One of the things I love most about London is it’s paths. I think I’ve written here before about how I love trundling along the footpaths around the city, just to see where they might lead. I don’t just mean the pavements along the roads of course, nor the paths through the many beautiful parks; but the lots of little paths and alleyways behind houses and between roads which just beg to be explored. And then there are the epic paths along the north and south shores of the Thames, as well as along the capital’s smaller rivers and canals, which I can spend hours following in my powerchair.

Today, however, I was struck by a suggestion I really need to make. Most of the city’s footpaths are wonderful: clean and well maintained. One thing they could really do with, though, is rain shelters. Every two or three hundred meters, there ought to be little shelters where people can take cover if it suddenly starts to rain. We all know what the weather is like around here: one minute it can be bright and sunny, and the next it can be bucketing it down. Out and about today, trundling along the river, I was enjoying the sunshine when it suddenly clouded over, and within five minutes I was looking for cover to try to avoid getting soaked. When I’m going along roads I usually head for bus shelters, but along footpaths it’s more of a problem. I can’t let my chair get too wet as it shorts the controller. Luckily I found a little bridge to hide under, but I wish there were some kind of small shelters dotted along footpaths, just in case it starts tipping down.