Moquette Quiz

How well do you know London Underground Tube Seats?

Three parts to this Friday's quiz.

1. Rather than naming all twelve please just name TWO of the lines that the seat upholstery comes or came from. Any smart alecs "Saying, Miss, Miss, I know all of them" and naming all twelve, or more than two, will have to stand in the corner and find their answers mysteriously evaporate. There is however, a bonus point if you don't give the same answer as the person immediately before you.


2. Name one of the very first people who designed some moquette for London Transport. Again, you get a bonus point if you don't give the same answer as the person just before you.

3. Moquettes don't appear to have names, which is rather sad. So please come up with your own unique name for one of the moquettes pictured above. It will help if there's some connection to either the line or the pattern, so no points will be given for names like Bert or Fred or Jim. The more inventive the better!

As usual the people who get most answers correct will go into Neil's paperclip selection.

To enter leave your email address and/or blog/website with your answers in the comments below. Please leave all your answers in one entry and you can only enter once! You have until 23.59 GMT, Sunday 9th July to make your guesses.

And the prize, a lovely pair of Mind The Gap socks, so if you think of putting your feet on the seats on the Tube (heaven forbid), you can display your sockwear with pride.

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 30, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's this Friday's look at our slaves to fashion on the Tube or people with their own noticeable look when it comes to clothes. There's a bit of a lurve thing going on this week with people wearing T-Shirts inviting some personal attention. Still anything's better than football shirts at the moment.

Playboy Girl

Hugh Heffner would be proud of this lady


Fortunately she was just leaning against the pole rather than doing a dance around it.

Kiss Me Quick

I'm pretty positive this guy wasn't a tourist and I'm sure someone will tell me that Kiss Me Quick are a trendy new band that are making it big on the Net or somewhere


In any case he didn't have "Or Hug me Slowly" on his back.

Hugs Not Drugs

Unlike the young man below, who was wearing a very Peace and Love orientated T shirt


I wish I'd been able to take a proper picture of him though, as he had the most amazing, just got out of bed, back combed, Shockwaves, hair style. The picture also doesn't show his purple star "Christmas Cracker" bangle very well.

Tattered Bum

How many more varieties of tattered jeans are there?


Although you can't see it in the picture very well, she had her travelcard in this back pocket, so I just hope the pocket doesn't wear even more, otherwise she'll be in for a bit of shock at the barrier.

Yeti Uggs

I know that we've hardly been having a heatwave in London, but is there any need to wear these Womble/Yeti Ugg boots in late June?


In fact let's scrub late June from my last sentance, is there any need to wear them at all?

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, June 30, 2006 Permalink

Counting on the London Underground

Sesame Street's The Count would be pleased

I often see a lot of blog entries from people where they count things in a sort of Bridget Jones Diary type of way. You know the score - number of cigarettes smoked today 12, number of crisps eaten 18, number of pounds lost 1, etc. I can't say I've ever been particularly interested in counting things since I have been at school. However someone sent me a link to an interesting "watchers" project where a number of things in south east London have been counted, with pictures taken to represent them.

A station assistant at Bermondsey London Underground Station must have been fairly bored and he counted the number of people hurrying through the station in one day.


It was only 41. Which really doesn't seem a lot to me, but I suppose as it's not in an interchange, or maybe no one is in a particular rush for anything at Bermondsey. However as I have no idea how many people in total pass through Bermondsey Tube I'd never really know if 41 is a lot.

If you're travelling by Tube today perhaps you might consider counting something, on the way in or home, so we could do a comparison. Obviously, we haven't all got the time to stand at a Tube station for a whole day to count things, so here's a few workable possibilities:

Number of people reading Metro in your carriage
Number of people standing in your carriage
Number of people listening to an iPod, walkman or some other personal stereo in your carriage
Number of people with rucksacks in your carriage
Number of posters that have been graffitied (is that a word? - but you know what I mean) in your carriage
Number of pigeons on your platform

If there's anything else you'd like to count or make a suggestion for people to count, feel free and leave in the comments below. Thanks muchly.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 29, 2006 Permalink

Wembley, Wembley Quite Contrary. How does your garden grow?

