Chimneys

I have posted a few pictures of Reston Lodge over the years and they have always been of the frontage so I thought that this time I would draw attention to the lovely chimneys. This is what they look like from the footpath that runs alongside the house.

Construction in Cedar Heights

Cedar Heights has seen a few major projects in recent years and might be about to see another. It is too early to tell how much of a transformation is planned, and looking at the planning application (if there is one!) is cheating in my book, but I hope that the opportunity is taken to make a moderately interesting house into something a bit more special and a bit more fitting for the road.

Neighbours

The house on the right was extensively rebuilt recently but they chose to keep the scale of the house the same as it had been. The house on the left has taken a very different approach and has built as big a house as is reasonably possible on a plot that size.

While the new house dwarfs its neighbour it is saved from looking out of place by the house on the other side of the Clifford Road junction which is similar in size and has just grown a little bit bigger with a roof extension.

Private Parking

I like the style of this sign in Meadow Close but I do not understand why it is so high given that the people it is aimed at are sitting in cars.

Coming back to life

This house in Broughton Avenue has been waiting for some time to be brought back to life and now the work has started. Sadly I suspect that it was given the opportunity to do so due to the ending of the life of the person who used to live there.

Dolls houses

It feels too late for these to be Christmas decorations but whatever the reason for them is I approve! The NeoGeo houses in Dickens Close are a little drab to my taste and these decorations brighten the area up.

Roof extension

This photo of a roof extension in Royal Park Gate was taken very close to the one posted yesterday; that one showed the back of a house in Manston Grove and this is the front of a house in Horsley Drive. Here the scaffolding and sheeting is going up before the work starts, as is usual, which only makes the other one look stranger.

This house is the end of a short terrace of three and so the changes to the frontage will further break the continuity, a break that started when they added grey window frames.

Frame

I will happily confess that I know little about constructing houses, I just like to see it being done, so there may be a good reason why this wooden frame has been constructed without the usual protective sheeting but, whatever the reason, it allows the bare frame to be seen in all its glory.

Bent wheel

I have no idea how you do that to a car in sedate Ham Farm Road.

Misty morning

We had a few days of dramatic early morning fog that demanded to be photographed. I managed to resist the temptation for a day or two and then finally succumbed on a walk across Ham Lands.

Wide paths in Ham Common Woods North

I do not walk through Ham Common Woods North (the section north of Ham Gate Avenue) that often, simply because it is just a longer and muddier way to get from one part of Ham Gate Avenue to another, but I like walking in woods and I like to keep an eye on things so I do take this long-cut every couple of months.

My memory of doing so in the early days of the pandemic is of having to regularly climb between bushes to let people going the other way pass safely. Since then the path has grown much wider, either by accident or design, and such evasion is no longer necessary.

While the wider path is easier to walk along it is also far less mysterious and enticing. Personally I hope that the vegetation reclaims some of the land it lost and makes the path a lot narrower.

Remembering Malcolm

Everybdy new and loved Malcolm. He is sorely missed.

96

I am always pleased to celebrate decorative house numbers because they can brighten even the drabbest frontage, not that there is anything wrong with the brick wall where this one has been carefully inserted. 

No Jumping or Cycling

This sign on the Ham side of Teddington Footbridge looks new and I think it is new, that is I only noticed it recently. It is also completely pointless.

The main message, No Jumping or Cycling, is easy to miss due to its size and height, and I really cannot imagine anyone getting up close enough to the sign to read the details; I didn't.

Shelter

This shelter is, I presume, the resting place for the man just to the left of it. I will not dignify it by calling it a "home" nor will I say where it is because there is, sadly, a significant amount of intolerance locally towards the homeless and other people with uncommon lifestyles, e.g. boat dwellers and travellers. 

I record this shelter as a simple statement of fact and I regret deeply that our society not only forces some people to live like this but then also demonises them for doing so.

Pruned post

There are several posts at the Ham Common end of Back Lane to deter pavement parking for the shops there and, for reasons I do not understand, some of them have had their tops pruned. The cleanness of the top suggests a cut rather than a break but that still does not explain why it happened.

Obstruction

I do not walk along the towpath between Teddington Lock and Ham House very often because there is not a great deal to see and it is a lot slower than following Riverside Drive but I make a point of doing so every couple of months just in case there is something new, something like this fallen tree.

Level fence

The rebuilt and extended house at the near end of this terrace in Sandpits Road has chosen to continue the white picket fence and to maintain the alignment at the top, which has produced a significant gap at the lower end that, I presume, is going to be filled with something else.

This is a slight departure from what was there before. Previously the fence was shorter (because the house was narrower) and was slightly lower than the rest.

The step-down that was there before started with the gate on the second house up and now that the new fence has matched the top level of the main section of the fence that gate now looks odd as it sits lower than everything else.

Broken tree

A damaged tree is always a depressing sight and it is even more so in this case as it is in a very prominent position next to Gate House Garden on the cornet of Ham Common. 

44

House number signs are an easy way to show some individuality and I like to feature some of the more unusual examples here. This simple but effective 44 sign is in Meadlands Drive.

KT67 EBC on the pavement

There is simply no excuse for parking on the pavement here.

Flooding in Ham Farm Road

The recent spells of heavy rain have caused flooding in Ham Farm Road. The rain had stopped when I took this photo but the piddle was still very large and the wetness of the pavement shows how bad it had been,

The likely problem is this drain outside of number 7 which is not draining anything. I have reported it to Richmond Council, and I presume that other people have too, so I hope that it will be fixed soon.

More coffee's

It is almost thirteen years since I last reported an unwanted apostrophe in coffee's and it was a little disappointing to find another one in Ashburnham Road.

A combination of old and new

Sandy Lane remains a busy area for renovations and rebuilds and this one has taken the approach of leaving the period structure, with its bay windows and arched entrance, and added some distinctly modern features in the ubiquitous grey. I am not yet convinced that this combination works but nor am I convinced that it does not. It may swing on the final appearance of the garage.

What I am convinced about is the ugliness of the front garden, if garden is the correct word here. Not only has all the space for greenery gone, which is bad enough by itself, but the hard surface that has replaced it is uniform and featureless.

Mr Panda is open for business

I was planning to post a picture of Mr Panda in operation, and would still like to, but when I went past it last packed inside and out with children and I try to avoid taking pictures of people and of children even more so. And it was too packed with the virus spreaders for me to go inside to see what a bubble tea and kitchen actually does, something else for another day.

At least the new exterior can be seen and while this is a little bare the few seasonal decorations add some interest.

New door

This house in Arlington Road has had a lot done to it recently, including a few solar panels, and while the period look of the house has been largely retained I find then new front door a little incongruous. It also lacks a little imagination looking like every other new door.