New frontage in Lock Road

Sometimes when walking along familiar routes part of your unconscious mind notices that something is different and it takes a little while for the conscious mind to work out what it is. And so it was when I was walking along Lock Road towards Ham Common and something about this house caught my eye.

I cannot remember what was there before but the weathered boards are definitely new. Better than that, they are attractive too with a modern style that does not look out of place in a street of old houses. I also like the simplicity of the structure and the matching gate that give the frontage a clean and tidy look. 

Frog bench by Latchmere Brook

I am not a fan of what has been done to clear the vegetation and to create a new path around the pond by Ham Gate but that does not stop me from appreciating the new bench that has been installed there. The bench has a deliberately rustic feel and the side facing towards the pond has a couple of frogs that you cannot see as you walk past along Ham Gate Avenue.

Great Fish & Chips opening on Monday 25 May

It has taken a little while to repurpose a Chinese restaurant into a fish and chippy and now it is ready to open. The door and windows are a little industrial but I like the jolly colours and typeface used on the sign, though I am less sure that they are in keeping with the rest of the parade.

Slowly taking shape

I keep walking down the track that leads off Lock Road, past the clinic and on to the Thames Water pumping station to see how the new sheltered housing is getting on and while progress is clearly being made it is somewhat slower than I expected and the last time that I went the roofs had still to go on.

A lot of the brickwork had been done though and I was pleased to see the dark band demarcating the divide between the two storeys. What pleased me even more was the bright red machine in the foreground and that is the real reason that I took this photograph.

Four cygnets

It was my intention to say nothing about this year's cygnets as I prefer buildings to animals but in the end I could resist it no more, having walked past their nest at least once a day for what seemed like several weeks while waiting for them to emerge from their eggs.

There were six eggs from which four cygnets sprung. The other two eggs were abandoned. I was surprised that they did so well as in the early days it looked as no attention was being paid to the first eggs and I even though that they were building a second nest at one point.

But all's well that ends well and the new cygnets are getting much attention, to which they are completely oblivious.

Sun shining in Ham Street

In the middle of Ham Street is a neat row of little cottages that are kept blisteringly white so that it is impossible not to notice them however fast you go past.

This whiteness is punctured occasionally by things like this small black plaque of the shinning Sun above a reference number that has long lost its meaning.

Waiting for the eggs to hatch

The swans on Ham Pond seem to have been guarding their eggs for ever and my frequent visits to the nest hoping for cygnets, I go normally at least twice a day, have so far been without success. During the wait the best that I can do is show a picture of the eggs and one of the swans attending to its feathers.

Petersham Avenue caught in a quiet mood

Petersham Avenue is one of the Ham Avenues that cross the land between the river and Sandy Lane. It runs from behind Ham House, past Ham Polo and the German School and on to Petersham, emerging on to the Petersham Road next to the Russell School.

It is normally a busy path, both because it leads somewhere interesting and because it is a pretty way to get there, so I was very pleased to catch it in an unguarded moment with no people there to spoil the view. 

Latchmere House details

The story of Latchmere House is moving slowly with the appeals against Richmond's refusal for the two planning applications due to be heard later this month, with a decision some time after that. If either scheme is approved then Latchmere House, a listed building, will remain but the area around it will change immensely.

I will record the changes as and when they happen and in the meantime here is a close up of two of the windows on the front of the building. The windows themselves are unremarkable, and I presume that they will be replaced, and that they'll look the same as each other afterwards, but the real interest is in the decorations above them.

Dying garages in Cave Road

I have always been interested in the many collections of garages locally and I've been paying even more attention to them recently as some have started to disappear. These garages at the end of Cave Road, they join on to Riverside Drive, have been fenced off for some months with the promise of construction but so far nothing has happened.