extraspatial

 

G1 - South-West London's most tortuous bus route?

London_bus_route_g1-800x400

Picture the scene: Clapham Junction on a cold winter's evening, it's a whole eight minutes' wait for a 77 back to the warmth and homeliness of SW17, and there's only the feeble interest of the TK Maxx shop windows to pass the time.

You might be tempted to take a chance on the G1 bus that pulls up alongside. You shouldn't be. It transpires on the crazy course of this tragic single-decker that the route of the G1 is highly recommended only if you:

a) Have an hour of your life you don't mind never having again.
b) Are fond of the hospitals, mental institutions and sink estates of the future that have accumulated in inner South-West London.
c) Think the term 'as the crow flies' does not appeal as a logical route between where you are and where you need to get to.

The ever-detailed London Bus Routes website gives an informative look at how this bastard bus route came into being, which it describes optimistically as 'criss-crossing the borough [of Wandsworth]'. I'd describe it more as careering erratically from Clapham to Streatham via Clapham South, Wandsworth Common and the Tooting hinterland.

Having been stuck in traffic as the G1 bus meandered its clumsy way via Clapham South (EAST?! We want to head WEST!) once we got to Wandsworth Common station I had high hopes that we might pick up the pace.

My hopes were realised, in that we did go faster, but they were also simultaneously dashed, as we proceeded to amble ever-increasing miles in ever-decreasing circles around Springfield Hospital, before a wasteful foray into St. George's Grove and the Aboyne Estate, at one point taking a road that Google Maps denies even the existence of (see the yellow point on the Google Map below). Worrying.


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January 2010

 

Rabbids Go Home (Wii game) soundtrack video

 Promo for the insanely catchy soundtrack to Rabbids Go Home.
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