Afternoon, Surbiton. The rain I promised you came early — most of it fell between five and nine this morning — so the afternoon is better than the forecast number, and tonight is fine. But there is a new set of traffic lights on Ewell Road as of 9am, and TfL's own feed says they are faulty. That first, then the bank holiday.
Temporary signals went up on Ewell Road at 9am today, between St Marks Hill and Lamberts Road, for emergency works — and TfL is reporting the signals themselves as faulty. That is their word, not mine. It is rated moderate, the only local restriction above minimal, and the listed end date is Wednesday 2 September. Treat that stretch with care today, especially on foot: a faulty set of temporary lights is worse than none.
It also explains the K4. The diversion via Lingfield Avenue, Maple Road and Claremont Road runs until 6pm tomorrow — I will believe it when the buses are back on Ewell Road, and I will tell you when they are.
Bank holiday trains: the Cobham line is out, the Waterloo line is not. Saturday, buses replace trains between Surbiton and Effingham Junction via Cobham, with one train an hour from Effingham to Guildford. Sunday it widens: buses Surbiton to Guildford via Cobham, plus extra buses Leatherhead to Guildford. It is drainage work at Effingham Junction — the flood-resilience kind, which is the kind you want. No work is listed on the main line to Waterloo, so a trip into town runs normally all weekend.
Otherwise: the K3 is back to normal after yesterday's Claygate diversion. Galsworthy Road by the hospital is running with no reported delays (until 18 September). Leatherhead Road, Hook Road, Malden Way and Upper Brighton Road all still have their works, all minimal.
This afternoon and tonight. The probability stays high on paper but the rain itself has largely gone: nothing measurable after 3pm, 25°C at four, still 22°C at seven and easing to a 25 per cent chance by ten. Jam Night at the Flyer tonight, 8.30pm, is very much on.
Friday: the best day before the weekend — 23°C, less than a millimetre in it.
Saturday is the wet one — 100 per cent, about 4.5mm, 22°C. Which is the Legion open day; see below. Sunday is showery, 21°C.
Bank holiday Monday is the best day of the weekend — barely anything in the forecast, 21°C. If you are picking one day to be outside, it is Monday.
Karen and Richard both joined this week and both said the same thing: they hear about the family stuff after it has happened. So, ahead of time:
Tomorrow, 4pm: Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament at Surbiton Library, Ewell Road. Free, ages five and up. If you have a child who owns a deck, you already know how big this is.
Saturday 2pm and Sunday 4pm: try scuba diving, in Tolworth. Aquanaut pool on Red Lion Road runs taster sessions. An indoor thing for a wet Saturday that nobody will have done before.
Sunday 9am: junior parkrun, Alexandra Rec, ages four to fourteen, free.
Bank holiday Monday from 12.30pm: Chessington Community Fun Day, Sir Francis Barker Rec on Leatherhead Road, free — and on the driest day of the weekend.
Tonight: Jam Night at the Surbiton Flyer, 8.30pm, station forecourt, free — fronting artists changing through the night, players and listeners both welcome. Saturday 12pm to 5pm: the Royal British Legion open day on Hollyfield Road — barbecue, craft stalls, full bar, The Paperback Writers at 4pm. It will rain; the bar is indoors and the band is under cover. Saturday 9pm: Average Joe at the Flyer, walk in. Sunday 2pm: volunteering at the Knollmead community allotments on the Sunray estate, if you would rather be useful than dry.
Next week, worth the diary now: Tuesday 7pm, the History of Seething Wells — David Kennedy, who has spent two years looking for the actual spring the district is named after, at the cornerHOUSE, £4 on the door. Thursday from 4.30pm, Celebrate Surbiton — and this is bigger than I said yesterday: it is a market on the station forecourt every Thursday afternoon through September, with the forecourt closed to traffic for it. Then Friday comedy at Alcheme, Saturday an evening of actual wrestling in Long Ditton village hall, and Sunday 11am a free walking tour of Surbiton from the station. The town has a September.
A reader question I cannot answer alone. Steve wrote in about the Sainsbury's car park on Victoria Road: he says the limit is one hour, that it is barely enough to do a shop, and that come December with the checkout queues it will be a fine machine. Sainsbury's own published policy is two hours at most stores, with local exceptions on the signs.
So: if you have parked there recently, what does the sign say — and has anyone had a ticket? If it is one hour, Steve is right that it is the wrong number for a supermarket that size, and that is a conversation worth having with them before Christmas rather than after.
One planning line. The Olive Tree at 162 Hook Road has applied to the council for an outdoor seating area, via Kingston Nub News yesterday. If you live near it and have a view either way, the application is on the council's planning search.
Most of this week's what's-on came from the Surbiton Partnership's listings and from Richard at the Flyer, and I should have been reading both properly weeks ago. If you run something and want it in here, send it — a photo of the poster is enough.
Enjoy the long weekend,
Mike
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