onto the Wennington Viaduct, which is currently paralysed by a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43208985404/in/album-72157696788042892/">three mile tailback</a> caused by an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk/news/clean-up-crews-in-final-part-of-clearing-a13-following-lorry-crash-1-5641234">accident</a> involving a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/a13-reopens-13-hours-after-1871350">spillage</a> of Coca-Cola cans somewhere near Barking. I'll be heading into London long before any of the poor bastards down there.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43208985404/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifRE4I9w2_O2wZNGPLDRUBMHvhYzpKrZprlIs4bJqtF3lB1DsdZafw0mAXLdZLTmafeLflTBSWqN34KER7UU2YwjVk08WWAMd14F1GsMF9U_g6715_4X6HzMmg6zQoubA4ijsupA/s640/athirt.jpg" title="A13, Wennington Viaduct" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The dominance of road transport in this location is astounding. The roads are busy, obviously, but so are the pavements from parked-up lorries seeking a space to rest, including several <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43022392995/in/album-72157696788042892/">on the bridge itself</a>. What's more, all the local businesses are auto-related in some way, including a significant cluster of car dealers just beyond the slip road to the north. Whether you're after a £30K BMW or a sub-thousand runaround, the Essex Car Company or the grimly-named Car Realm have a guaranteed finance deal for you. Here too are Rainham Motor Caravans, and the greasy breakfast hub of Noakes Kebab and Burger, and the engine-tweakers at Track N Road Powerformance. Passing through on foot I felt borderline unworthy.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43022392995/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3VtSmKd51WSR72uZHi6ZRuNtx0s6YrGtvZJjE5sdgoCuRC-QsqOJ3NDsTkp7ITFbGHY0r2YnhKQD7bcOh6P9rb65CqmfNWaxqw7Rgpx7D_cHH0eqhu7SwKyw63J68aUlduw0WQ/s640/wenning.jpg" title="A1306, Wennington Interchange" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Unsurprisingly the bridgetop is scattered with litter, from bleached crisp packets to empty bottles of Lucozade chucked from the cab. A single white butterfly flits between the detritus, pauses awhile on some concrete crushed beneath the front wheel of a Tesco delivery lorry, then flies away. A motorcycle cop watches over the entrance slip on the Thurrock side of the border, advising traffic it may not want to join the logjam below. And I am strangely heartened by the skyline of central London being plainly visible on the horizon, behind the lampposts, pylons and a giant rotating wind turbine. How fortuitous that the precise alignment of a line on a map should afford such a perfect view of the journey yet to come.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>It's not possible to stand on the 51½th parallel for the next mile and a half, because not a single road or public footpath cuts across. First it's dual carriageway, then a tiny wedge of fenced-off fields, then the High Speed One railway line dividing the wetland landscape as it speeds Kentward. On the other side of the tracks are the Rainham Marshes, but these are the private parts the boardwalks of the RSPB reserve never reach, so only birds and other wildlife are allowed inside.</i></font> <br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=552295&Y=180154&A=Y&Z=115">Coldharbour Lane</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.192°E]</font><br />
Welcome to one of London's least hospitable thoroughfares. Coldharbour Lane started out as a track across the marshes to serve sheepfolds and firing ranges, and links the foot of Ferry Lane in Rainham to the Thames foreshore near Purfleet. It's long and initially perfectly straight, and a useful if unlikely shortcut if you don't want to follow the bleak estuarine footpath via Coldharbour Point. Alas Coldharbour Lane is even worse for sightseeing purposes, as it doesn't have a view, and is accompanied by a relentless procession of rumbling lorries. These juggernauts and tipper trucks are on their way to the Freightmaster Estate, a seriously remote riverfront corral where pallets are stacked, road sweepings reprocessed and goods of all kinds stashed for safe keeping. Many of the vehicles crawling by are emblazoned with wholly generic company names, like General Express Services or Economic Waste Management, while others represent inconsequential empires run by two-bit scrap entrepreneurs. This truly is a side of London you never see unless you work here.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/28994827997/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOWUtXVbdLIx172XEZsLoq38lifK-YDz-RUA2Vtp8k2ofJhoupNDP4n8_rwv3f0yQGXT2Bc5gtfiRYb-x12Jef4Czkm90Ux23mnrerX3d9sSmbDUFAx_XaUsvMZ_fZcBqtOhWkw/s640/coldlane.jpg" title="Coldharbour Lane, 51½°N" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I thought I was going to have to follow the traffic, past a shuttered sentry box labelled <i>Smile, You're on CCTV</i>, but thankfully there's a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/28994827997/in/album-72157696788042892/">separate footpath</a> to one side. This squeezes between barriers to deter motorcyclists, ducks beneath a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/28994838887/in/album-72157696788042892/">overhead pipeline</a> and heads bleakly ahead with no escape for the next mile. Thankfully I only have to go a fraction of that distance before reaching 51½°N, a point which my GPS also informs me is two metres below sea level. I'm prevented from switching to the road by a reedy ditch (Steep bank! Soft Mud!), and from trespassing elsewhere by an interminable bank covered with brambles, nettles, convolvulus and hawthorn bushes. Somewhere over the other side is an enormous Veolia landfill site, and quite possibly decades of your discarded trash. And all along the side of the path are red posts marking the presence of stumpy vertical pipes, their caps padlocked and numbered, restraining any gassy discharge within. Out of sight, out of mind.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=551542&Y=180139&A=Y&Z=115">Havering Riverside</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.182°E]</font><br />
The only other point where you can stand on the 51½th line of latitude in Havering is immediately alongside the Thames, at the very tip of Rainham's riverside industrial estate. You'll know the spot if (and probably only if) you've walked the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015/10/london-loop-24.html">final section</a> of the London Loop - it's where a scrappy footpath escapes from beneath the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42125287760/in/album-72157696788042892/">concrete wall</a> around the Tilda Rice factory and emerges beside a muddy bay filled with peculiar treasures. There's also a tiny car park, for pensioners who want to drive to the edge of beyond and sit in their vehicles whilst staring across the ditchwater estuary towards Erith. It is simultaneously an abominable and an amazing place.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42125287760/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfyjWvYMOY8wgFoRbFKWjNaOloRtTuQFFF9Rgw8K2C3YVOHZdIlDC2kItsZShd18ONzx6iSFvsBwaioDY-V0ktByHIibrzV9EbIxggcXopshBTlbOzWVcgovyW5xmSyTykczINw/s640/tilda.jpg" title="Tilda Rice factory, Havering Riverside" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The precise spot I'm trying to find is marked by a wooden signpost pointing to Coldharbour Point, and a graffitied council information board confirming that one day the footpath will extend further to Purfleet... which it did in 2009. The tide has dumped chunks of polystyrene, packaging and plastic on the foreshore, while unseen humans have added lager cans to the mix. Hundreds of seagulls have perched along the metal jetty, and launch off sequentially with a choreographed flourish as I approach. Some settle on the dozen concrete barges dumped here in 1953, now silently rotting at a variety of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43029134225/in/album-72157696788042892/">attractive angles</a>, and which rumour has it took part in the D Day assault. The other other-worldly structure is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diver">The Diver</a>, a skeletal <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/22130846461/">sculpture</a> of the perfect height to be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/21932844598/">covered</a> and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/22130827531/">uncovered</a> by the tide twice a day. Lovers of oddball London should make a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30063014178/in/album-72157696788042892/">beeline</a> here post haste.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/28996826677/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMXyilMdbx95xKANvvf3uK4fFlXLsE5ewGfJGygsy9_f31wIjsxWkU7cmGC4mKNuUYbeUJoTMPsgKf4LRldDv_0Xtj_oxLuwG204mr4lNakVJLq0E4I6MMaYePdpTw1bSWNck8ZQ/s640/cbarges.jpg" title="Concrete barges, Rainham" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I can see my next destination on the other side of the river amid the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/28996826677/in/album-72157696788042892/">silos and chimneys</a> of the Belvedere Industrial Estate. But I can't get there direct, not since the medieval ferry from Coldharbour to Erith was closed down in the 19th century. I fire up Citymapper, for a laugh, which informs me it's a 5 hour walk via the Woolwich Ferry, or at best a two hour journey by rail. What's more they're right, the train journey to Belvedere taking just 48 minutes, hugely prolonged by the schlepp I now have to make back across the marshes to Rainham station.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> HAVERING</font><br />
<hr color=#0099ff size=10><font color=#b22222 size=1> BEXLEY</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=550713&Y=180133&A=Y&Z=115">Belvedere Industrial Estate</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.170°E]</font><br />
One thing about the Thames in outer East London is quite how much low-level commercial activity there is. The river is wide enough for 'neighbours' on the opposite bank not to be disturbed, so all the essential mucky infrastructure which keeps the capital ticking over is sprawled out across huge expanses of former marshland. The Belvedere Industrial Estate is a case in point, covering an approximately triangular slice on an inside bend between the Erith Oil Works and the Crossness sewage plant. My target is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30078552408/in/album-72157696788042892/">one particular jetty</a> south of Jenningtree Point, which despite being on the Thames Path is annoyingly hard to reach as the estate permits no river access except at either end. I climb up to the top of the concrete battlements, then weave round thickly grooved muddy beaches to the rear of sheds and depots, until I'm finally opposite where I was two hours before.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30078552408/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5O9RFAX3mtTjIW13EEF5D3_z0C7hBv0P224ZDQLVoqTiJG_8836xn0AsjERyP26uUgzCgelq2_X1bstDkZM8lWdEPGMeelU8Ens3BdLvJW-wUPo9pXsXF-WuOyGCtRTs7i5eWzg/s640/belvjett.jpg" title="Mulberry Wharf" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Here at Mulberry Wharf I find a rare gate in the river defences, painted with yellow and black chevrons, firmly shut and overseen by CCTV and spotlights. Behind the iron bars sit maintenance trucks, caravans and a man in a forklift surrounded by pallets, while a thin pipe bends <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30078544388/in/album-72157696788042892/">over the footpath</a> to feed the padlocked jetty. This is T-shaped and mostly concrete, although one arm consists of two metal gantries to nowhere, linked via a central pillar. The surface is crumbly and overgrown, the only signs of activity being a rusty hopper connected up to a blue tube, and a couple of bright orange lifebelt holders, at least one of which is empty. Buddleia overspills the path. A cyclist careers by. The tide is sludge-low.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>The top corner of Bexley, where land is cheap, has proven the <a target="_blank" href="http://belvederewharf.info/thames-gateway/">ideal location</a> for numerous logistics hubs and Customer Fulfilment Centres. Lidl dispense your shopping orders from a huge depot backing onto the river, Amazon distribute from a site on Crabtree Manorway, Tesco's Dotcom Centre is a bit nearer Erith, and Ocado have by far the most gigantic warehouse of all. As for Asda's CDC, their white fortresses lie slap bang across 51½°N on Norman Road, and that's where I'm heading next.</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30078533468/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_y9iQptZCQn5Idedm6J-LpTThoibw36I8ip42Sgws1j2W5UC8_TC689tHQZWeDY_Sn8SItRhecFC3EK2HTYn3OuS-7Uo6EBFNobG63xcarBiKBiYFc0wKwti4CiKSvhsf_V2cQg/s640/xnessnr.jpg" title="Crossness Nature Reserve" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=549442&Y=180081&A=Y&Z=115">Crossness Nature Reserve</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.151°E]</font><br />
A large portion of the Erith Marshes remain somehow undeveloped, including this 60 acre site to the east of the Crossness sewage works. A rare reedbed haven, it's half private courtesy of <a target="_blank" href="https://corporate.thameswater.co.uk/About-us/Community/Great-days-out/Recreational-sites/Crossness-nature-reserve">Thames Water</a>, and half accessible via an unpromising footpath link from Norman Road. A minute up the track I disturb a heron at close quarters amid the rushes, which flies off majestically followed by several startled waterfowl. I soon find myself in the middle of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30078533468/in/album-72157696788042892/">scrappy field</a> grazed by shaggy horses, who eye me up from a safe distance, while the Bexley Incinerator dominates the near horizon and thistledown drifts across a barbed wire fence. I feel distinctly uncomfortable, rather than <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bexleywildlife.org/friends-of-crossness-nature-reserve/">at one with nature</a>, and retreat from the field just before a man with a van drives in and greets me with a suspicious smile.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=547442&Y=180030&A=Y&Z=115">South Mere</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.123°E]</font><br />
Most of <a target="_blank" href="http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/thamesmead/">Thamesmead</a> is relentless housing estate, or empty, but I've hit the jackpot and arrived at its most famous landscape feature, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/bexley/assets/galleries/thamesmead/southmere-lake/southmere-lake">South Mere</a> lake. This is where C4's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsBYXLYNZlE">Misfits</a> was filmed, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWHUZMULVBI">Beautiful Thing</a>, and a particularly dystopian <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/how-london-has-changed-stanley-kubrick-clockwork-orange">Stanley Kubrick</a> classic. To the east of the lake is Southmere Park, littered with goose-droppings and abandoned barbecues by the water's edge, but increasingly bleak and paddocky on the extensive flatlands beyond. It seems a minor planning miracle that nobody's covered this underused recreational wilderness with a thousand homes, and equally remarkable that the 51½°N line of latitude has yet to hit a single residential building, even four miles inside the capital. We're about to change that.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29012876157/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbczBWR9Js-J6c9lufB8n40B7As71Xbuo1TN3CSZLad7WfhnPnqPcLCEYdwTDuuGqqp1qA0X_d-Bzz_ewv5weNcgO0I1pZk5T_5rC7rQyRk02Po8TafZZmMwrVVbtAHv_-BwzBlw/s640/bwalk.jpg" title="Binsey Walk" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Binsey Walk was the location of one of A Clockwork Orange's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtRGeyznv7k&feature=youtu.be&t=29s">most famous scenes</a>, as Alex and his droogs strut along the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/5583610764/">edge</a> of Southmere Lake before being booted, submerged and sliced. A single row of flats with staggered concrete balconies overlooks a stepped <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/5583024611/">waterside promenade</a>, where any 21st century hoodlum could don a bowler hat and codpiece and... oh hang on, it's been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29012886087/in/album-72157696788042892/">fenced off</a>! A blue hoarding juts out just far enough to prevent even acrobatic access, while the swans brooding on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29012876157/in/album-72157696788042892/">overgrown promenade</a> suggest that this is no recent development. Another film location bites the dust.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29012899747/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbquhz6kV_EW1BoSKj7z0Cke6J0aUq-UghDn6vxZsW8AhnJ2kYOvxJfH6dRd3ynd5kCJt4V4nH-SS1ObUJVOZR8rjccJ879Y8F49Gou6X7mcBzQJIg11Y599pzIyXUiSFsppkIA/s640/binsy.jpg" title="Binsey Walk" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
These famous flats, along with the majority of the original <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/globalnix/4849392930">Tavy Bridge</a> neighbourhood, are being demolished and rebuilt in modern vernacular. The shopping parade is part of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.yourabbeywood.co.uk/abbey-wood-south-thamesmead-housing-zone/">Phase I</a>, where wealthier incomers will get the waterfront block while denser affordable apartments are packed in behind (including ground floor homes for the first time following the relaxation of flood-risk regulations). <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29012899747/in/album-72157696788042892/">Binsey Walk</a> is scheduled for <a target="_blank" href="https://fromthemurkydepths.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/peabody-plans-aerial.jpg">later</a>, but has already been decanted, with access to its upper walkways permanently blocked and several of its net-curtained windows either smashed or boarded up. It should be good news for the 'temporary' portakabin library and the gutted Lakeside social centre, but what's planned is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.proctorandmatthews.com/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/filefield_paths/AWST_Web08_1.jpg">a strip of</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.proctorandmatthews.com/case-study/south-thamesmead">identikit buildings</a> no location scout would ever pick for a movie.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> BEXLEY</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> GREENWICH</font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43234571984/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBmtXWWp1e69fiJOxS0FXyPx2UnPRjcvT7UQHcq50CWLj839q4V6PxfEpR8OyVMuWZkccPyG7XUI0tulGO8mCYgO8HRdf7RARZ539XmJ1uU8Tuf_cYOJSJHRWRUqlP5qat6ChI9g/s640/birchm.jpg" title="Birchmere Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=546306&Y=179990&A=Y&Z=115">Birchmere</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.106°E]</font><br />