Pinner, Pinner, no longer a winner...

No I haven't gone entirely mad, but summer's here and that means it's time for that special date in London Underground's calendar. It's not the announcement of this year's "Staying cool on the Tube campaign" or Sheriff Ken's prize for inventing air conditioning on the Tube. But the London Underground Annual Station Gardens competition is underway. Hoorah, hoorah, hoorah.

I know that many of you who travel on the Tube will think that a "station garden" is a platform that's been cleared of all the tin cans, crisp packets and pigeon droppings. You might be forgiven for thinking that a garden is some moss that's grown up between the cracks in the platform or some weeds or buddleia trees that have been allowed to take over the sidings. But no, there are 33 entrants in this year's LU Station Garden competition which is double the amount from last year.


Southfields is one of the stations that has entered, and it came 2nd in the Cultivated Garden section last year. The competition is to reward "employees who go beyond the call of duty and spend much of their free time creating a pleasant and colourful environment for their colleagues and the travelling public to enjoy by planting and keeping Underground station gardens."

Although Southfields is nothing like a garden compared to the winner from Pinner in 1966, which was so resplandant with its 3,000 plants and flowers you can hardly read the station's name.


Pinner is sadly no longer in the running and a number of other prize winning station gardens from 1966 seem to have fallen by the wayside too including Kilburn, Hammersmith (did it ever have a garden?), Moorgate, Barons Court, Finchley Central and Snaresbrook.

But hats off to the following stations whose station gardeners upkeep the gardens in their own free time and only receive an allowance to buy seeds and plants: Baker Street, Bank, Bermondsey, Canons Park, Chesham, Cockfosters, East Acton, Earl's Court, Elm Park, Epping, Farringdon, High Street Kensington, Highbury & Islington, Leytonstone, Loughton, Notting Hill Gate, North Acton, Northolt, Northwood Hills (last year's winner), Queensbury, Rotherhithe, Shepherd's Bush, South Kensington, Rickmansworth, Ruislip Gardens, Southfields, Stanmore, Stratford Market Depot, Surrey Quays, Watford, Wembley Park, West Ruislip and White City.

Most of them, as you might expect, are in the more suburban outer zones of London. But it's good to see Baker Street, Earl's Court, Shepherd's Bush (although the mind boggles with Shepherd's Bush - maybe they've had an influx of containers since I was last there), Bank and High Street Kensington. It goes to show that it's not just the "leafy" suburbs that have keen station gardeners.

Do you have a station that you think should have entered for its horticultural displays? Or is your regular home or work station amongst this year's entrants? Or do you think there's a forgotten station somewhere that could benefit from some Ground Force treatment? Gunnersbury would be my favourite as it looks more and more like the hideous concrete carpark that surrounds it and is in desparate need of something to brighten it up.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, June 28, 2006 Permalink

Cycles on the London Underground

Where to get on yer bike

Someone emailed me to ask whether you could take bicycles on the London Underground. I knew that there were some stations where you could and some where you couldn't, but I didn't realise that this also depended on the the time of day.


So I looked at the cycle map and also the list of lines with the restrictions and I was puzzled by a number of things and wondered if you could enlighten me.

Not being allowed to take a bike at all on the Waterloo & City Line makes sense, (not that anyone can do much on the Waterloo & City Line at the moment anyway), but why no bikes at all on the DLR? I'm positive that I have seen people with bikes on it, so is that only a fairly recent rule?

The Victoria Line is entirely underground, so I imagine that might be the reason why you can't take bikes on it, but how come you can use bikes on the sub surface section that of the District Line? Is it anything to do with the depth of the stations there?

