When I first moved to London in 1999 I had a tube map on the wall next to my front door. Every time I went to a new tube station I highlighted it on the map. The reason was because I was interested in where I'd been to in London; a city that I was, of course, exploring a lot.
In the 1980s and 1990s a series of changes saw the UK's bus operations go from mostly publicly owned, to mostly privately owned. In a series of privatisations, bus companies were flogged off. But in the intervening 25 years, what has actually happened is that the UK's bus market has come under the control of a handful of large companies.
So what actually happened to the UK's publicly owned bus operations?
Beverley Brook is one of those rare things. A river in London that's not the Thames. It's rather unknown, and not necessarily loved despite going through some of London's finest parkland. Thankfully the Beverley Brook Walk will help you explore it.
Ever since the Wandle passed under a train line in Merton, it's changed. Less playful, less happy. The river has been hiding away from the Wandle Trail. Keeping its distance.
Last time I tried to walk down the Wandle Trail round the Merton/Sutton border, I got lost in a housing estate. Somehow I lost the river and never managed to find it again.
There are two sources to the Wandle and one is at Waddon Ponds where swans and geese glide effortlessly across the water, and small children try to offer them bread to eat.