Across the dividing line of Harrow Manorway, Thamesmead is younger, and less iconic, and belongs to Greenwich. This is also where the 51½th parallel crosses the massive sewer and dual carriageway which divides Thamesmead more physically, and makes a beeline for further open space. The eastern end of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=GRN003">Birchmere Park</a> consists of recreational glades, the central section is 100% grass and the western end boasts a twelve acre <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43234571984/in/album-72157696788042892/">landscaped lake</a> (which is the hub of all the waterway corridors hereabouts). I follow a typical family on their journey through; a bullet-headed Dad leading an unwilling hound, a young son driving a miniature red car, and an elder daughter being shouted at when all she was trying to do was follow instructions. They stop to feed the geese, beside two cannons left behind to remind residents that this used to be Woolwich's firing range, while a pair of weary anglers wait for this cacophony to pass.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>I find to my cost that there is no pedestrian connection between the two estates beyond Central Way, the intermediate wasteland awaiting <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2018/04/03/thamesmead-waterfront-of-tomorrow">massive redevelopment</a> after the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallions_Reach_Crossing">Gallions Reach Crossing</a> one day, maybe, leaps off the drawing board. The yellowbrick houses along Newmarsh Road aren't ageing well, and some owners aren't taking as much care of their properties as others, so I'd say this faded enclave has future slum written all over it.</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43953242041/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd61uuN6cAM2ZGTWFJ4ZvP42giwFRzyrvP8fkxLIv5I8Ikghwn-tywlxssd5CCUBU8SGO2pShnd6RDH4Q28KW0CoDvUeXObI4bnnLLoS4J-M74pIAmtR80ORWXOHylUZn_a240iQ/s640/gallpk.jpg" title="Gallions Park, Thamesmead West" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=545160&Y=179965&A=Y&Z=115">Thamesmead West</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.090°E]</font><br />
Zero points to the planners who named this disconnected estate after a neighbourhood centre they can't easily reach. Conveniently located only for staff at Belmarsh prison, this labyrinth of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/14568595666/">flats and</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/14589751744/">townhouses</a> is enlivened only by an <a target="_blank" href="https://londonist.com/2016/04/climbing-the-highest-peak-in-thamesmead">artificial hill</a> added in an attempt to give the place some character, and a landscaped <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43953242041/in/album-72157696788042892/">drainage channel</a>. I descend a set of log steps to the one wooden pontoon the ducks haven't occupied, while a total handful of a boy rides over the footbridge in a state of midsummer agitation. If you live round here, the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/leisure/pubspy/13503158.PubSpy_reviews_The_Princess_Alice_in_Thamesmead/">Princess Alice</a> is your sole pub/carvery option, a cheerless building named after a local mass drowning. If you don't live round here, and aren't called for jury service at Woolwich Crown Court, I suspect it's best avoided.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43904988642/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3iuc31wwx_d8N400d5-cgYuTV2X9fQOrjcWCj0guwVAhqcXdK3M5VVExQloQTVel_WJCafsLYO5cC-q3hE7ayoROgA_FTtwedOmuQ4JcC9rx2JpGBnmSZPF9LNnicDdSJ9Hah4Q/s640/wtemsmd.jpg" title="Gallions Reach" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=544702&Y=179938&A=Y&Z=115">Gallions Reach</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.084°E]</font><br />
51½°N has hit the Thames again, at one of the first East London locations where private developers thought high rise living might be a good idea. Now Woolwich is getting in on the act, big-time, but here we are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43904988642/in/album-72157696788042892/">a mile downstream</a> on a godforsaken bend where many of the first residents weren't as happy as they might have been. But the Royal Arsenal development has tugged the place somewhat closer to the action, and Crossrail may be the breath of life everybody needs. I watch, perturbed, as a local family ascend to the highest point on the river wall and their youngest child announces "I can see the sea!" Newham's a fair way across the water, as well as where all those noisy planes are landing, but City Airport's hardly overseas.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> GREENWICH</font><br />
<hr color=#0099ff size=10><font color=#b22222 size=1> NEWHAM</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=543919&Y=179930&A=Y&Z=115">Gallions Point</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.073°E]</font><br />
On the inside of yet another Thames bend, facing Thamesmead West, the housing developers arrived early. They threw up gates around their enclave, and coveted their riverside promenade, and are I suspect seriously miffed that the Thames Path runs along it so they had to include a pushbutton system to allow the public through. Despite this being Gallions Point on Gallions Reach, all policy directives are countersigned by a body called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ourproperty.co.uk/directory/galleons-point-management/10066601">Galleons Point Management Limited</a>, and they have prohibition signs slapped all over. On my incursion I discover every bench on the promenade is empty, perhaps because when seated the entire river disappears behind a concrete wall. An over-optimistic number of litter bins has been provided. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43248215394/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PEaZbDdfrUkDwJicg8S1ZzK6uhovjOY9LDc7P68QqDdMxg-537T7Yl0IVc5l2n1fIBK9RUUkfTuXc204JwjS90p8lB0VDXMyOR6rFYsvkekpuFlEUnwj2u-On1IqOyFC94K-aA/s640/galpoint.jpg" title="Gallions Point" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
At the point I'm looking for, steps lead <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43248215394/in/album-72157696788042892/">up and over</a> the concrete wall to a wooden gate, where a sign informs me I'm about to enter the Galleons Point Riverside Wildlife Area. This is a rarity in inner-ish London, free access to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43966745201/in/album-72157696788042892/">tidal foreshore</a> down a steep scrubby slope. The only wildlife is a pair of swans wading where the muddy beach turns to water, and occasionally flapping their wings because they can. I could jump down and walk on the bed of the Thames, or more sensibly follow a sliver of grassy path below the river defence not terribly far round the next bend. Instead I clamber back onto the promenade, surprising a kagouled couple walking through, one with her thumb in a copy of the <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/beckton-district-park-to-woolwich">Capital Ring</a> guidebook. They're so nearly finished.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>Royal Victoria Gardens glows with civic benevolence, imbued in the days when dock workers needed somewhere to recreate. Today its playgrounds are its best feature, but football tricky because there's only one goal. A faded sign outside the bowls club suggests a cup of coffee costs only 80p, a beef burger £1.50 and a single slice of toast 10p (chocolate spread 20p extra). Originally this park was in Essex, but peculiarly the two pockets of land immediately to either side were administered by Kent, because <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Woolwich">Woolwich's</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Woolwich#/media/File:North_Woolwich_-Formal.jpg">boundaries</a> have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.british-history.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publications/pubid-283/images/fig1.gif">long</a> been archaically obtuse.</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43248231194/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYcRuQecDNhcjpvjd8Ybz10Rns8yDgwnzkKGucoTJOZxsEDnxyUctTHPicp16FvBZYUMMywHHskRKvZ9JmFbW5yPWO8Vf7tirH3kkHBfIvbK2_tIIqEbBa1j9woK9W13RAp1RRjA/s640/rstandrd.jpg" title="Royal Standard Hotel" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=543312&Y=179915&A=Y&Z=115">Pier Road, North Woolwich</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.063°E]</font><br />
My westward odyssey scores a direct hit on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43073850705/in/album-72157696788042892/">crossroads</a> at the very heart of <a target="_blank" href="https://deserter.co.uk/2016/11/reclaim-north-woolwich/">North Woolwich</a>, where Pier Road breaks off from Albert Road, at what was once the end of the North Circular. Traffic continues to feed down to the ferry terminal, and gushes back out in regular waves. On one corner is North Woolwich Police Station (brick, 1904), while opposite is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43248231194/in/album-72157696788042892/">Royal Standard Hotel</a>, purveyor of (cough) gentlemen's entertainment. It's too early in the day for live on-stage action, so the clientele can be seen heaving their t-shirted paunches over the pool table, feeding the fruit machines and occasionally stepping outside for a smoke. A young lad hurries over the zebra crossing towards TJ's Kebabs, cursing the parental errand that will see him entirely drenched by approaching stormclouds before he gets his box of chicken home.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43073844605/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlh_DfwiiBHmHRP8R8GLvu9TYGozO4OKnGCVEOUcLDO0n6Zg4PEprqlcfzAgK0kcpBcpXF8c5MEQqq2sjty0NX2JSedJULq6fYY3cTfZq_uTbOluC-kF4bqnfG-uMBrmoZMiHXA/s640/tatlyl.jpg" title="Tate and Lyle Refinery" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=542223&Y=179947&A=Y&Z=115">Tate and Lyle Refinery</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.049°E]</font><br />
The next mile of 51½°N is inaccessible because it passes through grubby industrial estates and Europe's largest sugar refinery. Once all this was chemical works, jam factories, mills and wharves, as river frontage and proximity to the Royal Docks made Silvertown bustle. Today <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43073844605/in/album-72157696788042892/">Factory Road</a> is easily one of London's most desolate streets, trapped behind Crossrail's uncrossable tracks, and will thankfully be shielded from passengers by an unbroken concrete wall. What they will see if they look up are the silos and chimneys of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/23529442554/">Tate & Lyle refinery</a>, which have been "keeping the nation sweet for 140 years" according to the banner strung on high. The original owner was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tateandlyle.com/about-us/henry-tate">Henry Tate</a>, not <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tateandlyle.com/about-us/abram-lyle">Abram Lyle</a>... we'll be narrowly missing his golden syrup works further along at Plaistow Wharf.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=541299&Y=179874&A=Y&Z=115">Thames Barrier Park</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.035°E]</font><br />
51½°N doesn't quite skim the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43077827725/in/album-72157696788042892/">Thames Barrier</a>, but it does hit the attractive modern <a target="_blank" href="https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/environment/parks-green-spaces-and-biodiversity/parks-and-green-spaces/thames-barrier-park">park</a> on its upstream flank. Opened well ahead of the curve in 2000, its reclaimed acreage has done much to boost house prices in these parts - so much so that its former car park is currently being converted into <a target="_blank" href="http://pontoondockdevelopment.com">236 flats</a>. The sunken rippling <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mctumshie/7474062296/">Green Dock</a> is its finest feature, but I'm heading to the flat-topped <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43983401571/in/album-72157696788042892/">Pavilion of Remembrance</a> closer to the river. Finally repaired, and devoid of scaffolding, its undulating stones pay tribute to unnamed local victims of war.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43077827725/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDW3C8afhvUK7xC04Br9a_Dl0iat8dVorEsEZhEQGgGYLZqauRGHvTolpYaEoTxB9eqznWccCab7tVfP8fGcnu_gtpSS3eJxhEdbeasNMnbvFjK1zJ4m0H6W0LOym8q58I6LwvQ/s640/tbarrpk.jpg" title="Pavilion of Remembrance, Thames Barrier Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I'm up on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43263155054/in/album-72157696788042892/">marble-edged lawns</a>, trying to get a decent photo, when I slip and start to fall. It recently utterly tipped it down, and although I did read the sign which says "decking slippery when wet", I stupidly forgot to transfer that warning to the stones laid around the edge. Initially there's a moment when I think I might be able to regain my balance, but after a split second additional momentum kicks in and I resign myself to a flying splat. I wonder how much it's going to hurt. I should never have worn these old trainers, the tread's too worn. But somehow I tug myself out of it, a cramping muscle in my left arm the only injury, and steady myself on the ground in blessed relief. One day, I remind myself, a similarly careless slip could have more far-reaching consequences.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29047261017/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMyWuTXgFQN3oG9jz0Ql4Mos-vUF5zpcIfxwdDyEB9zcvGqsH97OLNZWfUuQtPfOJeVRkK1d87C_dyynLwwHgMgPSkOcWOBjy5BJNvsQ0oy38flLq8clZJ2AIzEbilhng1ehtwrA/s640/rwharf.jpg" title="Admiralty Avenue, Royal Wharf" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=541000&Y=179831&A=Y&Z=115">Royal Wharf</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.030°E]</font><br />
Nobody wants industry any more, they want homes, so an enormous area of Thames frontage has been cleansed and Ballymore are creating <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalwharf.com/">Royal Wharf</a> in its place. They're keen to give it gravitas, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ballymoregroup.com/project/detail/royal-wharf">claiming</a> they're creating a district with "unmistakeable character" like Belgravia or Bloomsbury, whereas the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29047261017/in/album-72157696788042892/">reality</a> is brick vernacular apartments and townhouses squished along a warren of streets, the vast majority with no river view at all. Estate agents scuttle along the streets in golf buggies, private security guards in something dinkier, and colourful hoardings represent vibrant businesses which might be moving in on the ground floor but haven't yet. Starbucks is doing well, and Sainsbury's has a captive audience, but the only other sign of retail life I could find was a planning notice for an unopened nail bar requesting an 7-days-a-week alcohol licence. Nothing else along my 31 mile journey will nod at London's future more clearly than Royal Wharf.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=540558&Y=179836&A=Y&Z=115">Lyle Park</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.024°E]</font><br />
I like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2012/03/11/tate-and-lyles-staff-park-in-silvertown/">Lyle Park</a>, mainly because whenever I visit I always assume nobody else knows it's here. That's doubly the case on this occasion, because the sole entrance to the park has been swamped by a puddle, and I have to teeter round a dog mess bin and brush along a soaking privet hedge to gain access. I am correct, there is absolutely nobody else present, the football pitch awaiting matches that never come, and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/loughtonkid/5986859525/">riverfront benches</a> devoid of even a scattering of litter. And yet the park is evidently well looked after, the shrubbery vibrant, the changing rooms primed, and developers held firmly at bay.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42176021990/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHtVP_hFuj65-MKSgc-QI4erxgauo_a6l21iH-7SaK1XGA2Y3D4jGz292GbsgMz3h1rgyL17Q9sZm9NjrmrCacfsZoz5LbOmRBGvZsMevCTO0rZgVVB4_wkf-jQWhQBcaOWd3Aw/s640/lylepkgate.jpg" title="Lyle Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The park was gifted to the people of West Ham by Abram Lyle's syrup dynasty, essentially to give their workers a thin sliver of recreational land and a smidgeon of river access. The focus of the raised <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogersg/5205853643/">gardens</a> at the rear used to be a bandstand, but the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/loopzilla/2040125550/">former</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/caruth/20975431432/">factory</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42176021990/in/album-72157696788042892/">gates</a> of the Harland & Wolff shipyard now provide the centrepiece, relocated from North Woolwich when the business folded. I could sit happily up here staring at the ugliest bit of Greenwich, and the river traffic floating through, were it not for the nagging feeling that I'd be a sitting duck for petty crime. The park's single entrance is so far distant, and the adjacent businesses so bleak, that... well, just don't visit the park alone if your imagination thrives on worst case scenarios.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> NEWHAM</font><br />
<hr color=#0099ff size=10><font color=#b22222 size=1> GREENWICH</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=539505&Y=179815&A=Y&Z=115">Dangleway South</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.008°E]</font><br />
Of all the places to coincidentally end up, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30127023948/in/album-72157696788042892/">southern terminal</a> of London's best-loved cablecar is surely as good as it gets. Nowhere else in London can you take off and soar over the breakers yards of Silvertown, taking in all the glories of the estuarine Thames as you go. On the day of my visit the service is being well used by out-of-town parents keeping their kids busy with a brief school holiday treat, and ageing rockers who've arrived at the O2 too early for tonight's Iron Maiden gig and need something to fill the time. Despite the fact that Oyster and contactless is the cheapest way to fly, everyone's queueing up to pay extra for the <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/emirates-air-line/the-emirates-air-line-experience">Airline Discovery Experience</a> emblazoned on a sign stuck above the ticket office, which'll bring them straight back here after they've discovered how dull the area around the Royal Docks terminal is. My cynicism for this Mayoral white elephant remains undimmed.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30127023948/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMiGpXCYfqb3zDcoMYlAn4BgOeLhlQwXWPcb7W6oqrA9mhJ7iG2k-WFhZVjLUlYTzQcmWnv9QoakEyBUmHe9NsAmDbd6a3mmiEKRS355PISUpGl4gQILIDSbbdWcimNETeyv8SgQ/s640/danglesouf.jpg" title="Dangleway South" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The latest commercial development inside the terminal is a souvenir kiosk, carefully positioned to attract passengers coming down the stairs after southbound flights. One of the Dangleway's many surplus members of staff hangs around in front of shelves of branded goodies, including a fridge magnet for £3, a fudge bag for £4, a thermal cup for £7 and a selfie stick for a tenner. They know their target audience well. If you've ever wanted an Emirates-red baseball cap with the cablecar's logo on the front, and have £9 to spare, you know where to come. None of this is freshly sourced, it's the same tat they've been selling in the gift shop in the cafe opposite for years, and another member of stuff lugs extra boxes of snowglobes over should they run out. Every year, without fail, the cablecar provides additional confirmation that it remains a tourist-milker rather than a useful means of public transport.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=539131&Y=179807&A=Y&Z=115">North Greenwich Bus Station</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.003°E]</font><br />
