Only in Tokyo - Star Wars on the Subway

I MUST go on the Tokyo Subway

Where else can you see nonchalant looking Storm Troopers?



I found this through Blogula Rasa who said in her post that I would probably like it, and I did! Check out the Storm Trooper's full subway adventures here

I love the way that no one seems to have particularly noticed him queuing here:



And also love his commentary on buying a subway ticket:

"Buying a ticket at the station. Look up at the map and look to see where you want to go - then insert the amount of money shown under your destination. If you are not sure then just buy the cheapest ticket and pay the difference when you arrive at your destination.

I remember trying to do that when I was living in London - I got the cheapest ticket and wanted to pay the difference but instead ended up paying a poxy lousy 20 pound fine. London Underground - honestly - they will take every opportunity to take money from you and find every excuse. Every time I go back to the UK to see my folks, I find that ticket prices have doubled but the service seems to get worse."

Hear hear Danny!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, January 31, 2006 Permalink

LOBO Card game based on the London Underground

1930's London Underground Game on EBay

I promise I am not getting commission for mentioning ebay so much of late, but as I blogged about Monopoly yesterday, on Sunday a regular commenter sent me a link to a card game called LOBO which I had briefly blogged about in the past.



I must admit that the rules to LOBO are a bit beyond me. But I love the old stations that were part of LOBO. If you click on the links you will see some of the cards pictured with a little background description of each:

Addison Road - now Kensington Olympia
Post Office - now St Paul's
Uxbridge Road - doesn't exist any more
Mark Lane - now Tower Hill
Praed Street - Paddington Tube used to be called Paddington & Praed Street
Aldwych - the other station in the pack that no longer exists at all



The game on e-bay could be a bargain though as the link I was originally sent had the game selling at £30 - admittedly it looks like it was never used. But I like the used feel of the ebay one - and at the end of the day to get a game from the 1930's for a few quid is pretty good!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, January 31, 2006 Permalink

New Locations for Monopoly Board - How should the Tube feature?

Should the London Underground be on the Monopoly board?

I just heard on the radio that the new version of the board game Monopoly will have new locations on it when it comes out in June 2006. The public can vote for the new locations they'd like to see listed:



"Trendy Primrose Hill and Portobello Road are just two areas which could appear in the 2006 edition. Kings Road is one candidate which may oust Mayfair from the most expensive slot on the board. " says 24dash.com

Monopoly fans can vote for their favourites suggested by property website rightmove.co.uk and ask for a voting form via monopoly@monopoly.co.uk says the Monopoly press release.

But what about the London Underground eh? We've had Kings's Cross, Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street and Marylebone stations on for years. If we are going to get Kings Road, Coldharbour Lane, Brick Lane and Elephant & Castle, surely we should have Sloane Square, Brixton, Shadwell, and errr Elephant & Castle Tube stations?

Why not take it a bit further and have some new "Chance" cards relating to the Tube? "You've missed your stop because you fell asleep", "You trip over a busker's violin case and twist your ankle", "Your Oystercard has run out and you have no change on you!" Any more suggestions for stations or chance cards most welcome!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 30, 2006 Permalink

Derailed Competition Answers

Subway Flirting Film Answers

Well done to everyone who entered the Derailed Quiz. The answers which could have been found by Googling or Yahooing or whatever are below:

1. When I first saw this poster I thought that the platform scene behind Clive Owen was the London Underground. With a little investigation I discovered that it wasn't. So, give the name of one other film that includes a fair amount of footage from the public transport system where Derailed is based?

Absolutely loads of films that were on Chicago's subway could have been given here. Including: Risky Business, Mercury Rising, While You Were Sleeping, The Fugitive, On the Line, Next of Kin, The Blues Brothers, High Fidelity, Spider-Man 2, Running Scared, About Last Night, Midnight Run, Code of Silence, Above the Law, Ocean's Eleven, Adventures in Babysitting, Flatliners, Excessive Force, Rapid Fire, and Medium Cool.

2. Both the transport system and the city where Derailed is based have nicknames. Please give the nickname of one or the other.

Pop along to the great Chicago Subway site and you'd find the answers to the subway part of this. I would have accepted The L, The Ell or The Big L. And a nickname for Chicago was an alternative answer - as usual Wikipedia had tons for you to choose even if you didn't know the fairly well known Windy City - there's also City of the Big Shoulders and Hog Butcher to the World.

3. Jennifer Aniston starred in Friends based in New York, as far as I know none of its episodes featured the New York Metro. However, Will & Grace another popular New York sitcom had at least two episodes that featured New York's underground system. Name one of the Will & Grace episodes that did or describe the episode if you don't know the actual name.

FYI I Hurt Too - the one with Jennifer Lopez
My Best Friend's Tush - I even blogged this a while back

4. Speaking of popular US sitcoms, Homer Simpson travels everywhere by car. Name one of the two things he believes people who use public transport are.

Jerks or Lesbians "public transportation is for jerks and lesbians".



Blogged here

5. The tie breaker. If the railway scence in the poster was from the London Underground and if the film was based on the Tube, what do you think the troubled looking Jennifer Aniston is thinking in the poster?

I haven't worked out who had exactly had the most points yet and I haven't judged the final tie-breaker answer yet, so you'll have to come back later tonight to see who the winner is.

But the following are in running to win that One Stop Short of Barking 2006 Calendar:

And the points scored for 1-4 are as follows

John Mac - 8 points (bonus points for being first to guess)
Pete - 7 points
IanD - 8 points
Robert John Kaper - 6 points
Dave Alexander - 7 points
Andrew - 8 points
alto2 - 8 points
Jamesthegill - 8 points

So I have to judge between John Mac, IanD, Andrew, alto2 and Jamesthegill for the best answer to number five - the tie breaker.

And the winner is.................................................

John Mac who thinks Jennifer Aniston would have been saying the following if she had been on the Tube "This dirty-old-man-rain-mac was a big mistake. I hope I don't end up on Annie's round up of fashion victims on the tube".

I'll be in touch for your address details John Mac and will get the Calendar sent directly to your address. Well done!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 30, 2006 Permalink

Chinese New Year on the London Underground

Chinatown on the Underground

Yesterday there were big celebrations of the Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square and Soho in London. (See Mecca's blog entry and photos)



Leceister Square Tube was heaving by the time I left and strangely the British Transport had a little stall in the station with some of their sniffer dogs on "display"

It was a very different atmposphere to the last time I had seen so many sniffer dogs around (the aftermath of the London Bombings) and people were petting the dogs.



You were also almost positively encouraged to take pictures of them. No one gave me a second glance when I forgot to turn of my flash when taking the picuture above. And I wasn't given a severe repremand by taking a picture of the policeman below, unlike one of the last times I took pictures of the police on the London Underground!



It's good to see times have changed!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 30, 2006 Permalink

Ebay Update and Derailed Quiz

Here's our Annie with a quick reminder

Firstly, bad luck if you lost out on the bid to buy One Stop Short of Barking - Uncovering the London Underground on ebay - the bidding started at 1p and then it was eventually sold at £6.70 + £3 postage (which is incidentally more than amazon are selling it for). However, thanks to Graham, I've found out that you have a second chance if you like the "thrill" of ebay as someone else is auctioning it now and bidding started at 99p with only £1.50 for UK postage.



Secondly, the deadline for entering the Derailed London Underground Quiz is at 23.59 GMT this evening. Good luck!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, January 29, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Song Writer Blunt in Burglar Kerfuffle

Subway Songster Socks Says Sun

Well actually today The Sun have the fantastic headline that says "Blunt Bashes Burglar with Blunt Instrument" - but I'm quite pleased with my alternative headline too



James Blunt the writer of my favourite London Underground song "You're Beautiful" (about having a fleeting romantic moment with someone you pass on the Tube) "routed a masked raider - by braining him with a music award he had just collected", said The Sun

"The singer, 30, grabbed the gong after he woke up to discover the robber in his hotel room at 5am.

Ex-Army captain James, who had won Best Newcomer at the French NRJ Radio awards, smashed him over the head with it."

James said "I was looking for a phone to ring downstairs, or for an emergency button to push. But the only thing I could find was my NRJ award." As you may know he's up for a number of Brit Awards and joked "It would be good to win a Brit Award - you never know when it might come in handy to use on burglars".

Perhaps people will stop calling him wimpy and whiny now!

Meanwhile another Subway Songster doesn't want to sing with Blunt

Ian (not being James Blunt's greatest fan) sent me the following link in The Mirror after reading the above. It seems that Paul Weller who penned the original Going Underground (which is now a popular spoof song about the London Underground), and who also wrote Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, isn't too fond of James. Weller is going to pick up a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brits (see my thoughts on this) and was asked to perform with Blunt. Weller replied "I'd rather eat my own s**t than duet with James Blunt."
Hmmm. Don't mince your words Paul!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, January 28, 2006 Permalink

Rail Travel Blog Competition in Metro

Blog your way to a year's free rail travel

A client at work kindly sent me an email asking if I'd seen the following in Metro (crikey even my clients know I blog about the Tube now):



If you travel by rail and are prepared to blog about your journey every fortnight you could win a year's free travel in a competiton that Metro are running in conjunction with Passenger Focus - the National Rail consumer watchdog.

"We're looking for passengers to keep an online diary of their daily rail journey. In exchange, we're offering four lucky Metro readers the chance to win their season ticket for a year!

Just tell us in 20 words or fewer why you should be a Passenger Focus blogger and where you commute to and from and you will have the chance to win your usual rail journey free for a year."

Now that is an interesting idea. I have more than enough blogging on my hands at the moment to enter and also I'll probably be travelling by Tube more in the next couple of months as I should be moving house (this competition only covers National Rail journeys).

