I have lived fairly contentedly in London for forty-three years and much of my happiness I now realise has come from avoiding the Hanger Lane Gyratory system.
I hope you are unfamiliar with a road layout dubbed the scariest junction in Britain. Here is Wikipedia’s description:
The Hanger Lane gyratory is a large, complex roundabout system at the junction of Western Avenue (A40), the North Circular (A406) and Hanger Lane in the borough of Ealing in west London. It covers an area of about 30,000 square metres (320,000 sq ft). At rush hour it carries nearly 10,000 vehicles per hour. An above-ground section of the London Underground Central line passes under the roundabout. The island in the middle contains Hanger Lane Underground station and a nature reserve (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation).
Donald Tusk was mis-quoted when he said there was a special place in hell for British Brexiteers. He actually said they should be sent to Hanger Lane where I have been twice in three days. You may recall that I expressed some derision at sat nav aficionados using my own simpler navigation system.
My BMW turned eighteen earlier this year. It doesn’t have Sat Nav so I improvise. My system can even remember previous destinations. I store the slips of paper in the sun visor. (Plush, September 2018)
The new green car has sat nav and once, just once, it performed perfectly, taking us to Hampshire avoiding traffic jams. Since then it has got into bad habits, twice sending us to Hanger Lane and adding forty-five minutes to the promised journey time. Sat nav breaks promises without compunction. It never shows congestion ahead until we are stationary on a motorway when suddenly the clear road on the screen turns red. Apparently I have the wrong sort of sat nav. I should have Waze – an app that is better at re-routing when there are jams.
We went to Cranford Park again today. It is a Mecca for dog walkers. Can you spot Bertie?
Totally agree with you Christopher about this. We avoid the HLG at all costs and the friends we have that live that way we always opt to meet on neutral ground!! Love hearing about Bertie by the way – he’s gorgeous.
Ten thousand cars an hour at rush hour? You call THAT “busy?” I suggest you fly to Los Angeles and try navigating “The Stack” — the intersection of the Hollywood-Harbor and Santa Monica freeways adjacent to downtown. It handles around 400,000 vehicles per day and for many years was the world’s busiest intersection. That record has now been eclipsed by another junction of Interstate Highway 10 (the “Santa Monica”) , Interstate Highway 5 (the “Golden State”), Interstate highway 101 (the “Santa Ana”) and State highway 60 (the “Pomona”). Locals (and you will want to blend in I know) call this the “5-10-101 split”. On a typical day, it handles 550,000 vehicles. It’s nice too; but nothing compares to the beauty of The Stack.
More here:
https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/las-famous-four-level-freeway-interchange-the-stack-turns-58
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/04/los-angeles-builds-ultimate-cloverleaf/
I think that Bertie is on the far right behind the seat. Am I correct?
I have never negotiated Hanger Lane roundabout but hate the complex off the A40 at Handley Cross. Avoid it if I can. The good thing is that I do not tackle it often to go to John Lewis, so save much money.
Still in love with Bertie.
Yes, he is looking a bit apprehensive and partly obscured by the bench.
Having dwelt on that photograph (of Cranford Park, not the other nightmare) and enlarged it perhaps once to often, there being much to see besides a bouncy Bertie, trailing I assume two fetching gentlemen dog walkers (is that a fair assumption?) and their lovely charges, one and all, I went a googling.
Cranford Park pops up in Hidden London. It certainly boasts things hidden, besides itself.
Cranford Park, once the grounds of Cranford House, lies beside the River Crane, immediately south of the M4. Cranford House was the seat of the Countess Berkeley, who so feared accusations of perjury regarding the claimed date of her marriage that she had an escape tunnel constructed, which still runs under the park.
and
Across the motorway, in a small extension of the park, are the remains of a moat marking the site of the manor house of Cranford-le-Mote, which was demolished in 1780.
The High Street still has some 17th- and 18th-century buildings – and the Round House (c.1838, shown in the photo on the right), in which petty criminals used to be imprisoned overnight
I hope I haven’t gazumped your next post.
(Dog Walking is quite a business these days.)
# too
The less competent sometimes regret no preview options.
Waze is the satnav that the Uber taxi system uses. I downloaded the app (for free) on my portable* phone and use it in my car. My eleven year old Mercedes has a fairly useless satnav.
Christopher, you will be very happy to hear that SocGen have made a very good decision and made me redundant. This is excellent news and hopefully the end to my life in The City. I am looking forward to at least an extended break after thirty seven years if not retirement. So I will have more time to read your blog.
* In honour of David Nesbitt