It's looking very likely that a four-day tube strike will start on Monday, with disruption rippling into Sunday and Friday morning. The DLR is also pencilled in for two days of concurrent disruption. strike action impact grid as seen at tube stations. Here is the diamond geezer simpler version.  SunMonTueWedThuFri    tube    (✔) ✖✖✖✖✖✖  ✔     DLR  ✔✔✖✔✖✔ "limited services running, complete your journey by 6pm" "little to no service running" "no service before 8am, normal by late morning" Last time this nearly happened, in July 2023, I wrote a post about the worst places to live during a tube strike. If your local tube station closes, who has furthest to go to find an alternative train? grey is 'over 1 mile from a non-tube station', yellow over 1½, orange over 2, red over 2½, purple over 4 (1.1 miles from Victoria). In zone 2 there are three - North Greenwich (1.3 miles from Westcombe Park), Stamford Brook (1.2 miles from South Acton) and Ravenscourt Park (1.1 miles from Shepherd's Bush). Zone 3 has nine such stations - Park Royal and Hanger Lane to the west, Neasden, Dollis Hill, Golders Green, Brent Cross, Highgate and East Finchley to the north, and Upton Park to the east. Of these East Finchley is by far the remotest, being 2.1 miles from Alexandra Palace. Metropolitan: Uxbridge (2.4 miles), Northwood (2.3), Chesham (2.2) Jubilee: Stanmore (2.3 miles) Northern: Finchley Central (2.3 miles) Central: Epping (6.1 miles), Theydon Bois (4.8), Grange Hill (3.4), Debden (3.3), Hainault (2.8), Chigwell (2.8), Fairlop (2.2) really bad places to be are Theydon Bois and Epping because TfL don't run any buses here, only trains, so with only an Oyster card you're completely cut off. • Devons Road, Bow Church, Bow Road (bugger) • Mudchute, Island Gardens • City Airport, King George V, Beckton Park, Cyprus, Gallions Reach, Beckton Crossrail and the Overground are going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting over the next week, assuming these strikes go ahead, which alas it seems they will.

There are several out-of-date signs around the tube network, but few this prominent. It's above the entrance to the Waterloo & City line at Waterloo station, at the foot of the ramp just before the platform. And it's been wrong for years. Waterloo and City line ↓ pandemic-related, mothballing the entire line for fifteen month, but when it reopened in June 2021 there continued to be no trains at weekends. TfL have never expressed an interest in reintroducing Saturday opening, citing data showing that passenger numbers were only ever one-sixth of a normal weekday. But they've never got round to updating the sign at the platform entrance, nor indeed the identical message above a passageway leading from the mainline station. Waterloo and City line ↓ 2013. But instead misleading information has been on display to passengers since June 2021, i.e. more than four years, until someone in the signage department finally notices and does something about it. Which may be soon or may be never.

It's not every day this blog gets to celebrate an 1100th anniversary, this because not a great deal happened in the London area on verifiable dates in the 10th century. It's also not every day I get to use the Old English character Æ twenty-two times in a blogpost. King Æthelstan being crowned in Kingston, supposedly just round the back of Pret A Manger. (that's not Pret A Manager, sorry, that's Kingston Market Place) often credited as being the first King of England. He wasn't in 925 AD because England didn't yet exist, but it would two years later after Æthelstan brought together the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. But the proud country that now ties red crosses to lampposts has its origins on 4th September 925 when the Archbishop of Canterbury placed a crown atop Æthelstan's head, not a helmet as had been the case for all his predecessors. Edward the Elder, a ruler of Wessex who during his reign successfully took over Mercia, thereby gaining control of most of the land south of the Humber. Edward died in July 924, at which point the people of Wessex adopted his son Ælfweard as king whereas Mercia chose Æthelstan. But Ælfweard died just twelve days later (suspicious, what?), after which the people of Wessex moved to embrace Æthelstan too. (that's not a recent photo, sorry, it has Charles III coronation bunting on it) Æthelstan's coronation because it was on the boundary between the two kingdoms, technically in Wessex but within wading distance of Mercia across the Thames. It was also where his father Edward had been crowned 25 years earlier, setting a precedent that would eventually see seven Saxon Kings crowned in Kingston. Only Westminster Abbey has seen more coronations, because once that was built no monarch was ever going back to riverside Kingston again. Æthelstan was the first to decree that Kingston was a royal town, and this is why Kingston upon Thames is now one of London's three royal boroughs. wooden Saxon chapel alongside. There's no collaborating evidence that the sarsen stone was present, only that it was retrieved from the ruins of the chapel after it collapsed in 1730, and its royal heritage may simply be supposition by 18th century historians. (that's not a recent photo either, sorry, the stone's been scrubbed up since 2010) outside the town hall on the High Street, which is absolutely not where Æthelstan's coronation took place. It was moved here from the Garden of Rest in Church Street in 1936, a far more proximate location, although that was only temporary while building works on the Guildhall were completed. From 1850 to 1935 it had sat in the middle of the High Street, freshly positioned on its heptagonal base by patriotic Victorians looking to capitalise on Kingston's royal past. It had been moved here from an off-road site by the county assizes, prior to which it had been located beside the Elizabethan Market Hall and used as a mounting block, prior to which it had been in a more appropriate location outside All Saints' Church (roughly where the collapsed Saxon chapel had been). Never trust your eyes when it comes to historical locations. ♔ Edward the Elder - 8th June 900 Old English linguistic nuance. Meanwhile the coronation year appears as DCCCCXXV, whereas these days we'd probably plump for CMXXV rather than go all long-winded. I would show you