I was walking back from the Canada Water tube station the other day when I suddenly realised something that I’d not noticed in the 18 previous months of living in Surrey Quays.

Down one side of the expanse of water that gives the tube station its name, there’s a strip of land that’s covered over with large, vaguely cobble-like stones. It’s a busy route for people going to and from the station, yet these cobbles are so incredibly awkward to walk on that even London’s eager commuter-folk avoid them, instead skirting around the outside, no doubt losing valuable seconds.

It was only the other day that it dawned on me that this decidedly pedestrian-unfriendly area was probably intended to be walked over. It seems to serve no other possible purpose, and there’s a bench in the middle of the area that would comfortably accommodate a pensioner or three… if, that is, they could safely negotiate the cobbles. As it is, even daredevil two-steps-at-a-time stair descenders such as I would risk twisted ankles if we tried to get to it.

As I understand it, councils have to be incredibly careful about providing perfectly level pavements these days, yet here is a whole area that almost seems designed to trip people up.

Peculiar planning, I must say.

There’s just one morning’s worth of closures on the Jubilee Line through Canada Water this weekend.

On Saturday 8 November, it’ll be suspended between Green Park and Stratford until approximately 1230.

Two rail replacement bus services operate:

• Service A: between Bank and Canada Water, calling at Monument, London Bridge and Bermondsey.
• Service B: between North Greenwich and Stratford, calling at Canning Town and West Ham.

photo credit: markhillary