...and not just the bus station but the <i>centre</i> of the bus station, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29058095407/in/album-72157696788042892/">the midpoint</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43276764904/in/album-72157696788042892/">of the arc</a>, immediately opposite the escalators where the Jubilee line disgorges. Here are blue bins stacked with copies of this morning's Metro, and plastic bags into which tonight's Standard will later be flung. Three yellow cones warn that the floor might be wet, two purple footprints point off towards the local animatronic dinosaurs, and arrivals from Charlton dash to grab a Caffe Nero before descending into the depths. This is a space which sometimes seethes with people, but today is quiet as a lamb.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29058095407/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLb4RqmgMLCQk1V_vkE23iNF-EmoKGYC63UKaBzJmtyQnXdgp6TrxCWQP21FqPCTjG53l-y_3M1QXKKVOtKWNF9HRsbURlLYUCb9HfR64DMRIBpFL0cIvYIwrC0J85equqIlM3eg/s640/ngrbus.jpg" title="North Greenwich Bus Station" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Of course this millennial transport interchange is due to be <a target="_blank" href="https://853london.com/2017/02/15/should-north-greenwich-bus-station-be-listed-these-people-say-it-should-be/">swept away</a> in a few years's time as the Lords of Greenwich Peninsula replace it with a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/02/greenwich-peninsula-santiago-calatrava-london-building-tube">three-pronged crown</a> of shops and flats, which'll be great if you've ever dreamed of something better than a W H Smith, but likely less convenient if all you want to do is catch a bus. In the meantime, if what you truly desire is a copy of the May 2017 tube map, the Travel Information desk has a handful in its racks and a box of 3000 on the counter (but you'll be lucky to catch it open).<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=538821&Y=179820&A=Y&Z=115">Delta Wharf</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0°W]</font><br />
Dammit, it's impossible to stand on the precise spot where fifty one and a half degrees north crosses the <a href="http://www.thegreenwichmeridian.org/tgm/location.php?i_latitude=51.501601">zero meridian</a> because it lies in an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43998889801/in/album-72157696788042892/">undeveloped zone</a> behind hoardings. The intersection's about halfway between the entrance to the Blackwall Tunnel and the River Thames, on a former aggregate-processing site called <a target="_blank" href="https://greenwichpeninsulahistory.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/delta-wharf-some-background">Delta Wharf</a>. The godforsaken backwater of Tunnel Avenue is as close as you can currently get, unless you're the lackey who picks up the golf balls at the far end of the Greenwich Peninsula Driving Range. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/aderowbotham/278411728/">last vestiges</a> of industrialisation were <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1571674">razed</a> from Delta Wharf in 2009, but the rest of the site remains vacant until developers Knight Dragon finally get round to building <a href="http://greenwichpeninsula.co.uk/district/meridian-quays/">Meridian Quays</a> ("boutiques, bars and towering waterfront living at its most glorious").<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43998889801/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjxuzvOQ6TePUDtexCtLEV-8XuyfyqpCOB8aUJG42DF5M097y3px7V5HNx115yV0DT6UK9BPmyLGeozRABg1fXVgWeFDhjo7JmAWQmaIGTl4GDZyTbsLNdAg3_kbxtuLAwE3Fzg/s640/dome51.jpg" title="The Dome, across Delta Wharf" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>For the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30130294258/in/album-72157696788042892/">riverside view</a>, take the Thames Path south from Drawdock Road, almost to the jetty [51.5°N 0.002W°], where a semi-overgrown bench has been provided for your comfort. The skyscrapers of Docklands look particularly imposing from over here, I always think. Frosted half-globe lights line the promenade, wild flowers sprout in the gap between footpath and cycle path, and all could be quite pleasant were it not for the fenced-off nomansland behind you. In a city with a housing crisis, it seems insane that a peninsula cleared for residential redevelopment almost twenty years ago still hasn't got its act together (and, affordably at least, probably never will).</i></font><br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> GREENWICH</font><br />
<hr color=#0099ff size=10><font color=#b22222 size=1> TOWER HAMLETS</font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30132717538/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoZCciMYvJw_cOumIzv5OE_VrzKO7Bar7Bbca324A4HwrF3Y0RHpLPVIk9EqSFLLpwIfn25yMdYEQjE6FziGhKCLYnX4ETM2lFpbF80j5Bjridajf9Zbnx6yYJpbrVGSe0Gq6dA/s640/pierlok.jpg" title="Pierhead Lock" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=538384&Y=179782&A=Y&Z=115">Pierhead Lock</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.008W°]</font><br />
My line of latitude's arrival on the Isle of Dogs coincides with actual riverfront access at the tip of Stewart Street. The dominant building here is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30132717538/in/album-72157696788042892/">quite something</a>, an apartment block of pure white graduated towers stacked high with circular balconies, dipping backwards in a kind of swirling horseshoe formation around a landscaped terraced garden. It almost looks like some giant 1930s ocean liner has docked beside the Thames. This is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.barratthomes.co.uk/new-homes/greater-london/track-record---article-pages/pierhead-lock/">Pierhead Lock</a>, completed in the year 2000 before the area became hugely desirable, hence of far lower density than anything Barrett Homes would build today. There's no gym on site, the poor darlings, but residents do have access to a tiny private <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43095469815/in/album-72157696788042892/">concrete jetty</a> with two benches and a flagpole. I don't know what you do when you see a sign that says "Strictly No Loitering", but I hung around for an extra few minutes to revel in their glorious meandering panorama.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=537787&Y=179762&A=Y&Z=115">South Quay DLR</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.016W°]</font><br />
If you're familiar with Docklands, 51.5°N sadly misses the main highrise cluster and crosses the peninsula to the south, approximately along the line of Marsh Wall. But it does score a direct hit on the bridge at the entrance to Millwall Inner Dock, where red flashing lights would halt the traffic if only any of the sailing boats moored up alongside wanted to nip through. This is also where <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44001277141/in/album-72157696788042892/">South Quay DLR station</a> was relocated in 2009, spanning the waterway and creating a gloomy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42193807790/in/album-72157696788042892/">undercroft</a> beneath its platforms where yesterday's lunch wrappings inexorably accumulate. I particularly liked the street sign at 191-195 Marsh Wall, across the road, which still bears the original 80s logo of the <a href="http://lddc-history.org.uk/">LDDC</a> quango.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44001277141/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMRm5njSdYehhnKPdGWlBXbg8QaqmErRL2okAzqspgek63Ow5ZuylTdtu-iYjEYUpA8sZ4w4bTCIa5ejzUtSG3UJukEKpjqCwxZiYY8-0V1dpdoP-0Roqcr49uJPGng1BsDJAKGw/s640/soutquay.jpg" title="South Quay DLR" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The only skyscraper on the 51.5°N line of latitude is the 48-storey <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Peninsula">Pan Peninsula</a>, which overtook the Barbican's Shakespeare Tower as London's tallest residential building in 2009. Some of the office blocks close by are the same bullet-grey cuboids erected when Docklands was new, others are covered in the telltale multicoloured panels of the late Noughties, and several more are in the process of being demolished to make way for something bankers can live in. I don't know how much longer the geometrical sheds of <a target="_blank" href="https://lid.zoocdn.com/645/430/70ddf8cd0c425908ab73878501e562ff829a1050.jpg">Skylines Village</a> can hold out against the 48-storey tower described in the planning notice pinned to a lamppost outside, but for the time being they house a useful collection of (very) small businesses which help keep the neighbouring financial empire ticking over.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30134380078/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSaO2hHI-t_Ua9Z8RNZ6MDUSkcq7tJWvel7-81Pd_fUH6ifpoavXhZ-cchLC0h3HH6W-ufk-kKx1kBAgqbBCLMwzcuVVynF3xotNX3EnypktT3d3WyzLfHA1f4Dp6GdxlIOyLj2A/s640/milharb.jpg" title="Millennium Harbour" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=537013&Y=179744&A=Y&Z=115">Millennium Harbour</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.028W°]</font><br />
And on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30134380078/in/album-72157696788042892/">western edge</a> of the Isle of Dogs, another screen of flats. You can probably guess roughly when Millennium Harbour was built, its residents cursed by tiny slanting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/20488392232/">balconies</a> smaller than the minimum area permissible today. I turn my attention instead to the Thames, a classic section downstream of a serious bend, and watch the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43954363702/in/album-72157696788042892/">river traffic</a> riding the tide. <i>i)</i> a Thames Clipper, zigzagging over to Greenland Dock. <i>ii)</i> three Rigid Inflatable Boats, giving their paying customers the weaving speed-blast they paid £30 for. <i>iii)</i> a bright orange open-topped launch, ferrying a trio of hi-vis guys upstream. <i>iv)</i> three dozen empty waste containers on a chain of barges, heading to the City for refilling. <i>v)</i> a cruiser called Pride of London, its rear deck packed with identikit beery blokes in Crystal Palace jerseys singing "Who are ya?" at the tops of their voices, a huge St George's flag draped from the stern. It's a fabulous spot to pause and watch London drift by.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> TOWER HAMLETS</font><br />
<hr color=#0099ff size=10><font color=#b22222 size=1> SOUTHWARK</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=536634&Y=179722&A=Y&Z=115">Surrey Docks City Farm</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.034°W]</font><br />
I'm too old to have a favourite city farm, but this <a href="http://www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk">delightful farmyard</a> slams in high on my non-existent list. It's been here <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43954363702/in/album-72157696788042892/">by the riverside</a> since 1986, before which the site has been a shipyard, timber yard and a receiving station for smallpox patients. It's easy to slip in from the Thames Path, by the herb garden, but most parents and very small children enter via the main gates on Rotherhithe Street. There is an unmistakeable whiff of livestock just before you head inside. It's amazing how much has been crammed in, including a central yard where you pet the goats, a duckpond, a blacksmith's forge and a small orchard (please do not pick the loganberries).<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30164934188/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHoLDgVJlDVJtNhvz9j-5_grgmTN-6aM6ToHa-ZSLcUGk8E_J86LIGotvP1UirCGjd0AY7-LSTZ6XAm00eKzZOOu-VBfSx07GwB1R-osHyPskj3Nt-BltNowwV1fnOZnhERQ_zg/s640/citfm.jpg" title="Surrey Docks City Farm" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Animals kept along the 51½°N line include Alice and Hermione the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29096029137/in/album-72157696788042892/">donkeys</a>, who give rides to those of small enough stature, and Rupert, Winnie and Marmalade the Oxford Sandy and Black <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30164934188/in/album-72157696788042892/">pigs</a>. A path laid with mosaics leads round the back of their pens to the Muck Heap, which might explain that whiff earlier, passing the Youth Allotments where a crew of young locals grow flowers and veg in raised beds. One of these children was proudly telling her Mum about all the good work she'd been doing with the farm animals that morning, and pointing out her sweetcorn of which she was evidently very proud. The sunflowers are coming on particularly nicely. And don't forget to wash your hands before you leave.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>We don't quite get to pass Stave Hill, one of London's largest <a target="_blank" href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2016/07/londons-artificial-hills.html">artificial hills</a>, which is a shame because it's the only elevated bit of land for miles with <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43316584344">an actual view</a>. But we do cross <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_Dock_Woodland">Russia Dock Woodland</a>, which is one of the original <a target="_blank" href="http://www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk/RankinSurreyDocks.pdf">Surrey Docks</a> filled in to create an ecological buffer, with tiny meandering paths amongst the trees, a wider recreational space, some very keen <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/tcvstavehill">volunteers</a> and a few old wharfside rails thrown in for good measure.</i></font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42226133780/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_5L4Imu-oVwi5uBhM4Ecj9I38pbbnwBmtL8mVO2nebeNoINZ6APnnrQ5poE6Wv_NZnRLot9T3efWlce3EvyaZFwOga7YBUsfKLNmRWyBH4l9yWpkDHTgc7W_au4SU5o88j5kCiA/s640/albchan.jpg" title="Albion Channel" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=535755&Y=179709&A=Y&Z=115">Albion Channel</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.046°W]</font><br />
I wanted to stop off somewhere in the old Surrey Docks to take the temperature of the 80s redevelopment, so picked this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43316599284/in/album-72157696788042892/">artificial waterway</a> running across its heart. Originally this was <a target="_blank" href="http://russiadock.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-development-of-docks-of-grand.html">Albion Dock</a>, one of a labyrinth of ten, and the edge of the docks can still be seen as the higher of the two paths along the eastern side. Most of the rest was filled in to create a place the <a href="http://lddc-history.org.uk/index.html">LDDC</a> hoped people would want to live, and they've been proved right. What's striking is the variety of styles, from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42226133780/in/album-72157696788042892/">pointy-topped stacks</a> to sweeping curved crescents, with red brick flourishes and primary-coloured window frames for added interest, and what's also striking is how not-very highrise the development is. These days they'd have crammed far more people in, indeed down at Canada Water they're doing just that, and nobody gets to live alongside a duck-topped iridescent green channel, more's the pity.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=535251&Y=179699&A=Y&Z=115">Rotherhithe Tunnel</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.053°W]</font><br />
I was worried when I saw that the 51½th parallel crossed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43987707882/in/album-72157696788042892/">Rotherhithe Tunnel</a>, because I've walked through this polluted tube <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2008/06/rotherhithe-tunnel.html">once</a> and once was enough. But it all turned out fine because the relevant slice is out in the open, on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30167976408/in/album-72157696788042892/">gentle descent</a> from the roundabout, not far from the huge gates that slam shut to read 'Tunnel' 'Closed'. A slew of signs along the glazed tiled wall warn incoming drivers what they should, must and absolutely cannot do for the next zigzag mile. Breaking down is strongly unrecommended. I love that the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/2570407143/">Edwardians</a> laid a pavement along <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/160303735/">both sides</a> of the carriageway, but 21st century pedestrians shouldn't expect to be able to cross from one side to the other as the flow of two-way 20mph traffic never stops.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30167976408/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiroAL0SJsONoZ9ER8LsbATSuOx1hyi45n0L5__Qc1Q5UTTvNJNt99L-bw_W7AQ9gs2N83fWFO6wUOJQAEnt1N4S0HbmBDZP258FirGX-x7ryoAQFVN0desAmsegVffAgTPmWUCbA/s640/rotunnl.jpg" title="Rotherhithe Tunnel and Finnish Church" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Two church towers rise above the approach ramp, both belonging to <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_churches_in_London">Scandinavian</a> places of worship, and originally built for the benefit of seamen. The one with a copper spire atop what looks like a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/126409951@N04/40846309845/">town hall</a> is the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sjomannskirken.no/london/">Sjømannskirken</a>, a Norwegian Church Abroad, and gives its name to neighbouring St Olav's Square. The one that looks like a firefighters' practice tower is the one we're interested in, because it's on the right line of latitude, and that's the <a target="_blank" href="https://lontoo.merimieskirkko.fi/the-finnish-church-in-london/">Finlands Sjömanskyrka</a>, or Finnish Church. It looks very much like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43317364714/in/album-72157696788042892/">a small block</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarflondondunc/6396289711/">of flats</a>, but if you ever get inside (say for the annual <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kandpreadme/4126153182/">Christmas Fair</a>) it resembles a modern and rather compact school hall. These days the seamen are long gone, and both the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/selcamra/7181312372">old</a> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/55935853@N00/2844311096/">pubs</a> bookending the shopping parade opposite have closed down, and <i>[insert usual comment about how fast London changes]</i>.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43989403222/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOXPbbnO4BCwKHtemDwAXXuRexiOl5V403qJVpiSeKQurhAEwrIVjzNt2Bf8Elk2RtJHLPGeQFo6Y4TucLdlt-KYfOcwr3t8hvnh372KYNHsF6UGZBu0rEdFrviXtHsab_t5lrA/s640/edthree.jpg" title="King Edward III's Manor House" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=534784&Y=179691&A=Y&Z=115">King Edward III's Manor House</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.059°W]</font><br />
Another direct hit, and our first ancient monument. Edward III built a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2012/11/25/the-ruins-of-king-edward-iiis-manor-house/">moated</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Edward-IIIs-Manor-House-Rotherhithe/">property</a> here around 1350, when this was merely a watermeadow, with a gatehouse facing the Thames to allow him to come and go by boat. Nobody's entirely sure why he picked the hamlet of Rotherhithe, but falconry's the likeliest reason. By the 16th century river access had been lost and the manor house went private, becoming a pottery, then partially warehouses, then was entirely demolished in the 1970s other than <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/26573089/">a few foundations</a>. These now sit <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43989403222/in/album-72157696788042892/">at the centre</a> of a sparse lawn, the indentation of the former moat clearly visible, watched over by an astonishingly mundane terrace of Southwarky housing. Better known is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/26573088/">The Angel</a> pub, a much more likely destination for those walking by, which dates back to the 17th century, not the 14th (when this particular bit of land was in the river). Best place on today's walk for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oliwheatley/8507416389/">Thames</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/trailerfullofpix/2934042303/">view</a>, this, on the outside of the final bend before the Pool of London.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30169731168/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7iPNJ7vWtL5eLM1cThQ-JI8hYUC__t8gUYnse0GRW-KDAyVbehak2TxoSnUUCLOxWr1fmZIhfx6PzLDDDpnw6nFrRDldJcSDnoqlWWNLTYbS-d0R5lIobIGoj6LJzLMoqZ0Q8g/s640/dockhd.jpg" title="Most Holy Trinity RC Church" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=533900&Y=179661&A=Y&Z=115">Dockhead</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.072°W]</font><br />
