Medley

They used to go from Honor Oak Pk but now don't seem to. Irritating, particularly the loss of the Charing X connection.

That Peckham redesign is a total disaster. Quite amusing until you remember it's your taxes paying for such utter rubbish. My mate's 3 month old could have done a better job. You can just see it all making sense in the designer's heads - and absolutely no sense whatsoever on the ground. Still, at least they've avoided confusion by having a green or red or blue cycle lane by....making it a nearly invisible part of the pavement! Genius! So cyclists southbound are constantly forced onto the road (which is one-way, the other way) by pedestrians who don't realise it's a bike lane. Meanwhile cyclists northbound, not fancying sitting behind a bus while it loads and unloads, hop onto this narrow, barely identifiable cycle 'path' and then promptly ignore the crazy design at the junction with the high st. At least they've gone for asphalt rather than that god-awful brick that predictably collapsed under the weight of the 86 bus routes that go through there. Rant over.

The 19th? I'm up for that.

Ridgley, I also agree cyclists have no right to spear through crowds of pedestrians, cut them up etc. But I have to also agree with Applespider - my most serious near misses, one incident apart, have all involved pedestrians. The chief problem is they just do not look when stepping into the road. It's a pretty basic error on their part, but most of the miscreants are plugged into their MP3 players and are passively listening for a noisy car, rather than a quieter bike. Hopefully electric cars and/or cycling will really take off and then they'll have to start looking too!

The easy win here is more cycle parking on LL and around ED generally. I'd happily support that in any form, whatever form of rack is deemed appropriate. There are ones that clamp onto lamp-posts, which seems efficient, even ones with flower boxes in the middle. Whatever, having more cycle parking is probably the single easiest step to encouraging it. And on safety once someone's been tempted onto their bike, can I praise again the free training I got through Southwark? Two free lessons is your entitlement and I was lucky to get practically cycling royalty as my trainer. He was brilliant, utterly professional, an excellent teacher. I'd been riding in London at least 5 days a week for 3 years when I had the lessons and I learned a huge amount. All at your own pace, starting off in Dulwich Park for the basics of maintenance and then movement. Then minor roads, then more major/tricky ones. Forget the raging debates on segregation, helmets, blue/green colour schemes, networks that aren't really networks, contra-flows or one-ways, this is the one thing that I feel has made the biggest difference to my cycling confidence, knowledge, safety. Can't recommend it enough.

I think the one in twenty you're referring to is the most common form of colour 'blindness' - red/green - in men. I've got this and have no difficulty seeing the differently coloured cycle lanes, or traffic lights for that matter. computedshorty Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Have these facts been taken into account, when > proposing coloured Lines? > > Revolutionary eye test. > Until now, people with even minor forms of the > condition ? colour which affects one in 20 men and > one in 200 women. > This does not include the blind and partially > blind.

fear not puzzled, no cycle lane would impair parking like that.

@ James, good to hear improvements were made and I hope that continues to be the case with local knowledge improving central plans. But saying there are lots of one way streets with cycle contraflows seems exaggerated to me. The best progress on this, to my knowledge, has been made in the City of London and by Camden north of York Way and towards Mornington C - although even there it's hardly the case that one is astounded at the contraflows all over the place. In any case there's no reason those improvements - best of all would be continued increases in cycle training (the scheme where you can get free bike lessons from your borough is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and taught me a huge amount) and cycle parking, which I know are tied to the superhighways - couldn't happen without the fantastic cost (which seems to be c. ?10m per 'super' highway). Totally agree segregation wouldn't work on vast majority of E D's roads - and it's not really needed on lots of them either. But I don't see that means painting a blue strip down the side of the A3 and sending cyclists merrily off down it is the answer either. What's needed is a London-wide, centrally planned (so it joins up), locally improved (so the routes make more sense than they might if just designed by someone gazing at a map) network with clear signage, one colour scheme, segregation where possible and sensible. That is far from easy in a city as crowded and convoluted as London - as the 'super' highways show rather well, sadly.

Pros of the cycle 'super' highways: They perhaps encourage cycling (although they're not for the Boris bikes as the OP said - they mainly avoid zone 1, whereas the Boris bikes are only in zone 1) Cons of the cycle 'super' highways: That old snag of cr*p design. Some are just repaintings of existing lanes, with all their problems; some are far too narrow; some have hideous 90 degree turn requirements with very little waiting space; They perpetuate the lack of segregation. I think having more separated cycle lanes would attract more cyclists and be safer than just painting a bit of road and leaving cyclists to contend with bus stops, parked cars, insufficient road width etc. London's a tangled medieval/Victorian muddle so I appreciate only some could be built, but still feel more segregation would be good; They create yet another road colour for drivers to look out for - the existing London Cycle Network and London Cycle Network Plus are green, bus lanes (in which cyclists can ride) are red, now we have blue; They're damn expensive; Although they're a rare example of central planning of cycle facilities, they don't tie in well with the existing cycle network - I've seen mutterings they'll even come at its expense in the sense the London Cycle Network Plus won't be completed.