Anyway, if you would like to enter, the full details are in yesterday's Metro and online here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 27, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's my regular weekly look at people spotted on the London Underground who could be considered slaves to fashion. People who have taken a fashion or a trend that's around right now and made it their own regardless as to whether it suits them or not. Also people who seem to be a little .... err eccentric in their fashion tastes.

Metallic Bag

We still have the classic metallic look still in favour. Here's a particularly chunky example of the specimen. Please, no more of these things. Laydeez they are soooooooo over!



Tube Sombrero



Fortunately I don't think this guy was going to be wearing this Mexican influence headwear. Although if he had it would have been amazing, as he had that great Sideshow Bob big curly hairstyle and his hat would have just balanced on the top of his hair. I love the way he is sitting in the classic "Bloke on the Tube" legs wide apart way though. Obviously taking advantage of having some space in the new District Line carriages.

Haven't you forgotten something?

Can you see what the lady below has forgotten to do?



Well the picture is a bit blurry because everyone including me was moving so quickly, but the lady tottering along in front of me in very spindly high heels, seemed to spend so much time learning to walk in her boots that she forgot to do something with them. I'm sure the eagle eyed amongst you can see what it was. Plus the ALT tag on the image is a big giveaway!

Buttoned Tiwggy Trousers

The lady below doesn't look too bad in the buttoned Twiggy Trousers, specially as has her legs crossed. These cropped tailored trousers favoured by sixties model Twiggy in the great M & S campaign which revived their sales, (see the TV ad on Twiggy's site) were actually beginning to grow on me:



Well that was until I saw with her legs uncrossed.



I think Twiggy Trousers only work if you are relatively tall and have thin legs. With her legs uncrossed the trousers just emphasised how short she was and had fairly chunky thighs. If you're too short, Twiggy trousers can give women that Jimmy Krankie look!

Feet on Seats

This man obviously loved his shoes so much he decided to put them on the seat so that everyone could see how wonderful they were!



Loving the tattered jeans look too......Not!

And the glare from his shoes meant that he obviously hadn't seen signs like these



That's it for this week. The previous entry for London Underground fashion victims is here and all of them together can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 27, 2006 Permalink

Friday Quiz and Competition - Pencil Case

What's wrong with this London Underground Map?

I'm surprised that not many of you so far have entered the Derailed competition to win the One Stop Short of Barking 2006 Calendar (however you've still got till this Sunday night to enter), so I thought I would add another Friday competiton, where you can win what's in the picture below:


That's right it's a fantastic London Underground Map Pencil case and I'm going to throw in a London Transport Roundel pencil too. I can see you all trembling with excitement as I'm spoiling you so much. The pencil case actually makes a pretty cool make-up bag or small wash bag as it's waterproof.

Anyway, when you first look at the case, you may think it's a pretty fair representation of quite a bit of zone one on the current Tube Map. However, on closer inspection (here's a larger version) there are a number of things wrong with it. So to enter, please tell us what is wrong with it. Just give one thing only (anyone giving more than ONE thing or making two guesses will be disqualified) and you must each give a different answer - so speed is of the essence here. As usual leave your email address or website or blog address in the comments below to enter. You have until Sunday 5th February 23.59 GMT to enter. All correct entries will go into the Neil paperclip selection and the winner will be announced on Monday 5th February.

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 27, 2006 Permalink

One Stop Short of Barking on ebay

Amazing what you can find on e-bay just after Xmas



Cool - the starting bid was 1p - so you have 2 days to get a bargain! I particularly like the way that it is photographed against a leather sofa!

Update - it sold eventually for £6.70 plus £3 postage making it more than the cost in amazon for a new one!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 26, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Logo used in India

This train will be calling at .....Mumbai

Some of you will remember that last November a group of us went to a really fascinating talk by Mark Ovenden and Max Roberts - called Metro Maps and architecture of the world. In Mark's talk he had a section on how the London Underground logo or roundel has influenced the railway and subway logos of hundreds of countries systems around the world. Only yesterday Alan Williams kindly sent me two pictures of the roundel in use on a recent trip to India:



"The first is on the Chennai metro where the familiar sign is used on all the stations."


He "saw the second sign in the midst of an industrial area in Mumbai, the building apparently is part of the original Bollywood."

Many thanks Alan! I think they're really good and if anyone else sees interesting uses of the London Underground Logo on their travels please feel free to send them in to me. Or just let me know if you've even seen the Tube roundel used anywhere unusual in the UK too.

Below is a reminder of just a handful of Metro signs from around the world and you can really see how London's logo has influenced some of them. Another characteristic they have in common is that most use the initial letter of the system's name in the logo and London is quite unusual as it doesn't!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 26, 2006 Permalink

Signs on the London Underground

The most dangerous door on the Tube

Well I think I've found one of the scariest doors on the London Underground



You really would enter that door at your own peril and the London Underground seem to be doing all they can to prevent you from trying to get into it.

I wonder what secrets it holds?

Speaking of signs, Dave from Funky Pancake emailed me over the weekend as he thinks he may have found the source of all the No Sitting, No Waiting, No Talking and No Eye Contact signs you may have seen on the Tube - which incidentally must be confusing the hell out of tourists.







He said: "Remember ages ago I caught a photo of a 'no eye contact' sign on a Tube train ? Well, I spotted someone linked to it in my webstats and it revealed this website:
and if you look here ..... www.thenofoundation.com/project1.htm

Maybe you were aware of this already, but it looks like this might be the source of those signs! "

I'm not actually sure if it is the source as they have used one of the pictures of No Talking that my friend from isthisyou definitely took, but who knows. Perhaps it is. Has anyone else seen any of these signs on the Tube? Or any weird signs in general?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Permalink

Tube Buskers sing songs for Money

Play Johnny Cash for Me

Yesterday Metro reported the not too shocking news to most of us that buskers on the London Underground sing songs for money! Errr, shock horror. Well there is a bit more to it than that. Bizarrely, some record companies believe that one of the best ways to promote a record is to get a busker to sing it for you on the Tube.

Just before Christmas a test exercise where buskers sang songs from Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire once every two hours helped to push the album into the charts. So now according to The Sunday Times "When the new movie Walk the Line about the life of Johnny Cash opens in London next week, cinema-goers will be treated to a selection of his songs in London Underground stations. Buskers are being hired for £40 a day to sing Cash's hits as part of a marketing ploy to sell CDs"

But it's not just artists like Johnny Cash who are being given a boost on the Tube. Sony paid 34 buskers £150 each to play two hours of Eurythmics songs for three days, which only cost them £5,100 to get their songs heard by some of the 3 million people who use the Tube every day. A spokesman for Sony said: "I hope it gave commuters a chuckle. Sweet Dreams is not the usual song you would hear on the Tube, and it made you look up."

Apparently there's a bit of a kerfuffle going on (probably started by buskers who've not been able to cash in on the deal) as people are saying that this doesn't fit very well with the traditonal busker's "alternative" way of life. One banjo player at Monument station said: "I am a bit ambivalent about the idea. Busking, which used to be an alternative lifestyle, is now part of the corporate world."

However, another busker defends his position to take cash to play Cash. Andy Thornes from Streatham, south London was playing songs at Tottenham Court Road Tube station last week and said:

"It is a good pay day for us. I like to play my own stuff most of the time, but the other day I left one two-hour pitch with just £1.80 to show for it. Anyway, I like Johnny Cash. I'll even throw in songs which aren't on the album like Ghost Riders in the Sky.

"Mind you, another record company promised a £50 bonus whenever one of their executives heard a busker sing songs from a particular album and we are still waiting to be paid."

What do you reckon? Should buskers be left to their normal "alternative" lifestyle or should big record companies sponsor them? Or have you heard a busker sing something you thought was unusual for them recently?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, January 24, 2006 Permalink

Thanks to a guardian angel on the London Underground

Blog reader would like to thank someone who helped her on Friday

I received the following email from Sarah Beaumont who wanted me to tell her story:

"Dear Annie,

I hope you don't mind me getting in touch with you - but your blog seemed like the best way of letting people know there are some real gents on the tube!

On Friday evening I was coming home from a long day at work and making an interchange at Victoria onto the District Line headed to Richmond at about 6pm. As I stepped onto the train I slipped down, and somehow started to fall into the gap between the carriage and the platform.* My legs seemed to go quite deep down the side - it all went into that horrible slow motion.

I heard people shouting behind me and felt a bloke behind me grabbing me underneath my arms. He pulled me up onto the train and some nice passengers helped me sit down after the unusual sight of several young men getting up for me!

By sheer shock of it I didn't manage to say thank you to the man who pulled me back up, but whoever he was, I really wanted to find a way to say thank you.

Who would have thought, there are some real gentlemen still using public transport!

Thanks for your great blog,

Sarah Beaumont

* (I have a kind of arthritis which means my knees can sometimes just stop working, they are generally a bit rubbish rather than me having one whisky too many)"

Who said chivalry was dead!! Glad to hear you were OK too Sarah.

Funnily enough last week I saw a lady trip on a plastic bottle just as she was getting off a District Line at Richmond, fall over really badly and scream. A number of people quickly rushed to her aid and I got my mobile out just in case she was badly injured. Fortunately she was OK and hobbled off with another lady helping her, cursing the offending Lucozade bottle.

But interesting that the Mind The Gap announcements aren't for nothing. A woman emailed me last week after reading my BBC article on Mind the Gap and wondered when the term "Mind the Gap" was first used. Anyone have any ideas? Also anyone else have any tales of chivalry on the London Underground? Always nice to have a pleasant story to take our minds off the strikes.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 23, 2006 Permalink

Pub bans Tube Strike leader Bob Crow (plus my photos of another blubbery object in the News)

London Underground Strike Union leader banned from pub


Coming home on Friday night, I was reading the following over the shoulder of the person next to me. "Tube union chief Bob Crow has been barred from his local pub after a four hours drinking session during which his friends insulted customers and threatened staff".