I'm pausing here, on <a target="_blank" href="http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/jamaica-road/">Jamaica Road</a>, because something's changed. For the first 12 miles of my journey I don't think the line of 51.5°N crossed a single house or dwelling place that was more than 50 years old. Partly that's because of the quirkiness of the line travelled, but mainly because estuarine London wasn't particularly development-friendly until relatively recently. But here on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rollthedice/4229099499/">Dickens Estate</a> the five-storey LCC blocks are of 1930s vintage, at the extremity of the SE1 postcode, and are built on the site of the infamous <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Island">Jacob's Island</a> rookery. Dockhead also has the first shopping parade I've come across since starting out, which boasts an art gallery, an organic cafe and a quality dry cleaners amongst its semi-gentrified line-up. Two of the shopkeepers are out front chatting, because for much of the week nobody's really interested. The doors of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30169731168/in/album-72157696788042892/">Most Holy Trinity RC Church</a> are firmly bolted. Shad Thames isn't far away. It feels like we've finally hit the city.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=533613&Y=179643&A=Y&Z=115">Maltby Street Market</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.077°W]</font><br />
Oh. My. Word. I have somehow never managed to be here at the weekend before, and I am unprepared for the seething crush on the far side of what looks like a quiet railway viaduct. A few of the arches on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43989436862/in/album-72157696788042892/">the Druid Street side</a> provide clues, like the hairnetted lady from the <a target="_blank" href="https://stjohnrestaurant.com/a/restaurants/bakery">St John's Bakery</a> selling doughnuts and three quid Eccles Cakes fresh from ovens under the railway. But it's on the other side, along the narrow Rope Walk, that the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.littleobservationist.com/discovering-londons-maltby-street-market/">foodie herd</a> squish to enjoy <a target="_blank" href="http://www.maltby.st/">the very best</a> in everything Time Out adores. Some sellers serve out of the arches themselves, perhaps dispensing gin, raclette or beefsteak. The majority serve from little stalls, griddling while you watch or unpacking from coolboxes stashed underneath. It is rammed.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30171042268/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8y9GfzZcy_mo2ywL-mZE-h3arZNsk7jVINRu7epsHVPbIEv5hEjH-_BrRUp4JvDTgzeFrxzNKH6Tm0aMHDQd-N9UL_NMQ32cU5Nt1lHC_ZzRQWGWc6IwWR2hKmdCa4rJvSp-MQ/s640/maltbyst.jpg" title="Maltby Street Market" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The clientele is mixed, but mainly young, the occasionally gymbod leading his parents into the melee to source something with noodles. At the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thecheesetruck.co.uk/">Cheese Truck</a> a grilled stilton, bacon and pear chutney sandwich costs an amount with the trailing zero missing. Craft beer is big. An acrid smell sparks the alleyway. Only the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30171042268/in/album-72157696788042892/">central section</a> has tables, and they're all taken, so latecomers juggle their way to the council estate car park at the far end holding a plastic trayful in one hand and a cup of tinkered juice in the other. Not everyone's pleased. "I can't believe they charged £6 for this and skimped on the chicken," joshes one lad to his mates, But most have the look of regulars about them, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.maltby.st/">Maltby Street</a> being where they kick off their weekend to ensure it isn't wasted.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=533266&Y=179623&A=Y&Z=115">Bermondsey Street</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.081°W]</font><br />
How hip is <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/bermondseyst">Bermondsey Street</a>? Not at its northern end, where it slinks beneath London Bridge station, but down here winding through the becalmed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44052299111/in/album-72157696788042892/">historic heart</a> of Bermondsey proper. Time Out are <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/16-brilliant-things-to-do-on-bermondsey-street-072717">hyper</a> for the place, evangelising especially about the food and drink options, but also the retained artsy craftsy vibe. 51½°N sweeps in across <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44052291861/in/album-72157696788042892/">Tanner Street Park</a>, around half of which is tennis courts, and well-used tennis courts at that. The remainder is mostly grass and path, where creative types come to recharge, students skim through their college notes and well-dressed women follow behind tiny pugs with plastic bags poised. What looks like a <a target="_blank" href="https://pique-nique.co.uk">cafe</a> in the corner is more of a restaurant, with pre-booked tables and a wine list, so Al's Cafe on the main street is a better bet. A shop called <a href="https://en-gb.facebook.com/LovelyandBritish">Lovely and British</a> promises Eclectic British Sourced Lifestyle Shopping, and is shelved with stuff nobody genuinely needs, which doesn't stop it being busy. The average age of those hereabouts looks to be below average, while the average income looks to be above average, in sharp contrast to the slice of Southwark we're passing through next.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44052291861/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdeRs21dl0M25R1d3jAihULhfmHJFl9KJnLAFQdDz-gzNTqBvgAWiOShpR6rAviiNmlZmgCfgiI0lrkScxobzg9YNuWF29jP95tYo4O6Yd5kpEPtjKhOMCDvnGl_62uDw4X5L19w/s640/bermpark.jpg" title="Tanner Street Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<font color=#b22222 size=1><i>I'm peeved because the White Cube gallery isn't quite on my invisible line, so I have an existential debate with myself about whether 51.4998°N really counts. It's only ten metres out, and if my smartphone were less accurate it'd be reading 51.500°N anyway. I decide no, it doesn't count, but go in anyway. I enjoy the latest exhibition, <a target="_blank" href="https://whitecube.com/exhibitions/exhibition/memory_palace_bermondsey_2018">Memory Palace</a>, more than I expected. The themes it's hanging off are tenuous, but some of the artwork is challenging and splendid, and I spend far too long looking at Jac Leirners collage of 1980s regional advertising. Best of all there's a new-ish <a target="_blank" href="http://whitecube.com/artists/artist/christian_marclay">Christian Marclay</a> film to enjoy, a 24 minute decontextualised splicing of movie scenes depicting the destruction of art, and it totally hyped me up for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/christian-marclay-clock">next month</a> at the Tate.</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=532614&Y=179580&A=Y&Z=115">The Borough</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N]</font><br />
The next kilometre is the dull stretch I hinted at earlier. I'm expecting a lot of this kind of thing out west, but wasn't expecting to experience it quite so close to the South Bank. It turns out northern Southwark has an entrenched residential/commercial underbelly of housing estates, backstreets and minor office blocks, as if the primeness of the location has been overlooked simply because it's south of the river.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44004040032/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvISDKTXzTsoIBJiYTm7UWgRANtckj9b0WfzbzCJP_Lr-W75zpHe6pjQgXQdrTUGoDx5Eb8u5UhS_BMi9QvXpcyOAixW-x2jP4VtohGZMjeZUU2yZ9fsVMZE1XGH8fFRBpuUF54A/s640/lockyer.jpg" title="Lockyer Estate" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The Leather Market <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.085°W]</font> once housed true <a target="_blank" href="http://www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/the-leather-market/4591038643">craftspeople</a>, but now hosts recruitment consultants, marketing executives and <a href="https://uk.aromahome.com/">novelty wellness engineers</a>. The stark terraced flats of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44004040032/in/album-72157696788042892/">Lockyer Estate</a> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.086°W]</font> have an unavoidably undernourished feel. On the Kipling Estate, Richer Sounds Head Office <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.089°W]</font> is a peculiar bastion of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44055275381/in/album-72157696788042892/">modern infill</a>, opposite an LCC block where a council operative is strimming round the pear trees. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.royaloaklondon.co.uk/">The Royal Oak</a> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.091°W]</font> is a traditional <a href="https://londonist.com/pubs/the-royal-oak">Victorian boozer</a> serving Sussex ales, and a highly recommended watering hole, but I'm too early to get behind the net curtains. Lighthouse-keepers Trinity House own a lot of land alongside Borough High Street, which is why Avon Place <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.094°W]</font> has a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/8403">bicentennial mural</a> along its length featuring Henry VIII, osteopathy and a fox chewing a brake cable.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29118334657/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhczoOVia1_Mg-1l1HutD49uwkQh2nJBJHr2MjuiJ-BnVrGviKV4D7F0ChGvqVzjpflGzVxLbv8hvUMT699WQDCOWaSWSL0Wm81f7plUOwlI6RVVITnxFOz7mCgTWN3JjLJFByUbA/s640/scovel.jpg" title="Scovell Estate" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=532140&Y=179620&A=Y&Z=115">Scovell Estate</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.098°W]</font><br />
Here's an oddity off Great Suffolk Street, an entirely atypical <a target="_blank" href="http://filmfixer.locationshub.com/location_detail_content.aspx?id=999-9926">council estate</a> built by Southwark's architects in the 1970s. Long blocks of totally lowrise housing run along <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29118334657/in/album-72157696788042892/">pedestrianised walkways</a> decorated with pot plants and hanging baskets, with a few garages hidden out of sight out of mind. Many residents have little back gardens, with gate access to one of the mini <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gazkinz/32089158252">streetlets</a>, and some actually own bungalows. You see this kind of development further out from the city centre, but here we're less than a mile from Westminster Bridge or the Bank of England, so it all feels delightfully parochial. I don't think residents are used to many cut-through visitors, though. A lady out chatting to her neighbour has to break off ("Olly!") to stop her Jack Russell ("Olly! Olly!!") from chasing after me ("Olly! Olly!! Olly!!!"), and my presence leaves both quite perturbed.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=531636&Y=179620&A=Y&Z=115">Blackfriars Road</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.105°W]</font><br />
Nearly, not quite at St George's Circus, the foot of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43338255854/in/album-72157696788042892/">Blackfriars Road</a> is in flux. The old BT offices at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/criminalintent/3879361532/">Erlang House</a> have been demolished, and in their place has arisen <a target="_blank" href="https://www.barratthomes.co.uk/new-homes/greater-london/H625601-Blackfriars-Circus/">Blackfriars Circus</a>, a large Barratt development whose last penthouse apartments are currently up for sale for between £1m-£2½m. The ground floor retail/restaurant units have yet to be filled, apart from a Tesco Express, whose delivery lorry has decided not to park in the bay provided and is blocking the single southbound carriageway. There used to be two lanes, but one has been sacrificed to a smart whizzy Cycle Superhighway on the other side of the road, the two-way nature of which throws me when I walk out into it without looking. Thankfully no Super Cycles were incoming.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43338255854/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfLZXe06I6HDkPyDF3nKqbk4aUaEkJjjrKEpr2ePv8J_yvorjK2a16a9IyQaX8ba6PRI484aESlOoA8E1oFjcHfucqrv6pD5uqVwi9vnB2yLFvvmH9-CzJgPgMqlKKmkDSInBWA/s640/blkfrs.jpg" title="Blackfriars Road" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Facing Blackfriars Circus is a completely different approach to housing, in plain London brick rather than some fancy variegated palette. Peabody Square is a Victorian collection of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44008556602/in/album-72157696788042892/">four-storey</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol25/plate-34">tenement blocks</a>, each with a central porch, and each of these topped off with a keystone flourish depicting a letter of the alphabet. Blocks A to R run clockwise around the first great courtyard, now filled with a micro-playground, while a second quadrangle juts off from the rear. It's quiet and human in scale, admittedly concierge-free, but I'm sure most residents are happier to pay less rent rather than have a suave clerk to sign off their Amazon packages. A plaque confirms that the Queen Mother visited in 1962 to mark the centenary of the George Peabody Donation Fund. Expect Blackfriars Circus to be demolished long before any royal curtain-tugger drops by.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> SOUTHWARK</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> LAMBETH</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=531002&Y=179580&A=Y&Z=115">Lower Marsh</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.114°W]</font><br />
Just briefly, let's do Lambeth. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/18-reasons-to-go-to-lower-marsh-se1-100716">Lower Marsh</a> is a beloved market street, technically a conservation area but very much a treasure in transition. Several quirky old businesses survive - the Olympic Cafe has a slew of photos of its Chinese menu across its window, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.topwind.com/aboutus/ab.htm">Top Wind</a> is a flute shop whose retro frontage seemingly hasn't changed since it opened in 1991. But elsewhere are blatant incomers, like Waffle Doodle-Doo and Vaulty Towers, and heaven knows how anyone gained planning permission for the geometric <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44058364811/in/album-72157696788042892/">white condo</a> at the western end of the street. All the street vendors serve from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44008563262/in/album-72157696788042892/">identikit stalls</a> in Olympic ring colours, with tables alongside to enable rapid guzzling. Don't expect hot dogs, it's more Taste of Morocco/Falafel Wrap/Newdlez.com kind of line-up. I greatly approve of Barbarellas cafe because one of the things advertised on its shopfront is panini, plural. The beggar sitting crosslegged outside the Co-Op is busy reading a book, obliviously hoping that passers-by drop coins into his empty popcorn tub.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44008563262/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj14nuoo8qWbr5G8RP0ssvCB5wjpgZt8SXJL0PK4yW_fjwevalrs3_YsVy7CtjlLpclgksFLjrUQBdXlK1HD8lbhMLXVYvGtLpKVayslcFu7w5C8VzejChyphenhyphenWApBA4BtiG6Caj0IIg/s640/lowmarsh.jpg" title="Lower Marsh" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<font color=#b22222 size=1><i>At the far end of Lower Marsh the multiple tracks heading out of Waterloo station cover a large portion of Westminster Bridge Road. It's gloomy under there. Only four of Waterloo's platforms extend far enough to just cross the line of 51.5°N, and they're the former Eurostar platforms so are currently out of commission.</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=530675&Y=179567&A=Y&Z=115">St Thomas' Hospital</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.118°W]</font><br />
I've ended up at London's most central <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Thomas%27_Hospital">hospital</a>, thankfully of my own volition. Entrance to the site is on two levels, a concrete walkway for independent visitors and a canyon below for all kinds of ambulance. One neonatal carrier from the Kent coast has seemingly come a heck of a long way. Inpatients has recently been relocated to Gassiot House, alongside the Pain Management Unit. I watch as a member of staff, downgraded from her receptionist role by automation, politely tells a checker-in that they may have to press harder because the touchscreens "can be a bit temperamental sometimes". Beneath my feet is the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk">Florence Nightingale Museum</a>, which I had been planning to pop inside because it's the first museum I've encountered on the 51½th parallel. Instead I transfer that baton to Ian Visits, because he's just published <a href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/08/14/a-visit-to-the-florence-nightingale-museum/">a review of the place</a>, saving me the need to go round again.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29121452807/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVM1acSN6ZwpeoEURK6e4opdHfaWlsqFYmn5RRLKvMw-984bBwXmno0EaP0gBvDfzb93L2kluSlKcnb4bWvoNuXQ-Zo8HOYE3zsuqvfz6HAN-gBBqcBWCUcKioj2Yl194yH4Toaw/s640/stomgardenz.jpg" title="St Thomas's Hospital Gardens" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29121452807/in/album-72157696788042892/">Hospital Gardens</a> provide a chance to escape the wards for staff and patients alike, for example the nurse who walks past shepherding an old man in pyjamas. Other orderlies are grabbing a bite to eat around the new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29121460327/in/album-72157696788042892/">statue of Mary Seacole</a>, or wandering off site completely for a cigarette. Someone medical-looking is breastfeeding her baby while she takes lunch. Caution, the water in the fountain is impregnated with chemicals. A new plaque reveals that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sportshistorian.co.uk/single-post/2015/06/04/Leander%E2%80%99s-original-location-at-Lambeth">Searle's Boathouse</a>, first home of the Leander Club, was established here in 1818. A siren wails as another arrival pulls in down below. Once again I'm hugely impressed by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/getting-here/travel-st-thomas.aspx">NHS</a>'s compassionate ambition (and equally despairing of an official poster I spot on a wall by the ambulance park praising the valued contribution of "Siemens Healthineers").<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1><i>The point on the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29122616447/in/album-72157696788042892/">Albert Embankment</a> where 51.5°N launches off across the Thames is marked, coincidentally, by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/klvinci/3540037000/">memorial plaque</a> to the victims of Human BSE (vCJD). The spot is very popular with tourists, who like to place one or more of the group against or on the river wall and take photos with Westminster's gothic turrets immediately behind. Westminster Bridge is very close by, along the line of 51.501°N, but I've come on the one day passage is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30191870908">sealed off</a> by a strip of blue and white tape, two police cars, several clustered officers and at least one wielded weapon.I will get across the river to continue my latitude quest, but alas a screwball in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45180408">Ford Fiesta</a> got there first.</i></font><br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> LAMBETH</font><br />
<hr color=#0099ff size=10><font color=#b22222 size=1> WESTMINSTER;</font><br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1><i>Amazingly, 51½°N passes directly through the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/">Palace of Westminster</a>, at the very heart of British democracy. Perhaps more amazingly it passes through the House of Commons [51.5°N 0.124°W], I believe immediately behind the Speaker's chair. Sadly it's not possible to go inside and find out, because getting your phone out to check the GPS coordinates <a target="_blank" href="https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/access/photography-filming-and-mobile-phone-use/">isn't</a> permitted, so I never got the opportunity to confirm when I <a target="_blank" href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/05/westminster-after-hours.html">took a private tour</a> earlier in the year. So, short of getting elected, I visited the next best thing...</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=530221&Y=179569&A=Y&Z=115">Westminster Hall</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.125°W]</font><br />
