The Number 22 Route

27 July 2009 Slight (or, as we seasoned bus travellers like to say, refreshing) rain today when Linda and I met just a step along Piccadilly at the Number 22 start. It was all very posh, as we passed Fortnums, de Beers and the Ritz. We were held up for some minutes by an Addison Lee minicab (LT57HNX so you can all avoid him) in the junction box that crosses the bus lane. Where are the police? The cameras?

Around Hyde Park Corner, and I assured Linda I would not mention the war memorials, and then past the ugly Park Tower Hotel and Casino and onto Sloane Street, enjoying a glimpse of attractive, if private, Cadogan Square with its David Wynne sculpture, ‘Dancer with Birds’ This was the first of many private square gardens glimpsed on this journey through posh London. And we do mean posh: Sloane Square has Tiffany and Cartier next door to each other; Linda thought that the streets were not busy because customers arrive by appointment and in taxis!

The Chelsea Potter was one of the few pubs we passed, but we were impressed by the Methodist Church’s mosaics, and the frontage of Chelsea Old Town Hall, where Andrew and I once heard Matt Hunt play. After last week’s dearth, we saw a Blue Plaque for Sir Carol Reed in Argyll Street, but it’s not an English Heritage Plaque
The winding New King’s Road showed clear evidence of its former ‘country lane’ status, and we were glad we were not on a bendy bus. Then it was on down the Fulham Palace Road, and over Putney Bridge, to turn right along the Embankment past what we thought was a rather ill-judged Thai Square Restaurant. Passing Will’s Art Warehouse we reached Putney Common at just after 11.00, having again taken the time specified on the timetable

The Number 21 Route

Tuesday 21 July 2009 A slightly shaky start, as Jo only woke at 08.30, having contracted to meet Linda at Lewisham at 10.00. But the marvels of London transport meant there was time for a quick cup of coffee at London Bridge before catching the first free train and arriving before 10.00 to meet Linda.

We are not particularly used to rain, but it was light and intermittent, and makes a change. The 21 was a bit less punctual than us, but we were off before 10 past 10. We passed the great building site where the parents of Lewisham Bridge School have been mounting their rooftop protest against demolition and two years of pupils being bussed to New Cross. There are many websites about this, all deeply political!
The Deptford Memorial Gardens were more pleasing and we were soon passing Goldsmiths as well as Deptford Town Hall with its impressive statues. Southwark has detailed air monitoring and had put up a big notice to tell us so.

We passed the Everlasting Arms Mission, ‘setting the captives free’ and the Dun Cow Doctors’ Surgery, up the newly resurfaced Great Dover Road and up Borough High Street, where there were strange blue men climbing the wall of Costa Coffee.
The route goes over London Bridge, alongside James’ office and into the City of London, passing the Bank of England, and adding ‘Rush Hair’ to our collection of coiffeur names, and the Barbican, with some very good flowers in Finsbury Square. We turned right off the City Road just before Moorfield’s Eye Hospital heading up the New North Road and over the Regent’s Canal twice before reaching Newington Green.

We don’t usually approve of places where only one bus starts or stops, but this was a pleasant patch of grass with some information boards and seats for people consulting their A to Z about how to reach the 393 bus stop. (There was also a loo)

The Number 20 Route

Walthamstow Bus Station to Debden Monday June 13th 2009

Though technically our next bus, this journey was actually the second stage of a mammoth 6½ hour 5 bus marathon, which in fact only took us round a small area of North East London!

It was pleasant and warm and Walthamstow Bus and Tube station seemed modern, salubrious looking but with somewhat smelly conveniences. . The Number 20 was a bit of a puzzle as it is a very low number that frequents the very fringes of London, usually known as Essex. My research thus far indicates the Number 20 has been ploughing slightly different furrows out here since at least 1950, but I have yet to discover where it first started. [STOP PRESS! a historian at http://www.busesatwork.co.uk/ informs me it previously went from Kingston to Guildford!!] Our first two stages having taken a while we only boarded at 12.25 and wondered whether this double decker had been cleaned after the weekend as there were three Red Bull cans rolling around and the windows were very smeary, as you will see from some of the photos.

Walthamstow is in East 17 and there was a lot of it today – old high streets with the usual mixture of eating places and beauty parlours and charity shops – one for the Kashmir International Relief Fund set up following the earthquakes. This was a variant on the usual charities. This bit of London seems to like punning shop fronts; especially for its hair salons but we also noted Fu-nicha. It was also not a particularly busy bus at this point as there were up to eight alternatives along the main roads, that is Lea Bridge Road. Just before we hit a dual carriageway we noted the Lamb’s Café doing a brisk trade in all day outdoor breakfasts.
Close to crossing the North Circular you enter Epping Forest, which like several other large open spaces is in fact maintained by the Corporation of London – Jo tells me prior to the open spaces and countryside acts MPs only trusted the City to guard the green areas and clearly its wealth over the years has helped maintain open land and several ponds, if not very thick forest in and around Epping. St. Peter’s in the Forest church, though in fact only a Victorian era building, seemed charming with toppled tombstones in its graveyard, and shortly afterwards we crossed the North Circular Road, by the large and intimidating junction that is Waterworks corner.