Fantastic! I know the Standard have a massive anti-Crow and union bashing campaign on the moment (a bucket of water was thrown over one of their journalists by the driver who caused the wildcat Northern Line strikes), but can you blame the Standard with a great story like this? Apparently Crow and up to 14 RMT union members "took part in a foul mouthed session at a gastropub near Euston station. They sang rowdy songs, swore at customers,insulted female staff and threatened the landlord, only leaving when the police were called. One onlooker said 'Crow did nothing to stop it. He didn't tell them to calm down and yet he's supposed to be a leader who sets an example'"

Bob Crow has actually admitted to the ban. He said "Unfortunately, the new management took exception to our singing of seasonal songs".

According to one of the customers it was a bit more than seasonal "They were bothering customers with sexist and vulgar language - every other word was the 'c'word". When they were asked to leave by two women, one of the men wouldn't let go of his pint "The owners were called c's by this man while the others looked on laughing and tormenting these girls". A member of the pub's staff said "They got drunk and they insulted the staff. They think it's funny because we are girls. We have banned some, including Bob Crow".

Well it looks like the stranded Thames whale wasn't the only large blubbery thing that people were trying to get out of London!



On Saturday afternoon, me, Neil and Mecca went over to see the whale being rescued and lifted by crane from Battersea.



Well how often can you say you've do seen something like that. It was sad to see that the poor creature died on the way to Kent. Poor thing. My complete flickr set of the Thames whale rescue is here and Mecca's blog has a commentary on watching the whale being lifted at Battersea.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 23, 2006 Permalink

Stockwell London Tube Shooting - Six months on

Vigil for Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube today

Here's another sad six month anniversary following the horrific London bombings (my thoughts on six months from July 7th here). It's six months to the day that police shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes who they mistook for a London bomber inside a tube carriage at Stockwell London Underground station. A few days ago I reported on the fact that inquiry to his shooting has finally been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.

In those six months we have heard more rumours and lies and cover ups and stories than I care to report right now. It's all been blogged here in the past. Look up Jean Charles de Menezes in the Google search for this blog and you'll find most of the references.

The vigil for Jean Charles takes place at 1pm today at Stockwell Tube Station.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, January 22, 2006 Permalink

Welcome if you came from Yahoo!

London Underground Blog in Yahoo!'s Office Attachments

I did wonder why I had an unusually high peak in visitors to the blog on Friday and it's thanks to the lovely guys and gals at Yahoo! for selecting this blog for one of their best of the week's web on Office Attachments! Yahooooooooooo!


Further down the page they said "Going Underground Blog
And the boys all sing and the boys all shout - because there's a delay on the Northern Line and they'll all be late for work. Great blogging from 200 feet down."


So welcome if it's your first time here. Hope you have fun and visit on a regular basis! Enjoy the ride

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, January 21, 2006 Permalink

Friday Quiz and Competition - Derailed

Five questions based around Derailed poster

Right, it's time for a Friday quiz, and a couple of weeks ago, I promised a hard one as there was so much interest in the Scissor Sisters' one. If you've been travelling on the Tube right now you can't have failed to see the poster for Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen's new subway flirting film Derailed which is released in the UK in February.



So I have number of questions based around it. All of the questions (with the exception of the tie-breaker) have at least two possible correct answers, so you will get a bonus point if you don't give the same answer as the person who guessed immediately before you - but you can only give ONE answer to each of the five questions (so no showing off if you know several answers to each question - I just want five answers please). At the closing date (Sunday 29th January 23.59 GMT) we will add up all the points and those with the most points will go into the final. If there is one outright winner with most points, he or she will win. In the event of more than one person having the most points from questions 1 - 4, they will be judged on their answer to question 5 - the tie-breaker. You must give all five answers at the same time and there are NO second guesses. Clear as mud!

No it's simple really, just give your five answers to the questions below by the 29th January and I'll worry about working out the points.

1. When I first saw this poster I thought that the platform scene behind Clive Owen was the London Underground. With a little investigation I discovered that it wasn't. So, give the name of one other film that includes a fair amount of footage from the public transport system where Derailed is based?

2. Both the transport system and the city where Derailed is based have nicknames. Please give the nickname of one or the other.

3. Jennifer Aniston starred in Friends based in New York, as far as I know none of its episodes featured the New York Metro. However, Will & Grace another popular New York sitcom had at least two episodes that featured New York's underground system. Name one of the Will & Grace episodes that did or describe the episode if you don't know the actual name.

4. Speaking of popular US sitcoms, Homer Simpson travels everywhere by car. Name one of the two things he believes people who use public transport are.

5. The tie breaker. If the railway scence in the poster was from the London Underground and if the film was based on the Tube, what do you think the troubled looking Jennifer Aniston is thinking in the poster?

As mentioned before the prize is a "One Stop Short of Barking - Unofficial 2006 Calendar"



You must give either your email address or your blog or website in the comments below to enter. So get your thinking caps on and enjoy!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 20, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's my regular weekly look at people spotted on the London Underground who could be considered slaves to fashion. Interestingly, on Wednesday, Metro had a feature on Fashion Victims and cited the following as the year's "fashion crimes"

1. Anything Burberry
2. Chav gold chains
3. Ponchos
4. UGG boots
5. Cowboy boots
6. Furry Mukluk boots
7. Visible G Strings
8. Gipsy skirts
9. Socks and sandals
10.Mullets



A number of these - particularly the footwear have featured as Tube Fashion Victims in this blog. However, with this week there are none from the above.

Metallic Bag

Why are women still carrying these? Why? Why? Why?



The only advantage of this is that it seemed to fit quite well with the metallic escalator I took the picture against.

Swirly Skirt and Sneakers



It's quite hard to tell that the woman above was wearing a long swirly satin looking skirt. But she was and I have no idea why she chose to wear a pair of sneakers or lace up pumps with them. It just didn't work for me.

How many ways is this WRONG?

And again, I'll end with the best of this week. I have a personal hatred of fishnet tights, but we'll let that go. Fishnet tights with Twiggy Shorts (a shorter version of Twiggy Trousers) - purrrleeeese.



I really can't see the appeal of these tailored shorts which just make women look like they are in the boy scouts. To top it off she finished the ensemble with some vile snakeskin shoes, and I caught her standing in a very coquettish way. Incidentally she was wearing a denim jacket with all of this, just to get as many looks as possible in one outfit. Bizarre.

The last entry for the London Underground fashion victims and all of them together can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 20, 2006 Permalink

RMT may be striking with ASLEF Tube Drivers

RMT join one of ASLEF's causes and ballot for a strike



I'm really pleased that Bob Crow did manage to work out what the hell ASLEF were talking about in their press release on strikes, or perhaps he's just in favour of some of their members striking of the dismissal of their speeding driver - I spose it doesn't matter at the end of the day as he's decided to become all pally with ASLEF.

In a massive case of the pot calling the kettle black, he says this about the London Underground and their implementation of new procedures:

"Maybe they think there will be a management shake-up following the appointment of the new commissioner, but they are running wild, trying to out-militant each other and our members have run out of patience.

"The ballot will run on the same timetable as Aslef's, closing on February 9, and we will co-ordinate action with Aslef if management do not meanwhile withdraw imposed procedures and observe existing agreements.

"No doubt we will once more be accused of disruption but, as with the station-staff dispute, the blame once again lies squarely with management trying to impose rather than negotiate."

Errr no, I think the blame lies firmly with you having a bit of a "strike" fever the moment and throwing a strop because not a lot of people were actually inconveienced by your last strikes - mainly cos all the station staff thought the strike was over nothing and were running out of patience with you deserting them to go off on holiday to Eygpt in the middle of it all. Phew (I think that just about sums it up). Check out the RMT's site and now LU have responded with a "there is no justification for this ballot" statement. It is becoming more and more like a soap opera so watch this space for the latest instalments. See thisislocallondon on this too.

17th January 2006 - London Underground implement the "hated" staff rosters with no changes

So you, like me, will now be asking - "What in god's name was the point of the Tube strikes we had in January and on New Year's Eve?", as today London Underground (LU) have announced that the staffing rosters behind the shorter working week will be going ahead as planned.

Tim O'Toole LU's Managing Director said "The agreement that will be implemented is exactly the same as it was before the RMT strike action. The only purpose the strikes served was to inconvenience Londoners.

"This deal is a fair deal and ensures safe staffing levels at all London Underground stations. There will be no job cuts and no extra cost to farepayers. The new staff rosters will now be implemented at all 44 London Underground station groups on February 5."

However, what this press release neglected to say was meanwhile back at the RMT Bob Crow is finding something else to moan about: "More than 4,000 RMT Tube station staff members are to vote on a new proposal aimed at settling the dispute over safe staffing levels at London Underground stations."

Bob Crow said "The proposed agreement includes provision for the safety validation, involving RMT reps, of rosters for those station groups yet to be agreed."

Err I think this means that 4 out of 44 station groups still weren't happy with things.

He continued "In the event of our members rejecting the proposal, industrial action will be stepped up, and the ballot of our other LUL members for action short of strike, arising from safety breaches on the two recent strike days, will therefore continue, with the result also due on January 27."

Err I think this means, if most people think this is a fooking waste of time and don't vote to support 4 out of 44 station groups that he'll still get the RMT to vote on "safety breaches" that apparently were made when LU allowed certain stations to be opened on the strike days.

So it's a no win situation with Mr Crow as he seems determined to get his members to go on strike about something. Perhaps he will make sure the next strike action coincides with some of England's games in the FIFA world cup, so his members can get a day at home, and we can use it as an excuse to watch some footie too!

As usual comments more than welcome below and we also have our first RMT rep and active member commenting too!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 19, 2006 Permalink

Stockwell London Tube Shooting Inquiry Complete

Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) hand in their Jean Charles de Menezes report today



Just heard that the IPCC will hand its report to the Crown Prosecution Service today to decide if anyone should be charged. Ministers will also receive the report, but it will not yet be made public.

