A Pleasant Surprise on a Boston Manor Road Bridge

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert

August 23, 2024

It’s August, so it’s sweltering out there. Sun is beating on my balcony, the plants are withering. Oh, I woke up from the dream. The test match is going to be delayed because of rain. I’m off to Charing Cross Hospital (nowhere near Charing Cross) for an umpteenth X-ray on my dodgy shoulder. I’ve put on my long Johns. Well, I don’t do Johns, but my shirt has long sleeves and my trousers reach to my ankles, and I’ve been seeking out my waterproof. Can’t find it, but I have one that will keep off the worst.

There is another feature of August, well, two of them. One is I go off on holiday somewhere (I didn’t) and one is there is very little happening in the world of councils (there is very little happening, true). So a chap has to find things to fill these long days, which inevitably involves a lot of cycling and some very unfamiliar territory – thinking about stuff.

I am not completely idle, but not very active either. I was going to go to Cranford on Thursday to help the wonderful Cranford Action Group with a litter pick, but when it came to girding my loins for the trip I bottled out so they had to survive without me, very difficult obviously.

But on Saturday there was an event in Lampton Park which was billed as Rhythm and Sounds and a taste of South Asia. I went the scenic route, cycling through Twickenham and Teddington and then finding my way through Fulwell. To me, Fulwell has been nothing more than a name on the 267 and I never really believed it was a place, but there it was. Bit like people who characterise Brentford as a bus stop in Hounslow. I can now report back, like Stanley. Livingston was not there for me to presume, nor were there spectacular waterfalls, nor herds of wildebeest nor poisonous snakes (well, I didn’t see any). I have been watching too many repeats of Fawlty Towers.

I eventually found my way into the Sounds event. It was rather meagrely attended when I was there but I managed to snare an excellent samosa and looked at a number of stalls. Some old favourites – waste and recycling, always popular because they have a bike which you can ride to make a smoothie.

Also there was Poetical Word, which I come across from time to time , and I am waxing poetical now I am becoming mature.

I see they are coming to Anima, in Ferry Quays very near my home on September 19th. It seems I can ask them to write a poem about someone. Keep your head down or it might be you. It did fill out with more people as the afternoon went along but I didn’t stay long enough to see it at its peak.

Talking of Anima, I entered it for the first time since it stopped being Poppadoms. A local celebrity was celebrating his birthday and I was a bit amazed that there were 100 people there of whom I only recognised 3, including the host. And I think I know a lot of people in Brentford. This was an event where being old and deaf does not help: basically I couldn’t decipher what anyone was saying over the music so I didn’t stay long.

On Sunday, another meeting to support the new treasurer at the Hounslow Community FoodBox. It’s only when we go through the things that need attention which used to be dealt with by the previous treasurer, we remind ourselves how good he was. With his help we are I think getting there.

Monday I had a free daytime, so I took a ride up to Boston Manor to have a coffee in the Potting shed. The coffee and the environment is good and it’s fun watching tiny dogs taking on huge huskies. Actually they are rather like most people on local social media. They bark a lot but steer clear of a real argument.

Going up there there were a couple of women on the railway bridge. On the way back they had made progress so I stopped to chat to them and find out what was going on.

It turns out they are working with some charity which works with the railway and had been commissioned to improve the bridge. This is surprising as the railway authorities usually tell us that cleaning graffiti off a bridge runs a risk of setting off catastrophic failure and should not be undertaken by humble council employees. Having said that, I never know whether it is a Network Rail, or SW trains or TfL or the Duke of Hazzard who owns each bridge so they may have different policies. The two women told me they were having help by pupils at Green Dragon Primary School to develop the decorations, which sounds fab to me from a number of different angles. I spent several years trying to get them to sort out the horrible boards that used to be atop the walls, except where they were broken. To my delight they disappeared recently and were replaced by green wire fences, which are an enormous improvement, if no oil painting. Soon we will have both, perhaps.

On the other side, someone seemed to have mislaid a cannon.

On further sleuthing, turns out this was the remains of a bollard. Poor bollards have a very limited life, due to dozy drivers (including me. Though not guilty m’honour, never done it in Brentford.)

On Tuesday morning I had a coffee with my old friend (he is even older than me!) at his flat on Kew Bridge Road. We compared notes on managing agents in blocks of flats (neither of us will be starting a fan club) and steered clear, as we usually do from anything that sounds like politics. It is fair to say that we don’t have a meeting of minds on anything much political, but we have a nice friendship with mutual respect. Well, I respect Philip. This rather proves politics isn’t everything.

In the afternoon I went to Hogarth House in Chiswick. TfL are consulting on changes to how traffic flows around Hogarth roundabout and the local roads. This is never easy in Chiswick. I bet they welcomed the temporary flyover which was built in 1971 to last a few years. There’s something similar at Gallows corner in Hornchurch where I lerned to bee a biznessman. I see it was built by Marples Ridgway owned mainly (I believe) by a certain Ernest Marples a saintly Conservative minister who helped us to build roads using the money saved when Mr Beeching closed most of the railways.

His sainthood is noted here and his popularity was visible over the M1 for many years as I plied home from London and back. I can’t find an image of it but I have found a version of the slogan which was there.

Some things are very effectively conserved by the Conservative Party, such as their impeccable ethics. Like ministers now, and others famed in Eurpoean history, I’m sure he was kind to dogs.

My own take on the scheme was that it would be unlikely to cause any serious problems, though some locals would disagree. I cycle down Chiswick Mall several times a week amd I find the traffic down there is modest in both volume and pace. Well, usually there isn’t anyone moving at all. I did say to the TfL man – don’t overdo the cycle parking. I would be surprised if the roundabout, even with an improved subway, is likely to become a major tourist attraction and any more than a couple of bike stands would be excessive.

I took a quick look around Hogarth’s house, where the consultation was hosted. A couple of pictures caught my eye. This one represents a ”Modern Conversation” and is a comment on new taxes on booze and fags.

The other one is closer to home. This one is called ‘The Politician’ a man who seems to have set his hat on fire.

I must point out I very rarely sport a hat.

I also saw that a copy of the Politician could be purchased for the very economical fee of 1 shilling. I imagine Ernest Maples would cost a lot more.

On Wednesday I met with a local business-related person who like me is concerned about the future of some of our local businesses. More on this when it’s in, but I was sent away with a task!

Today as I mentioned. the latest of my interminable series of appointments with the Osteopath team at Charing Cross. For once they didn’t bother with an X ray. They are nervous about doing the surgery which would apparently fix my dodgy shoulder because it’s a serious operation and carries quite a lot of risk. They are going to go in a huddle about me and let me know. In truth, my dodgy shoulder is a bit limiting but in reality it only really inconveninces me because a) I can’t swim and b) I can't easily deal with ticket machines in car parks. Doctors often observe that I have a high pain threshold. I have no idea if that is true as I have only myself to compare with and I may be lying. Not complaining, life is fine and apart from those things all is well.

Back to Brentford, then out to Watermans Park where people from the council, TfL, Hounslow Highways etc are there to celebrate the opening of the cycleway from Kew Bridge to Alexandra Road. Of course, building it has had some disruption but it’s done now. I was knocked off my bike once in that section (just a cut on my arm) but someone I know who works at W Middlesex has been knocked off twice and was hospitalised on one occasion. Me, I love the new cycle lane.

I was hoping for a better picture but I have nearly succeeded in keeping my picture obscured.

That’s all Folks. If I get round to it I’ll have another go at my non-council blog an Guy’s blogs on Facebook, but only if the muse appears.

Councillor Guy Lambert