The oldest building in Parliament, built at the behest of William II in 1097, <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/westminsterhall/">Westminster Hall</a> was once by far the largest hall in Europe. And if you fancy taking a look inside, it's free to visit. I think you can just walk up on spec, but I pre-booked a ticket to view the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/vote-100/voice-and-vote/">latest exhibition</a> tucked away in the corner of the hall... two hours notice was fine. I waved my printout at the visitor entrance and swanned down the ramp, entirely alone other than Oliver Cromwell watching over me. At the bottom I went through all the obligatory airport-style security procedure, relieved that I'd remembered not to bring a bag or wear a belt. And I noted that there were at least 16 people present in this small anteroom, watching over the scanners and conveyors, some with guns, and was almost pleased I'd turned up to give a few of them something to do.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44086319741/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXUXYm_GJFnAqXXfcQ3T0stpmLqMTBNidpDh64XQVP0jelNzVl_MDam2DQHdZIpKfuDn-OVggqiNDj1WNB2leV5Jn-_QoTMqlB2ycN4n5eO6XuYh_9K6OODF658Z2afgwYxQhKw/s640/westmhal.jpg" title="Westminster Hall" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Westminster Hall is an architectural marvel, especially the enormous 14th century <a target="_blank" href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/westminsterhall/architecture/the-hammer-beam-roof-/">hammerbeam</a> roof, a fortunate survivor of blaze and blitz. A lot of it's under <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44086324181/in/album-72157696788042892/">sheets and scaffolding</a> at the moment, which is good news for its longevity, but less than great if all you want to do is admire. It has to be said that the general impression isn't helped either by the presence of a large exhibition <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44086319741/in/album-72157696788042892/">in one corner</a>, but it is an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/08/21/exhibition-at-last-votes-for-women/">excellent exhibition</a> so more than deserves its summer residency. It's called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/vote-100/voice-and-vote/">Voice & Vote</a>, an archive-rich history of women's place in Parliament, and will be straddling 51.5°N until 6th October. From its opening line ("Women have always participated in politics, but not on equal terms with men") it is perfectly pitched.<br />
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I discovered that in the 18th century women were only allowed to view Parliamentary proceedings by peering down through a ventilator in the roof, and that the campaign for the vote started well before the suffragettes. I saw the plaque Tony Benn had placed on a broom cupboard in honour of Census-overnighter Emily Davison, and the actual Acts which sequentially introduced the vote for all. I learned that the first female MP stood for Sinn Fein so never took her seat, and was inspired when Mhairi Black stared me in the face and told me why she's proud to be here. It never hurts to be reminded about the intricacies of the battle for equality, and it's always worth remembering that Westminster Hall is totally open for a visit.<br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR3QkjssCk3ClHjKqpHD2GOfuJHYe6T-mrmsiGgOygZdqAGIWwX57LoguM4bfbGya4KTbf5sEoi5LB2qQAqVN6Gyg61frzjuEnbgMfsqLNCCxLWvZbU1y5LZol69ePKYilwfkd2Q/s640/voicevote.jpg" title="Voice & Vote" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
Most of the others thronging Westminster Hall were on official <a target="_blank" href="https://www.parliament.uk/visiting/visiting-and-tours/tours-of-parliament/audio-tours/">£20 tours</a>, which are daily during the summer recess, or suited staff nipping out through mysterious doors. A lot of milling around was going on, as groups stopped to hear a nugget of original history, or hunted for the plaque showing where Winston Churchill lay in state. The shop was also popular, especially because the cafe is currently closed for renovation so it was the only place to buy refreshment. Parched souls who only wanted a bottle of water were being forced to queue behind folks on coach trips stocking up on House of Lords <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shop.parliament.uk/collections/house-of-lords/products/hol-wine-gums">wine gums</a>, or even House of Commons <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shop.parliament.uk/collections/house-of-commons/products/30099">babygrows</a>. Democracy is a many-faceted and splendid thing.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=530124&Y=179551&A=Y&Z=115">St Margaret's Church</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.127°W]</font><br />
Sorry, not quite Westminster Abbey, but the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Margaret%27s,_Westminster">parish church</a> in its shadow facing out onto <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44093798561/in/album-72157696788042892/">Parliament Square</a>. The current building's fast approaching 500 years old and serves a very central clientele, so tips the high end of the scale as parish churches go. Also, whereas getting into the Abbey costs £20, popping inside <a target="_blank" href="https://www.westminster-abbey.org/st-margarets-church/">St Margaret's</a> is free, even though you have to join the same queue to get through security. It took me 15 minutes to inch <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29155837117/in/album-72157696788042892/">across the churchyard</a> to the bag check, despite not actually having a bag. During the wait I listened in on an American family planning their week-long London trip based solely on where the sightseeing buses would take them, and advised another traveller that no, this wasn't the line for Big Ben. Maybe the scaffolding confused him.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29155837117/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnGiH_9kas0AgN8YRGV8CQI4v1EM8eQepqmwE1R1c-OsjIgb3rl1ckJadWT5_n0N0Zn1puoGX_F1bhz7MucbToAUXURq7VIBijUjgcdH2-vx4qsQBfW2h_uQPEOBcnDjnP1aHHHA/s640/stmarge.jpg" title="St Margaret's Church" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Eventually I reached the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29155843567/in/album-72157696788042892/">front door</a> - I believe access is a lot easier in the winter - and politely put my camera away. Photography is banned inside St Margaret's, as a well-placed pictogram in the aisle decrees, although this doesn't stop bored tourists wandering in for thirty seconds and taking several photos. Alas that means I'm <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/macaco9/5448495258/">unable</a> to show you how impressive the interior is, especially the ring of historic memorials around the wall. The recipients are an eclectic bunch, as befits a long-standing Westminster building, and include Olaudah Equiano (baptised 1759), Samuel Pepys (married 1656) and Henry Layard, Discoverer of Nineveh (died 1894). I was hoping to join the "free 20 minute tour with one of our guides" advertised outside the front door, but no guide turned up at the appointed time, nor either side of it, so that was my opportunity to be properly educated royally stuffed. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.westminster-abbey.org/st-margarets-church/worship-at-st-margarets/">Sung Eucharist</a> is held every Sunday morning at eleven, which is no doubt a better bet.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=529877&Y=179553&A=Y&Z=115">Methodist Central Hall</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.130°W]</font><br />
In readiness for the centenary of John Wesley's death, the Methodist Church asked its followers to each contribute <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thefamilyhistorypartnership.com/hints-tips/the-wesleyan-methodist-historic-roll.php">one guinea</a> towards a worldwide mission fund. They raised a million, and <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodist_Central_Hall,_Westminster">Methodist</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://methodist-central-hall.org.uk">Central Hall</a> was the largest project to be delivered. This grand <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44047632102/in/album-72157696788042892/">baroque building</a> (opened in 1911) was deliberately designed not to look like a church, indeed the current chapel was formerly a branch of Midland Bank. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.c-h-w.com/whats-on/public-cafe/">Wesley's Cafe</a> in the basement is a useful drop-in for non-chain refreshment, but you can also go inside for a proper look-around. Volunteers run <a target="_blank" href="https://www.c-h-w.com/whats-on/guided-tours/">free 20 minute tours</a>, and these actually happen, although the one I went on started late and then lasted 70 minutes. I had no complaints.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44047632102/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5YMH5CPfbGD3LlSIqp_xi3fDENODf5i9FUbwUkgS2OQPuImTQFwM947lj0BO2LUBrEhd29c6NciGZbZ3m1D02FUHs3GuZiwviCWAnRCWQ3LA7dlBRORbD9siizip-62BOVmgkw/s640/methcenthal.jpg" title="Methodist Central Hall" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44098926031/in/album-72157696788042892/">main hall</a> sits beneath the world's second largest self-supporting ferro-concrete dome (narrowly beaten by a Melbourne library, we were told). The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkjiG8aw5f0">organ</a> is also magnificent although these days the congregation doesn't usually fill the upper tiers of cinema-style seating. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/un-speeches">first session</a> of the United Nations was held in this room in 1946, and the minutes are now on display in the visitor centre, along with a set of leatherbound volumes containing the names of all those million who gave a guinea. As for the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29160500467/in/album-72157696788042892/">grand staircase</a>, this was based on the Paris Opera House and makes quite an impression, although it can't have been much fun for older members of the congregation to tackle before they put the lifts in.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29158538137/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHgd4gPQR6bVPmRb-O9bj6o6YDoe6jhfyrpd27usgSASNn59gSUfFtX1kd-M_sh9D8X3532H_8HDcB2PM-sOL5lf6nisMb5LVAntqxSdewQfTy4uw9qku8X8AdNOzLD404WDqVvw/s640/wabbey.jpg" title="Westminster Abbey" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
But the best bit of the tour came when our guide unlocked a side door on the upper landing, and led us outside onto the balcony with a mischievous smile. This is the same door the presenter of the BBC's New Year's Eve concert dashes out of just before midnight so they can stand on the balcony and gesture towards Big Ben, the London Eye and the imminent fireworks. But it's the more immediate view which is most striking, of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29158538137/in/album-72157696788042892/">Westminster Abbey</a> full on, its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30230454168/in/album-72157696788042892/">twin western towers</a> rising in sheer magnificence (and to a lesser extent the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43189637625/in/album-72157696788042892/">QE2 Conference Centre</a> to one side). I think we kept our guide busy talking and answering questions simply so that we could stay out here and gawp a little longer. I can't guarantee you'll manage the same, and in full sunshine, but sometimes the best London sightseeing is free.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>Where next? 51.5°N doesn't quite slice TfL HQ at 55 Broadway, but it does pass through the Ministry of Justice in their Brutalist spaceship opposite. It also passes through the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardsmuseum.com/">Guards Museum</a>, a repository of all things Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh. Next it spans Wellington Barracks, not quite gracing St James's Park. And then, well, who'd have guessed?</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=529035&Y=179513&A=Y&Z=115">Buckingham Palace</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.143°W]</font><br />
My chosen line of latitude misses the front, where the Queen waves on special occasions, but hits the tradesmen's entrance round the back of the State Rooms. Look for the wall topped with urns and follow it round. I watched a flow of palace staff returning inside after a break, several in unflattering brown uniforms, and overheard one poor footman claiming that he had no pass and no lunch because his trousers had bust. Here on Buckingham Gate is also the entrance for folk wanting to visit the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace">Queen's Gallery</a>, beneath a portico so outlandish you suspect Prince Charles must have had something to do with it. £12 currently gets you inside to peruse a collection of subcontinental treasures, but I'd recommend spending twice as much to go on the <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2009/09/buckingham-palace.html">excellent tour</a> of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-state-rooms-buckingham-palace">palace proper</a> instead.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29161985757/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr8FQRVNOmWck2l_LkiHDSIWuM2RufdM-KxM0kjnoAlPi5jRt0WXdPCU1FjJbCNHeuRdIJVJcNuijC4T4nP9foiFSxftM0bdvGdTr-KdwoqcY0J1n9vgahEE8gt8EBF5cLTAa0Q/s640/buckpal.jpg" title="Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
And when that tour is finished you'll be directed across the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/3926657213/">garden</a>, where the Queen hosts her garden parties, and ushered out of a small back gate on the far side of the lake <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.148°W]</font>. It's fun to stand here on Grosvenor Gate and watch tourists emerge, some dangling gold carrier bags, others wearing a crown they bought in the gift shop, entirely baffled which way to go next. Some turn right for Hyde Park Corner, others turn left for Victoria, and others fall into the hands of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29161980217/in/album-72157696788042892/">pedicab crew</a>, parked up on the pavement awaiting custom. It's £10 for a lift to Victoria station, which is all of 600m distant, not that I suspect most of those taking advantage of the offer realise this when they climb in.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=528268&Y=179508&A=Y&Z=115">Belgrave Square</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.153°W]</font><br />
The epitome of unaffordable housing, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgravia">Belgravia</a> was a speculative development on fields to the west of London in the 1820s, and its success is why the Duke of Westminster is now exceedingly rich. <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrave_Square">Belgrave Square</a> is its focus, and is much larger than your average London square, but even so the architect only managed eleven houses on each side. Each is a mini palace hidden behind standardised white stucco frontage, although an element of difference exists in which particular style of heritage black lantern each resident has chosen to hang inside their porch. Counting flags confirms that least a dozen of the houses are used for diplomatic purposes, including the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43207225635/in/album-72157696788042892/">Turkish Embassy</a>, which is a precise 51.5°N hit. A fleet of black cars and vans with diplomatic plates is parked outside, along with a cluster of visiting motorbikes, and every now and again a sleek black Rolls Royce glides past. I actually saw two in a row... we're not in Thamesmead now.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43207225635/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhby5LdqxbNHetx7tgaN-esnGM8d28ennoyyUoyjQbxsjlFIp2kamWO9LNYGfEOWrRnJAHwnrDeiul-k_5tXRw-q6gQTWWgGmaLPJGKclvB-J0RwwgwSOSKEqmqDAySElBWs1KngQ/s640/belgrav.jpg" title="Turkish Embassy, Belgrave Square" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
At the square's northernmost vertex, where the anti-clockwise numbering starts, a statue of Argentine general <a target="_blank" href="https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/jose-de-san-martin-statue">José de San Martín</a> faces the ambassador's residence on <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30246048478/in/album-72157696788042892/">Grosvenor Crescent</a>. The plinth lies within one of the few visible pockets of central garden, the remainder screened behind carefully cultivated shrubbery for the benefit of the few. On the traffic island opposite is the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.icr-london.co.uk/article/florilegium-a-botanical-metaphor-of-united-romania.html">Romanian Centenary Garden</a>, a raised bed planted with native flowers to mark 100 years since unification, although in late summer it has the look of well-cultivated weeds. Nearby I saw several groups of workmen taking a quick break before they returned to upgrading the interiors of their vastly wealthier paymasters, and seemingly in no hurry to get back.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> WESTMINSTER</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> KENSINGTON & CHELSEA</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=527614&Y=179498&A=Y&Z=115">Harrods</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.163°W]</font><br />
Strictly speaking, 51.5°N only scrapes the pavement outside the northern tip of Harrods, but anyone standing here would immediately have their eyes drawn towards the adjacent world-famous <a target="_blank" href="https://www.harrods.com/en-gb">department store</a>. Door 6 leads into the lipstick room, just before the handbag hall, each offering far more luxurious varieties than anyone might rightly need. A lot of those swanning inside are tourists from the wealthier end of the scale, their numbers boosted by the weak pound, very likely wearing sunglasses, and often designer headscarves or gold-threaded shawls. The next entrance along Hans Crescent has been converted into a fake bullion vault, because that thrills the clientele, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42307134200/in/album-72157696788042892/">the commissionaire</a> is only too happy to step out and take a grinning family snapshot.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42307136900/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqNgpW8wtsJKqDSJiniLh8me9wYXXbngqNTXENCgjyvORKdFj3UukF8Vb9Ts7TmyHH5QvO2fOfYyQbsBJ3aZHEhN_ONsbaz-0DnOQkHCq-TM-Vr2-B1a0xalHKrHvruvFprd7B6A/s640/harrds.jpg" title="Harrods" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Back on the corner, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42307136900/in/album-72157696788042892/">young busker</a> with an electric cello is sitting on an amp and wowing the crowds. He starts with a familiar tune I eventually work out is Ed Sheeran, then smiles and segues into Hallelujah - a not-especially Leonard Cohen version. The circling crowd is enthralled, and appreciative, perhaps inspired by the handwritten sign 'Saving Up For Music College'. With admirable frequency audience members step forward and drop notes and coins into his case, not necessarily in the local currency, helping towards his three year overdraft. I suspect this is one of the primest pitches in London, although I wonder quite how long your performance would have to be to save enough for a Christian Louboutin.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> KENSINGTON & CHELSEA</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> WESTMINSTER</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=526610&Y=179493&A=Y&Z=115">Royal Albert Hall</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.177°W]</font><br />
