Greenwich Low Traffic Network Chaos.

As I left to walk to Charlton train station this morning (Monday 2^nd December) I could not understand why Victoria Way and Charlton Church Lane were a mess of heaving traffic and the roads between were busy with traffic that are normally very quiet.

At first, I thought the traffic was caused by the Blackwall tunnel being closed for some reason,  but that was not the case.

I later learned that this was all caused by the new traffic Lower Traffic Network (LTN) project between  Westcombe Park, Vanbrugh Park and East of Greenwich Park. Well, thank you Greenwich Council you’ve made our lives a living hell at the expense of a quiet life for the affluent middle-class areas around Westcombe Park, Vanbrugh Hill,  Maze Hill and Greenwich Park East.

Greenwich Council said before this project was implemented that they suspected there would be more traffic flowing through Charlton and they said they were going to monitor the situation. Well, Greenwich  Council it is like every weekday is now like the closing time of a Charlton football match day. All you have done is move the problem onto the Charlton residents.

The single-car wide bridge near the bottom of Victoria Way was especially mad, with frustrated drivers driving up the hill being blocked by inconsiderate drivers coming down the hill and not giving Way as they were supposed to.

On the third day, I looked down the hill to see hardly any cars, and I thought that perhaps I had got it all wrong. That was until I looked up the hill to see the number 380 bus blocking the whole road as it struggled to turn right from Eastcombe Avenue into Victoria Way. With the extra traffic, the 380 bus service has struggled in Eastcombe Avenue and Charlton  Church Lane where traffic flow is often reduced down to a single-width road.

What does amaze me though is that when I return from work in the evening, all the traffic that you would expect to be there as it is in the morning rush hour is non-existent.

Where is all the returning rush hour going? and why can’t they use that route in the morning?

Sparkle in the Park 2024

Well, the annual Greenwich event of Sparkle in the Park has come and gone.  Starting on Friday 29th November and ending on Sunday 1st December 2024.
It is an annual free public light show that used to take place in Maryon Park, but the venue was moved this year to CharltonHousee.
The show is sponsored by the Greenwich Heritage  Foundation and the Greenwich  Council.
Surrealism was the theme of the day, so there were works of art with charity themes, giant semi-transparent balls that changed colour that you could walk through, a giant synchronised light show on the grass, and various decorative light statues of animals all around the place.
There was a tea room and a pop-up Tavern for the adults, as well as other bars and food stalls and art and craft stalls encircling a field at the end of the path of the light show.
Even brighter and flashier than the light show was the fun fair next to the light show,  which I can safely say was what most of the kids wanted to head towards.
Here is a short film I took while visiting Sparkle in the Park 2024 at Charlton House.
Another light show that I drove through but did not even realise it was in Eltham.
I wondered why there was such a large crowd standing outside the Long Pond pub on Westmount Road in Eltham on the evening of Thursday 28th November.
I later found out from another Eltham-based blogger that it was a turning-on ceremony of the Christmas lights along Westmount Road, turned on by the Comedienne,  writer and actress Helen Lederer.
I think I can safely say that the Regent Street or Oxford  Street Christmas lights have nothing to worry about in regards to being outshone by the Westmount Street lights, but it does brighten up the road at night.