Over a cattle grid and into the London Borough of Redbridge, along a route rich in schools and other social resources such as Haven House Children’s Hospice. That one of the schools should be private was not entirely surprising as we travelled through both Buckhurst Hill and Loughton, both keen to retain their villagy feel. Certainly there were old-fashioned ‘finger’ signposts, a row of little cottages though most building (as is usual outside the North Circular) was well post-war. There was even a village cricket ground and the ‘Gunmakers’ Arms’ indicates that this area would have been considered distant enough from dense habitation to permit arms manufacture.

En route we seemed to meet several Hackney dustcarts that must dump their contents somewhere in Essex and a random traffic warden wandering around in a field?

Uphill out of Loughton gave us some good views and we had a very thorough tour of Debden – an impressive range of housing: flats few, houses many and some bungalows all interspersed with large areas of green open space and a little river. However passing through may not be the same as living there – for a jaundiced local view see here. Debden is almost certainly the most uniquely undiverse (i.e. whites only) neighbourhood we had been through since starting the Project. There were schools too including the Davenant Foundation, which had moved out here from Whitechapel in 1965 because of falling numbers, and Thomas Willingale, named after someone who apparently wielded an axe in 1860 order to establish his right to lop/cut down trees in the Forest.

The bus brought us to the back of the very neat, if significantly less affluent than Loughton, Debden Broadway so that we could make our eventual 12-mile way back to London. The journey was closer to 50 minutes than the 40 promised but interesting nevertheless.

The Number 19 Route

Monday 29 June 2009

And what a splendid route the 19 is. We met in warm sunshine at Battersea Bridge (South Side) and travelled enthralled all the way to Finsbury Park. Firstly we went over the bridge and through Chelsea, admiring the shops along the King’s Road and around Sloane Square. The designer of Catherine's wedding dress has a posh shop here.

Right at Knightsbridge Tube and along to Hyde Park Corner, Apsley House and the Wellington Arch. Then along Piccadilly, passing the Ritz and a blue plaque for Palmerston and into Piccadilly Circus. None of us has yet visited Ripley's though we have all been to the Trocadero. Linda, especially, was pleased not to be going up Regent Street or Oxford Street, and we made rapid progress up the Charing Cross Road, and along Holborn, passing the Conway Hall. A brown LCC plaque to show that Benjamin Disraeli was born in Theobald’s Road seemed rather odd, especially since the Blue Plaque (English Heritage) website says it has one.

On northwards, as we passed Mount Pleasant sorting office, Sadlers Wells and over the Pentonville Road to enjoy Upper Street, Mary remembered her student past, and Jo remembered Kate’s wedding in Islington Town Hall. Highbury Grove School (‘building a better future for Islington’s young people’) is having major building works. When we think of the number of school building developments we have passed since we began this project, we can really appreciate where the government is putting our money.

The Finsbury Park Mosque did not look at all like the controversial place it has become, and then we were at the Arsenal shop, with glimpses of The Emirates. At least one of our followers won’t need the link to find the website. We reached Finsbury Park in 70 minutes, faster than the timetable says, and evidence of the benefits of avoiding the Strand and Oxford Street.

The Number 18 Route

23 June 2009

A lovely sunny day and easy journeys to Euston meant that we were in good humour as we boarded the 18 at 10.20. Our bendy bus headed pretty well due west, passing the Friends’ House (which Linda knew from the days when her school held whole school functions there) the Wellcome Trust and UCH, which Jo likes to think of as ‘her’ hospital, since they pinned her broken wrist.

We were running parallel to the Underground system, passing Euston Square, Warren Street, Great Portland Street, Regent’s Park, Baker Street and Edgware Road stations, as well as a number of handsome mansion flats. Past Madame Tussauds, and Marylebone Library, Church and School, Linda was delighted to be crossing rather that going up the Edgware Road. We went over the canal at Paddington, and on past Warwick Avenue Tube, before inspectors boarded the bus under the Westway. The usual cohort of police were on the pavement, but the young man was in ‘plain clothes’ – a tee shirt and jeans – which may make him less obvious. We noted that the same was happening to an 18 going the other way. If you are interested, there is some FOI data here about fare evasion for your delectation. For instance, the stats show that the 18 has a higher level of evasion than the 12!