The BBC said: "Police and soldiers were watching the block of flats where Mr Menezes lived, believing a man suspected of the 21 July attacks lived there. A soldier saw the electrician leave his flat and thought he resembled the suspect. He suggested it was "worth somebody else having a look". The IPCC investigation has focused on how this vague identification led to Mr Menezes being shot dead on the Tube."

"Documents related to the IPCC probe, leaked last August, seemed to contradict eyewitness reports and initial police quotes that Mr Menezes' 'clothing and demeanour' added to suspicions he was a suicide bomber.

"The inquiry has interviewed a number of Metropolitan police officers of all ranks over Mr Menezes' death, but the head of the force, commissioner Sir Ian Blair, was not among them. A separate IPCC investigation is being held into Sir Ian's handling of the affair.

"All 30 passengers in the train carriage at the time of the shooting have been interviewed, and the probe took a total of 600 written statements."

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 19, 2006 Permalink

Different City, different commute, similar issues

In Dublin's fair city, where commuting is pretty

This was the view from my train journey into work on Monday:



Some of you may have been paying enough attention to my posts to realise that I've actually been in Dublin for the last three days. I flew over on Sunday and stayed with some friends so on Monday morning I had to get up early to travel to our Dublin offices and my friends said the quickest way was by DART (or the Dublin Area Rapid Transit), the railway line that runs around the coast of Dublin.

As you can see from the picture above and the one below it's a much better view than I normally get from my train window:



However, it was interesting to note the similarities with the London Underground. They still had those signs telling you to keep your feet off the seats:



They have their own copies of Metro left on the seats:



Still no one looks particularly cheerful (in spite of the wonderful views outside), no one looks at each other - and AMAZINGLY for the Irish, no one talks to each other either:



It's also good/sad to see they have the same issues about railway companies trying to justify the cost of repairs and the earnest insistance that there are no safety risks involved (this was about the LUAS though - a relatively new line for Dublin - which I also travelled on a few stops on Sunday):



Reading ads like that in the Dublin Metro it was hard to believe I wasn't on the Tube! But at least I wasn't reading about the latest discussions of train drivers or station staff striking or threatening to go on strike!

UPDATE - Fantastic - Ginny let me know that she has found a website which has "real-time DART maps with little Thomas the Tank engine graphics." It rocks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Permalink

London Underground is one of the healthiest places to work!

The Tube win BBC award for Most Improved Employer over Health Issues

I am dying to know what many of the London Underground staff who read this blog think of this: "London Underground (LU) has beaten off competition from some of the Capital's biggest organisations to take the BBC's Big Health Challenge Most Improved Employer in London Award for 2005.

The award recognises the programme of health awareness LU developed for its 12,000 staff."

The gong presented by Sally Gunnell, was in recognition of LU's continued programme of health awareness with its 12,000 employees and was given to them in an award ceremony earlier today.

"Judges were impressed with LU's contribution to tackling stress levels among staff. By initiating measures such as drop-in 'stress surgeries', anger management groups and one-to-one work with employees, absence - in those employees using the services - in the six months afterwards compared to the six months before dropped by 79 per cent.

Meanwhile, dozens of staff have taken advantage of the Waist Management programme, a 10-week weight-loss programme at 17 locations across the Capital, with incentives including discount cards for healthy meals from staff restaurants."

So whenever you see an overweight staff member, I suggest you tell them about the weight loss programme as they are clearly letting the side down. Also if they ever get stroppy with you, tell them that their anger management programme isn't working as well as it should, and that you advise them to take advantage of their drop in stress surgeries!

You'll be pleased to hear that LU will now go through to the national final, the results of which will be broadcast on BBC2's Working Lunch at the end of the month. Best of luck guys - I think you may need it! Check out the press release for more information.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 16, 2006 Permalink

Star Trek Tube Tour

Great tenuous links to Star Trek make for an interesting London Underground Tour

Some time ago Geoff blogged the Star Trek Tube Tour, which personally to me, looked as though someone had knocked up in half an hour, as it included three Tube stations with "Star Trek Links", I hardly thought it really constituted a tour. As you know I'm not too backwards in coming forwards, I happened to mention that in an update of the post, and I thought no more about it.

Then about six months later, I came across the site again, as the creator of the tour had seen my comments, taken them to heart and as a result has now re-produced the tour - and it's now actually very good! So my moaning can actually lead to some creative production. So here is the link the the ALL NEW Star Trek Tube Tour in all its tenuous technicolour glory.

"London. The final frontier. These are the voyagers of the Star Ship Tube Tour. It's continuing mission, to seek out new life and new underground stations, and to boldly connect them with a science fiction series in the most contrived and convaluted manner possible.

This is the result of that mission. The Star Trek Tube Tour of London. A tour of London Underground stations with increasingly tenuous links to Spock, Kirk and Picard. What better way for a Star Trek, armed only with their phaser and a one day, zone 1 to 4 Travelcard, to spend their day in the capital of the United Kingdon.

There is no finer way. We know. Because we have done it. And now you can do it too. So put that phaser in your holster, stick in the red alert bulb and please, most of all, mind the gap between the train and the platform.

Energise!"

I particuarly like the way Christopher Pike - the first captain of the Enterprise is linked to Turnpike Lane. And go through the tour to see how Commander Data is linked to Brent Cross!!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, January 15, 2006 Permalink

Another London Underground Tube Strike Brewing

ASLEF Tube Drivers to be balloted about something or other - BUT I have the letter drivers were sent!


In what is possibly the vaguest press release I have ever seen, ASLEF seem to be taking a leaf out of the RMT's book and are thinking it was about time they went on strike. They may have gained a number of extra members due to Bob Crow's popular behaviour over the New Year's Eve and January Tube strike, and possibly feel they ought to reward their new membership and thank the current membership for their loyalty!

From ASLEF's website "The 2,200 London Underground train operators represented by ASLEF will be balloted for industrial action later this month after a 'serious breakdown in industrial relations and trust'.

The union accuses the company of ignoring agreements, imposing change without negotiation and inflicting excessive and draconian punishments."

What does anyone make of this? "The union's National Organiser Andy Reed says industrial relations vary from hostility to anarchy. 'To operate in a civilized industrial climate we need to respect agreements in place and, where appropriate, discuss and agree change.

'LUL do neither. This is why the only alternative is seek a mandate for industrial action. The union will be recommending a series of 24 hour non-continuous strikes'."

However if you read on it seems as though there are a number of issues that ASLEF have with London Underground and they are moaning that the whole thing is a mess.

"Individual Tube lines operate different policies on a range of issues. Discipline appeals appear to be pointless exercises rather than serious re-considerations." Possibly alluding to the dismissal of the Northern Line driver who was sacked for speeding and whose dismissal led to unofficial wildcat strikes on Monday by some ASLEF members.

Anyway, they continue "Representatives are not allowed time off for union duties. Transfer agreements are regularly ignored."

Apparently ballot papers will be issued next week and the result of the strike will be announced on the 13th February. But already it appears that these strikes will go ahead. "Andy Reed concludes, 'This list demonstrates the breadth of differences between the union and management. I would say it is highly unlikely that they will be resolved before 9 February.'

Ever the optimist Andy!

UPDATE - 8.30am - "leaked" ASLEF letter from my "mole"

OHMIGOD - Someone has sent me the letter they received from ASLEF about this.



I hardly know where to begin. I'm not sure from a legal point of view where I would stand if I published the whole thing as I would certainly like to, but by the same token I wouldn't like to get sued by the person that wrote this letter, as they are, well.....rather "enthusiastic"

The letter says London Underground's new management is "union bashing" and is now "about the let the dogs out". It tells of LU holding "'scientology brainwashing sessions' in the big tent at Waterloo" and says staff's caring LU management are now "free to bully and threaten you with discipline" if staff are late. After some more enthusiastic claims about the procedure staff go through over attendance, lateness and sick issues, the letter concludes "Join ASLEF the only Union fighting the real threat to you. ASLEF knows only a united front resists the erosion of agreements and conditions." Priceless.

Meanwhile back at the RMT

Talks to resolve the dispute behind the New Year's Eve and Sunday/Monday's Tube strikes have resumed. Yesterday, RMT Union leader Bob Crow said "We are pleased that discussions have recommenced with LU to resolve all the outstanding issues relating to the dispute. No further comment will be made until the talks conclude."

London Underground added "We are continuing to talk to the RMT and TSSA [Transport Salaried Staffs' Association] on the planned implementation of the shorter working week." For more on this see the BBC

Strikes aren't what they used to be - Evening Standard

Friday's Evening Standard Business section carried a feature from Christopher Fildes who argues that although British strikes aren't what they used to be we shouldn't write them off yet. "This week's Tube strike, like last week's was unlucky for some, but most of the trains ran and most of the stations were open. The union intends to try again and hopes to do better or worse. It may have to accept though, that strikes, like other traditonal British institutions, are not what they used to be. Why, in 2004 fewer than a million working days were lost to labour disputes, and 2005 was even quieter."

However he argues that strikes are more popular in Europe in general. France has more than we do and Italy has five times as many. The public sector has the most strikes in Britain. "The public sector's share of the economy has been steadily increasing and it has provided a million new jobs in less than a decade. How well this money is spent and whether all the new recruits can be expected to come in to work are questions for debate, but it all helps to ensure fabulous monsters such as Bob Crow (Pterodactyl) can still spread their leathern wings."

He argues that harmonisation with Europe "may yet bring our strike rate in line with Italy's. Don't write off the British strike yet."

As usual comments are more than welcome.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 13, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's my regular weekly look at people spotted on the London Underground who could be considered slaves to fashion. Or to quote Louis Walsh on X Factor - they took this fashion and "made it their own".

