FD03 GFG parks in a Bus Stop

I was waiting for a 65 to Richmond at Bus Stop J on Ham Parade when FD03 GFG pulled up and parked in the stop to use the cash machine. There were plenty of parking spaces on both sides of the road but she thought that was too far to walk and would rather block the buses instead.

Large plant on Meadlands Drive

Walking West along Meadlands Drive it is hard to miss this large leafy plant that has consumed most of the front garden of one of the houses set back from the road in a corner of a half-square. I like things like this for several reasons, not least because they break up the long stretch of uniform brick.

Sad pub

Two years after I first posted a picture of the boarded-up Royal Oak it is still standing sadly waiting for a new owner to care for it.

I do not expect it to become a pub again, which is a shame, but the plans to convert it to a house appear to have ended too and the new "All Enquiries" signs have a touch of desperation about them.

Tidy house on Ham Street

I have always liked this house on the upper end of Ham Street, it is between Sandy Lane and Riverside Drive. It has recently been freshened up and now looks very attractive. It has a lot of nice details, such as the heart shapes cut in to the shutters, without being too fussy.

Strathmore and Russell Schools

There is nothing remarkable about either of these buildings, except that they are about to disappear and I wanted to record them before they went.

The building on the right is one of the several that makes up the Russell School. When my boys went there (a few years ago now) it was where the infants started their schooling and also where the breakfast club was held.

The building at the back is the separate Strathmore School.

Strathmore School is a special school for learners with complex learning difficulties.

Richmond Council proposes to redevelop both schools on to a smaller footprint and to sell the released land to developers. I am strongly opposed to this for several reasons but the main two are that it was largely because of the large open site that I chose the Russell School for my two boys and the site is on the edge of Ham Lands and I am opposed to developments that change the wild character of the area.

You can see more about the campaign to stop this development on the Don't Sell School Land in Petersham to Developers blog.

Ham Parade (north-east) in August 2013

While some of these shops have featured individually in this blog I had not shown the whole of this part of the parade before because of the cars. It is the only part of Ham Parade that has two lines of parking in front of it and these are always busy. This picture was taken early on a Sunday morning and there are still four cars ruining the view.

Like most of the parade there have been a few changes over the last ten years or so; Headmasters has grown to occupy the two units on the far left and I still think of L’Amandine (in blue on the right) as a new arrival just because it came to Ham after I did.

N 879 JLU on double-yellow lines

There are two bad parking hot-spots on Ham Parade. This is not one of them which is why the bad parking grabbed my attention. The south-bound road widens slightly at this point to form two lanes to allow space for cars turning either in to the garage or in to Tudor Drive / Dukes Avenue at the traffic lights. Clearly this is not a sensible place to park and the double-yellow lines confirm this, yet N 879 JLU chose to do so.

A new look for Wendy's Workshop

Wendy's Workshop has featured here a few times since it opened in February 2009 because it always makes an effort to brighten up the parade. Now it has had a slight refresh and a new sign with dripping paint effect. It looks good.

Teddington Lock with flowers

It is always worth crossing the little footbridge to get on to the island at Teddington Lock to see the lock in action close-up and to appreciate the care and attention that is put in to keeping the place looking pretty and tidy.

The flower beds next to the office now have competition from a bed behind the office that was designed by Grace of Hampton Hill Junior School in the Design a Flowerbed for Teddington Lock competition.