Morning. The sewage works down on the Hogsmill is being rebuilt and the work has already started. There is finally something like a date for Berrylands. And a house fire on The Ridings has the brigade asking everyone to test their smoke alarms.

Thames Water has written to homes nearest Hogsmill Sewage Treatment Works to say the site is being rebuilt. Andrew sent the letter over; it is dated 18 September and appears to have been published nowhere else.

The first stage has already begun. Crews started on Monday cleaning out redundant tanks and clearing vegetation, and the letter says plainly that neighbours "may occasionally notice increased odour and noise" while they do it.

What follows is much bigger: new storm tanks, some of the older buildings pulled down, outdated tanks taken out of service — part of what the letter calls the company's biggest upgrade in 150 years. Main construction is set for spring 2027 and should run about 18 months.

The storm tanks are the point of it. They hold sewage back when heavy rain overwhelms the works; when they fill, the overflow goes to the river. Thames Water said in April 2024 the scheme would "reduce the need for untreated sewage discharges" some time between 2025 and 2030. It finally has dates. A community drop-in is promised before the main build, with no date on it yet; questions meanwhile go to 0800 316 9800.

One detail Stewart will enjoy. His rule on Monday was that no two official sources give the same date. This letter manages two on its own: work starts "from Monday 21 September" in one paragraph and "at the end of September" in another.

Firefighters were called to a house fire on The Ridings earlier this week. Part of the ground floor, the first floor and the roof were destroyed, and a woman was treated at the scene and taken to hospital. Crews came from Surbiton, New Malden and Twickenham with an engine from Surrey. The brigade puts it down to unattended cooking — and says investigators found the smoke alarms did not operate. Worth testing yours.

Tomorrow on the station forecourt, 4.30 to 8, free — both listings agree on that. After that they part company. The council's events page has it running again on 1 and 8 October, which is what I printed on Monday. Gordon, co-treasurer of the Surbiton Town Centre Partnership, says there are no October dates and the next is a Christmas one on 3 December. A straight answer before the 1st.

Half past seven, Place Committee, webcast at kingston.public-i.tv. Item seven is the borough's first new highways plan since 2016, the one that sets which roads get mended first. Item eight is Seething Wells, and there is more in it than the reporting timetable: the landowners have told the council they "will not wait indefinitely" and are "reaching the end of the road" in trying to work with it, and will otherwise go for a planning application and appeal. I will tell you what they decided tomorrow.

The Ace of Spades is still shut to anything coming off Hook Road. UK Power Networks' page this morning has the duct work outside the Shell garage running to Monday 28 September, garage access only, diversion by Ditton Road and Ewell Road.

The buses are the awkward bit. The only thing saying the 71, 465, 671, K4 and N65 come off diversion at 11 tomorrow night is the paper notice at the Thornhill Road stops; TfL still carries nothing on any of those routes. That would leave the road shut three days longer than the buses, which would be strange. I will look on Friday.

Two new October closures have appeared on the council's list, Portsmouth Road and Lamberts Road. I will do them properly next week.

Still nobody will name a first train, and the station page says only "until the end of September 2026". But there is an answer buried in National Rail's own disruption listings: the closure is there on 28, 29 and 30 September and gone by 1 October. So: Thursday 1 October. That is read off their data, not announced by anyone, so do not book anything on it. It also explains the wait — surveys found parts of both staircases had badly deteriorated, and temporary ones are going in for the reopening.

Paul in Berrylands is right that this country measures roads in miles, not Monday's kilometres. So: 212 miles of road, 232 of pavement, 12.6 of cycle lane. Miles from here on.

Today: grey but dry, up to 22°. Tomorrow much the same, 22°. Friday a shade cooler at 21°, and Saturday cloudy and 19° for the festival — no rain in it.

Tomorrow: Celebrate Surbiton, station forecourt, 4.30 to 8, free. The pub quiz at the Coronation Hall on St Mark's Hill is on too, arrive half seven for eight, £3 a head, for Young Lives vs Cancer. Garrison Lane in Chessington is shut tomorrow and Friday for resurfacing, Leatherhead Road to Chessington South station.

Friday: Macmillan coffee morning at the Royal British Legion on Hollyfield Road, 11 to 2. Homemade cakes wanted, with an ingredients list.

Saturday: Surbiton Festival, 10 to 4, free, centred on Claremont Gardens, with Victoria Road shut from St Andrew's Road to the station for it. Full run-down tomorrow.

Back tomorrow.

Mike