This week we focus on the below the knee area and look at boots, "leggings" and socks!

Novelty Socks

What's the bets that the guy below got given these socks for Xmas? I bet both he and the person wearing them thought it was "wacky" to wear some socks that were so clearly labelled "socks"



To me there are novelty socks and novelty SOCKS. Quite subtle ones where the novelty is quite high up the sock and only the wearer knows about them. It's like having a private joke with yourself. The latter novelty SOCKS are ones where you feel you have to tell the world what a wit you are! Which to me slightly defeats the object. But that's just me.

Boots and Jeans Dilemma



Clearly a case where the back of her jeans have ridden up while she was sitting on the Tube, leading to this "rather attractive" half in half out look. Most people know my thoughts on this Ugg style boots too. Ugg by name, Ugly by nature.

WTF are those leggings, pantaloons, trousers?

Initially I noticed the woman with the very pointy red "F**K Me Boots", but then I was more captivated by the lady on the right of the picture.



I'm sort of lost for words of how to describe these "trousers" apart from to say they are truly bizarre. Perhaps you can help me out here?

The last entry for the London Underground fashion victims and all of them together can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 13, 2006 Permalink

Dance Performance Based on the London Underground

Anyone fancy a bit of Tube history and Dance?

Yesterday's Metro had a feature on what sounds like a really interesting idea and dance performance.



"A dance production based on a series of mysterious encounters on the London Underground will be showing at the Robin Howard Dance Theatre on Friday, January 27.

'Sardines' begins on an Underground platform and examines characters from 1920s posters as they come alive to invade the daydreams and fantasies of present day passengers."

What a fab idea and a brill title too. "Period music is seamlessly blended with a brand new score, composed by Wayne Walker Allen, featuring real-life sounds of Tube trains, automatic doors, escalators and ticket barriers sampled, looped and layered to create a uniquely 'urban' soundtrack!"!!

I really fancy going along to this and wondered if anyone else would like to come along too? We've had the odd little fun group trips to cinema, talks, tours and museums over the years, and anyone is welcome to join.

The performance starts at 8pm on Friday 27th January at Robin Howard Dance Theatre 17 Duke's Road, London WC1H 9PY and tickets are priced from £5 - £15. So leave a message in the comments or email me if you fancy going along. I'm a cheapskate and am sure the £5 tickets will be fine but the ones for a fiver need to be booked at least 7 days in advance. If you want to make your own arrangements telephone the box office on 020 7387 0031 or book online here. That also includes two other contemporary dance performances Desert and Weave as well as Sardines so seems like a bargain!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 13, 2006 Permalink

Seven Things Meme - 7 x 7

Friday diversion

No Tube quiz or competition today mainly because I'm knackered and on Sunday will be saying "Bollox to all this I'm off to Dublin" to see an old friend and I'll also be there for work related stuff on Monday and Tuesday.

So instead of a fiendish competition you might like to find out more about me from the meme on my Non Tube Blog and you also might want to complete it yourself and post the results below or on your own blog (if you post it on your own blog could you let me know too - thanks!)

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 13, 2006 Permalink

James Blunt's London Underground Song Nominated for a Brit award

You're Beautiful inspired by the Tube nominated for a Brit 2006

Regular readers to the blog will know there is usually always a heated debate whenever I mention James Blunt on here. So let me get a few things straight before those regular readers roll out the same arguments again.

James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" is about him having a special passing moment with someone (who we've now found out was Blunt's ex-girlfriend) on the Tube. I still contest that this particular song is well written and is my favourite current song about the London Underground. I know that the vast majority of men who have commented on this on my blog think that James Blunt in general is bland and that this song is "derivative". Fine, you're entitled to your opinion, me and clearly the vast majority of the public don't share it.

I am not currently of the same opinion about the rest of James Blunt's songs.

I am not in love with James Blunt and do not find him particularly attractive.

I can see why people may not like him as they think he is over exposed, and I along with many others can see the funny side to spoof songs and videos such as "You're Gullible" and have blogged about this in the past. Big thanks to Kris for originally telling me about the James Blunt spoof song and video!

However, I do wish James Blunt the very best of luck in the Brit Awards 2006 where he was nominated for FIVE Brits yesterday.

I think he clearly deserves to win "Best British Single" for "You're Beautiful", specially when you look at what he is up against in that category:

Coldplay - Speed Of Sound
Shayne Ward - That's My Goal
Sugababes - Push The Button
Tony Christie featuring Peter Kay - (Is This The Way To) Amarillo
James Blunt - You're Beautiful



There's no contest! As a listener to commercial radio (who sponsor this category) I will certainly be voting for Blunt.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 12, 2006 Permalink

Metro say Britain is Going Blog Crazy

20,000 Brits are Blogging every day

I love the way that Metro describe a blog: "Britain is going blog crazy, creating a staggering 85,000 new online diaries every day, according to a study. Blogs are websites or part of a website that someone can use to air their views on a chosen topic. This can take the form of a rant about politics or just an expression of everyday frustrations with life. The word blog is a shortened form of 'weblog'. And even allowing for the fact that many 'bloggers' are serial bloggers - creating three or four new sites a week - it still means around 20,000 people a day are joining the trend."



I don't think that serial bloggers create three or four new sites a week and perhaps they are getting confused with blog posts. However, we had an interesting chat in the office about it yesterday (my new job is very closely linked to blogging), and we also thought it was interesting that lastminute.com had actually sponsored the research. There's nothing on their website about it that is obvious to me, but perhaps we can assume that they may be about to jump on the blogging bandwagon. After all, travel blogs are very popular and it might make sense for lastminute and other travel companies to offer their travellers a blog facility.

Check out the full article in Metro.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 12, 2006 Permalink

Northern Line Tube Strike Driver Strikes Out

Driver at centre of Northern Line Dispute attacks photographer

The Evening Standard must have been rubbing their hands with glee when their photographer turned up on the doorstep of the driver who was the cause of the Aslef unofficial wildcat strike. "Robert Rankin reacted furiously when approached at his home hurling a bucket of water at the Evening Standard's photographer, Andrew Stuart, who was also punched several times in the head by a youth believed to be related to Mr Rankin".

You see it doesn't pay to mess with some of these union members. As The Standard reported a few days ago and I posted, there was an unofficial strike on Monday 9th January about the dismissal of the "furious" driver who according the The Standard "speeds, sleeps at the wheel and he sparked a LU strike".



The sacked driver "threw a bucket of water at the reporter and photographer before emerging from his house brandishing a baseball bat, which he did not use. Police took statements from reporter Mattheus Sanchez and Stuart, who suffered bruising".

Some Aslef members from the depot at Morden were in support of Mr Rankin who went through London Bridge Station at 29mph (almost six times the speed limit) in August. He also went through a red light and apparently told a hearing that he fell asleep at the controls.

Rankin's colleagues are claiming there will be further strikes on the Northern Line if the London Underground do not reinstate him, as they believe that London Underground did not follow correct disciplinary procedures by sacking him.

We have already been discussing this in earlier comments, but the driver's latest behaviour has now certainly outshadowed the RMT's official tube strike which took place over the 8th and 9th of January. Bob Crow (RMT union leader) must be spitting even more feathers, as his strike had minimal impact on the system with only 21 stations being closed in peak hours of the RMT strike!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 11, 2006 Permalink

Body Scanner Trials start at railways stations

Paddington sees the first passenger explosive detectors on the the railway

Just heard on the radio that today the Heathrow Express will start testing the use of random scanner testing to detect explosives.

The BBC said "The body scanner being unveiled at Paddington can detect hidden weapons and explosives and was developed by an American company.

The trial will aim to have only a minimal impact on the flow of passengers on the Heathrow Express and, if successful, could see other stations using the scanners.

Other technology being tested includes advanced closed circuit television systems programmed to sound an alarm when they spot suspicious behaviour.....

"Transport Secretary Alistair Darling unveiled the trials in the autumn. It followed a three-day conference which examined transport security in the wake of the 7 July bomb blasts, in which 56 people, including four suicide bombers, died and 700 were injured."

It was previously believed that full "airport-style security" isn't possible at stations in the UK and on London Underground stations because of the huge numbers of people using them every day. It will be interesting to see how these trials go.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 11, 2006 Permalink

Northern Line Escalator repair email

Don't you just love the Northern Line? - that's a rhetorical question

One of my colleagues sent me an email that he received from London Underground yesterday:

"To assist the refurbishment work on the escalators at Tottenham Court Road station, we will be closing the escalator from the Northern line platform to the middle concourse from Monday 16 January until mid April 2006.

There will be no access to the Northern line from street level or interchange from the Central line to the Northern line between the following times:

Mondays to Fridays
1630-1930
Saturdays
1230-1930

Please use nearby Goodge Street station (10 minute walk)."

It's nice how a "nearby" station is a ten minute walk away. But my colleague makes the following points.

"What I don't understand is why they work on it for 3 hrs a day for 4 months? I don't presume it's working for the other 21 hrs in the day...is 3 hrs a full day for them? I want that job!!! Why can't they work a full day and fix it in a third of the time? And why rush hour!!!"

Can anyone help us here?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 11, 2006 Permalink

Excellent animated Tube Time Travel Map

London Underground Times to Travel Animated Map

Last week a guy called Steve emailed me a link to an animated London Underground Map that "spatially morphs according to the estimated travel times from a selected station". When I looked at it initially I could sort of see what the guy who had created it (Tom Carden) was trying to do, but there were a number of caveats that he had added showing that it was very much still work in progress and that there were things that needed to be added to make it clearer.

I quite liked the idea though, particularly as it was based on Oskar Karlin's Time Travel Map and Neil's time of travel distances between Tube stations map. So I emailed Tom to ask him more about the project and to suggest a number of things that might make it more user friendly and clearer. We had an email exchange backwards and forwards and Tom managed to update it quite substantially on Friday so he produced a pretty good version of the map here.