Is the rule of not carrying bikes in peak hours due to the amount of space they take up or for some other reason? If it's a space issue, why then are people allowed to carry enormous suitcases the size of small camper vans? Or large rucksacks? Particularly the people who seem to forget they have a rucksack on their back and insist on pirouetting through the carriage, knocking over people who unfortunate enough to be standing behind them.

I'm confused, please help!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Permalink

Scavenger Hunt London Underground Quiz

And the Winners are......

Thanks to the people who entered the scavenger hunt to search for Tube related items on the internet. Inventiveness prizes go to Jon Justice particularly for his pre 1910 Tube poster, Fimb for taking a picture of smiling Tube staff (in the pub!), plus I decided to give Wilson in Toronto a prize for being first. You all did very well with points for giving different answers to the person before you, but the overall winner is Chz who wins the London Underground Playing Cards.


Well done to all who entered and you've still got a few more days to guess the locations where the Ian Brown video was filmed!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Permalink

Central Line Suspended

Is it possible to have a day on the Tube at the moment without a whole line or part of a line being suspended? The entire line is out due to signal failure in the White City area.

Good luck if you're trying to travel on the Central Line this morning as you'll have problems. Check out the Real Time Delays section on the Tube's site for more info.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 27, 2006 Permalink

Northern line fooked again

More Misery on the Misery Line

About 150 passengers were led through a Northern Line train this morning due a faulty track at Waterloo. The line is now suspended between Kennington and Charing Cross and you can expect delays to the rest of the serivce this morning too.

I wonder how this will add or aid its reliability targets? Although Tube Lines who run the Misery Line said that they hit their targets for the first quarter of this year despite recording delays on every single day.

"LU targets are set according customer hours lost, so a train delayed at Bank station at rush hour will weigh more heavily on Tube Lines' figures than a late night train to High Barnet," said Thisislocallondon. So delays appear to be relative.

Although, Tube Lines trumpeting about their reliability does lead one to think that delays are seen as a reliable part of the Northern Line service. Perhaps if you didn't get delayed on the Northern Line you might be worried that something was actually wrong with the line.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 26, 2006 Permalink

District Line Buskers

"Thank you Turnham Green you've been a wonderful audience"

If you've been "lucky" enough to travel regularly on the District Line, I would be surprised if you had not come across the infamous "If you can't have a shave in the toilet, where can you have a shave" buskers. They've been doing the rounds on the District Line, since the early 80's but in all of that time, they only seem to have two songs in their reportoire.


The first is the aforementioned shaving song, which is a protest song, lamenting the times when they used to shave in public toilets (mainly in the one that used to be in the underpass at Hammersmith Broadway). But they were always asked to move on, when all they wanted to do was keep themselves "clean and respectabull".

The second is their classic "This train is going to Richmond, this train. This train is stopping at Earl's Court, this train. This train is going to Richmond, change at Gunnersbury for the North London Line. This train is going to Richmond, this train". Alternatively if you catch them going into town you'll catch the B side "This train is going to Barking, this train, etc etc".

I finally managed to make a recording of the Toilet Song, which apparently isn't available in the shops, or on the internet (let's hope they don't read this blog). They were playing to a fairly relaxed carriage on Friday night and it was the first time, I'd ever heard them get a round of applause.

They did very well in this carriage with a fair number of coins (but not "cheques, luncheon vouchers or Indian rupees" which they also accept) going into their omelette collecting pan. They even managed to sell a copy of the Toilet Song CD for four quid.

So if you've never heard them before click on this link and enjoy! You'll never see them on the official Carling Busker circuit, as I imagine a two song repertoire wouldn't be enough to get them through the London Underground auditions or "Busking Idol".

However, I wouldn't have thought they were too sad about it. I've never heard of any Tube ones that have been "discovered" or made it big, but a number of them apparently get paid by record companies to "demo" or play certain tracks, as it's cheap way of getting songs heard by millions of commuters.

