Missing railings

Recently I posted a picture of some railings that had escaped the war effort and thought that I would contrast that with a very obvious example of their removal. This is the wall behind St Peters and it carries the obvious stumps of removed railings.

HS04 WJM blocks dropped kepr

Parking is clearly not allowed here but the driver of HS04 WJM though his wishes were more important than other people's, including the family that struggled to cross here with a buggy. 

Different lines

The problematic junction of Ham Common with Maringales Close has a new set of markings to try and make it clearer and safer. The Give Way lines on the section from The New Inn (you can see some of the remnants of the old lines) have been replaced with Give Way lines that only cover half of the road with the other half marked as not in use.

I do not drive, I do not have a car, but it seems to me that the left turn out of The New Inn section and the right turn out of Martingales Close both expect motorists to take unnatural lines before taking a corner that is sharper than necessary.

I was also hoping that the tree on the island would have been pruned right back to improve sight-lines for everyone and to let pedestrians use the pavement around it.

Clearing out

163 Dukes Avenue is one of the more interesting of the current batch of redevelopment projects because of its extensive scope; the garage that was at the end of the garden has been demolished, it is possible to see right through the house to the front curtains and the house is growing upwards.

More yellow lines

The yellow lines that started at Ham Gate have now spread along Church Road and past the junction with Latchmere Lane. There seems to be little point in these, nobody is going to be mad enough to park on the left and I have only ever seen one motorist stupid enough to park on the right.

 

The lines continue all the way to Latchmere Close before they get bored and give up.

Do not swim or jump

One of the features of the summer, when it has been sunny, has been the large numbers of people swimming in The Thames, particularly on and around the island at Teddington Lock. Richmond Council  has responded by installing some large signs telling people not to swim or jump.

Bigger crash barriers

When the petrol station on Ham Parade was refurbished last year a couple of crash barriers were installed to protect the pumps. These proved to be insufficient and the one facing Dukes Avenue was bent seriously out of shape. The replacement crash barriers are a lot bigger!

Barrier removed

There was some controversy when barriers were erected to segregate the BMX track by Teddington Lock from the main path through Ham Lands as their placement unnecessarily inhibited the run-up to the main jumps. Richmond Council recognised that this was an error and proposed to move some of the barriers but somebody did not wait and the offending barrier has been removed to reinstate the run-up.

Timber frame

This is the most interesting project that I am monitoring currently. The original house has been well and truly gutted and the two extensions at the front have been removed. Now the timber frame shows the extent of the new full-width front extension and the side extension. It was an odd looking house before and it may be afterwards too.

The timber frame reveals the shape but says nothing about the finish so there are still things to look forward to and reasons to walk along Petersham Road, despite the narrow pavement and speeding traffic.