I'd been puzzled by this round Forest Hill Road, Mundania, Marmora etc. So maybe the troll of truth!

Have found ED, D and all around pretty thin on the ale front myself. Yes, there's the Gowlett. But it's overpriced and smug. There's also the Herne Tavern, which I think merits a mention. But that's about it in my experience.

If anyone's any good at drawing, I hereby offer/want to write a comic based on the real-life superhero that is SMBJones, Station Manager Extraordinaire. See bottom of p.31 for what I'm on about.

What about getting a pushbike? Then whatever departure/arrival station would be within easy range. If you got a folding one you can take it on any train/Overground any time, but you'll be going against the flow so you could probably take a normal-sized one on (best check before heading for the bike shop/eBay!) I nearly did this journey yesterday but got stuck at a mate's. Was going for either train from T Hill or 201 bus from Thurlow Pk Rd and then tram. Play around with the TfL journey planner. Remember to set the walking speed to fast! (I'm being presumptuous here, I know).

Totally agree with the first bit - market forces would abolish most private education if the state stuff was good enough nationally. Totally disagree that poor private schools quite soon go to to the wall. Private schools rarely go bust. Mine was pretty rubbish but a) there was little pressure for or knowledge of reform from the management or parents and b) it was still a lot better than the local state schools.

As we're making generalisations, here's mine. The kids who did this probably (not certainly, of course) come from backgrounds as that poor man's skull may be. They are making a play for themselves by the law of their jungle - to gain respect from their peers, maybe some cash from his wallet and his phone once they'd finished. That in no way excuses what they did, which is vile.

Another option is to get the ELL to Shoreditch and then walk to Moorgate. GF did this yesterday and reported well on it but we're within toddling distance of the ELL so that's a bit of a different situ.

Wouldn't Honor Oak Park be a bit quicker to get to than Forest Hill from ED?

As ever, loving your work. V. interesting about the updates at P Rye, inc. the billiard room project. Photos would be great! Imagine what the UK would be like if everyone had Barry's attitude.

Not the quickest - I'll bet! Off-peak how long are we talking here for Camb to Padd? Can see the luggage point. What a good thing Crossrail will provide a new corridor link into central London from our absurdly sited and linked to main airport. Oh, wait a sec, it won't.

To answer the OP, Gatwick by a country mile. Fantastic service from E Croydon. City to FH - surely quicker and cheaper to get the DLR to Canning Town, Jubilee to Canada Water, Overground to FH? Stansted - the Express train is hopeless and absurdly expensive, so I always get the Terravision bus. It's driven and filled by lunatics, but very cheap and reliable. Then why not walk to Shoreditch High St station (5 mins back up road from where the bus drops you) and get the Overground if going that side? Irritating that SHS is in zone 1, but not irritating enough to get on buses to London Bridge! The one utter nightmare I've never failed to sort out is Heathrow. Normally I go to Vict from P Rye, then Circle etc and then Piccadilly from Earls Ct or somesuch. Ghastly. Suppose Bakerloo from E&C to Padd and then Express is an option, but so pricey and poss not any quicker. Anyone got any tips?

Keep up the great work Barry, and congrats on the promotion. Peckham Rye comments: drastic but significant action still needed on the booking/ticket gate hall. More ticket machines, and surely something could be done with all the empty space over to the left as you face the stairs? Are lifts a possibility? Will the arrival of the Overground in 2012 help there at all? On a lower level, the repainting made a big difference but some bits already look scruffy - and some bits seem never to have been done? Either way, keeping the place looking half-way smart seems to me a big part of the battle - especially when such a fine station is still approached through those grim alleys (about which I'm sure Southern can't do much). The graffiti on the outside rear of the building, visible from the platforms, is particularly depressing.

Wow these are good. But can I cheekily ask for Peckham Rye to London B and V Honor Oak Park to London B, V and Overground?! Or is that asking for too much? If so, how could I lay it out myself without having a pdf editor?

Happy b'day Station Manager Corner!

Nasty incident. Well done for challenging the little gimp. My girlfriend was kicked in the leg while cycling the other day - in that funny kind of industrial estate between Tower Bridge and the A2, round the back of Tesco. She managed to carry on cycling, just. Report it to the police. A mate and I were swapping tales of how many times we've filled in the Met's 20 page form (once for me, thrice for him), but do do it because although naff all will happen in all likelihood I still believe that you shouldn't just shrug your shoulders and sink to the low standards of the Met's systems/investigations. By low standards I'm talking about their inability to investigate any of the incidents my mate as involved in as a cyclist, despite all being at major junctions and so on CCTV. What's the point of CCTV if no one's ever bothering to look at it?

I live on FHR/Mundania Rd junction and am a fan of the area and those streets. The FHR shops are all I need for most things, the park is very close by, Honor Oak Park (Overground arriving in May or at least by the summer) is an easy enough walk, over the wilds (for London) of One Tree Hill. Can't comment on schools. Parking never a prob.