Do you have a favourite busker on the Tube? Or have you ever bought one of the CD's that a number of buskers are producing now?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 26, 2006 Permalink

Misery Line Music Video Quiz

How well do you know the Northern Line?

We've done a number of these quizzes in the past, where you have to see if you can guess where on the London Underground a particular music video was filmed (Madonna and The Scissor Sisters in the past). Thanks to Pedro Gomes who sent me a whole collection of online videos he's found related to the Tube and amongst them was a Creep style music video with vocals by Ian Brown, that's clearly shot on the Northern Line. But where?

Our heroine and her friends leave a station and walk down one of those typically long & seemingly endless corridors on the Tube that are a dream for horror movie and music video makers


1. Which station is this?

They get to a point where they go down some stairs and the boys go one way, leaving the girl alone to go home another way. She gets to a deserted station and sits down


2. Which station is she sitting at?

She sees a pretty spooky looking person at the far end of the platform, but not paying too much attention she gets onto her train and leaves.


Now you know what continuity can be like on these videos and artistic license is often used with gay abandon.

3. Is she leaving the same station as the one in the picture two? If not what station is it?

Like the woman in Creep she's on a deserted carriage, so she puts her feet up and listens to her walkman. She's wearing some pretty cool boots here


So one for the tube geeks, sorry ... experts, here.

4. Give me the name of the type of train that she's on. The more exact the better in terms of the stock.

She attempts to get off the Tube at some point but the doors don't open long enough for her to leave. So she sits back down, appears to doze off and the mysterious character that she saw earlier comes over and touches her cheek.

The video ends the following morning, with a station cleaner coming onto the train to clear the rubbish.


He finds her apparently asleep and goes over to wake her but she's turned into a withered old lady and we can only assume that the mysterious character has stolen her youth & beauty.

5. What station does the cleaner find her in?

It will probably help you in the quiz if you can find the video itself, but try not to give the link away to others when you answer!

As usual the people who get most answers correct will go into Neil's paperclip selection. To enter leave your email address and/or blog/website with your answers in the comments below. Please leave all your answers in one entry and you can only enter once! You have until 23.59 GMT, Sunday 2nd July to make your guesses.

And the prize, well it's the nearest I have to something that's Tube and film related. It's a handy little tin featuring a 1930's "Film Lover" London Underground poster. Use it to carry small knick knacks (whatever they are).

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 23, 2006 Permalink

Batty Tube Map

The mind boggles

What happens when you get some international architects and ask them to give a vision of what London might look like?

You get a Tube Map where the names of the stations all have the word "bat" in them!


Many thanks to Matt from Londonist for sending me a picture of the architect's vision for London which is part of "The World in One City - Sketches of London" free exhibition that's currently on at The Gallery in York Way, Kings's Cross.

It's on until Sunday 25th June if you'd like to see which country & group of architects produced this and quite why it's a vision of London's future. But in the meantime if you'd like to make a guess... feel free to do so in the comments below!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 23, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's the weekly look at commuters who could be considered slaves to fashion, are displaying a particular trend or have an unusual sense of "style" when it comes to clothes. Yesterday I was at Hammersmith at the same time as two ladies who had come from Royal Ascot races and there's two very different styles here:

Mumsy Ascot

This is more of the traditional approach to Ascot and she's cleverly wrapped up with a cardigan - although it is a bit School Run

Not so sure about carrying some fishing rods on your back with this outfit though! Even Twiggy on the poster opposite seems to find that a bit funny.

Trendy Ascot

Now we see a much more interesting & unconventional approach with the "hat"


She's also gone for the "I don't care if it's too cold to wear this dress, and I'm not going to cover myself up" approach. It's not called Glamoursmith for nothing.

Matching Merrells

Last week we had the Birkenstock Sisters and this week we have Matching Merrells


It's a very sporty look and I spose trainers like this are one of the most practical things to wear on the Tube, but they do make you look as though you're taking part in a triathlon.

