Despair on the road to nowhere

DO YOU feel frustrated, angry, desperate and claustrophobic?

If so, you might be a regular user of the notorious A205, otherwise known as London's South Circular Road.

Having lived south of the river for many of my 26 years in this great city, the route I'm ruminating on has often held me hostage.

The trouble with the South Circular starts with its name. I mean, it's not very circular. In fact, it's a higgledy-piggledy mishmash of roads that sometimes barely join up.

Actually, there are 38 different roads, streets and place names that comprise the South Circular. Confused? You should be.

Unlike its northern cousin, the mighty A406, which at least forms part of a circle, and is a proper thoroughfare, the South Circular is barely recognisable as a route to anywhere. It begins at the Woolwich Ferry and meanders south-west through countless junctions, roundabouts and traffic lights until it meets the Chiswick roundabout.

The North Circular has benefited from multimillion pound investment programmes in order to create what, in places, resembles a four-lane highway.

Consequently, when driving on it, you get the sensation of actually going places.

Neither "circular" provides the motorist with much that could be described as a life-enhancing view, although I'm told that the morning sun emerging through the mists over Clapham Common might make you feel a little poetry coming on. The A406 takes you through an apparent industrial wasteland, while the A205 can make you feel as if you're trespassing through people's gardens.

The 205 winds its not-so-merry way through a wide range of income brackets.

From leafy Richmond and Dulwich to the tougher neighbourhoods of Southwark and Lewisham, there's no doubt that the overcrowded South Circular is, if nothing else, a great leveller.

Copyright 2001
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