It's a great time waster if nothing else! But if you have any ideas as to how it can be improved I am sure Tom would love to hear them. Bear in mind he has listed a number of improvements on the page itself.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, January 10, 2006 Permalink

And The Winner Is (again ...)

Scissor Sisters London Underground Competition Results

OK people, this one promises to be good because it's not obvious to the untrained eye what kind of train Mary is getting on in the Scissor Sisters' video of the same name.

About halfway through the comments of the relevant post I gave away the fact that the answer had already been given, which therefore leaves us with our mystery train being one of the following:

Bakerloo, Central, Northern, Piccadilly or Victoria.

Let's do the easy ones first - it's not the Central or Northern lines. Central line trains have external doors and Northern line trains have door buttons on the doors themselves. No external doors or door buttons are in evidence if you study the video I'm afraid.

This leaves us with Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Victoria. All three are similar but the Piccadilly train is different to the other two in a number of ways.

Look very carefully at this picture from Annie's screen grab:


On the far left of picture is the door and to its right, above the window, is a horizontal black line which is one of the window vents of the train. You will notice that it does not extend the entire length of the window. All of the vents on Piccadilly line trains extend the entire length of the window as can be seen from this picture below (taken at Rayners Lane, as fool will tell you):


Therefore, the train in the video is not a Piccadilly line train.

Which leaves us with the almost identical Bakerloo and Victoria lines. Except they have one glaring difference between them.

Examine, if you will, this picture of a Bakerloo train at Paddington:


You will notice the glowing route code box in the bottom left of the left hand window. This is where the train number on Bakerloo trains is displayed. Compare this to the Victoria line, whose stock carries the train number in a box BELOW the central window in a recess:


(Note the similar vent length compared to a Bakerloo train). Incidentally, this further rules out the Piccadilly line, as their train numbers are shown with the destination at the top of the front of the train:


Now let's look at some more clips from the video. Here is one I grabbed of the train just passing Mary's head (sorry about the crappy quality):


The glow from the route code box can quite clearly be seen on the left of picture AND you will also notice from this grab, a split second later, that there is no recess where there would be one on a Victoria line train:


So, without any shadow of a doubt, this is a Bakerloo line train. There was talk of seeing dark blue line diagrams and seat cover colours but frankly, the hue of the video (a nasty blue one) doesn't really aid identification in this case.

HOWEVER, if you fast forward to just after one minute into the video and watch the sequence where Mary is walking away from a train, you will notice that the train in the shot is a Victoria line train. You can spot this if you freeze the picture just as he sings "I'm" in "I'm always gonna live to be your man" at about 1 min 6 when the gap between the departing train's cars reveals a Victoria line tube map on the wall (thanks to subwayrail for pointing this out). I've highlighted some of the station names for you. She's probably at King's Cross or Euston here:


So the film crew obviously filmed her getting ON at a Bakerloo station and then filmed her walking AWAY from a Victoria line train somewhere else later on. But since Annie asked which train she was on FIRST, the answer is still Bakerloo for the reasons outlined above. After all, she is never actually seen ON the Victoria line train; she was only filmed walking away from the platform in a crowd of people.

So there you have it. Which means the lucky contestants through to the Paperclip Lottery are:

Anne-Marie, JJC and Steeevooo

Well, the paperclips came out again and the paperclip chosen was the ... RED one, which means that winner of this amazing quiz is ... Steeevooooooooooooo!

Yes, you've won a fridge magnet!! (It's almost as good as Bullseye isn't it?) Try to control yourself as Annie emails you to find out where to send it.

And thanks once again to everone who entered - you can now start arguing about how it can't be a Bakerloo train and that because you said Victoria, you are technically right etc etc (talk to the hand).

London Underground; Tube Posted by Neil Monday, January 09, 2006 Permalink

Tube Strike Latest - 8th - 9th January Strike 2006 - now on

Sunday / Monday's Tube Strike not as bad as was expected

The situation at 9.30am - Monday 9th January

The London Underground station staff strike started at 6.30pm yesterday - Sunday 8th - as planned by the RMT and is due to run for 24 hours. As the picture on the left shows you should check your local radio and TV before travelling to find out which stations are closed.

London Underground said at 11pm yesterday in a press release that the strike has had little effect with "only 12 out of the 275" Tube stations closed. This number has now (at 9.30) is now only 21 which is good because at worst around 40 stations were closed earlier in the morning.

The London Underground have posted a list of which stations were closed on their site here, on the right hand column, as they say we should expect this list to change as and when they discover enough station staff (or not) have turned up to open the station. There is also a map which graphically shows which lines and stations in general are disrupted not just because of strike action. At 9.30am - this list is showing that 21 stations Covent Garden, Goodge Street, Pimlico, Hyde Park Corner, Regent's Park, Warren Street, Hampstead, Oval, Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line) and Lambeth North are amongst the stations closed due to "non availability of staff". However, by later this morning and throughout the morning rush hour I thought that we would have seen many more stations in red on on this map that were closed for the strike. In fact the very opposite has happened as it looks like loads of station staff turneed up for work and were then moved to open stations which were shut. Bob Crow must be spitting feathers. Anyway, please keep clicking on links to see what the situation is before you leave and whether the stations you use are effected. The wildcat strike by Aslef drivers on the Northern Line - see further down this post - did not help matters.

Alternatively you can call London Underground on 020 7222 1234 or 020 7222 1200 for a recorded message with details of the disruption at various stages.


I will update when anything more significant happens but if you're new to the issues around the strike to continue reading and join in the lively comments and discussion at the bottom of this post.

Some background to the strikes

Unfortunately, as most people know by now, talks have broken down to avert the RMT industrial action on Sunday 8th January at 6.30pm for 24 hours, therefore affecting most of Monday 9th January. This will be the first time we have had a Tube strike on a week day since June 2004, but to quote Catherine Tate, are the public "bovvered"? When the strike was on New Year's Eve it was seen as mean spirited and generally unpopular. This was further not helped by RMT Union Leader Bob Crow going off on holiday to Egypt in the middle of it. Many RMT members felt that they had been deserted by their leader.

The New Year's Eve strike didn't have the desired effect of causing too much disruption, mainly because a lot of station staff decided to go to work and ignore the strike. I would sincerely like to thank all of the staff who did that. Only 40 out of over 275 Tube stations actually closed down.

Monday's strike - well, it's a Monday and who likes going to work on a Monday anyway? I'm sure many offices will get lots of calls from people who will be "working at home because of the strike". Also as many staff were disillusioned by the RMT, perhaps they will still defy the strike and go into work.

The safety claims that the RMT continue to harp on about are "lame" to say the least. The rosters that London Underground (LU) are trying to implement have been agreed by 40 out of 44 station units and continually LU have said there will be no staff cuts with these new staff rotas and deployment. The RMT's New Year's Eve strike served to probably make the public more aware that this was a strike over something they had already agreed! I doubt there will be any more public sympathy for the strike on Sunday and Monday than there was before.

Keep adding to the lively comments and discussion below where you will see the opinions of commuters, London Underground employees, station staff and Tube drivers - and the RMT even helpfully published RMT Regional Organiser, Bobby Law's mobile phone number in a letter they sent to the BBC, try to show how LU have caused safety breaches by allowing stations to be opened during the strike.

Northern Line wildcat strike - Monday 9th January

Coming on a bit Victor Meldrew here, but "I don't believe it". Just because we'll have enough to contend with when the next RMT Tube station staff strike takes place on Sunday 8th January from 6.30pm for 24 hours, drivers on the Northern Line are planning a "wildcat stoppage in support of a colleague who was sacked for travelling through London Bridge station at 29mph when the safety limit is 5mph". Apparently he then failed to stop at the station and passed a red signal. The unofficial strike on the Northern Line is planned for Monday 9th January, when we'll still be in the middle of the RMT one.



London Underground say that the Northern Line driver was dismissed for a "particularly serious" safety offence, and when they interviewed him about it, apparently he said that he fell asleep at the controls. OHMIGOD! Not exactly model driver behaviour is it?

Anyway, members of Train drivers' union Aslef at the Morden depot are saying that he was treated too harshly and proper disciplinary procedures were not followed by London Underground when he was dismissed.

According to The Evening Standard "They also claim there were problems with the "dead man's handle", the brake lever that stops the train if the driver releases it if, for example, he or she is taken ill or falls asleep. LU defended the sacking and said no fault had been found with the train's brakes".

However, the unofficial striking drivers on the Northern Line are disputing this and are warning of more walkouts unless their driving colleague is reinstated.

The only funny side I can see to this is that perhaps the placement of the bed sale ad below this article in The Standard wasn't particularly well planned in view of the driver's falling asleep claims!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 09, 2006 Permalink

Six months on from the July 7th London Bombings

Six months on from July 7th and commuting numbers back to normal

It's hard to believe that six months ago travelling on the London Underground, buses and trains was very different than it is today. But it is a tribute to ordinary people's strength in London and across the UK that terrorism did not succeed it its attempts to have us fleeing from the streets and scared to travel on public transport. For a while the numbers on public transport dropped, naturally, they would. Everyone looked at everyone else with an air of suspicion. Men carrying rucksacks were constantly stopped. Companies tried to capitalise on that fear and produced see-through bags (we met the man who created Freedom Bags) and survival kits. People who "looked a bit foreign" felt uncomfortable travelling on public transport and obviously we had that horrible day when the police with whatever error of judgements they had, shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes for supposedly acting suspicious and looking a bit foreign.

On a personal level the London Bombings changed my life in a totally unexpected way. Believe it or not, prior to the bombings I was feeling listless, unenthusiastic, generally miserable and also pretty sick & tired of blogging too. Luckily I was working part time on the day of the bombings, and was at home. From a tenatative post that Geoff began about the day and "power surges", I was able to pick up from where he left off and on a rougly half hourly basis blog the events of that terrible, terrible day.