My chosen line doesn't cut the concert rotunda itself, but instead the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42307140790/in/album-72157696788042892/">steps to the south</a> connecting down three flights towards the Royal College of Music. Previously these were the South Steps, but at the turn of the century they were ripped out and rebuilt to accommodate dressing rooms, energy equipment and a loading bay <a target="_blank" href="https://d15v4l58k2n80w.cloudfront.net/file/1396975600/27335236534/width=640/height=360/format=JPG/fit=crop/crop=0x283+3308x1861/rev=5/t=394643/e=never/k=7e326231/1998-2004+development+J.jpg">underneath</a>. Today they're the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/our-history/explore-our-history/building/queen-elizabeth-ii-diamond-jubilee-steps/">Diamond Jubilee Steps</a>, renamed when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2013/november/her-majesty-the-queen-officially-opens-the-queen-elizabeth-ii-diamond-jubilee-steps/">HM The Queen</a> officially graced them with her presence, and you'd never guess all that infrastructure was hidden beneath your feet.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42307140790/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gUrrY9BqtMJoudKkjrNsYxc-KDVmZjaME_8wBHrvXDnL0C1LBeadychJk_pBi6KQVRa9Mb0eLWJtsiLHx6GxQBx1ifUrGU-W-3w0iUtqUnjmvbzcpz5u8-W8vBdE6BxY-_sToA/s640/ralbert.jpg" title="Royal Albert Hall" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
At the top of the steps is the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.speel.me.uk/sculptlondon/gtexhibmem.htm">1851 Exhibition Memorial</a>, originally intended to be 'Britannia Presiding over the Four Quarters of the Globe', but then Prince Albert died and he got to be the main statue instead. As the key driver behind Albertopolis I guess it's only right. The upper piazza is large enough to cope with scores of Promenaders, including those hanging around for day tickets to the Gallery (£6, first come, strictly 1 each). I decided against hanging around for Prom 43, and also against popping into the <a href="https://www.royalalberthall.com/your-visit/food-and-drink/dining/verdi-italian-kitchen/">Verdi restaurant</a> for tagliatelle al ragù d'anatra or a quattro stagioni. A word of warning if you cycle here, don't leave your bike chained to the railings outside <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43399797724/in/album-72157696788042892/">Albert Court</a> because the porter charges £20 to release unwelcome steeds.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> WESTMINSTER</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> KENSINGTON & CHELSEA</font><br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44069612822/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI7PfOZH-dye51Y8vK0i0dT5x25GDGlx6U7w6Bvkm5gGxgdBMAKkKlV2tbIjqDftU0s_x6kSkoHb3KsCe277jVunrHS0jladie4-x5HXnlbp2IDuQqNfMan3hZ5FEDQj3SaushWg/s640/higstken.jpg" title="High Street Kensington station" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=525611&Y=179447&A=Y&Z=115">High Street Kensington station</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.192°W]</font><br />
This is one of zone 1's odder outdoor <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/1391959897/">stations</a>, accessed through a shopping arcade rather than directly from the street. I bet Pret, Nero, Leon and M&S weren't the original vendors immediately outside the ticket hall, but times change. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44118861721/in/album-72157696788042892/">Platforms 1 and 2</a> are fairly standard, if often thronged, while <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44069612822/in/album-72157696788042892/">platform 3</a> is used by the wilfully downgraded Olympia service. But <a href="https://youtu.be/8yYPNYPAhxw?t=3m55s">platform 4</a> is the true curio, an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/27666294@N02/39655704114/">almost-</a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/citytransportinfo/33550442592/">unused</a> siding accessed down a barely-noticed staircase from the concourse, or via a gloomy crossing behind the buffers of platform 3. I couldn't bring myself to walk down to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/timeaster/15400855104/">far end</a> without appearing astronomically suspicious. Come back on 1st October for the station's 150th birthday party.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=525019&Y=179429&A=Y&Z=115">Design Museum</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.200°W]</font><br />
Formerly the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Institute">Commonwealth Institute</a>, this is where the <a target="_blank" href="https://designmuseum.org">Design Museum</a> ended up after fleeing their previous Thamesside home at 51.503°N. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44071217632/in/album-72157696788042892/">shell</a> of the building survives pretty much intact, notably the copper-covered <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29182431397/in/album-72157696788042892/">hyperbolic paraboloid roof</a>, but the entire <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/malcnhg/sets/72157627595192781">interior</a> was gouged out at the behest of the new owners, and it isn't the same without the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/malcnhg/6168989698/in/album-72157627595192781/">central podium</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/malcnhg/6168434877/in/album-72157627595192781/">flying staircases</a>. Don't get me wrong, it's a different kind of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/sets/72157673233264923">impressive</a> inside, but walking round again I was struck by how much of the new museum is wasted empty space. Stepping up from the gift shop in the foyer, a set of benches sponsored by Land Rover. Around the central <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29182437597/in/album-72157696788042892/">atrium</a>, a string of haute couture photographs as a sop to visitors too poor to pay £16 to see the main exhibition. On several floors, locked doors leading to study zones, education spaces and a dead restaurant. In the basement, a few posters. It could be so much more. It isn't.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29182431397/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHOn5kr7fF6SYvyancvQu92hipVolyN4ZPPxrw_dGU_8RSacyO2viu9DF0RNnW1n5Z_TPwkH01vzr8hc37ISIzv5vX7LQRFcDmHj1iA0YXyf0J47NuVyZw_iyGI-VZnVIfFtW9Fg/s640/desmus.jpg" title="Design Museum" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
At least the free exhibition <a target="_blank" href="https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/designer-maker-user">Designer Maker User</a> is always open on the top floor, and that's extremely good, but again crammed into a much smaller space than the building's footprint could allow. I love the wall which shows a century of gadgets shrinking inexorably towards a tiny smartphone. I always stop to pay homage to Kinneir and Calvert's road signs. But having <a target="_blank" href="http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2016/11/design-museum.html">been round before</a> it didn't take me long to wander through, and I barely stayed in the building for half an hour. I should've been more appreciative because, looking ahead, the Design Museum's the last building of any familiar stature on 51½°N before the suburbs kick in ahead.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> KENSINGTON & CHELSEA</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=523505&Y=179374&A=Y&Z=115">Shepherd's Bush Road</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.222°W]</font><br />
A quiet <a target="_blank" href="https://www.british-history.ac.uk/sites/default/files/publications/pubid-344/images/fig192.gif">country lane</a> until the mid 18th century, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44099936812/in/album-72157696788042892/">Shepherd's Bush Road</a> became a spine road off which subsequent suburbia grew. It ferries traffic from the apex of Shepherd's Bush Green to the Hammersmith gyratory, and was once wide enough for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tundria.com/trams/GBR/London-1934.shtml#London-W">trams</a>, so feels pretty spacious. They still do proper pubs round here, the local being <a target="_blank" href="https://therichmondhammersmith.co.uk/">The Richmond</a>, which retains a beer'n'Sky vibe, and whose <a target="_blank" target="_blank" href="https://therichmondhammersmith.co.uk/pizza/">food menu</a> consists solely of a well known frozen pizza brand. Elsewhere along the parade, a more gentrified vibe has encroached. The cafe on the corner doubles up as a fitness studio and deli, plus a useful space to park the kids for 'indoor play', while round the back is a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.candlemakers.co.uk/about-candle-makers-supplies/">candlemaking supplier</a> with a royal warrant.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44099936812/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivQEynK7Og_fR-LJq37-LQD5oYk-KoxSCXNDyIbj8AubFX70B6jGMQ95xUKlAnIrxuG1jGKV_uVnLFCdmY9qktebCXTKLctu8BNwu67gP-tR5cLdKPFADr0g5vGFeC_teRNT4Gcg/s640/shepbushrd.jpg" title="Shepherd's Bush Road" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
A coach pulls up outside the acupuncture clinic, a shaky-looking luggage trailer tagged on behind. A man with a ponytail dashes out of the dry cleaners and yells up the road towards his shaggier mate. Thames Water are digging up the pavement by the estate agents. Sandbags hold down a metal stand supporting a long-vanished road sign. The off licence that's proved surplus to requirements is plastered with posters for the Shepherds Bush Green Family Funfair. For morning coffee and the Mail, tables out front at the Mustard Brasserie suffice. That window arrayed with with four smart dresses and a pot plant is what passes for a charity shop hereabouts. Inhabitants of the broad <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42339542750/in/album-72157696788042892/">Victorian avenues</a> to either side seem well blessed.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>Aware I'm nipping across the borough too fast, I pause in Benbow Road for a glimpse of how things are. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43247532035/in/album-72157696788042892/">Smart terraces</a> are the order of the day, here generally one floor lower than they were a mile back. These are homes where most residents climb steps to their front door but some descend to a semi-basement, whose front rooms are either cautiously shuttered or open to reveal Sunday-supplement-perfection. Old maps confirm this area was once a hamlet called <a target="_blank" href="http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/714">Cacklegoose Green</a>, which is so brilliant a name you'd think a local developer would have appropriated it, except it seems there's nowhere to be redeveloped. If you're counting, I'm now the same distance west of the Greenwich meridian as I was east when I started out on the edge of Essex.</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=522279&Y=179346&A=Y&Z=115">Starch Green</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.240°W]</font><br />
Here's an unfamiliar but genuine place name (as can be confirmed by the <a target="_blank" href="https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/bus-route-maps/starchgreen-a4.pdf">spider maps</a> in local bus shelters being titled "Buses from Starch Green"). This former hamlet has been almost completely swallowed apart from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30290996348/in/album-72157696788042892/">a scrap of eponymous green</a> beside a pair of mini roundabouts. Once there was a pond here, around which several laundries grew up, hence the name. Today there is still one dry cleaners on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42349392090/in/album-72157696788042892/">King's Parade</a>, but Starch Green's roadside edge has been fenced off to discourage egress, and its benches are better used by pigeons than passers by. I was impressed by the variety of trees, including a thick gnarly plane and a dense pine, and by the council operative cleaning, tidying and generally keeping the garden ticking over.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42349392090/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvNqPXf7ujEriN73xthxxWwXDpOWM71wO_yzsf-Gg2L1Q7dnyGP6ZSwmvo9KD0JY2n1dDeGA0zst5cPfSwC4y0A2nlvAcA_JO1-bLX8uupO0joYUhdFuwRaVQmNadwykQJPeesJQ/s640/askwrd.jpg" title="King's Parade, Starch Green" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30291005908/in/album-72157696788042892/">most obvious</a> landmark is the <a target="_blank" href="https://theoakw12.com/">The Oak W12</a>, or as it was once known <a target="_blank" href="https://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/Hammersmith/SevenStars.shtml">The Seven Stars</a>, as evidenced by the name carved into some jaunty stonework above the gastropub's side door. The most unnerving shop name is a hairdressers called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/askew_cuts/">Askew Cuts</a>, named because it sits at the foot of Askew Road but come on, would you risk a a restyle in there? Another tonsorial lost opportunity is Ali's & Sons International Gents Hairdressers, which surely would have been better off as Ali Barbers. The most intriguing shop name is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bearsicecream.co.uk">Bears Ice Cream Co</a>, who do Icelandic soft scoop, but alas not in the morning when its shutters are down. And apologies, because if 51.5°N had run a fraction further south I could have brought you a report about the top of Ravenscourt Park, rather than a rundown of small businesses on the Goldhawk Road.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> EALING</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=521110&Y=179313&A=Y&Z=115">Bedford Park</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.257°W]</font><br />
Hurrah, I thought when I first saw where the line for 51.5°N went, I'm going to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bedfordpark.org.uk/suburb/short-history-of-the-suburb/">Bedford Park</a>. Laid out across fields to the north of Turnham Green station in the 1870s, it's widely seen as the very first garden suburb, or at least the prototype, and I've never blogged about it before. The estate had a troubled start, and grew in a fairly ad hoc manner, but that helped give it character and a genuine leafy feel, and today's residents are no doubt delighted by their housing choice. And then I looked at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bedfordpark.org.uk/suburb/maps/">maps</a> on The Bedford Park Society's website and noticed I'd be skirting the oldest bit, where the 200+ listed buildings are, and passing instead through the fractionally-younger not-quite-original avenues around the perimeter. Hey ho.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44160616571/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcMVRIc2WlJC3znyvmF9IKm-8gnSwQR60KZc-gznGP59bAMBQzucwzA14X3wThfOPaIfIwXWf86cfWUrk6PSZI5ydaRMc0Xp3L5TC5-8bKpwlnq0X35FaUTXlFg1SQg22iPojtA/s640/abingerrd.jpg" title="Abinger Road, Bedford Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44160616571/in/album-72157696788042892/">Abinger Road</a>'s lovely, though, a backwater tree-lined street pushed right up against the estate's impermeable boundary. Its houses are varied enough to have real character, with low walls or spruce hedges or more likely a perfect white picket fence along the front. By being built just before the dawn of the motor car these homes have front gardens too narrow to park a vehicle in, which is I think the key to why everything looks so attractive, although it does instead mean endless parked cars along the road. Over in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29223178557/in/album-72157696788042892/">St Albans Avenue</a> the houses are fractionally later still, and a lot terracier and brickier, but still with that late Victorian sparkle. An adorable characteristic is how each house was built from a subtly different shade of brick to its conjoined neighbour, and who wouldn't want a plaster relief cornucopia beneath their upper bay window? You lucky lucky people.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=520206&Y=179310&A=Y&Z=115">South Acton station</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.270°W]</font><br />
Less than half a mile away, the ambience is very different... and we have a station. South Acton's on one of the Overground's quieter arms, hence other Acton stations draw much higher passenger numbers. Because of the way the timetable falls, the allocated member of staff has several minutes between overlapping trains to pop round the back of the ramp for a vape, or to sit on the platform with a Metro. But what's more striking, indeed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43445441754/in/album-72157696788042892/">unmissable</a>, is the housing estate going up alongside. Welcome to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.actongardens.co.uk/site-plan">Acton Gardens</a>.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44163461521/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9HwGGGWUAm64a421-U5HrjjZUVR_W6QUFRryZL9kU-eyo4UrleASXvm1-xFkAo06ZBrbzeHPKbwylP8ak8z1nHrrR7VLdDs6j5sECYCN6zD3zpSllWtS39HfXgRdNwHOybKKISg/s640/sactonstn.jpg" title="South Acton station" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The first block of flats, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44163461521/in/album-72157696788042892/">by the railway</a>, was built on the site of the terminating platform of a minor <a target="_blank" href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-south-acton-shuttle.html">District line shuttle</a> cancelled fifty years previously. More recent blocks have part-tiled facades in signature colours, possibly so that if you're heading home blind drunk you simply head for the tangerine one, the turquoise one or the butterscotch one. As for the new block perched above the token Sainsbury's Local, this has variegated bricks resembling mottled chocolate, plus golden balconies, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44115318112/in/album-72157696788042892/">the photograph</a> I took of it looks uncannily like an architect's vision. I think only the Biffa waste bin gives the game away. And it's not finished yet, because <a target="_blank" href="https://www.yoursouthacton.co.uk/regeneration">Acton Gardens</a> is a massive project involving the sequential replacement of the entire <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201104/housing_regeneration/377/south_acton_estate/3">South Acton Estate</a>. I watched as an extendable claw grappled with what was once the balcony of a maisonette on the tenth floor of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/willfaichneyphotography/8706808467">Grahame House</a>, and sent a lifetime of debris smashing to the ground. They'd never knock down Bedford Park and replace it with something more suitably-dense, but pockets of social housing continue to replenish and renew.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> EALING</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> HOUNSLOW</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=519132&Y=179295&A=Y&Z=115">Gunnersbury Park</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.285°W]</font><br />