Oversized Sunnies inside

I don't normally see men in oversized sunglasses, but there's always an exception


He's also doing the classic victim thing of keeping his sunglasses on inside the Tube.

Blingtastic

Quite a lot of bling going on here


Blingy bangles, tick. Blingy rings with little chains hanging off them, tick. Designer "Gucci" bag with extra bling, tick.

Leopard Skin Overload

And finally, can you ever wear too much Leopard Skin?


Leopard skin trousers & a leopard skin jacket. She looked a bit like the offspring of Pat Butcher out of EastEnders and Bet Lynch out of Corrie.

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, June 23, 2006 Permalink

Keeping up with Football on the Tube

The next result will be arriving in 2 mins

Yesterday I was wondering how the Tube Staff got to keep tabs on the World Cup. Some of them have radio coverage as TVs aren't allowed, but looks like some staff are keen on keeping the whole platform informed.


Martin spotted this brill picture in Flickr by taken by Bruno Girin. Bruno said "What if you are stuck in the tube rather than in the pub watching the game? No worries, the station staff will make sure the important information is displayed!"

Quality!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 22, 2006 Permalink

Not on the London Underground

The Tube Roundel goes travelling

Many thanks to Rafael, Dmitri and Barry who sent in some more pictures of the London Underground roundel doing the rounds.

Firstly some pictures of some floor decorations in the large department store V & D (Vroom & Dreesman) in Amsterdam where Dmitri got some funny looks while taking the pictures:






From Amsterdam to Brazil and Rafael sent me a picture of "The Hide Shop" which is a newstand in the city centre of Curitiba.


Finally some pictures from Barry of The Underground Store in Reykjavik which Jon Allen had also taken a picture of


And indeed as acb had mentioned in the comments, there is a trendy bar (Kaffibarinn) in Reyakjavik which is partly owned by Damon Albarn out of Blur and the Gorillaz. Here's Barry outside that very bar which is also kitted out with the Tube Roundel.


Ever since reading 101 Reykjavik a fab novel about the crazy nightlife there, I've been keen to visit Iceland's capital. Barry said "It's quite surreal experience to travel to the Arctic Circle and find all these LU roundels all over the place, but then Reykjavik (and Iceland as a country) itself is quite a surreal place. A drunken Friday night staggering through downtown Reykjavik is something everyone should experience at least once in their lives!"

Keep sending the pictures in and I'll blog them in due course, plus there's a growing Flickr set of the ones sent in so far. Cheers!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 22, 2006 Permalink

Rooney on the London Underground

Where's Wayne?

No wonder England only drew against Sweden last night, when Wayne Rooney was on the London Underground just a short while before he should have been warming up before the match


I quite like his new Mohican haircut, but I didn't know that gold was one of the colours on England's strip.

Ah but look, here is again although he seems to have got a bit darker and dyed his hair again.


If I were Sven I would tell him to stop messing about on the Tube and experimenting with different hairstyles and concentrate on the game. It's not really that difficult is it?

Later I was on the Tube during the match itself, and it's a great way of travelling. It's almost deserted. Plus when I went through Chancery Lane station concorse the station staff had kindly decided to "tannoy" the game through the loud speakers so the few passengers travelling through could catch the latest.

One of my work colleagues actually wondered whether much of the Tube would be working as he imagined that a number of staff might throw a sickie! Surely not, I replied, They wouldn't do that would they?

At my company we're lucky in that we can legitimately take time off to watch matches where "our own country" is playing. It's an international company, although the majority of staff in our London office are probably English, so people are deciding whether they can dredge up some long lost relative from Brazil or Argentina.

However, I imagine Tube staff don't have this luxury and have to find other ways of keeping track of the games, when they're supposed to be working. Does your company give you time off to watch football, or do you have other "tactics" to keep informed during daytime matches? If you work on the Tube or railways I'd particularly love to know how you manage.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, June 21, 2006 Permalink

Where do Tube Font designers go for inspiration?