I was so, so, so, lucky. Many other people were not and their lives were ended or changed forever due to the fact that simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had never felt so aware of the lottery of life & death. I had never felt so pleased that my friends and family were all safe and well. I had never felt such pride of being part of a city that would not be beaten by mindless terror and cowardly acts in the name of politics or religion or whatever. Only a few days ago it was announced that a film The Sucide Bomber is being made about a disenchanted British Asian Muslim from Bradford and is set in the UK and India - so perhaps for a fictional point of view we may see what leads people to commit these acts.



After a tiring and emotional day of blogging I saw that my blog had been "elevated" to the status of "citizen journalism". I'd had emails and calls with international media throughout the day as initially ordinary people such as myself and contributors to the amazing Wikipedia were as frequent as journalists in trying to make sense and report on what had happened in London. There's a great site with a movie that shows how much that Wikipedia page changed thoughout the day.



Then I got involved in the publicity and PR for Tube Relief with Geoff and Neil. This invovled over sixty people including many other regular contributers and commenters to this blog (see this list which includes Fimb, the truly amazing Tami - hope Christmas in New Orleans was OK!, Jon Choo, Jenni Hardi, Chris Green, Chris Presswell and Jonny Lyon) we made a stand and we got local and national publicity.

For some the challenge part was fun & united way to show the world that we were not afraid to travel on the Tube for the hell of it. But we all wanted to raise money and help the survivors and the families of those killed. We raised around £12,000 for the London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund. For many it was the first time they had done fundraising and even though I didn't do the whole challenge as I was blogging the day, I managed to raise over £180 to go toward the pot (my fundraising page is still open if you would like to donate).

Since then coming into contact with London Bombing survivors like the incredible Rachel and hearing the many stories about the courage and strength of ordinary people - transport staff, paramedics, the emergency services, the police and just ordinary commuters - I have never felt so good to be alive or determined to play my small part in reporting on life on the London Underground!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, January 07, 2006 Permalink

Deadline for National Rail Photo Competition

Get your pictures taken from National Rail Trains in today

Just a reminder that today is the deadline for pictures for the National Rail Photo Competition that I mentioned in December. To enter you have to take a shot of London from a train. Now that's a National Rail train, not a tube. According to Metro who the competition is in conjuction with: "Viewing London from a train offers a wealth of photographic opportunities. Competition entries could show famous monuments or landmarks ......Alternatively, photos could be of attractive parks, streets or skylines that simply sum up the city at Christmas - a view that may be missed from the pavement or in a car."

I've entered a few including the one below of Vauxhall Bus Station (which is next to Vauxhall Tube station) from my South West Train at Vauxhall National Rail Station



I don't actually think this shot is that great, but I like being able to see the reflection of the train window and I also like the general mad shapes of the bus station there anyway.

Full terms and conditions for the competition can be found here. The winners will be announced week commencing 9th January 2006. Prints must be sent to Metro photocompetition, Fourth Floor, 121 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 6Ql and digital images, no larger than 8Mb should be emailed to londonphotos@atoc.org. The prizes which are worth up to £1,000 and more entry details were already mentioned in my original post.

Good luck if you are entering!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 06, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Back to the regular weekly look at people spotted on the London Underground who could be conisdered slaves to fashion. It's quite a wide definition, but is either people who follow what they think are the latest trends and aren't really doing a good job of it, in that the look is "wrong" on them, or they are wearing something so bizarre it puts them in a league of their own. I spose you could argue that they are therefore "trend setters", but with a trend that it's unlikely others will follow.

Anyway, this week has been a bit light on "victims", possibly because with the holiday season there still aren't as many people on the London Underground as normal and as there will be next week. So only two and they are both showing the "art" of wearing a mini skirt.

Not quite a victim

The lady below almost didn't make it onto the blog, as overall it's not too bad a look. But as it's so cold at the moment, (I took this picture yesterday) I was surprised to see such a short skirt with such short boots and such thin tights.



She got off at the same stop as me and then proceeded to walk up a long escalator on the left. Probably much to the delight of several male passengers who were standing on the right. Let's just say the Japanese subway gropers or people who take pictures looking up women's skirts on the subway, would have had a field day!

OHMIGOD they've snapped Kenny's Sister

Now the lady below is a perfect contender for Kenny from South Park's older, fashion conscious sister.



The brilliant thing about her keeping her parka hood on throughout her journey has meant that I haven't had to obscure her face. But you can see she has the classic furry "Ugg" style boots together with the classic fashion victim metallic bag. The mini skirt was truly hideous in a thin denim and with little "frills" at the bottom and at the back.

Even inside the carriage she still kept her hood up, making the Kenny comparison even more apparent. Unfortunately I was shaking with laughter so much that it was hard to not make it look obvious to the rest of the carriage what I was doing.



The last entry for the London Underground fashion victims and all of them together can be seen on the following Flickr set

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, January 06, 2006 Permalink

Last Episode of the The Tube TV Series tonight on ITV1

The Tube on TV goes retro

Just a reminder that tonight at 7.30pm on ITV1 (London region) is the last episode of The Tube a "fly on the wall" documentary TV series about life on the London Underground from the perspective of the Tube's employees.

This 8th and last episode - Moving On (Old & New) looks at how stations, rolling stock trains and names have changed on the Tube from 1860s to today. We'll see how "Jason Collins has managed the state-of-the-art Canary Wharf station, but must now get used to running historic Waterloo and security conscious Westminster".

Apparently for those of you with alternative regions of ITV - if you have Sky Digital, you can retune your TV to watch ITV London temporarily. Also the whole series may well be repeated on Sky Travel.

Sorry I've been a bit remiss about reporting when these have been on, as there have been lots of gaps in the programming and I've not been able to just think "Ah, every Thursday on ITV1 at 7.30pm", but I hope those who watch enjoy it anyway!

Here's also a screengrab from one of the episodes that Angela from Mosaic Productions kindly sent me some time ago of staff member John Polley and his model Tube railway (www.metromodels.net) that was featured in one of the earlier episodes in December.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, January 05, 2006 Permalink

Talks at Acas broken down - Sunday's London Underground Strike On

UPDATE - 5pm - I've just learnt that today's talks have broken down, so it looks like the strike will be going ahead from 6.30pm on Sunday 8th January for 24 hours.

See the BBC for the latest on this. However, if it is anything like the New Year's Eve strike the majority of the station staff will still carry on working.

The last weekday London Underground strike was in June 2004, even though with the continuous threat we get of them, people may be surprised to learn that it was as long ago as that!

London Underground are asking the RMT to return to the negotiating table: "'We remain committed to resolving this dispute at any time and with the least possible inconvenience to Londoners.' If the strike goes ahead it would affect services from 1830 on Sunday evening and all day Monday. As on New Year's Eve, LU would again seek to run the best service possible on these days."

Meanwhile, the RMT offices will be open on Sunday from 13.00 to "improve our organisation on the day of this strike". You can read Bob Crow's and RMT's instructions to striking staff here.


RMT and London Underground actually meet today to try to resolve strike

Well after all the kerfuffle about talks to avert the last Tube strike, it looks like the ones today at concilliation service Acas are due to go ahead. It also looks like Bob Crow is actually shortening his Eyptian holiday by one day to be there, as yesterday he agreed to attend.

We already know that Mr Crow is also planning on balloting members "blatant breaches of safety" during the New Year's Eve strike, when the majority of stations actually operated in spite of the strike. Crow is proposing a "go slow" (will we even notice on certain lines?) rather than an all out strike to protest about this. These breaches of safety are "strenuously denied" by London Underground (LU).

Sheriff Ken Livingstone told BBC London that he predicted several more strikes by the RMT who, he claimed, were left shame faced when the majority of Tube station staff turned up for work on the 31st December.

"Rather than say they made a mistake, they will dig in and try to make the next strike more effective," he said.

If today's talks do not resolve the issues, there will be a London Underground strike from 6.30pm on Sunday 8th January for 24 hours.

You were all very vociferous with your comments on the New Year's Eve strike (which was great!), so what do you think will happen with the next planned one?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 04, 2006 Permalink

Celebrity Spotting on the London Underground

The Tube goes all actorly

I have not spotted a celebrity on the London Underground itself for ages. When I first started by main site goingunderground in 1999 I commented that I very rarely saw famous people on the Tube, despite the fact that they often protest that they use it. But when I started the blog I actually saw quite a few including Rob Brydon, Matthew "Tonight I'm going to be" Kelly, Gita out of EastEnders, Scud Stud Rageh Omar, John Hannah, and Peter Dr Who Davison. On my journey on South West Trains I spot quite a lot including Richard E Grant who's a regular traveller from Richmond.

So it was with great excitement that I spotted my first Tube Celebrity for 2006 coming home last night on the Northern Line.

It's not a competition, like this (because it's not very hard and anyone who knows what my Flickr acccount is will find out in seconds), but can you guess who it is? I was really surprised that no one else in the carriage seemed to show any recognition of the great man.





I thought as soon as I saw him, that I recognised his face, and then when he pulled out a copy of Alan Bennett's plays I knew it was who I thought it was.

Also has anyone else spotted anyone famous on the Tube recently?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, January 04, 2006 Permalink

Happy 2006

Let's hope 2006 is more peaceful and filled with goodwill than 2005

Just thought as I was the World's Hottest Urban Blogger that I ought to put some glad rags on and get my picture taken for the blog to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, January 03, 2006 Permalink

Back to work with a quiz - where on the Tube was this shot?

Scissor Sisters' Mary Video - Where was it filmed?

