Bromley-by-Bow has a new tower block and unusually it's not along the A12 or the River Lea, it's in the historic part. It replaces a drab council block which the local housing association was keen to wipe away, and rightly so, as part of a long-term project to replace Stroudley Walk with something better. I first blogged about those plans 11 years ago, that's how long-term it is. Warren House in September 2021, which took an age, and building its 24 storey replacement seems to have taken even longer. But it now has almost all its cladding in place, its faux brick panels making it look like every other newbuild block, and the resultant tower looms unfamiliarly over medieval Bow in an architecturally vacuous way. plan is that the rest of Stroudley Walk has been replaced by lower-rise blocks of affordable housing to help ease local pressures, while the new tower is being flogged off to well-off incomers to help pay for it. It's a shame the overall scheme only delivers 42% affordable housing but that's the modern reality, indeed it's a significantly better percentage than some. The new development is called Upper East, which is a perfect example of a meaningless name which could have been pumped from a buzzword generator. The development's vision is even worse: "Celebrating yesterday, building community, defining tomorrow". Not only is it meaningless but it's also downright lying, there being bugger all "yesterday" being celebrated here whatsoever. Let's see what other bolx the brochure can offer... • a dynamic new neighbourhood in the heart of East London (bolx) experience elevated living (bolx) exceptional development (bolx) designed for modern living (bolx) the perfect location for relaxation and socialising (bolx) ...and that's just on page 3. • Perfectly positioned between Stratford, Canary Wharf and The City (bolx) With Hackney Wick, Shoreditch, and Brick Lane just moments away (utter bolx) Grove Hall Park, a serene greenspace with a playground and walled memorial garden, is perfect for a little walk on a lazy Sunday or a place to sit with friends in the summer months (haha lol bolx) Upper East offers exceptional convenience for professionals, with Canary Wharf and The City just a short commute away (yeah right, bankers welcome) Peak bolx is probably the claim that "Living at Upper East puts you at the centre of Bow’s vibrant culinary scene." I do like the area but never in a million years would I describe its cafes and restaurants as "a diverse array of dining options that cater to every taste", indeed foodwise E3 bats well below the London average. I grant that shopping and culture are easily accessible, what with everything Westfield and the Olympic Park have to offer, and that transport connections are pretty decent. But a lot of the supposedly nearby treats aren't especially nearby or indeed treats, more a desperate selection compiled by an intern attempting to upsell a skyhutch to an ignoramus. "London is a prime destination for students seeking top-tier education". The hope is that some rich parent will gift their foreign student a serviced bolthole during their studies, indeed I see sales for Upper East opened in Malaysia long before they opened here. In a capital city with a huge housing problem it seems criminal to be flogging flats abroad rather than targeting Britons, and an enormous and wasteful palaver to be creating stacks of luxury boltholes just to get 115 affordable flats added to our housing stock. Upper East is nothing new, merely new for round here. But it will stand prominently on Bow's skyline forever as a reminder that the high life is now only for those who can look down on the rest of us.

I’m really good at waking up. I’m so good at waking up, in fact, that occasionally I wake up two hours too early. I used to find it difficult to fall back asleep. When I asked a doctor about this, they told me it was called “fragmented sleep” and there wasn’t that much they could […] The post Notes on fragmented sleep appeared first on Herbert Lui.

