Gutted

A convenient gap in the fence allowed me to see the full scope of the work being done to this house in Maguire Drive alongside the main path through to Dukes Avenue.

It also reveals some of the details of how the house was constructed, with the steel beams supporting the first floor, and how the outer layer of bricks was added some time after the house was originally constructed.

Ham House at Ham House

Ham House has several children's activites out across the gardens for the summer holidays and this model of Ham House is one of them. It is in the courtyard next to the former dairy and close to the shop.

New homes for all Londoners

The first sign of the many years of construction work to come at Ham Close is this vivacious sign tucked away on the west edge of the site.

Porch at St Andrew's

The impressive and convenient (it has two bench seats) entrance porch to St Andrew's is such an established feature that I somewhat took it for granted and had not posted a picture of it before. That has now been corrected!

It was looking particularly good on this day thanks to the flowers and the recently painted "S" and "A" on the gate posts.

Major works in Ashburnham Road

What started with rebuilding the end wall has grown to cover all of the flats above the shops at the Croft Way end of Ashburnham Road. 

 The end flat is being gutted in preparation for serious renovation and the remaining flats are being painted. 

You can see the need for the painting in the condition of the windows just to the right of the scaffolding.  The condition of the windows is so poor that it is obvious that they should have been addressed years ago and I wonder if the lack of maintenance means that some of the windows will need to be replaced, there is no point putting good paint on bad wood.

Unexpected barrier

Thames Water, having put a green fence around Parkleys Pumping Station just of Ham Gate Avenue, are installing a more substantial barrier nearby. It seems to be guarding just a standard manhole cover.

The presence of the yellow gate suggests that there is more of the barrier to come in which case the already intrusive construction will be even worse.

LR15 KLA in Croft Way

I want to use this specific example of the driver of LR15 KLA parking on double yellow lines and obstructing a dropped kerb to make a more general point. 

The parade of shops at that end of Ashburnham Road is busy and that means lots of people crossing Ashburnham Road and Croft Way to get there but there is no provision there to make it easy for them to do so, e.g. traffic islands. Worse than that, the entrance to Croft Way has been widened to make it easier for cars to go around the corner but making it further for pedestrians to walk.

I hope that once Richmond Council have fixed Ham Parade with the pedestrianisation of the slip road that they look at making similar improvements to the areas second busiest shopping parade.

Intelligent sign

A more typical sign would just say "Dryden Court 13 - 16" and leave you to work out where the flat you want is but Parkleys takes a more intelligent approach by aligning the flat numbers with their positions in the block. So simple, so effective.

Making good

It is clearly sensible that when road works have been completed the final stage should be to restore any markings that were destroyed in the process but, as this example at the junction of New Road and Ham Common shows, there is an argument that the making good should be extended slightly where the existing pain work is in such a poor condition.

Getting ready

The Cedar Heights / Ashfield Close enclave is one of the construction hot=spots at the moment and another project looks to be starting. It is just a couple of doors away from an excellent extension at the end of the close os it has a high bar to aim for.

Clean fence

Ham and Petersham Cricket Club had been ignoring local planning rules for over a year by using their front fence as an advertising hoarding, first for The Good Wine Shop and then for A-plan Insurance. I thought this was inappropriate and so contacted Richmond Planning who quickly agreed with me and both advertisements have now gone.

Of course, many of you will be aware that one of the stalwarts of the cricket club is also a stalwart of Ham and Petersham Association and Amenities Group who are quick to make petty objections to other people's planning applications.

Why Ham Parade needs to change

I do not keep a count of how often I go to Ham Parade but a conservative estimate is well over 1,000 times a year (over 3 times a day) so what happens there matters to me. I strongly support the proposal to remove the slip road on the east side and this is one reason why. 

The consultation documented some of the problems for pedestrians on that side but it understated just how bad things are. This is a fairly typical view with two vehicles parked on the double yellow line that is there to give space to pedestrians using the crossing.

On this occasion I saw a woman protest to the driver of EY20 ZPB that this is not a parking space only to have abuse shouted at her. According to too many motorists, pedestrians have no rights and the only way we can fix that is by physically taking spaces away from them.

Please do not tread on me

This decidedly cute sign is on the section of Douglas Footpath that runs parallel to River Lane past Deutsche Schule London where there is a short slope between the path and the school fence.

I will be interested to see what does grow here and welcome the attempt to make this area prettier and more friendly towards wildlife.

Saint-Gobain PAM Warrior surface box cover

I am not intending this to become a theme but having posted a picture of a Stanton PLC H Warrior surface box cover recently I thought that I would show that they are not all the same by posting a picture of one made by Saint-Gobain PAM. 

The two fire hydrant covers are close to each other, one is next to Gate House Garden and the other is on the other side of Upper Ham Road towards Fox House.

I am sure that there is a good reason why one is painted blue and one is painted yellow, but I have no idea what that reason is.

Fence moved

It is still hard to check on progress at The Cottage on Sudbrook Lane due to the effective hoardings, and I have tried - believe me, so it was good to see one evidence of change with the front fence and hoardings having been moved back about 1 metre. 

