Wednesday 1 September - Croydon

Only a half day as I have a meeting in the afternoon and so set off to Croydon while most are heading to work. I always find Croydon slightly disorienting. I'm never sure where the centre is. Is there a centre beyond the shopping centres? But I do like Croydon's trams. Wander around what seems to be the centre - there are lots of tall office buildings. Lots of wide roads and lots of shopping centres. But somehow it all feels slightly at odds with itself. It seems to live the 60s dream of modernity. All glass and optimism. Optimism that looks a bit battered. The centre is reasonably busy but a few streets away and there are plenty of empty shops.

I'm less keen on the 1960s dream of the modern than some of the other eras. It's so focussed on cars that everything revolves around them and it doesn't feel very human. I've seen in other cities that where cars are central to design the roads end up feeling like rivers. Part of the landscape but hard to cross and it creates boundaries. The big road block housing estates and these become defensible spaces and often the haunts of gangs. It's a bit early in the day for any gangs to be on the streets but the rough sleepers and drinkers are beginning to gather.

I take a tram towards Wimbledon. The information board talks of lavender fields. This seems unlikely as my map shows a sewage plant and I think it is one stop on from Ikea on the Purley Way. But Therapia Lane sounds interesting. Think the last time there was a lavender harvest was probably the same time as on Lavender Hill (about 100 years ago). Therapia Lane seems to be in the midst of an industrial estate and so I stay on the tram. Eventually get off at Mitcham Junction, which sounds urban but is curiously rural.

There seem to be a lot of golfers in these parts and the courses are busy with people setting out with great purpose. Wander through Mitcham Common and discover Mitcham Garden Village - a private estate and lots of signs saying keep away. It looks as if it is the 1920s version of modern and rather lovely. Big houses, small estate. Mitcham itself is pretty. You can see its Georgian village past with a few houses around the green. Then there are the Victorian shops and various forms of later housing. I'm surprised by how strong the Georgian influence is at London's edges. I've noticed it in smaller cities around the country, but hadn't expected to see it at these far flung parts of London.

After this I spend some time in Tooting. Tooting Broadway feels slightly hysterical. Too many people in transit and a slight sense that everyone is just a bit too edgy, perhaps it's the unexpected heat of the day. But there is shouting and shoving. As I walk towards Tooting Bec the mood calms a little. It seems to be that the big transport hubs always have a slight sense of mania. As I move up the hill the mood softens and the shops become more engaging. There is a large population from the Indian sub-continent and the shops are independent and more exotic than the usual ones. A couple of men are pushing a trolley load of rice up the road, presumably to supply a restaurant (of which there are many). There are saris shops and jewellers, supermarkets and people chatting.

Tooting blurs into Wandsworth and the houses become larger, and set back further creating enough space for car parking and the occasional front garden. Everything becomes that little bit smarter and bigger. There are still plenty of kids about enjoying the last few days of holidays. Grandparents are busy here too, trying to keep the children entertained and looking slightly mystified by the passion for Nintendo.