There's something about Dogs & Ditchling

I'm not quite sure what the attractions of a small English village on the edge of the South Downs are, but it seems to be an inspirational source for some of Britain's most influential font designers, including Edward Johnston (he of the Johnston Tube Font) and Eric Gill (his pupil, who invented Gill Sans). Crikey, wouldn't it be cool to have a font named after you?


In 1907 Eric Gill began a sort of artisans' community on Ditchling Common, where he could live out his ideas of self-sufficiency, asceticism and Catholicism, and also continue to explore his passions for typography, engraving and err... sexual shenanigans. "According to the 1989 biography by Fiona MacCarthy, Gill's relationships included two of his sisters and two of his daughters. His personal diaries also describe, in great detail, regular sexual activity between himself and the family dog." (I love Wikipedia).

Lots of his friends came to join him in Ditchling (hopefully not in his sexual practices). These designers and artists included his former teacher, the idiosyncratic Edward Johnston, who created the Tube's iconic font and the world famous London Underground roundel. Johnston reworked the Underground logo with his new typeface and incorporated it with a red ring.

Thanks to Marc, I learnt that The Ditchling Museum - a former Victorian schoolhouse - is putting on an intimate and revealing exhibition dedicated to Johnston's work. "The show will also celebrate the range of creativity that Johnston was capable of - both the public (it is extraordinary to think the designs for the radical new transport system of the time, The Tube, were designed in his studio in this rural village) and the personal (books for his children)."

Johnston was also a calligraphy expert and his 1906 book Writing, Illuminating & Lettering is considered a calligraphy Bible. So it's fitting that 100 years later an exhibition is staged in his countryside haven and hideaway.

Perhaps you need to escape from the city in order to get a bit of perspective on it and design a font and icon that cuts through the clutter. The clarity of the typeface made it a perfect information tool, and it's been used on posters, signage, the Tube Map and publicity since its creation in 1913. The Johnston typeface was redesigned in 1979 by Eiichi Kono at Banks & Miles to produce New Johnston, which is the variant currently used by Transport for London.

With Pen Ink & Paper: Being Edward Johnston runs until the 1st October at the Ditchling Museum, Church Lane, Ditchling, Sussex, and is £3.50 for adults, a quid for students and children go free.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 20, 2006 Permalink

800 stuck in the heat on the Central Line

Stuck for two hours in 38C

On Friday morning around 800 passengers were stuck on a Central Line train after it broke down during rush hour. At 8.50am a train broke down between Liverpool St and Bank stations and it took until 10.45 for the last commuters to get out.

The broken train was close enough to to the platform for hundreds on board to get out, but it trapped another packed service behind it, which could not reverse because of the other trains queuing up behind.

One person on board had the following story, when he explained how passengers left in groups of ten.

"After an hour the driver told us the first two carriages had been emptied. I was at the very back and I started thinking I could be there for hours. One lady was suffering very badly. I can't believe they would keep someone like her trapped down there for almost an hour.

"It took an hour to get everyone on the front of the train off then just half an hour to get the rest of us. They obviously abandoned doing ten people at a time because it was too slow."

LU were trying to find out what caused the break down, but a British Transport Police spokesman said: "An object had fallen off the train and the train was stuck. It may have damaged the track."

So this is the second time in a month that passengers have been stuck underground for more than an hour. It must be a nightmare when at first you don't have a clue as to what's going on, and then wondering when you're actually going to get out.

London Underground are really lucky that more people don't have panic attacks and fortunately on this occasion only one person required medical attention after fainting and 12 were treated for exhaustion and dehydration. "The Ticket Collector's" blog has an entry about what it was like on the train, and it's quite interesting to see how a member of surface rail staff felt being stuck underground and what he tried to do to help.

