please empty your brain below

Sunday 9th January
A laminated noticed attached to the metal railings in front of the station announces that planning permission is being sought to install a Chip and PIN reader by the ticket window. Comments should be made by 25th January.

Monday 10th January
The window frames at the southern end of the bridge have been painted white. Posters on each window warn passengers 'Do Not Touch - Wet Paint'.

Tuesday 11th January
All the grey sheeting has finally been removed from the new light fittings along the westbound platform.

Wednesday 12th January
The metal railings outside the station have been replaced by thick metal barriers, protecting the public from sections of scaffolding piled up inside. A red sign on the barriers directs pedestrians towards the station entrance.

Thursday 13th January
Looking through a new gap in the sheeting above the door in the blue wall on the westbound platform, another row of new fluorescent lights can be seen to the rear of the platform parallel to the new lights already visible above the platform edge.

Friday 14th January
Wet Paint signs are now stuck to the the remainder of the windows on the bridge.

Saturday 15th January
The station is closed again all weekend. There are workmen all over the station (at 3pm, but not at 11pm).

Sunday 16th January
Local graffiti: someone has spray-painted E3 on the new metal barriers outside the station.

Monday 17th January
Over the weekend the floor surface of parts of the ticket hall, bridge and stairwells has been stripped away. At 8am a workman stands by the top of the westbound stairwell urging passengers not to tread on the not-yet-dry bit of cement on the top step. A sign by the ticket office reads "Cution Uneven Floor"
6pm update: the spelling mistake on the main sign has been amended.

Tuesday 18th January
The blue wall in the ticket hall has been removed. Behind the wall are two areas covered by large sheets of plywood, a door and some newly-painted white panelling. It's very hard to work out why this particular corner of the ticket hall has been walled off for the last eight months.

Wednesday 19th January
Conker tree update:
only one yellow shrivelled leaf remains on the tree. It falls during the day.

Thursday 20th January
Most of the pillars on the eastbound platform have been repainted in the original green and yellow colours, although some of the strips on some of the pillars are still covered by grey undercoat.

Friday 21st January
All the scaffolding has been removed from the left hand side of the front of the station. The brickwork looks a bit cleaner than it did nine months ago.

Saturday 22nd January
Two thirds of the big blue sign on the front of the station that used to read BOW ROAD STATION District & Metropolitan Lines has been taken down, leaving only the panel that reads BOW ROAD.

Sunday 23rd January
The complete BOW ROAD STATION District & Metropolitan Lines sign has been returned to the front of the station - despite the fact that Bow Road hasn't been on the Metropolitan line for the last 15 years. Sigh.

Monday 24th January
After another weekend closure the floor at the entrance to the frshly-stripped ticket hall is covered by a temporary yellow surface, and a wooden recess has been revealed to the left of the station entrance.

Tuesday 25th January
Wooden strips have been laid along the edge of the wall beneath the windows of the passenger bridge, stuck down by lengths of black and yellow tape.

Wednesday 26th January
Some work has taken place on one small plank of rotten wood on the wall of the passenger bridge. Today's smell: sawdust

Thursday 27th January
Overnight the walls of the ticket hall have been freshly painted, in white. Today's smell: paint

Friday 28th January
The wooden strips on the floor below the windows on the passenger bridge have been removed, revealing freshly dried concrete. Today's smell: glue

Saturday 29th January
The station is closed for another weekend. Workmen are using both front entrances, as well as a rear entrance up a gated alley in Wellington Way, entering the station through the usually-locked doors at the top of the westbound stairwell.

Sunday 30th January
Travelling through the closed station I could see that most of the protective sheeting above the blue walls on both platforms has been removed, revealing cabling, lights and what looks like white plastic panelling along the top of the walls behind.

Monday 31st January
All the ironwork bolted to the ceiling along the rear half of both platforms has been repainted blue (the same blue as the blue walls).

Tuesday 1st February
Two rows of wooden panels in the ticket hall have been repainted, most of them blue but some of them still in grey undercoat.

Wednesday 2nd February
Another piece of plywood has been placed over part of the wall at the top of the eastbound stairwell.

Thursday 3rd February
Hallelujah!
The western half of the longest blue wall on the eastbound platform has been completely removed, revealing completed renovation work behind. The wall is now encased in a clean, white metallic plastic covering. On the new wall are full size 'Bow Road' roundels and a top strip (headlined in green and pink) that reads alternately 'BOW ROAD' and 'Bow Church DLR station'.

Friday 4th February
Another long section of blue wall has been removed on the eastbound platform, revealing the newly renovated wall behind. Only a short strip of this blue wall now remains.

Saturday 5th February
All the rectangular wooden panels just above floor level in the ticket hall have been repainted blue. 'Wet paint' signs are everywhere.

Sunday 6th February
The newly-revealed white wall on the eastbound platform is 79 panels long. There are 8 roundels altogether, positioned midway between every alternate pillar.

Monday 7th February
Spaced out along the new white wall are several plastic squares, taped down and covering something as yet unrevealed behind them.

Tuesday 8th February
Approximately six loudspeakers have appeared high up on the walls of the ticket hall, along with a couple of new cameras. Each is still wrapped in sheeting and sealed with tape.

Can I place an advance order for some conker pictures in the autumn?

Sorry, I got bored with the Blue spell...

You counted all the panels? I'm impressed!

Even more impressed that it was 79 in total ...

Wednesday 9th February
One year on, the wooden panelling on the overbridge is finally restored and fully painted (in white).

Told you I'd stopped the spell

Thursday 10th February
The window frames and woodwork on the front of the station building have been repainted (again in white).

Friday 11th February
A large wooden frame has been constructed inside the recess just inside the ticket hall on the left behind the green door.

Saturday 12th February
A tall thin rectangular block has been erected to the left of the ticket machine in the ticket hall. It too has been wrapped in sheeting and sealed with tape.

Sunday 13th February
A gap in the sheeting reveals that the rear of the block is yellow, but the rest appears to be grey.

Monday 14th February
Beside the new tall block, to the left of the ticket machine, a new wardrobe-sized recess has been opened up.

Tuesday 15th February
New cameras and loudspeakers have started to be installed above the two stairwells, exactly where the grey stickers placed three months ago said they would be.

Wednesday 16th February
The top part of the white sheeting covering the scaffolding on the passenger bridge has been lowered, giving a daylight view for the first time in six months.

Thursday 17th February
The tall block in the ticket hall that was to the right of the new recess has now been moved to the left of the new recess. There are four small plastered circles where the block was previously attached to the wrong bit of wall.

Friday 18th February
The four plaster circles have been painted over, so you'd (almost) never know they were there.

Saturday 19th February
The smell of wet paint is in the air, again, although it's not immediately obvious precisely where.

Sunday 20th February
A lot of pieces of discarded scaffolding are piled high inside the grey metal fencing outside the front of the station.

Monday 21st February
White metallic covering has appeared on the walls behind the eastern end of the longest blue wall on the westbound platform.

Tuesday 22nd February
A sign has been affixed to the wall above the tall block in the ticket hall, but covered by sheeting and taped up so that you can't possibly read it.

Wednesday 23rd February
Two white-framed glass globes have appeared above the westbound stairwell, and three above the eastbound stairwell. An egg-shaped bulb lies at the centre of each. These new light fittings look very odd and extremely out of place. Meanwhile, at the foot of the westbound stairwell, a short section of blue wall has been removed to reveal an old door repainted grey.

Thursday 24th February
The large wooden panel just inside the ticket hall has been removed, to reveal a huge sheet of glass behind which is a never-before seen (empty) room.

Friday 25th February
The green doors at the front of the station have been repainted, green.











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