We had to hit another park eventually, and this one's splendid, and historical, and home to an excellent newly-renovated <a target="_blank" href="http://www.visitgunnersbury.org/">museum</a>. Fortuitously I blogged about it <a target="_blank" href="https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/06/gunnersbury-park.html">in June</a>, so don't need to go into enormous detail about it again, plus it turns out the 51.5°N line just misses the main building where the museum is. Instead it hits the so-called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44116708112/in/album-72157696788042892/">Small Mansion</a>, the one lottery money hasn't got round to restoring yet, where the Learning and Curatorial Department hides out behind a woefully peeling porch and faded frontage. Inside are stacks of chairs and tables, and piles of packing boxes, and an office one of whose occupants has a pencil case in the shape of an Egyptian sarcophagus. Brilliantly the line also slices through Princess Amelia's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44116689092/in/album-72157696788042892/">bathhouse</a>, a tiny folly containing a flint-walled pool (not generally visible to visitors).<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44116689092/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyf8lNa3sTWDwBe9WPTC5fKEo2nsmPiBydv2LFGL-1hP_ycSbwvUZEzbwkk2a6V2OCeKRc3he9h-NcpKrpAAVsAMGhVOijKhgl2JTN43CwnGcWpC4T16O0nJ8jt6_3OEfUqqidg/s640/gunnersby.jpg" title="Small Mansion and Bathhouse, Gunnersbury Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The park is wide, and stretches all the way to <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.297°W]</font> (across the boating lake, horticultural college and a huge fenced-off area awaiting transformation into a dual-borough outdoor sports centre). But my eye is particularly drawn to a sign on the very farthest gates, which have been blocked off and clearly labelled <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44116698752/in/album-72157696788042892/">'Project Kiss'</a>. Another sign on the adjacent footpath apologises on behalf of "work for Secret Group", and a separate map displays the full restricted area ("for further information, please get in touch with communications@secretgroup.com"). It's an open secret that this summer's sold out <a target="_blank" href="https://tickets.secretcinema.org/">Secret Cinema event</a> is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, but officially nobody is supposed to know quite where it's being held. As a posh charcuterie van rattles across the grass, and staff unlock the barrier to let it out to fetch fresh meat for tonight's fancy dress hordes, my lips are sealed.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> HOUNSLOW</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> EALING</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=517290&Y=179242&A=Y&Z=115">Northfields station</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.312°W]</font><br />
South Ealing and Northfields are the closest Underground stations outside zone 1, and aligned approximately east-west, and yet the 51½th parallel still somehow manages to slide between the two. You can see how close they are if you stand on the bridge in Weymouth Avenue and peer through the gauze, South Ealing barely a platform's length away, and Northfields <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30307612848/in/album-72157696788042892/">more like two</a>. I feared I was going to have to write about the doctor's surgery on the corner, and an abandoned towel, and Magda's cat who went missing on 17th May ("Wolly has mikrochip!!!!!! can be very hungry!!!!!! empty bowls and his bed break our hearts"). But I went and checked out both stations just in case, and I think one of them just about counts.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44177963341/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggS323qp0jduGins87vUjJ2tshAGyLpBJpHZRaaYc1AxeIR0_mw3QTJMurZIXUVZuOG4nmOkYtojNLBjns0u6FRyujPcVF-ADJnzKIzPu0S7iigq2qtVQC57LBGOLOYXWU7vx3Gg/s640/norflds.jpg" title="Northfields station" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
It started looking good for Northfields when I spotted Diamond Food And Wine on the street outside. I suspect Magda shops there. And Northfields has always looked good because it's a <a target="_blank" href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1263487">Charles Holden</a> station, with its tall <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44177963341/in/album-72157696788042892/">Sudbury-esque</a> ticket hall balancing out a low horizontal frontage, panelled clerestory windows and a flat slab roof. The Metro bins out front aren't quite the right shade of blue, and the pigeon spikes on the uplighters aren't what the architect intended, but some people are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/version-3-point-1/42093615522/">extremely fortunate</a> in where their daily commute starts and ends.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42366495650/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi10clKsWrCODiTqKgyUXW3g1X5fLkV1XKoXY6LP6wCyLJCqMNGWVl0U9Kyj8E2JI1g_JWz_2z2RpvsRSmE4xATKHnWoyK1cVuosfgQkSeHr1AyQ2MlYnXRYbO3TpduyqJ9OjlFOQ/s640/nfields.jpg" title="Northfields station" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I walked down to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42366495650/in/album-72157696788042892/">the far end</a> of the platform, beyond the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30310916468/in/album-72157696788042892/">concrete canopies</a>, a raised flower bed and those self-supporting roundel/advert combos that were de rigueur in the early Thirties. I watched the latitude on my phone tick up to 51.4998°N, then 51.4999°N, but it wasn't going to reach 51.5000°N unless I trespassed beyond the barrier or stepped off onto the tracks. When the station opened there was a further walkway connecting with a path leading along the trackside to Weymouth Avenue, which has been demolished at one end and sealed off at the other, but it's for this reason I'm claiming that Northfields station just crosses the line.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=515671&Y=179192&A=Y&Z=115">Elthorne Park</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.336°W]</font><br />
Residents of south Hanwell have enjoyed the formal part of this <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanwell#Elthorne_Park">park</a> since 1910, its opening delayed a few days by the announcement of the death of king Edward VII. It's a bandstand and tennis courts kind of place, the latter with a large banner for an investment company hung up behind the baseline. But walk a little further and you enter a much more recent addition, Elthorne Waterside, where scrubby meadows and young woodland are taking over the site of a former rubbish tip. <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42371954430/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXTVX1CLq7vSm8Oha-Iqm7hcbnhRMT6dSsAP8-Qqgz1ZYQhF_y7fQjIdL2PxwvE3eveLm0coz5JAhfPsSqEUqGFu8mVCZ2nRxFNEcNyjy152WpQdbmojvVd2_ak5gtNiVYTa_2A/s640/elthor.jp" title="Elthorne Waterside" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Though abundant with wildlife it's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42371954430/in/album-72157696788042892/">not especially</a> feature-rich, so Ealing Council commissioned a local artist to work with seven schools to create 'The Mosaic Trail' linking various colourful works of art. I found one by some thistles, a circular disc with only a tiny sliver of its original mosaic remaining, like some smashed fragment of Roman pavement. Best not tell the children. Also, despite being called Waterside, it's very difficult to get down to the River Brent/Grand Union Canal unless you join the towpath at either end, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44179678921/in/album-72157696788042892/">difference in height</a> being a silent reminder of quite how much waste the park is perched on.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>I was expecting a long detour to my next location, but instead spotted a sign by the orchard exit indicating a public footpath. Talk about unpromising. It led me through an industrial estate, past the shedlike <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42371945240/in/album-72157696788042892/">Magic Food</a> cafe, to a grimy corner where some workers had brought their own liquid lunch. I eventually worked out that the footpath passed through a closed gate, which led to an unexpected <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/81447106@N05/7528946570/">level crossing</a> over a single track <a target="_blank" href="http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/t/trumpers_crossing_halt/">freight line</a>. A narrow littered path then ran beside a high fence, overlooked by the occasional horse, alongside a vast tract of undeveloped inaccessible brownfield. And I mention this because sometimes London's most unexpected corners only reveal themselves when you try to walk between two random locations, and this is why we should do it more often.</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=514709&Y=179182&A=Y&Z=115">Windmill Lane</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.349°W]</font><br />
This may just be one of London's oddest streets. A mile long, it joins the edge of Osterley to sort-of Hanwell, and looks like a rural road somebody forgot to upgrade. No public transport runs this way but it's a popular cut-through, so has street lamps and signs that flash if you try to do more than 30. Partway up is the kind of lay-by where 'No Dumping' signs are essential, and the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3123493">pavement</a> (where it exists) occasionally narrows to pushchair-unfriendly width. A collection of buildings hides on the other side of a very long <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30314295588/in/album-72157696788042892/">brick wall</a>, the entrance to which is deliberately unlabelled. Try to follow Windmill Lane on <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/S1oRvKFQaUy">Google Streetview</a> and you'll discover the picture freezes out at each end. It's almost like somebody doesn't want you snooping around.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30314295588/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifxsUsfYY7_I02Buhd451yG1oS58Jikk7oFswdquF5bKr339zjB3p6DS1s5i03BbiP822Yp2R9KeJYdy99cIDiv_xbL-lFUQg8fF11mGs33F_Wc0J7lQPTYFUltLearx770l1Q0Q/s640/windmln.jpg" title="Windmill Lane" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
That somebody is the Sultan of Brunei, who bought Aviary Farm many years ago and now maintains it as one of his many global residences. He's not here much, but his extended family are, enjoying the seclusion and a lot of life's luxuries, including a big swimming pool, an outdoor basketball court and a manicured lakeside lawn. I happened to be walking past when a car pulled in and the main gate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43463409494/in/album-72157696788042892/">silently opened</a>, revealing a little more than the Sultan likes to show, if nothing more than some very nicely sculpted trees. Heaven knows what CCTV made of a random pedestrian walking past taking random photos, but thankfully nobody emerged to tell me to stop or to feed me to a pack of hounds. For an unnerving and unwelcoming walk, give Windmill Lane a spin.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30316089688/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZZuoFM7e_I2wLq3DLnbLjt9Hfv_VaH41Y9CkgcHw9j7t9XmlgGlCx7msa0NRmiugR1DZnrXADd9BvkWRyptS5FcUKXlOQ3BEvhFyK_jFotqOJzBdrCCQFdt0lpznk77YKEK3hjQ/s640/havlok.jpg" title="Havelock Estate" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=513331&Y=179169&A=Y&Z=115">Havelock Estate</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.369°W]</font><br />
We'll cross the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43463439394/in/album-72157696788042892/">Grand Union Canal</a> one more time, but here's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30316089688/in/album-72157696788042892/">a quiet spot</a> undergoing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.southallvillage.co.uk/development-vision/">transformational change</a>. The Havelock is another of Ealing's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201104/housing_regeneration/374/havelock_estate/1">less-loved</a> council estates, a 50s/70s development that could have worked out better, crammed into an awkwardly inaccessible triangle between an industrial estate and the canal. As at Acton Gardens a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.chg.org.uk/development-regeneration/regeneration/havelock/">phased plan</a> of decanting and relocation is underway, with additional homes added for private buyers, and the end result will look <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30316077508/in/album-72157696788042892/">exactly how you expect</a>. Placards advertising 'canalside living' will only become reality once the Canal & River Trust have hacked two and a half metres off the height of the hedge along the towpath, which they're kindly undertaking this summer. Narrowboaters in the know take advantage of ample mooring opportunities.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=512337&Y=179169&A=Y&Z=115">King Street, Southall</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.383°W]</font><br />
Here I found myself well to the south of the railway station, in what was originally <a target="_blank" href="http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/southall/">Southall Green</a>, with its typical Middlesex high street. But the suburb's character changed dramatically <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/apr/04/how-london-southall-became-little-punjab-">after 1950</a> when the partitioning of the Punjab brought Sikhs and other South Asians to Southall in great numbers, initially in search of work. Today Southall has Hindu mandirs and most notably ten Sikh temples, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sgsss.org/">Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha</a> the largest anywhere outside Asia. Its domes can be seen from some distance, or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29246439267/in/album-72157696788042892/">suddenly come into view</a> when you turn into the adjacent terraced street. What the other gurdwaras lack in size they make up for in dazzle, or openness, or the overuse of orange paint. At least three Sikhs passed me on their way to a service holding sitar-sized carrying cases.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44184642801/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9m8qv0nAnSUL6ZgorRgrhbvkOvQ1NOA9m2PP_iycqSj7FLE5GH6NRqHTLCZpHLVyyWiBwVchavQlqZlAuKyCkDpeVwtwr7tYFV_hGHtz3wu86wyn0JOQFqIm1Go64Mb2I3IPFBA/s640/soufall.jpg" title="King Street, Southall" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I didn't see a single other European face on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44184634741/in/album-72157696788042892/">King Street</a> as the local mixed community went about their business. I should emphasise I never felt uncomfortable, it's just another vibrant neighbourhood, but the only other monocultures I've walked through in London have all been white. Clothes and food shops predominate, the former incorporating textile merchants and tiny cubbyholed-sized dry cleaners. The Naan Shop sells its takeaway goods for a pound. One bazaar advertises nothing but its supply of Rakhi cards for those celebrating on 26th August. So many letters have fallen off the front of the Tesco Express (or 'Teo press') that the opening times somehow read 'penery damp'. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44184642801/in/album-72157696788042892/">half-timbered pub</a> nobody wants to drink in any more has become a Ladbrokes. The paving slabs outside what used to be St John's Church are inscribed with the names of local historical figures who resonate with a minority of the community. I'm pleased not to have reached the end of my journey without a reminder of the capital's true diversity.<br />
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<font color=#b22222 size=1> EALING</font><br />
<hr><font color=#b22222 size=1> HILLINGDON</font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=510679&Y=179106&A=Y&Z=115">Bull's Bridge</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.407°W]</font><br />
Bingo, it's the most important point on the canal network in west London. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44166253422/in/album-72157696788042892/">Bull's Bridge</a> spans the entrance to the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, while the original Grand Union continues down to the Thames. The new connection opened in 1801, when this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5784572">low</a> humpback was added, and Bull's Bridge became an important stopping-off point where bargees waited for their orders. The adjacent slate-roofed tollhouse <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/34694369964/">used to be</a> in a very poor condition, but has been restored in the last year and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29278364727/in/album-72157696788042892/">looks ready</a> to be reused. All trace of the coal wharves is long gone. Today the boroughs of Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon meet right here, each on a separate side of the water.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44166253422/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9whdTRSqlnTtDKUiViuY6Wj7CsefZBhVFAZG6TnFA7Uavs7ez74P-wQCd1GzT3hTIbMcKj0BV_YKJeB2MmTD0Gah3H1Q3uBuYeNFsceaQSXvnvuriXcWV5VlpwfcEDMSsJgQVg/s640/bbridge.jpg" title="Bull's Bridge" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
I am not the only person present. Two silver-haired gentlemen have arrived with rucksacks and pastel rambling-trousers, one clutching a copy of the official guide to the London Loop. They're clearly taking the challenge seriously because they've noted the recommendation to divert 60m off the advertised route to admire the bridge, and are cataloguing their visit with a few carefully chosen photos. A father and daughter lay down their bikes atop the hump and pause for a juice break before cycling on. The narrowboat <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30350319218/in/album-72157696788042892/">Little John</a> unties its moorings alongside the superstore on the Hounslow shore, which a sign assures us is called Tesco Hayes Bulls [est 1994]. A small flotilla of moorhens swims under the bridge, the two youngest cheeping for all they're worth when suddenly an older bird dives dramatically for... oh, a bit of weed.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30350319218/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKAOQeadnPBU8s3DjdRxvBkcvqVFeGMtw_EoKkfA1bwBmcfvaqBV6BNAiw7-K9tQUeTVl0XqmWLu3zBtWUj7xqB8EAhjSJHarKCZw9HKqnvDvft7XsG_g9EJtWHl_SbnEPZksdw/s640/nestbulls.jpg" title="Bull's Bridge" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The dandelioned slopes around the bridge are a popular picnicking spot, assuming that picnic consists of lager, vodka and a scattering of Mini Cheddars. Someone has abandoned nearly 100 slices of bread on the path and steps, every single one of them a crust, which begs a question. A proper old-school fingerpost has been positioned at the water's edge, pointing towards Brentford 6 miles, Paddington 13½ miles and... the West Midlands arm is bent and mostly broken off. A much more modern black and yellow fingerpost has been installed for walkers and cyclists, one arm pointing downstream towards the evocatively named Wolf Bridge. I wish I'd picked a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/34694378314/">sunnier day</a> to visit.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=510011&Y=179094&A=Y&Z=115">Nestles Avenue</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.417°W]</font><br />