A selection of thoughts from Sunday 1) I only received 5 birthday cards this year, most of them from people who remember me being born in 1965 (dgD, dGA3, dgDBM). Pictured are some of the 43 cards I received when I was born, all of a very 1960s aesthetic. Number of birthday cards received (age 0) - 43 (age 20) - 23 (age 40) - 16 (age 60) - 5 2) I was hoping to catch a nice early train from Hackney Wick but there weren't any, indeed it turns out on Sundays there never are. The entire Mildmay line between Willesden Junction and Stratford is unserved before 9am on Sundays, with the first westbound train departing Stratford at 0900 and the first eastbound train departing Willesden Junction at 0902. The station with the slowest start is Camden Road whose first Sunday train arrives at 0922, and I wonder if that's the latest timetabled start on any day on any TfL line. 3) Sunday was an unseasonably springlike day for early March, at 18°C the warmest 9th March since 2014. The warmest 9th March on record was in 1948 with 23.9°C recorded at Wealdstone, that's 75°F. While I was researching this online I also found the weather forecast for the day I was born ("England and Wales will be sunny and rather warm this afternoon, but frost and some fog patches will return tonight in midland and eastern districts"). The temperature was -5°C at Kew when I was born, rising to 10°C in the afternoon, and my Dad would have cycled through fog to see me at the hospital. The Met Office has a nerdily detailed archive of weather forecasts and data records for the whole country here. 4) To enjoy the weather I walked the Croxley Boundary Walk, a 6.3 mile waymarked circuit around the village where I grew up. It's a fantastically varied walk for somewhere so close to London (canal towpath, country lane, fields, village green, river valley, chalk stream, woods, disused railway, moorland) and well signed throughout. On the way round I spotted several signs of spring (catkins, snowdrops, daffodils, crocuses, celandines, flowering cherries, budding trees, nest-building, butterflies, bees collecting blossom, emerging bluebell stalks), also a fox, several swans, a heron and a pair of red kites. I previously walked the Croxley Boundary Walk on 9th March 2014, and blogged about it then so I won't again, but do enjoy a few photos and yes I do recommend it. 5) On the way round the Croxley Boundary Walk there's a lovely path that climbs across a large field from the edge of Whippendell Woods. I was shocked to discover there's now a plan to turn this field into 600 houses, unexcitingly titled 'Land north of Little Green Lane', which would extend the village's built-up area by 5%. Thankfully the top end of the field would survive, reworked as Rousebarn Country Park, but the whole plan's brazenly speculative and very poorly connected to the rest of the village. Whatever the government's definition of 'grey belt' is, this definitely isn't it. 6) I've had plans for a while to see if I could get a mention on the radio on the occasion of my 60th birthday. In the event one of my target shows turned out to be pre-recorded, one was doing an International Women's Day special, one doesn't really do dedications any more, one I wasn't listening to at the crucial moment, one I forgot about until it was too late and the one email I did send made no ripples whatsoever. If anyone sent in a message on my behalf and I missed it do let me know, else I'll have to wait another ten years. 7) BestMate and BestMate'sOtherHalf took me out for a meal in the West End and we started off with cocktails. We thought we'd try the Cellar Door, the speakeasy bar squished into a former gents toilet off Aldwych, which Londonist described as "a mirrored microcosm", Time Out as "a tiny basement" and Secret London as "lav-ley". It seems it only picks up after 9pm, pre-cabaret, so it was pretty much dead. Also they were probably the slowest cocktails I've ever had, sluggishly confected, so the atmosphere really didn't match the setting. 8) For my birthday meal we went to London's oldest restaurant which is Rules in Covent Garden, established 1798. It's a classical warren adorned by Georgian portraits, seemingly with a regular clientele of ruddy couples, shire buddies and old money. The food's extremely traditional, all meat, game and oysters, although not so staid that they won't stick a candle in some ice cream and bring it to your table. For my main I was totally set on steak and kidney pudding until I saw they were doing a proper Sunday roast, then couldn't resist crumble and custard for dessert. BestMate has kindly shielded me from the overall bill. Also we had the table next to the really famous one, the one where M's seen dining in Spectre and which brings all the James Bond fans to the pass. 9) While I was out, Radio 4 broadcast a half-hour documentary by a blogger who rides buses and writes about them, in this case the new V1 nightbus from Manchester to Leigh. It was dead thoughtful of them to schedule something so on point on the occasion of my birthday. Incidentally if you're waiting for me to report back on the number 60 bus route, I'm planning to make that the first trip I do with my 60+ Oyster card when it arrives, which it hasn't yet so you'll need to be patient. 10) I may have overdone it, I had to lie down at one point. But if what you want for a milestone birthday is a memorable day then Sunday certainly delivered.