Interesting boats by the lock

One of the many nice things about the river around Teddington Lock is that you can often see industrial boats there, that is boats with jobs to do other than carrying people for pleasure. Boats with functions and designed for those functions and so have interesting shapes and interesting things on board.

The are remains of a name on the side of this one that say something like "Marphy Engineers", with their old 01 telephone number, but wear, sun and water have made it barely readable.

Starting work on Orford Place

What was St Michaels Convent is being transformed in to Orford Place, "a collection of 23 elegant, new and beautifully-converted houses and apartments, set in three acres of mature gardens exclusively for the over 55s."

The work is starting in the south-east corner and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I will be back regularly to see.

Flowery trellis

I suspect that eventually I will have posted a photo of every house in Ham Farm Road, if I have not already done so.

This house is as distinctive as most of its neighbours which justifies a photograph by itself and the presence of the flowery trellis seals the deal. It is just a slight shame that the panel third from the left is not quite vertical.

Heavy pollarding in Riverside Drive

Trees are a key feature of Wates Estate and after fifty years some of them have grown rather large. These two could threaten Meadowview so every so often they get a serious pollarding to reduce the number of leaves and so the reduce the force of any winds on them.

They will look like normal trees soon but for the moment they look harsh and damaged.

Working on 1 Upper Ham Road

Most of the extensive work being done on 1 Upper Ham Road is happening behind large hoardings but occasionally a door opens to allow deliveries and then it is possible to furtively peak inside to see how things are getting on.  

Ham Common at its best

Ham Common has had a difficult year with wet Spring, a long dry Summer followed by bouts of heavy rain. Despite this it has, at times, looked quite magnificent.

Clearing the fence

Some work has been done on the south-east boundary of Cassel Hospital, by where it joins Ham Parade. The main part of this has been to clear the gate to provide vehicle access to the grounds and the adjoining sections of the fence have been cleared of vegetation.