please empty your brain below
AHH, the spiral ramp in Uxbridge. In my student days the game was to put your car in neutral at the top and see if you could get to the bottom without touching the brakes ...

Putters | 29.06.25 - 7:41 a.m. | #

Part of my work requires a 5.5 hour bus driving duty with Slough as the midway rest point, the return of a toilet facility in the bus station would be most welcomed!! The Brunel bus station might have been dingy but it was at least fireproof.

Nico | 29.06.25 - 8:37 a.m. | #

I would imagine we will see an FOI request from some joyless idiot along the lines of "How much time are staff allocated to complete information boards at Bow Road station"

Pete W | 29.06.25 - 8:53 a.m. | #

I understand why they went away but multi storey spiral ramps are joyous. One Christmas as a child the traffic was so bad leaving the Luton Arndale we had to inch down the spiral ramp in a jam and it was absolutely thrilling.

Scott | Homepage | 29.06.25 - 9:08 a.m. | #

Whilst not as common as they once were, multi-storey car parks are still being built with spiral ramps.

Car Park C at Westfield Stratford (the one by Stratford City Bus Station) features one, for example.

Barry S | 29.06.25 - 9:29 a.m. | #

If it weren't for the skyscraper in the background, the photo of Abbey Lane in Stratford could be mistaken for an abandoned farmyard in the back of beyond!

Geoff | 29.06.25 - 9:38 a.m. | #

I'm reminded of the spiral ramp in the car park of the former Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth. It became a grotty shopping mall, but it's redeeming feature was the car park ramp,so we would always park there.

From the top you would get the steering lock just right and hold on to it the whole way down. Great fun for a grown up kid !

Petras409 | 29.06.25 - 9:54 a.m. | #

Just demolishing Slough bus station and putting up a few basic shelters would be a big improvement. Unlike its concrete predecessor, the 2011 version looked lovely but failed to protect from wind or rain.

...and the Cedars car park was named after a house and is still called that, though not prominently. The shopping centre didn't have a name until it was called The Pavilions.

Andrew S | 29.06.25 - 10:19 a.m. | #

Wanstead Flats also got very, very yellow in the very hot days of 2022 (during which the Ornamental Water in Wanstead Park also dried up and hasn't come back yet), and it's become a regular thing now (though I haven't got out a xanthometer to check if this year's particularly so). This year's definitely unusual for how early it's gone in to dust-and-hay mode though, due to the as-noted dry spring.

sam | 29.06.25 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Hats off to Greenwich Council for pre-emptive health & safety measures, other less alert councils take note. Far too many accumulations of water beckon the uninitiated to drink or wallow in them, such as ponds, lakes, puddles, streams, rivers, becks, fountains and so forth as well as horse troughs. All should be banished, fenced off, covered or liberally labelled to protect aforementioned uninitiated from drinking or falling into them.

The same Greenwich Council is laudably seeking to banish Thameside seating at pubs, specifically Trafalgar Tavern, I understand, in another example of stellar public spirit. If only all councils exhibited such genius, London would be so much safer!

Strabismus | 29.06.25 - 2:32 p.m. | #

Helical, not spiral.

Peter (of Cambridge) | 29.06.25 - 2:45 p.m. | #

I've seen many bus stations before, and I like Slough's; it would be a shame if it went. However, based on what Nico and Andrew have said, it doesn't seem perfect either.

I love that Uxbridge car park, it's beautifully brutalist.

Bonus points for the Wanstead Flats photo, it's wonderful!

All Over 2a | Homepage | 29.06.25 - 5:47 p.m. | #

If you were able to enjoy even a couple of minutes yesterday in the National Maritime Museum court then the refurbishment has been a success, because in weather like this it used to be unbearable.

HTFB | 29.06.25 - 6:05 p.m. | #

Sam- It's unlikely that the water in the ornamental pond will return. Next time you see an Epping Forest Ranger, ask them to explain

Scientist | 29.06.25 - 7:35 p.m. | #

Sadly that the 'jumpers' car park in Uxbridge.

Anyoldname | 29.06.25 - 7:51 p.m. | #

Loved this article! I'd love to see more like this

Ewan James | 30.06.25 - 1:12 p.m. | #

This is today's Bow Road whiteboard teaser.



If this is 'difficulty 4/5' I fear for the day we get a 5.

I solved it on the platform by, erm, finding the answer on YouTube.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 30.06.25 - 2:45 p.m. | #

Whoever wrote the whiteboard teaser has at least A-level Maths: for anyone wanting to give it a go without cheating, the A-level Maths formulae booklet may be helpful.

A very enjoyable maths teaser, though this physicist needed pen and paper to try it and wouldn't have been able to do it mentally. Now, will difficulty 5/5 be A-level Further Maths, or beyond...

Suffolker | Homepage | 30.06.25 - 3:36 p.m. | #











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