that in a photograph but I don't have one, despite visiting the stone on several occasions, having seemingly never taken a single photo from the full-on Æthelstan angle. (this shot's focused on his half-brother Eadmund instead, sorry) kicking up sufficient fuss that the anniversary was imminent, or else the inexorable decay of London-based websites that used to comprehensively preview What's On in the suburbs. I only noticed when Ian Visits went to see a train. King Athelstan (not Æthelstan because presumably that was deemed too complex). The ceremony at Kingston station involved the historian Tom Holland, the local MP Sir Ed Davey and a group of Saxon reenactors from the Wychwood Warriors. Children from King Athelstan Primary School were also present, wearing cardboard crowns prominently featuring the SWR logo, which is a pretty good way to skive off lessons on only the third day of the new school year. Obviously there were iced cupcakes with an edible picture of the king on top because that's what Æthelstan would have wanted. Ian has all the photos of the event so do go and read that, especially if you prefer railways to history, and to be impressed by how a train company managed to hijack the anniversary and make it all about them on a site that wasn't where the coronation took place either. (that's just me zooming in on a previous photo, sorry) Wikipedia has you covered there, assuming your knowledge of Anglo Saxon hegemony isn't up to scratch. The country tottered somewhat after his death in 939 when the people of York plumped for Viking rule instead, but the defeat of Eric Bloodaxe under King Eadred in 954 brought the nation back together and there's been an England ever since. And it all kicked off in Kingston with the coronation of King Æthelstan 1100 years ago today, not where the Coronation Stone is and definitely not at the railway station.

I don't feel old now I've hit 60, but when I step out onto the street most people do seem to be a lot younger. It doesn't worry me, but I wondered if there was a way to quantify all this. population spreadsheet published by the Office for National Statistics to see how relatively old I really am. They publish it every summer so I'm using the latest data, specifically the "mid-2024" estimates of population. These give a precise estimate for the number of people at each age from 0 to 89, then conclude with an amalgamated 90+ column. So for example last summer there were 691,406 21 year-olds in England, 8230 47 year-olds in Leicestershire and 681 86 year-olds in Milton Keynes. median age in England was 40.2, i.e. half the population are younger and half are older. If you've passed the age of 40 you are already in the older half of the population. But the most common age in England wasn't 40, it was 33. There were 833,482 33 year-olds in England last summer, marginally ahead of the 34 year-olds and 36-olds, so if you fancy setting up a greetings card company that's where you should focus your efforts. England Age range   Youngest 10% 0-8 11-20%9-16 21-30%17-25 31-40%26-32 41-50%33-39 51-60%40-47 61-70%48-55 71-80%56-63 81-90%64-73 Oldest 10%74-100+ Children occupy the top two slots, i.e. 0-16 year-olds make up the youngest 20% of the country. Pensioners occupy the bottom two slots, near enough, i.e. those aged 64 and over make up the oldest 20% of the country. I'm in the group just above that along with rest of the 1960s baby boom (we're about three-quarters of the way along the English population pyramid). Approximately speaking each 10% band comprises eight years of births, extending somewhat at the oldest end. Here's the split for the population of London. Where are you in this one? London Age range   Youngest 10% 0-8 11-20%9-16 21-30%17-24 31-40%25-29 41-50%30-35 51-60%36-41 61-70%42-48 71-80%49-57 81-90%58-67 Oldest 10%68-100+ The big difference isn't amongst the youngest - London has as many 0-16 year-olds as the rest of England. The big difference is amongst young adults because the population suddenly bulges for those in their 20s and 30s. A full 40% of London's population are under 30 and half are under 35. The central groups here comprise only five or six different ages, not seven or eight. What's happening here is a lot of people moving to London in their 20s and 30s, either from the provinces or abroad, mainly for work, and a lot of people moving away later in life, either to realise property assets or to escape rising rents. We also have a lot of students and they skew things lower too. London really is a younger city than the rest of the country. Tower Hamlets Age range   Youngest 10% 0-9 11-20%10-18 21-30%19-23 31-40%24-26 41-50%27-30 51-60%31-34 61-70%35-39 71-80%40-46 81-90%47-57 Oldest 10%58-100+ The extraordinary thing here is the young adult bulge, which squeezes out both the younger and older ends of the population. Tower Hamlets actually has proportionally fewer children than the rest of the country, whatever you might have assumed about the offspring of a foreign-born population. It's also very very light on older people, indeed only 5% of the population are of pensionable age. No wonder our council has still money to spend - local demands for social care are way below average. But what I find really chastening is that at the relatively young age of 60 I find myself in the oldest 10% of the population in Tower Hamlets. I'm not imagining it, I really am quite old for the place where I live. Median age in Tower Hamlets: 31 Median age in London: 36 Median age in England: 40 Median age in Dorset: 52 Median age in North Norfolk: 56 As for the point at which you enter the oldest quarter of the population, this varies considerably according to where you live. In Tower Hamlets the "oldest quarter" borderline is 43, in London it's 53, in England it's 59, in Dorset it's 68 and in North Norfolk it's 70. If you want to feel relatively young, move to Cromer.  Tower  Hamlets  London  England  Dorset North  Norfolk   Youngest 10%       11-20%      21-30%      31-40%      41-50%      51-60%    56-61 61-70%   59-64  71-80%  56-63   81-90% 58-67    Oldest 10%58+     So there you go, at 60 I'm not especially old by national standards, and I shall cling to that thought for a few more years. But I am old for where I live and I shall have to get used to that. Maybe someone'll even offer me a seat on the tube this morning.