Once, when industry was king, residential roads could be named after international manufacturing giants. Nestles Avenue doesn't have the apostrophe or the accent in its moniker, according to the sign at the end of the road, but one hundred 1930s semi-detached houses face directly onto the former Nestlé factory opposite. In <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nestle.co.uk/aboutus/history/charlie-chaplin-and-the-chocolate-factory">1916</a> a Swiss company bought up a former cocoa plant here on the banks of the Grand Union and started making Nestlé products under licence, before a merger brought Nestlé UK head office to the site, and a larger Art Deco factory was built. Grocery stalwarts Nescafé and Milkybar were both made here, the freeze-dried coffee being the last product to survive until the whole site closed down in 2015.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44217839621/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZgYNWjwXAAtlRNRWT4VdkjAFmMmpa3ah0cO6mven9P4J4wkfmzcBH7jU10rNVKgJR1CiwNomVy6c1IlNAu8C8Blwihp2Fxjkl9LTN-KFpsOrio_wLB4YEDeN6y8qif2r9s4Q_wA/s640/nestleave.jpg" title="Nestles Avenue" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<a target="_blank" href="https://www.hawkinsbrown.com/news-and-events/news/regeneration-of-former-nestle-factory-gets-planning-approval">1381 houses</a> are on their way, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/former-nestle-factory-development-1381-14043173">as you'd expect</a>, but for now we're in the pre-development interregnum and the only way to get inside is via illegal urban exploration. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/the-nestle-factory-hayes-june-2018.113488/">Wow</a>. To discourage such behaviour Keep Out signs are absolutely everywhere, while today is the last day to object to <a target="_blank" href="https://planning.hillingdon.gov.uk/OcellaWeb/showDocuments?reference=1331/ADV/2018/42">planning permission</a> for the erection of ten 'Chocolate Works' flagpoles around the perimeter. At the former pedestrian entrance a set of decorative <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44169723492/in/album-72157696788042892/">iron gates and railings</a> (originally 19th century, brought over from Switzerland) have been sealed and locked inside a security nomansland. As for the main entrance for vehicles, its barriers are down, the signs reading Nestlé Beverage Division are illegibly overgrown, and the 1950s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44217839621/in/album-72157696788042892/">Moderne Style canteen</a> stands vacant. It's going to be the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.henrywiltshire.co.uk/assets/uploads/nestle.jpg">gym</a> for all the new residents, obviously, and if they fail to serve Nespresso someone's got this all very wrong.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30354658798/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-W5JRIuOVl5h46IyITfuz8rCEmsF134mfWY94HJr0tnTx1chP27vsYqVMKkXbHEDumQi8HCK7RkPVd4209vH0fcLLZzkNGQDsV6O3DXAcguqCjHRMRTjAI0qfU3N_ChQQ3aVDeg/s640/asdahayes.jpg" title="Asda, Hayes" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=509369&Y=179043&A=Y&Z=115">Asda, Hayes</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.426°W]</font><br />
I feel I should stop off in Hayes proper, just south of the Crossrail redevelopment vortex, but all I've hit is the Asda superstore at Fairey Corner. More specifically I've hit the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30354658798/in/album-72157696788042892/">petrol station</a>, which isn't going to score any narrative prizes, although the presence of Hillingdon's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/32352/New-mobile-library-takes-to-the-boroughs-roads">mobile library</a> looks promising. Ah, no, it's just here for a lunchtime refuel. Unleaded is 124.7p a litre, and diesel 4p dearer, for future reference. Logistics company Nippon Express have a giant warehouse alongside, the M4 being conveniently close. Two smart young gentlemen walk past clutching a sheaf of green religious tracts which they seem keen to discuss, but I smile and shut them down. I'm unconvinced this brief Asda layover has been worth my time.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=508380&Y=179045&A=Y&Z=115">Pinkwell Park</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.440°W]</font><br />
What I particularly like about Hillingdon's parks, even the smaller ones, is that a mapboard always explains the origin of the space. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/pinkwellpark">This one</a>'s named after a small pond at the start of the Frog's Ditch, and was laid out in the 1930s when George Wimpey & Co Ltd were building the surrounding Bourne Farm Estate. A separate sign beside each entrance appears to warn that "gathering in groups of two or more" is prohibited, but I think it's just very badly worded. Almost all of the park is requisitioned for recreational activity, including football, basketball, bowls and skateboarding. The bloke practising his halfpipes must be late 30s, at least.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30354667418/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPOsR8-x2QxoNyZJurXEtswg6VLArg66NMjN9MJQOHTsmkU9ijEZpbsIZmlT9XwFsenblketI7Lxo-3-Cqt3mnZzyc3OiCkwa5CP3-75cOoO7XIfwH4L_FOz8G7tei6BiLJWFEvA/s640/pinkwpk.jpg" title="Pinkwell Park" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
It's walkies time for the Rottweiler I've accidentally followed here from four streets away. No evidence of gender is visible. He/she is a hardwired tugger, stopper and sniffer, and has been brought here by a lad wearing red trackies and green trainers. He has his charge on a very thick silver chain, and even once in the park doesn't dare release them for a runaround. A woman with a less exciting spaniel stops for chat and an admiring stroke. I'm nervous when the conjoined pair approach, but it's only so I can be asked "Brother, have you got a cigarette?" and alas I have not. They <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30354667418/in/album-72157696788042892/">wander off</a> to sit in the basketball shelter, where a mate joins them and the dog aches to be elsewhere.<br />
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<font size=1 color=#b22222><i>One day Prologis Park will expand south to cover 51½°N, but its logistical megasheds have yet to spread onto the brownfield site along Stockley Road. It's bleak round here, and pedestrian unfriendly, especially the mega interchange where the M4 spur road breaks off and heads for the airport. I have to dash unaided across the four lane <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/30357466178/in/album-72157696788042892/">southbound highway</a>, praying that the lights don't change halfway, then equally nervously across the four lane northbound off-slip.</i></font><br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=507403&Y=179032&A=Y&Z=115">Crowne Plaza London - Heathrow</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.454°W]</font><br />
Even a mile and a half north of its take-off strip, and a mile north of any Runway Three, the airport's pull is strong. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29289444297/in/album-72157696788042892/">Crowne Plaza hotel</a> was dumped beyond the M4 in 1973, a Y-shaped beast with five identikit floors on each arm. The handful of flags fluttering out front reflect a global clientele, with China and the USA prominently represented alongside, er, Kenya and Vietnam. A wall of net curtains faces the car park, and a sports club with an enticing swimming pool is bolted on at one end to help the overall four-star-ness of things. Cars and shuttle buses drive in at the front, while hospitality staff from UB7 walk in round the back, where the laundry lorries depart carrying a cargo of soiled cotton.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29289444297/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5EawY2xMc7YxwSMuCfhfwM650dGgOakPE4X87JDAq_BWN996XF3pp0Iaecta0DqDgcRG4PofRSXkxs-9oikGR6qqSfDIwkIxc0aai8rqBecOAH-lg9Q6st5_n83ieXhwZ0g5W5g/s640/crowplaz.jpg" title="Crowne Plaza London - Heathrow" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Living in London I'm never subjected to the unwelcome wastefulness of the overnight pre-flight stay. As well as the need for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/gb/en/london/lonha/hoteldetail">£136 room</a> in which you'll spend most of your time unconscious, it's an extra £16 if you want the benefit of wi-fi. It's also £16 a day to park your car here, because you're over a barrel, and the Hoppa shuttle to the airport costs £5 a time. You'll also need dinner, they hope from the on-site Indian restaurant, although it's actually an easy walk to the local chippie if you know which way you're going (which the orientation of the site ensures almost nobody would). Across Cherry Lane, named after the <a target="_blank" href="https://maps.nls.uk/view/101454907">orchards</a> postwar development devoured, residents of the Novotel and slablike Holiday Inn are similarly 'trapped' until their aeroplanes eventually whisk them away.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=506326&Y=178992&A=Y&Z=115">West Drayton Cemetery</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.470°W]</font><br />
Normally this is a quiet tongue of land off the Harmondsworth Road, crowded only with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/42425793730/in/album-72157696788042892/">graves and tributes</a>, but I can immediately sense I've arrived a bad time. A pair of white vans and a Range Rover are amongst the vehicles parked up on the verge out front, a couple of suited drivers are standing around smoking, and the little council shed inside the gate is open for business. At the far end of the cemetery, beyond the cypresses, a dense concentration of mourners is starting to disperse from the freshest graveside, their ceremony complete. Everyone's dressed up in their finest black, some in waistcoats which might once have fitted better, others in slim sleek dresses. A strong sense of family reverberates. I make a strategic withdrawal as the first of the hearses zigzags up the uneven driveway and heads off towards the wake. I elect to come back later, after this human drama is complete.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44233695041/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DD0KbfIPzwI1UrjJpG9i3epa_oSAwC-17fo-mfQ8Hw91t03V2pgDG6y5CHNMkw2YbyybJJqh-DZL92ffc_JCt_udP1KCxKquDi3H2UIxj5R8l7-f2XaG9e1BRz94nhLGYY_vJQ/s640/wdcem.jpg" title="West Drayton Cemetery" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
One hour later <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44233695041/in/album-72157696788042892/">I'm back</a>, having been kept busy researching the paragraphs you've yet to read. The cemetery is quiet again, apart from the two gentlemen I last saw outside their shed, who in the intervening period have filled in the grave with the aid of a small digger and are busy spreading floral tributes on top. A huge Irish flag labelled 'Dad' forms the backdrop at the head, this just a tiny fraction of the florist's considerable commission, while 'Grandad' and 'Jimboy' are now positioned along each side. A photo of the almost-smiling deceased has been placed on a small easel to one side. I notice that the adjacent grave has a couple of stone leprechauns on it, indeed this whole corner of the <a target="_blank" href="http://londoncemeteries.co.uk/2002/04/30/west-drayton-cemetery/">cemetery</a> has an Irish feel, and my word there's one particular memorial across the path which takes the breath away.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44184725232/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7vbmtez3jntlrRO6faaEjew2sb9zoBXqG_efhkWba3rhQPCJo9CjqenokgWC03LUweJJY5yXXbdMk_Vwt9ikG5LfjaLrYGMplDRAb3JA-pK8RlTZ7euwhHafvDNLO2D2ovmRkg/s640/jerrhan.jpg" title="West Drayton Cemetery" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Jerry Hanrahan wasn't quite 18 when he died, and his loving family have placed two almost-lifelike statues of him on either side of a flamboyantly decorated <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44184725232/in/album-72157696788042892/">monument</a>. To the right the young boxer is dressed in a smart blue jacket and has his fists raised, while to the left he's in a tight red G-Star Raw t-shirt, with one hand in his jeans pocket and the other clutching a fibreglass bottle of Bud. Numerous artificial blue roses are dotted around, along with lanterns and patio lights, and the entire tableau is faced by a bright blue bench positioned slightly too close to comfortably sit on. The main text chiselled into the marble is unnervingly lengthy, written as if Jerry is speaking down from Heaven, and has all the sincerity of a much-liked Facebook post. Happy Birthday Daddy, reads the silver balloon his seven-year old left last week. West Drayton, it's clear, will never be allowed to forget.<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=505265&Y=178990&A=Y&Z=115">Cricketfield Road</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.483°W]</font><br />
The last road in London to cross the 51½th parallel is Cricketfield Road, which is indeed named after the obvious. It forks off from Mill Road at the very western edge of West Drayton, just before all the waterways start, and runs bumpily and pavementlessly alongside the last few yards of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/8989/Frays-River">Frays River</a>. At its top end until a few years ago was the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/55935853@N00/9467925458">Anglers Retreat</a> public house, ideally suited for post-fishing beers or an after-innings pint. But it was demolished last year and is currently being resurrected as flats, in front of a more snazzy <a target="_blank" href="http://kkmarchitects.com/projects/anglers/">eco-development</a> of a dozen more. The adjacent cricket ground has been out of action for rather longer, but remains undeveloped because it isn't brownfield, despite being just as suitable. Next comes the entrance to the local Travellers site, and then an outstanding London oddity - a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29304762797/in/album-72157696788042892/">Bailey Bridge</a> across the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3638922">River Colne</a>.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29304762797/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCOxIPwtD5xDBs2QCTsg2n0n2UOgJJfV50vHsL2fJGMP8Go8uSbRIxG4iWCzrOdFE_7lS5PUVXamPcQVXfM1F_QFacv1MjQSnvs5IpRFUlWYbWFQm8vi7Kyv3ziRguJxW-JFSpw/s640/bailbrij.jpg" title="Cricketfield Road" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The bridge dates back to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/my-favourite-bridge-i-know-i-know.254851/page-10">Forties</a>, but isn't thought to be war-related. Before it was constructed vehicles could only reach further Riverside properties across a ford, but then woodyards and scrapyards grew up and needed better access, so a former footbridge got replaced by this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/67983">prefabricated</a> span. A further cluster of automotive businesses was established as a result, so today's pedestrians need to time their journey across the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43523059984/in/album-72157696788042892/">bridge</a> carefully to avoid a stream of cars and vans. The clatter of the decking is evocative, and I kept expecting a tank to appear and start thundering ominously towards me above the reeds and Himalayan balsam.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29304773617/in/album-72157696788042892/"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNDBZseZlOngDyV7GO41eyZIwOS-Pn9gah5N-FfsJ_KQgPsRok_GCvSClQUwORwccWxVFLYV0LfD3pSg1pCxYO8fDckHoz5v-Ha86Va6cpTwXs5YWtYLDLYqpGovT1u7CIAHfVg/s640/crickfld.jpg" title="Cricketfield Road" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
The handful of people who live out here, on the very edge of London, own fiercely-defended detached homes behind spiked walls and electric gates. The house at the end of the bridge has a decorative lamppost and a request stop flag in the garden, along with a lot of sheds. The potholed track leading off <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29304773617/in/album-72157696788042892/">to the right</a> ends swiftly at the gates of the Arklyn boarding kennels, this unwelcoming dead end the furthest west it's possible to stand on the line of 51½°N without entering private property. Technically it's still 250m to the border, but the remainder is mostly fishing lake, all sight of which is shielded behind bungalow and fence. To reveal more, I'm going to have to take an off-line diversion...<br />
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<b><u><a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=505019&Y=178985&A=Y&Z=115">Mayfields Lake</a></u></b> <font color=#b22222>[51.5°N 0.489°W]</font><br />
The dividing line between London and Buckinghamshire hereabouts isn't quite the River Colne, but a tiny offshoot called the Bigley Ditch, which explains the <a target="_blank" href="http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=505025&Y=178986&A=Y&Z=120">impractical</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://maps.nls.uk/view/103658036">meanderings</a> of the boundary. Originally the land between the Colne and the Ditch was all meadow, but selective postwar flooding created three separate lakes for angling purposes, the first of which was called Mayfields. Access must be via Thorney Mill Road, a ratrun with a 7-foot width restriction, which passes what used to be the rather splendid <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29308150947">West Drayton Mill</a>, where <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Lane">Allen Lane</a> the Penguin books magnate once lived.<br />
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<a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/29308150947"><img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3bfopkvQkH5UN0hrVbkTcQBTXiNSjFRaAMzc2FNQh-ouZHJ7JISiUbCREhDgv8IHAhIfJmu7hLo7rweODw5s-ceSXd6rsYPtQYuW9r4gMBXccezqfqMl0F6cwnGHTqoSbb8pFvQ/s640/wdraymill.jpg" title="West Drayton Mill" align=left border=0></a><br clear=all><br />
Residential quality slumps somewhat after that, with a large estate of mobile homes crammed in just before the boundary. Nobody here gets a garden, only a lot of close neighbours, if a 2-bed for under 200K within walking distance of Crossrail is your thing. The Bigley Ditch is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5523936">barely visible</a> from the road, but a bright white <a target="_blank" href="http://www.coaldutyposts.org.uk/posts/post072/post072.html">coal tax</a> post <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/44243618921">marks the spot</a>, as well as two more modern borough signs. The road continues to a bridge over a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/43337986595">single track</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/colnbrook_estate_halt/index.shtml">freight</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/Staines_West_line2.html">line</a>, whose presence is the reason it's impossible to approach these fishing lakes from the west, with the M4/M25 interchange an even more serious obstacle from the south.<br />
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<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt5tBjZ1l73y7KLzMzQOPn7XKRGmzZ4euwfqE7xOi-qdcn4JVlfl7__VhxxNdk9WM4UJqgKoXuYURqfRyL4ZtMuFmf_so7W0q860yEUyuV9Y3diy_ry601wXPvz_h6fYMnKVB1wg/s640/thorncoal.jpg" title="Thorney Mill Road, coal tax post" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
The sole entrance is through a locked gate topped with barbed wire, for paid-up members of the <a target="_blank" href="https://en-gb.facebook.com/pg/TheMayfieldsSyndicate">Mayfields Syndicate</a> only. They fish <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.158819267940505&type=3">these lakes</a> for humongous <a target="_blank" href="http://www.korda.co.uk/media/images/gallery/1053/gallery_image/653x434.jpg">carp</a>, some over 30 pounds in weight, whose occasional capture must make up for all the long hours spent patiently dangling bait. According to a notice pinned to the gate, members turning up with wet equipment is a serious problem. While I'm reading about this an archetypal fisherlad appears behind the mesh, baseball cap poised. He pauses, as if wondering why the hell I'm so interested, then wanders off to catch a monster. I'm left staring at a photograph of Mayfields Lake...<br />
<br />
<img hspace=0 src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4KWzAnIOaX9TqIWgwwvtQQJtnn1sqkLq81rwfso54hrHpmWge9O4Mc5zZtZ1NYYbZABXDIxyyCB1ep-cGzjlQOlyjfr1l_35zYPQyIixowBxz-M9YjhhHzf8I8eVU8EumOb0iA/s640/mayfld.jpg" title="Mayfields Lake" align=left border=0><br clear=all><br />
...which, as the endpoint of my 31-mile latitude quest, will have to do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<font size=1><font color=#b22222><i>Places on the 51½°N parallel outside London:</i></font> Slough, Bristol, Cardiff, southern tip of Ireland, mostly-uninhabited Canada, one of the Aleutian Islands, Russia, very-northern China, Russia again, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, Germany (Dortmund), Netherlands (Eindhoven), one Belgian village, Thames Estuary, Thurrock Thameside Nature Park, North Stifford, Aveley.</font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6271042.post-84089132242255792372017-01-31T17:34:00.000+00:002017-02-01T11:14:29.250+00:00Londonist Jan 31st<i><u>Londonist posts today</u></i><br />
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<i>Londonist tweets today:</i> 32<br />
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