Somehow your train fare back under the Customer Charter doesn't seem the right amount of compensation in times like this, and lets hope like with the people stuck on the Victoria Line, they get a better amount of compensation. Although I do wonder how you can possibly work out what the "right" amount of compensation is?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 19, 2006 Permalink

Cryptic Tube Station Quiz

And the winners are.......

Good response to the quiz where you had to guess the station names from the following cryptic clues.

However, before I reveal the answers to mine and Neil's "killer" clues, Jo asked if people could have another guess (rather than be limited to their "one answer only")

So have another go then.

From the original post, no one offered an answer for 6, 8, 12, 14, 17 and 20.

1. You've interred the gun, I hear
2. Beep beep! Sounds like Lord Coe's back
3. Follow procedures at this residence
4. The French have Tony all mixed up
5. Gets 21 and leaves
6. Er, drench a porky. Confused?
7. Resident of Roman England gets cross at the academy
8. Only a high-jump gold medallist can claim this title
9. Sheriff reaches his hundred but needs a direction
10. It's not cheese found in elderly McDonald's abode
11. The portly pig is firm once he's had a wee
12. Capital's department keeps me angry
13. Sounds like those distant bells have stopped
14. This garden jazz man's not off
15. Office junior joins the French
16. A circular record?
17. A part of Harold's joint is looking mouldy
18. Revolutionary joins the pretence
19. It's well-liked without you!
20. Babe's partner gives an encore

The answer given to 11 wasn't exactly what I was looking for and number 1 ended up having two correct answers. Plus the answer given for 16 wasn't correct!

So have a go with as many as you can and Neil will do the paperclip selection amongst the original correct guessers later today.

OK the paperclip selection has now taken place and the winner of "Memorise the Tube Map in 3 Hours" is Michelle. The runner up prize of a Tube Mouse Mat goes to Jamesthegill who was 2nd in the selection! So very well done to them.

The answers are below - although after this second attempt I think they were all guessed correctly. However, if you'd like me or Neil to explain the answers, feel free to ask.

1. Canonbury (not Gunnersbury - there's a fine distinction)
2. Tooting Bec
3. Custom House
4. Leyton
5. Pontoon Dock
6. Hyde Park Corner
7. Brixton
8. Barking
9. South Kenton
10. Chalk Farm
11. West Hampstead
12. Crossharbour & London Arena
13. Farringdon
14. Alperton
15. Temple
16. Monument
17. Stepney Green
18. Chesham
19. Poplar
20. Stanmore

Less painful on the brain is the scavenger hunt quiz below, so you might want to try your luck at that and the more liberties taken with PhotoShop the better!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 19, 2006 Permalink

Scavenger Hunt London Underground Quiz - 2

Win a pack of London Underground Art Poster Playing Cards

Fimb's Tube Scavenger hunt quiz in March was so popular, with some really inventive answers that I decided to do another one.

You get to win a brand new set of playing cards - each one features an image from a "classic" London Underground Poster.


So this time you have to search the net and find the following items:

1) A colourful Tube train - ie not one that is silver, or silver, red or blue.

2) An mp3 or video of a Tube busker

3) A real pub that has the same name as a Tube station

4) A pre 1910 poster advertising the London Underground (This was initially pre 20th century but I've realised it's toooo difficult - and no, you can't use the picture of the playing cards above!)

5) A picture of an animal travelling on the Tube

6) A picture of a smiling London Underground member of staff - it can be a driver, station assistant, manager or someone else who works on the Tube.

As my haloscan commenting system used to only let you put three links in each comment, you might have to make two comments if you want to enter (although Fimb seems to have all put at least six links in one comment).

There is a bonus point if your answer to 1-5 is different from the person who guessed immediately before you.

Plus each answer to number 6 MUST be different - so you can't give the same link as someone else. There must be hundreds of smiling Tube staff pictured on the internet so it should be easy to find them. Shouldn't it?

