Afternoon, Surbiton. This one is late, and that is on me rather than on the town. It turns out to be the right day to be late, because the single most useful thing in this issue only became true at four minutes past ten this morning.
The alert does not end tonight
The amber heat-health alert you have been living under since Tuesday was due to expire at 9pm tonight. It has been extended. The new one starts at 9pm tonight and runs to 10am tomorrow.
Read that again, because it is the point. The new alert does not cover the hot afternoon. It covers the night. London, the South East, the South West, both Midlands and the East of England were all extended this morning; the North East, North West and Yorkshire were not, and theirs stop at 9pm as planned.
Why the night and not the day. Tonight is the third in a row that does not drop below about 19 or 20°C. Three of those in a row is what actually fills hospitals — not the peak on the thermometer, but the fact that nobody has properly cooled down since Tuesday. The official risk description says it plainly: a rise in deaths, particularly among the over-65s, and increased demand on every part of health and social care.
So tonight, not this afternoon, is the bit to act on. Get the house cooling the moment the sun is off it — windows open on the shaded side from about eight, both sides once it is dark. A fan moving air across a room beats a fan pointed at a bed. And if you are going to check on someone elderly this week, this evening is the one that counts, because they are three nights into it too.
Yesterday, four miles away
Kew Gardens recorded 38.1°C. That was the highest temperature in England yesterday, the hottest anywhere in the UK this year, and by the Met Office's count the fifth hottest day ever recorded in this country. Charlwood in Surrey hit 37.8°C, Wisley 37.2°C. Kew is about four miles from Surbiton station.
I told you 35 or 36 yesterday morning. I was two degrees light.
⛅ The rest of today. Peaking 33 or 34°C late afternoon — the two models I check say 32.8 and 34.0, so somewhere in there. Still around 30°C at nine tonight. Down to 19 or 20°C by dawn, and no rain in either model.
The weekend does break it, mostly. Saturday 26 to 28°C — I said 26 yesterday and one model has since come up to 28, so temper your expectations slightly. Sunday about 25°C with a real chance of a shower. Ordinary August, in other words.
You found the plumber
Yesterday I told you that the awards had plenty of pubs and coffee shops and not one single tradesperson, dentist or estate agent — the three categories where being named actually changes somebody's year. On the hottest day of the year, in an amber alert, you sent me a plumber, a heating engineer, a chimney sweep, a glazier, a roofer, three dentists and three estate agents.
Tradesperson. Aivaras at Apolo Heating and Plumbing · Simon at Callgas · Transgas · Homesafe Glazing and Locks · Michael at Smoky Pistols (chimneys) · Paul Colfar (roofing)
Dentist. Stedham House on Ewell Road, twice — once for Dr Stuart White and once for the practice as a whole · Mez at Maple Dental
Estate agent. Humphrey & Brand · John Flynn at Seymours · Sophie and Billie at Barnard Marcus
Pub. The Grove (two nominations) · The Royal Oak · The Lamb · The Berrylands
Coffee. ICON (two) · Coffee on the Corner · Subeanton · McDonald's
Place to eat. The French Table (two) · Positanos · Nay Thai · Italian Taste
Takeaway. Ploys · Sushi Hero · Superfish · The Dough Shack
Hairdresser or barber. Metropolis (two) · Shimi · Salon Number 13 · Surbiton Barbers
Yes, McDonald's is on the coffee list. Ken made the case and I am not going to pretend he didn't: “You might pay £4 or £5 for a cup in a trendy shop, but that doesn't automatically make it taste better. For £2 McDonald's can deliver a perfectly good, satisfying cup without the pretentious price tag, and it's normally hot.” Readers nominate. I do not edit the ballot.
Nominations close Sunday night. Hit reply with a category and a name — one line is plenty, and you do not have to fill in all eight. The ballot goes out Monday and then we vote, one vote per email address, and I will say so in print when we do.
Saturday, 9am to 1pm — the Farmers' Market on Maple Road. Third Saturday, so this is the one. Up to forty stalls, run entirely by volunteers, and the stall fees go to local causes. Low twenties through the morning rather than mid-thirties, so a considerably better one to walk round than yesterday would have been.
Saturday, 6pm to 10pm — India Day at Hollyfield School on Surbiton Hill Road. Namaste Kingston are running it: cultural performances, music, dance, food, family activities, in support of Kingston Hindu Temple. Ticketed, and it is genuinely on our doorstep rather than in Kingston for once.
Until Sunday — The Cat in the Hat at the Rose. Family show, running since Thursday, last performances this weekend. A reader who joined yesterday asked for things to take the kids to; this is the obvious one, and it is indoors and cool.
Saturday from midday — a community festival at the Bricklayers Arms on Hawks Road in Kingston. Two days, more than fifty musicians, an art exhibition and a CAMRA real-ale tent in the garden. Worth the trip if live music is your thing.
The railway to Guildford is shut both days. All lines closed between Surbiton or Leatherhead and Guildford, Saturday and Sunday. Buses replace trains Surbiton to Guildford, and Leatherhead to Guildford. It affects anything running Waterloo or Wimbledon to Guildford. Check before you leave the house rather than on the platform — and give a rail replacement bus in this heat a lot more time than you think it needs.
The K4 is still diverted, in both directions, until 6pm Sunday. Electrical repairs on Ewell Road. It is going via Lingfield Avenue, Maple Road and Claremont Road. Towards Chessington, nothing is served between Cheyne Hill and Surbiton Station; towards Kingston, nothing between St Mark's Church and Cheyne Hill. Worth knowing if you are heading to India Day on Saturday evening, because that is exactly the stretch.
Everything else local is on a Good Service. K1, K2, K3, K5, 71, 281, 406, 418, 465 and the S3, all clear as of this afternoon.
Still grinding on. Ewell Road, two-way signals round the clock from St Mark's Hill to nearly Hollyfield Road, to 28 October. The Ditton Road, Hollyfield Road and Kingsdowne Road junctions with Ewell Road, to January. Hook Road, signals and directional closures from Upper Brighton Road to the Hook roundabout, to 25 October.
Coming Wednesday. Upper Brighton Road gets two-way signals round the clock near St Matthews Avenue, 19 to 31 August. Thirteen days. If that is your route to work, this is your warning.
One caveat on all of that. The council's roadworks list still says “last updated 07 August” — a week old. The bus diversions above come from TfL's live feed this afternoon, so those I trust. The council list I would treat as a guide.
Open the windows the second the sun comes off the front of the house. Tonight is the one that counts.
And thank you for the plumber. Genuinely — I asked a favour on the worst possible day for asking favours and nine of you did it anyway.
Mike
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