please empty your brain below
In the absence of any apparent renovation work going at the station, I thought I'd report on the progress of the conkers on the horse chestnut tree outside the station instead.
Thursday 2nd September
There is a horse chestnut tree outside the station.
Friday 3rd September
The horse chestnut tree is on the pavement to the left of the station entrance.
Saturday 4th September
The horse chestnut tree is very tall, probably just over ten metres high.
Sunday 5th September
There are conkers growing on the tree.
Monday 6th September
There are lots of conkers growing on the tree.
Tuesday 7th September
A few of the conkers have started falling off the tree.
Wednesday 8th September
There are only a handful of conkers lying on the pavement.
Thursday 9th September
I kicked a conker along the pavement. It rolled in a long curve out into the road.
Friday 10th September
There has been a fresh fall of conkers.
Saturday 11th September
Following recent heavy winds, a large branch has fallen from the horse chestnut tree.
Sunday 12th September
The branch has broken in two.
Monday 13th September
There are fresh conkers on the ground early in the morning.
Tuesday 14th September
By the early evening almost all of the conkers have disappeared.
Wednesday 15th September
There are still a lot of conkers lying on the ground behind the gates to the flats next to the station.
There are a number of squashed conker cases on the pavement.
Friday 17th September
There are a number of open conker cases still hanging on the tree, out of which conkers have fallen.
Saturday 18th September
I saw an old man collecting conkers from the pavement outside the station and putting them in a plastic bag.
Sunday 19th September
There are now plenty of conkers on the ground. I guess the old man hasn't come collecting today.
Monday 20th September
After dusk I saw two small boys in school uniform selecting conkers from the pavement.
Tuesday 21st September
All of the empty conker cases have been swept into the corner to the left of the station entrance.
Wednesday 22nd September
The leaves on the horse chestnut tree have a distinct yellowy-brown edge.
Thursday 23rd September
There are still some particularly large conkers hanging on the tree.
Friday 24th September
The pavement is spotless.
Saturday 25th September
A particularly zealous cleaning operative is clearly being employed to keep the pavement beneath the horse chestnut tree free from conker-related detritus.
Sunday 26th September
If you want conkers you need to look on the other side of the wall outside the flats, where there are still loads.
Monday 27th September
There are only a couple of conkers on the pavement today.
Tuesday 28th September
There are almost no conkers on the pavement because there are now almost no conkers left on the tree.
Wednesday 29th September
The few conker cases there are left on the tree are brown and mushy.
Thursday 30th September
I think that's the conker season finished.
Back to the renovation of Bow Road Station. Here's everything you missed in September:
Friday 17th September: The new grey cabling boxes suspended above the western end of both platforms have been wrapped in grey sheeting. The grey sheeting is secured by sticky tape. Some of the tape is red, some is black and some is brown.
And that's all.
Saturday 2nd October
Posters have been erected in the ticket hall with details of forthcoming station closures at Bow Road.
Sunday 3rd October
Bow Road station will be closed for the whole of next weekend, presumably so that that work can actually go on for a change.
Monday 4th October
Bow Road station will also be closed for the whole of the weekend after that, and the whole of the weekend a fortnight after that, and on other whole weekends during November, December and January.
Tuesday 5th October
Bow Road Station will not be reopening after 10pm from 26th October onwards, as originally planned. Instead it will remain closed after 10pm until the end of February next year.
Wednesday 6th October
Bow Road Station will, however, be reopening before 6am from 26th October onwards.
Thursday 7th October
All the adverts on the two staircases down to the platforms have been removed in readiness for all the renovation work due to take place this weekend.
Friday 8th October
At 10pm tonight Bow Road station closes for 56 hours until 6am on Monday morning.
Work is underway! Workmen are busy in both stairwells. They have scaffolding and big hoses.
Sunday 10th October
Work continues. I've never been able to write that before.
Monday 11th October
Bow Road reopens. Both stairwells have new lights hanging from the ceiling. Plastic cable ducting has been installed high on the wall above each staircase, but as yet containing no cables.
Tuesday 12th October
On the wall above the eastbound stairs there is a rough area of plaster covered by strips of black and yellow tape.
Wednesday 13th October
The cable ducting in each stairwell is not yet fully joined up.
Thursday 14th October
Ugly black cables snake across the ceiling of each stairwell, disappearing into newly-drilled holes in the wall above the northern end of the ticket hall.
Friday 15th October
50cm to the right of the existing cable-filled hole in the wall above the northern end of the ticket hall, someone has written CAM 6 in blue marker pen.
Saturday 16th October - 9.10pm
Tube trains not stopping. Man wearing hard hat and bright orange jacket leans against blue wall looking at mobile phone.
(report from Dave)
Sunday 17th October
Station closed for second weekend. No obvious activity in the stairwells, but a few workmen hanging around.
Monday 18th October
After the weekend, the lights in the ticket hall have been replaced. There are scars in the ceiling where the old lights used to be, now with some rather ugly grey metal runners bolted alongside. New characterless fluorescent tubes now hang from the ceiling. The ticket hall is noticeably brighter than it used to be. The cable ducting along the staircases is now complete, but still unfilled.
Tuesday 19th October
A pile of what looks like a lot of boxes has been dumped on the pavement outside the station. The pile is covered by a large orange tarpaulin and surrounded by grey metal railings. The tarpaulin is stuck down with giant silver tape.
Wednesday 20th October
A sign on the railings reads
Do Not Enter!!!
No Entry
Keep Out
Thursday 21st October
The pile is not piled quite so high this morning.
Friday 22nd October
The tarpaulin has come loose at the back so it's now apparent that the pile isn't boxes but something else, surrounded by a low plywood wall.
A new blue wall has been built, blocking off the disused stairwell at the far eastern end of the eastbound platform.
At 11pm, as I rode through the closed station, the door in the new blue wall was open and the stairwell beyond was lit.
The tarpaulin has come loose again, so it looks like the large plywood box on the pavement outside the station is now empty.
The tarpaulin has been pulled back over the box, and a heavy grey folded sheet placed on top.
The leftmost end of the second stair from the top of the eastbound staircase has been covered in black and yellow sticky tape.
Two strips of black and yellow tape have been stuck vertically up the white wooden panelling above the third stair.
The four new fluorescent tubes hanging in the ticket hall still have thin white ties secured around their plastic casing.
The station is closed for the third complete weekend.
Conker tree update: the leaves have turned yellow and brown round the edge and have started to fall off.
After the third weekend station closure the smell of paint is in the air. The ceiling of the ticket hall looks like it's been painted with white undercoat, badly. The paint extends all the way towards the westbound stairwell and halfway towards the eastbound stairwell.
Yellow safety material has been screwed onto the horizontal surface of every stair on the westbound and eastbound staircases.
All of the decorative wooden boards along the edge of the canopy over each platform have been repainted white.
Plastic cable ducting now goes almost all the way round the top of the ticket hall.
A number of strips of silver tape have been stuck to the walls of the stairwells and the ticket hall. Someone has scribbled on each in biro. For example, three of the strips up the eastbound stairwell read New light fitting and give measurements for where the new light fitting is to be positioned.
There are several silver strips stuck to the wall at the top of the eastbound stairwell, including Break Glass Unit and Help Point.
A silver strip stuck to the wall halfway along the ticket hall reads Unswitched fuse for V.E.I.D.
Two strips near the top of the eastbound stairwell read 16A 110V surface mounted.
There are more silver strips on the eastbound stairwell than the westbound stairwell.
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