The Harrow Road took us past intensive public housing, including the imaginatively named 6th, 5th, 4th etc Avenues. Modern public housing is more attractive than the unforgiving 1950s concrete blocks, though we realise this view may make us sound like the Prince of Wales. Kensal Rise Cemetery and Crematorium made us think of Sylvia as we passed from Westminster into Brent. Once we were over the North Circular, the housing became much more suburban: Tudor type semis and new build with balconies and gardens from the Brent Housing Partnership. Our bus then announced it would terminate at Wembley Central, but we only waited a few moments for the next.

Having been in a very Brazilian/Portuguese area (judging by the eateries) we found ourselves effectively in South India, before moving into a more Jewish area. We also passed Copland Community School, regrettably famous as much for the recent financial scandals as its very sound results. And so to Sudbury and Harrow Road Station, in just about 90 minutes, and a gentle walk round the corner, and our next bus.

In case anyone is wondering, we did not spot a single blue plaque from the Number 18, which seems a little improbable!

The Number 17 Route

21 March 2009

A reminder for those of you who do not carry the whole of our blog in your heads that the 17 was the route we took back from the 4. So it was the Burbage boy and bird (still the only paying bussers so far, and, as it happens, Simon the only bloke so far) who were on the trip.

Having taken quite a long time to get to Archway on the Number 4, the 17 seemed amazingly speedy. I don't want to make claims I can't prove (with more than 500 buses still to go) but I think the 17 is very unusual in being a '2 Prison' route We passed familiar places like the Nag’s Head Waitrose and zoomed down Caledonian Road, which is getting very trendy with the LSE and other student accommodation. We were down past Smithfield in what seemed like no time, though it was in fact about half an hour. Of course a City bus at the weekend is likely to be unimpeded. As we crossed the River we had beautiful views of Jo’s old office, as well as Tower Bridge and City Hall.
A plan to do some shopping in Borough Market was stymied by the huge crowds of sightseers and lunchers, so we walked along Bankside to Tas for a tasty lunch before heading home. Simon had a dessert so large it was our duty to help him with it.

This may be the moment to explain to all of you who have asked what ‘the rules’ are: they are few and simple, and subject to change without notice by agreement of any/all the bussers
• The key ingredient of each journey is the ‘next bus’ numerical order. But we may take a different bus or other means of transport to get to the end
• The journey is from Head Stop to ‘this bus terminates here’ in either direction
• Complete routes of return or supplementary buses are written up at the time but appear later in sequence: the 17 is the first to be blogged in this way
• any one of the three of us needs to be on the trip, but guests and followers are welcome
• we do not travel in the rush hour as it would be cruel to take up the seats
• we sit at the front upstairs whenever possible: and as we start at the start of each route, it usually is
• we are not interested in bus companies or the engine size and manufacturer of each bus: but there are plenty of websites for anyone who is
• our pictures are taken opportunistically through more or less clean windows on the move, as their quality sometimes shows

The Number 16 Route

Monday 15 June 2009 Victoria Station on a pleasantly warm morning: Linda and I felt proprietorial as we waited among buses we had already sat upon, and noted that we should be passing here frequently in the next few months. The very helpful information man had reassured us that we would get all the way to White City from Cricklewood: the map we had, which he replaced, was out of date (but that journey is not for today).

We headed north from Victoria as we had done before, passing the statue of Marshal Foch which was erected in 1930, in a place where French visitors, arriving at Victoria, could easily find it. It is hard to imagine the modern fighting allies accepting anyone from Europe as Commander in Chief. We also passed a life-sized sculpture of a ‘Lioness chasing a Lesser Kudu’, commissioned by the Duke of Westminster, by the sculptor Jonathan Kenworthy. On along the shady side of Buckingham Palace Gardens (is this where the Queen will be growing her veg?) to Hyde Park Corner and the War Memorials. This time I’m only going to mention the Machine Gunners memorial because it was so controversial at the time of its dedication: not just because of the nakedness of the Boy David, but because of the quotation on the plinth ‘Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands’ (1 Samuel 21.xi) which did not go down well with other branches of the armed forces.

As we went up Park Lane we noted the remarkable statue of Achilles by the Queen Mother’s Gates and then it was up the Edgware road, again. We realised that we had missed a chance to taste the future, when we noted two ‘green’ hybrid 16s going in the opposite direction. On up through Maida Vale and past St George’s School, with its simple plaque commemorating the murder of Headmaster Philip Lawrence, and so to Kilburn, where Camden is one side of the road and Brent the other. Kilburn Station Railway Bridge has an extensive mural, as well as fine ironwork. The Beaten Docket seemed an odd name for a pub until we discovered that horse racing took place in this (then) very Irish area of London, and a losing betting ticket would be a good reason for a consoling visit to a pub.

The much larger Crown pub signalled our arrival in Cricklewood. Before catching our next bus, we went to Lidl and were generously allowed to use the staff loos before buying Linda a bottle of water.