please empty your brain below
Abberley Mews must be a relative newcomer - in my first A to Z (1976 vintage) the first entry in the index was Abbess Close in Tulse Hill

timbo | 23.04.23 - 8:03 a.m. | #

The below isn't pedantry, just someone musing on Greek translation:

It's a tricky one to translate "close". Probably better as kleistos "closed" rather than kleise "to close". Or maybe even telos. (end/terminal) which is probably how it's meant in the context of a street name. There isnt really a direct translation in the way in which it is used in the UK.

Place, I would use xwros or topos. Thesy is usually used to mean place as in rank or position and not in relation to a location.

Alsos is probably a decent shout for grove. Dasaki works too.

dg writes: ενημερώθηκε, ευχαριστώ.

Ἀρχιμήδης | 23.04.23 - 8:25 a.m. | #

Just before the alarm went off Heard Street should be Heald Street.

dg writes: fixed thanks.

Alan JS | 23.04.23 - 8:29 a.m. | #

Alpha Grove being "one of the more deprived neighbourhoods in London" with an enormous glass tower erupting above it will depress me for the rest of the day.

Scott | Homepage | 23.04.23 - 9:19 a.m. | #

I was expecting an emergency alert test reference, and I'm not disappointed.

TW | 23.04.23 - 9:20 a.m. | #

Shame it wasn't Heard Street just before a blaring klaxon though!

Andrew S | 23.04.23 - 9:25 a.m. | #

I was about to comment on the difficulty of Greek translation because the concepts described by some of the Greek words you have chosen don’t quite align with the English, particularly “close” (shut? nearby? enclosed? cul-de-sac?) and “place” (rank? position?). But someone else has done it better than I could.

And now I’ll have “Of the Father's love begotten” playing in my head, evermore and evermore.

Andrew | 23.04.23 - 9:30 a.m. | #

My Bacon’s Up to Date Atlas and Guide to London (can’t find a date) has Abbeville Road, SW4 in first place and Zoar Street, SE1 in last place.

Bryn Davies | 23.04.23 - 10:30 a.m. | #

Abberley Mews isn't in my 1988 A-Z either - Zoffany Street is last.

cau1khead | 23.04.23 - 10:47 a.m. | #

Κλείσε is a form of the verb „to close”, not a noun.

Jan | 23.04.23 - 10:52 a.m. | #

Thanks for the reminder about the emergency siren. For one glorious moment I thought I'd missed it!
No doubt I'll have forgotten again by 3pm and will still jump out of my skin!

Cornish Cockney | 23.04.23 - 10:56 a.m. | #

I'd like to argue (quite flippantly) that the A1 is London's alphabetically first street.

TW | 23.04.23 - 1:03 p.m. | #

My 1938/9 A-Z has Abbeville Rd SW4, and Zoffany Street N19 in first and last place.

Brighton_Ro | 23.04.23 - 2:56 p.m. | #

LOUD BLARING SIREN NOISE! WOO! WOO! WOO! WOO! This is a test of Emergency Alerts, a new UK government service that will warn you if there’s a life-threatening emergency nearby. LOUD BLARING SIREN NOISE! WOO! WOO! WOO! WOO! This is a test. You do not need to take any action. LOUD BLARING SIREN NOISE! WOO! WOO! WOO! WOO!

diamond geezer | Homepage | 23.04.23 - 3:00 p.m. | #

That message delivered by an American voice sounds exactly like a scam or a spoof. So for me at least the test fails.

Ian | 23.04.23 - 3:10 p.m. | #

Why did she have an American accent.

Still Anon | 23.04.23 - 3:23 p.m. | #

Like many on Three, I didn't get it!

Good post about two more areas of London I didn't know much about - thanks.

John Simmons | 23.04.23 - 6:20 p.m. | #

Perhaps I’ve missed something, but…. American voice? Just a loud alarm and a text here.

Labourer | 23.04.23 - 7:54 p.m. | #

The closest Greek I can find for "place" in the street name sense is πλατεία (cf Platz in German or Piazza in Italian)

timbo | 23.04.23 - 8:30 p.m. | #

Plateia is used to mean square in the context of street names in Greece and Cyprus. Leoforos is used to mean avenue.

Although dromos means road, you'll usually see "odos" instead (street)

Otherwise neither country really is innovative with place or road names, sticking to one word or a date.

E | 23.04.23 - 8:39 p.m. | #

I just heard a slightly loud sound from my phone, with no words accompanying it, neither spoken nor sent as a text message.

Malcolm of Kent | 23.04.23 - 10:08 p.m. | #

Same here. I didn't get a voice, only an alarm and a text. I'm pretty certain it varies between models - perhaps the American voice is the alert noise of some phone models, as I got the default Apple alert sound.

There's been a lot of other reports of problems with the test, and I'm sure there'll be articles in the tabloids tomorrow morning, complaining about mistimings (I got mine at 2:59, but no complaints) and supposed "chaos" due to the surprise of the alert. The point of a test is to find problems in the system so that, in the case of a real emergency, the system works correctly. And 5 weeks notice is nothing to laugh at; I'm sure everyone got jolted a bit, but most people had heard of it at some point, and if you haven't, it's more of a fault on your part.

TW | 23.04.23 - 10:26 p.m. | #

The American voice starting speaking after the loud siren noise. It was at quite low volume.

Mikey C | 23.04.23 - 10:59 p.m. | #

Alpha Road (later Grove) was chosen because this was the first street laid out on the new development in this southern part of Millwall to the east of the drainage ditch which had defined the western boundary of the Cheval and Tooke housing (Alpha being the first letter in the Greek alphabet).

It followed the line of a very early north-south footpath which formed the boundary between the new housing and the docks.

There had been a proposal in 1938 to rename Alpha Road to “Halket Road” but this was not pursued after the LCC received a petition against the idea signed by over one hundred residents. No reason for this proposed name is recorded; Alpha Grove was suggested by Poplar BC instead. Alpha Road was renamed Alpha Grove 31/10/1938 w.e.f. 1/01/1939.

Credit to MF Elliston for this information, ex naming and numbering officer for LBTH.

Ian Powell | 24.04.23 - 10:07 p.m. | #

Thanks Ian (and MF Elliston)!

diamond geezer | Homepage | 24.04.23 - 10:10 p.m. | #











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