Back to work for the majority of people today (commisserations if you had to go back last week), and this Scissor Sisters video has that real hum drum feeling of doing the same old, same old, which recruitment agencies take advantage of now "New Year - time to find a new job" - you know the ads. Over the holidays, I saw the Scissor Sisters' video to their hit single Mary for the first time and the London Underground features fairly heavily at the beginning.

Firstly, our heroine Mary gets up, gets washed, puts on make up, gets on a crowded Tube half asleep, gets a seat, then gets off and eventually appears in Canary Wharf Tube station.

But what train is she on first (which line &/or ideally - for real Tube experts - which stock)? Bear in mind there may have been some artistic licence with the trains that were used and it may not be a train or a line that actually goes through Canary Wharf. See if you can work it out from the screen grabs below or by watching the video:









Usual competition rules apply - one guess only per person in the comments below. In the event of more than one person guessing correctly (which I think is likely to happen - even if you make a wild guess - there's a good chance in getting the line correct), all the correct entries will undergo the Neil paperclip selection, so that we'll have only one winner. People who make more than one guess will be disqualified. Please leave your email address or your blog/website in the comments if you wish to enter. You have until Sunday 8th January 2006 23.59 GMT to make your guess.

Oh and the prize - a wonderful enamel "No Begging" London Underground fridge magnet - ideal for putting on filing cabinets too to tell colleagues they can't beg to get favours from you.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, January 03, 2006 Permalink

New Year, New London Underground Fares (plus handy fare comparison calculator)

Oystercard pre-pay makes annual fare increases even more ridiculous

I'm not going to bang on too much about this, because I have done many, many times in the past (stop moaning about London Transport and Oystercard confusion and Oystercard ad banned) Because I bought my annual travel card a few months ago, I'm currently allright Jack - but have some sympathy for the many people like me, who live in London (or just outside - I'm in zone 4) and have to use National Rail and can't therefore take advantage of Oystercard pre-pay.

Ken Livingstone is determined to get as many people as possible to use Oystercard pre-pay, as it "saves time", and therefore "saves London Underground money" and therefore means "station staff and ticketing staff can be re-deployed to more visible jobs on the network" (Oops Bob Crow will be really striking me off his Valentine's list this year). These cost savings are apparently passed on to people who use Oystercard pre-pay as the Tube fares for single tickets take their usual ridiculously high annual price hike once again. The minimum cash fare on the London Underground has risen from £2 to £3.

Everyone will have their own opinions on Oystercard pre-pay depending on where they live in London and how often they travel into London each day and at what times.

James Cridland has kindly made and updated an Oystercard calculator so that you can see for yourself what will be cheaper for you and he's based it on January 2006 fares.

Have fun and lucky you, if it does work out cheaper and Grrrr to National Rail for not allowing Oysercard pre-pay to be used on stations that are actually in London!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 02, 2006 Permalink

Bob Crow suns himself while London Underground go on strike

January 2nd 2006 - Bob Crow spinning from Egypt

Well it looks like the Eypytian sun has finally gone to RMT union leader Bob Crow's head as he considers the New Year's Eve strike a success in spite of the fact that only 40 out of over 275 stations were closed and many of the 4,000 RMT members he claimed went on strike, obviously didn't. I would hardly say that it showed a "united and determined stand" against the LU's "unsafe" rosters. Good to see he was united enough to go on holiday in the middle of all of it.

However, in true "Carry On At Your Convenience" "everybody out" strike style, he's now considering ballotting all members including Tube drivers "for action short of strike in the light of these blatant safety breaches" - ie he claims safety breaches were broken in getting the stations open during the strike.

Mmmmm "action short of strike," well that will tell the LU and the general public won't it Bob? I would have found this whole press release a lot less laughable if I'd known that a) it wasn't being made from Egypt (he's back on the 5th January) and b) there was more focus on averting the next strike due for the 8th January, (which he must be getting a bit worried about now) and less focus on the success of a strike that Londoners hardly noticed! Keep the comments coming in guys and gals!

January 1st 2006 - Most of the Tube running in spite of strike

Well only three more hours of the strike to go (it's almost 9am at the time of posting) and fortunately London didn't grind to a halt as about half of the station staff actually decided to stick two fingers up at the RMT leaders and open their stations so people could celebrate New Year's Eve. At the risk of being called a "union busting propagandist of whom Goebbels would have been proud" - bit of a shocker to be called that on New Year's Day morning, but there you go - I'm really pleased to see London Underground staff braving public abuse to open the stations and keep the Tube running. Only 40 stations out of over 270 actually closed. (Picture above by Diamond Geezer)

More lively comments below, including more station staff who are leaving or considering leaving the RMT as a result of all this.

As Sheriff Ken Livingstone said "I want to pay special tribute to the police, emergency services and transport workers who helped get hundreds of thousands of people home safely. The Tube strike hardly materialised. The majority of London Underground staff did not agree that it made sense to punish ordinary Londoners on New Year's Eve." see Virgin News for more.

Bob Crow, I hope you're having a good time in Egypt, London actually doesn't look too bad this morning and I hope everyone who is able to travel on the Tube this morning thanks the station staff for their actions.

UPDATE - 19.12 - December 31st - The Tube's website has been updated to show a map with the closed stations showing in red - plus a list of stations closed on the right hand side of this page.

Loads of comments still coming in, including those from RMT members who are as pissed off with the whole timing of this strike as the majority of the public and those who are re-considering their membership of the RMT. I'd like to thank the staff for making comments here. As mentioned a number of times in the comments we should thank the staff that actually decided to open the stations today, so that the strike hasn't been quite as effective as RMT union leaders were hoping.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year's Eve despite the unhappy one that the leaders were trying to make you have, and it will be interesting to see if the next strike on the 8th January actually comes off.

Happy New Year!

UPDATE - 14.30 - December 31st - The strike is well and truly on although "some" stations are open. Which ones is anyone's guess though. However, I'm not sure how London Underground can say there is a good service on most of the lines today if you look at the realtime travel link as "good service" means "no noticeable impact to your journey". Neil has just got back from Richmond (which is open) and some stations are open but many aren't, depends if the staff have decided to open them or not. If your station is closed by striking Tube station staff the train will just go straight through it. So I would say that is a "noticeable impact" to my journey. If I were you I'd call 020 7222 1234 before leaving home.

RMT leader Bob Crow on holiday in Egypt - New Year's Eve Tube strike still on

Well I have heard it all now. Bob Crow obviously had no intention whatsoever about attending the talks at Acas with LU to try to avert the 24 hour London Underground Strike which began at noon today - 31st December. There were mutterings in the comments thread yesterday that Bob Crow was currently relaxing in Egypt and The Mirror has now confirmed this!

"Tube workers were furious last night that union leader Bob Crow was sunning himself on holiday as they were being asked to strike......

"Members of the RMT union are angry Mr Crow is enjoying a luxury break with his family at the Sharm el-Sheik resort in Egypt with dispute still unresolved.

One said of the former Communist party member: "Red Bob is swimming in the Red Sea on the day we are being asked to strike. It stinks.

"For a supposed man of the people he has not understood the mood of the union membership if he thinks he can leave us in the lurch at a time like this."

But Mr Crow, 44, who earns £63,000 a year denied the trip was a PR disaster."

Tell us what it is then Bob: "this was a long-standing family holiday. The personal message to our members is that our union is responsible for the dispute, not just individuals. I'm still involved in negotiations and liaising with our senior assistant general secretary and our press office. If needs be I can return to London."

Well he won't have the Tube to help him get to talks very quickly will he? And I'm sure that hundreds of thousands of Londoners will be thinking of you Bob when they are standing around freezing cold tonight waiting to get on overcrowded buses and standing in long taxi queues after trying to get home from what should be the party night of the year. Happy New Year and any remaining sympathy the public had for you has now been wiped away! (Keep the comments & discussion coming in and they're still coming in on the older post here too!!)

Meanwhile London Underground are still planning to try to run as much of the service as possible during today's strike, also extra buses will be put on to try to help. Check out the Tube's website before travelling after noon today or call 020 7222 1234 to see how your journey will be effected.

UPDATE - 18.30 - Friday 30th December

It's not looking good, still no move from RMT to attend talks with LU and still nothing new to report, so short of a miracle, it looks like the strike will be going ahead tomorrow - ie Saturday 31st from noon for 24 hours. Check out the Tube's website for advice on travel. In the meantime interesting comments still coming in below including ones from a guy who works for LU and on the other thread a member of the station staff.

Thursday 29th December - One sided talks mean "unlikely resolution" to Tube Strike

Just heard RMT union leader, Bob Crow's dulcet tones on the radio saying that he's only prepared to talk to London Underground (LU), if there is something new to talk about, otherwise "it's a waste of time". Howard Hughes from smoothfm was interviewing him and asking if he was staying by the phone, as London Underground will be having a meeting with ACAS today to try to avert the New Year's Eve strike. Yesterday we had the impression that both parties were willing to talk. I quite like the idea of LU sitting in a room with the arbitrators and no one from RMT (the union had not confirmed that anyone would be attending), as it sounds like it will be a very short meeting!

We can only hope that Bob Kiley isn't going to be in the meeting otherwise there will be another large expenses claim. The Evening Standard last night reported that the outgoing London Transport Commissioner put in an entertainment expenses claim for £7,000, which LU think is justified! I'd love to know who he entertained!

Anyway, this potential strike is turning into a soap opera, and if you want to catch up with the issues and all our various arguments about it, check out my New Year's Eve London Underground strike post here and keep the lively comments & discussion on all this going.

And, watch this space as maybe someone from LU will be able to get Mr Crow off his rather large derriere and into the Acas's offices and perhaps there will be a last minute resolution. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that LU won't back down over RMT's demands and it will mean a 24 strike from 12 noon on the 31st December and another potential one from 6.30pm on Sunday January 8th too!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, January 02, 2006 Permalink