I am sure that the reasons for this will become clear later. I am also pretty sure that the fence will be replaced as it is not in keeping with the grandeur of the road or of the enlarged house.

Work in progress

For the last few weeks any work being done inside what was M & J Hardware has been hidden by newspaper pages stuck on the inside of the windows. Now the windows have gone and the work is hidden by chipboard.

This is a welcome sign of progress and I hope that the shop will be back in use soon and, just as importantly, it is a good shop for the Parade.

Animal Protection charity shop

The Animal Protection charity shop, most recently Living Italia, is starting to take shape with some shelves, racks and items for sale.

The sign is temporary and I hope that the final version (if there is one) is a little bit more imaginative in its use of fonts and corrects the phone number from "0208 ..." to "020 8...".

Infill planting

Every little helps, so they say, and this is a good example of that. There needs to be firm paths to the garage and front door but the spaces in-between can be planted to good effect, like here in Meadow Close.

It would have been easier to pave over all of the front area but finding a little space for planting like this is not only more attractive it does something to help the environment.

New Road closed

There are more road works on Ham Common and these block off that end of New Road. It will not happen but I would like this to be made permanent to remove that break in the pavement on what is one of the major walking routes in Ham.

Meadow Close signs

This sign for Meadow Close can be roughly dated by the font with its gentle serifs and I have posted several similar signs previously. The interesting thing about this one is that it says it is in "Richmond" whereas other signs nearby say "Petersham".

 

On the other side of the road the sign is alongside te Fox and Duck and so it set back too far from the main road to be read easily.

Its familiar characteristics are a simple font, no further information and all the white space placed between the two words.

Giant pot

The entrance to Petersham & Ham Sea Scouts is marked with a giant pot with hi-vis stripes. It marks a divide in the road with the entrance to the Scouts on the right and Douglas Footpath running off to the left.

DY18 CZB in Northweald Lane

182

I love this house number sign! Firstly it is easy to read, which is the most important thing about signs and, secondly, it has a little touch of the gothic about it but not too much to make it pretentious.

Square gate

Last year I was bemoaning the loss of an arched gate in Sudbrook Gardens and it seems to have taken me nine months to get back there to check on progress, that is the annoying thing about no-through roads.

What has replaced the cute arch draped with vegetation is a square gate that seems designed for a coach.  I think the side gate has been enlarged too.

Somehow the colour of the gates makes this look like the entrance to an industrial site and the state of the paintwork only reinforces that view.

11-DL-3714 in Sudbrook Gardens

BJ70 CUY in Ham Farm Road

3-way lights

The road to/from Richmond is having another one of its periods of disruption with 3-way lights at the junction of Petersham Road and Sandy Lane.

 

The size of the holes suggests that the lights will be there for some time yet. That is not too much of a problem for people like me who prefer to walk to Richmond but for those that cannot the disruption is a recurring annoyance.

Grey box

House owners' ability to shock me with inappropriate extensions. Here, in Hornchurch Close, an extension of grey slate has been added to a roof of red tiles.

In contrast, this is what (almost) every other roof extension on the estate looks like, tile hung to match the existing roof. This one happens to be on Dukes Avenue and faces the one above.

Refreshed lodge

Now that the scaffolding has come down the refreshed Avenue Lodge is revealed, and it is very much like the old version. The colour seems to be identical and while all the signs of ageing have gone it does not look brand new either. That is the perfect look for an old building.

Scaffolding tower

Scaffolding usually comes in large amounts these days so it is nice to see just a tower for a change. I like how the structure of the tower compliments the structure of the house and the way that the sky creates a dramatic background.

Fenced off

It is just coincidence but this is the third Thames Water story in a week. 

Parkleys Pumping Station, just of Ham Gate Avenue, has been unprotected for years but now someone has decided that it needs a fence around it.

Stanton PLC H Warrior cover

Normally Stanton PLC H Warrior covers are discrete and easy to ignore but this one on Upper Ham Road has been painted blue so it demands attention. Attention I think it deserves.

In their book Street Covers (Westzone 2000), Jacopo Pavesi and Roberta Pietrobelli pose the question "Why is the Stanton PLC H Warrior cover for Thames Water such an ugly muddle of logos?" but while I understand their premise it is not one I agree with. 

Problematic advertisement

There are two problems with this advertisement that has appeared on the fence of the cricket club on Upper Ham Road.

At one point in my life I worked in a new customer services IT system for BT and have taken the format of telephone numbers seriously ever since and "0203" is just wrong. The correct format is "020 3874 ..." and this matters because if you are in any "020" area you just need to dial "3874 ...".

The bigger problem is that this is in a Conservation Area and needs planning permission, which it has not got. 

Ham Gate Avenue closed

There are lots of very good reasons to be angry with Thames Water at the moment so it is good to see them do something useful. Ham Gate is closed to cars, but not bikes or pedestrians, because Thames Water have dug up the road at the start of the slope just inside the park.

Walking through the park is decidedly more pleasant with no traffic on that section of road. Sadly it is expected to open again soon.