45 45 Squared 31) NEVERN SQUARE, SW5 Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, 100m×70m Where are we? Just north of Earl's Court station, tucked away quietly just south of the A4. Is it nice? Not a blue-plaqued corner of Kensington but definitely smart enough. Is it square? Hell no, not even rectangular, definitely an irregular quadrilateral. Nominally the 'square' also includes three adjoining streets. Is there anything interesting here? Hang around for the pillar box, that's the best bit. Where does the name come from? The original landowners (the Edwardes family) hailed from Pembrokeshire, and Nevern is a hamlet between Fishguard and Cardigan. When was it built? Between 1880 and 1886, a tad later than all the surrounding streets. How much do the houses cost? Originally in 1882, £2220. These days flats comprising half a floor sell for over a million. What's the architectural style? Domestic Revival, which is quite bricky in contrast to the surrounding Italianate stucco, this because tastes changed just prior to construction. Why does one side look subtly different? The builder, Robert Whitaker, died during construction leaving George Whitaker to complete the southwest side. What else does the Conservation Area Appraisal tell us? "The wavelike patterns of continuous wrought iron balustrade at first floor level would not have been out of place in the Vienna of Gustav Klimt." Any famous former residents? The novelist Compton Mackenzie (after moving down from Scotland), also the soldiers Hugh Stafford Northcote Wright and Major Herbert William Dumaresq. So no, not really. When did the flying bomb hit? 4.23pm on Sunday 23rd July 1944, killing one and injuring 85 more, 16 seriously. Four buildings in the northeast corner had to be demolished and rebuilt. This helps explain the very-postwar-looking minstrel carved amid the brickwork above the door to Rupert House. What's the dominant commercial activity? Hotels. I counted four, one attempting chic townhouse vibes, the others appealing to a transient Earl's Court demographic with questionably enthusiastic websites and don't expect breakfast. What are six things you might see around the square? plane trees, moulded red brick architraves, conkers, nitrous oxide cylinders, a black Porsche, a six-box Waitrose delivery. Is there a garden square in the middle? Very much yes. Can I go inside? Very much no. A thick privet hedge surrounds it. Only keyholders can unlock the gates and go in. What happens if you fail to close the gates immediately on entering? Your garden access rights are withdrawn for seven days (or longer). Any other rules? No objects thrown in the air, no gatherings of more than 25 people, only use one table per keyholder, don't leave raw meat for the foxes, no weeing in the shrubbery. Who owns the garden? In 1974 the private owner sold it to a consortium of residents including the owner of Desert Orchid. They paid £3500. How much does access cost now? 286 property owners each pay an extra £149.95 on their council tax for the privilege of using the garden. It turns out Kensington & Chelsea Council collect garden levies for 47 garden squares via council tax, each rate set annually by the respective garden committees. How many dogs are allowed to exercise in the gardens? 19. Their owners have to pay an annual subscription of £65. Who are the Nevern Square dogs? Winston, Squirrel, Sally, Panda, Benny, Ollie, Maggie, Toby, Lexi, Paccino, Libby, Truffle, Coffee, Brinkley, Barney, Billy, Max, Dino and Teagan. Why might they be excited this week? Dogs were allowed back in the square between 2pm and 6pm for the first time since April. What if I really want to see the gardens? They're usually part of Open Gardens Weekend in June. Anything sooner? This Friday Mary Poppins is being screened in the gardens as part of an Open Cinema event. Tickets still available at £10 a time. Snacks and refreshments available. But what about the pillar box? Well, look at it. So? It's a so-called 'anonymous' pillar box. It has no royal cipher. What happened? In 1879 Andrew Handyside's iron foundry in Derby was given responsibility for manufacturing a new design of cylindrical (not hexagonal) pillar box. Unfortunately they weren't asked to include either the VR cypher or the Post Office's name so they didn't. Amazingly it took until 1887 for the error to be noticed, after which decades of pillar boxes were produced perfectly properly. But Nevern Square's box arrived during the errant eight years, thus stands proud on the corner with no reference to Queen Victoria whatsoever. Are these anonymous boxes rare? I don't think so. There's one on Rounton Road in Bow, for example. Saves going to Nevern Square? I think so.