You have until 23.59 GMT Sunday 25th June to make your guesses and please leave either your email address and/or blog or website in the comments when you make your two posts. As usual Neil's paperclip selection will come into play in the event of several people getting the same high point score.

There may be some bonus prizes of fridge magnets and badges for people who give particularly inventive answers.

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 16, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Once again it's Friday's look at commuters who could be considered slaves to fashion or have a particularly unusual sense of "style" when it comes to clothes. Apart from on Monday when it was roasting, the weather's been fairly normal for mid June, so lots of sandals but no women actually spotted wearing underwear as outerwear.....yet!

The Birkenstock Sisters

Speaking of sandals, looks like Birkenstocks are once again this year's must have footwear.


It was very kind of these women to wear contrasting pairs in red and black and sit opposite me. I think I must be one of the few people in the world who doesn't think Birkenstocks are comfortable. I can't wear those sandals that have a bit between your big toe anyway, but even the Birkenstocks without the toe bit I find extremely uncomfortable. I persevered with them one year for about a month and then gave up.

Mock Converses & Tweed Skirt

However, thanks to doing this section of the blog I am now Converse convert. But even though I'm a new Converse convert, I don't think you should wear them with smart tweed skirts.


Or should you? I know that David Tennant gets away with them with a suit in Dr Who, (geek chic) but I think they look pretty ugly with this rather school marmish skirt. Perhaps it's because they're not real Converses either but mock ones.

More Tattered Jeans

If you didn't read the comments on a non fashion post in the week, you won't know that we've had the first victim to spot themselves on the blog. Lu spotted herself as the "victim below"


She said "That is 100% certainly me down in the fashion victims with the torn jeans. You can even see the bit I sowed back together on the left leg. Crikey."

When I asked how she managed to get them looking so worn on the knees, she replied "Annie, The torn jean effect just happens to some of us, and to some of us it doesn't. I first knew it was me (not simply because of the matching shoes with the matching torn jeans) because of this inward facing way I turn my feet when I stand. Plus it seems that I am leaning against the wall, which I do a lot on the tube. Is that at Hammersmith?"

It was certainly on the way to Hammersmith on the Piccadilly Line. But I'm delighted that we have our first identified victim and fortunately she didn't feel like belting me one!

However, I'm assuming that Lu isn't the lady who's also going for the tattered jeans look below, although there is a bit of a theme with metallic footwear! (First metallic flip flops I've seen this year).


She seems to have gone for a much more "tailored" and deliberate torn look than Lu. She also appears to have some icicles or chains dangling off her wrist.

Midnight Cowboy

So to finish with some men.


This bloke in a stetson reminded me of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's grandad's character in Midnight Cowboy. He seemed to be looking fairly lost in the big city, and may have just landed from a little place way out West. Or maybe he's simply trying to ressurect the stetson look that was trendy a year or so ago.

Engerlerrrrnd shirt

Taken yesterday morning, this bloke obviously wanted to support "our lads". Unlike the bulk of men who seem to be going retro by sporting red football T shirts, he went for white with a chavtastic style of writing on the back.


It almost reminded me of the writing on the back of "Off White Jacket man's" jacket.

Ooops I'm forgot to put my shoes on

Last week we had a man in his pyjama bottoms, and this week we finish with a young bloke who appears to have forgotten his shoes


Am I missing a new Barefoot and Bandanna'd trend?

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, June 16, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Tiles

Edwardian Tube Tiles

With all the recent talk of stations being closed to refurbishment, James Petts emailed me saying that he hoped that when Regent's Park is refurbished "they will not be replacing all the historical original brown and yellow tiles with entirely anachronistic white ones, as they are doing in Elephant and Castle." He kindly took some pictures (left & below) to show what the station currently looks like.

Hopefully the tiles will be preserved, but you never can tell. This reminded me that Matt from Londonist had told me Doug Rose was on a mission to make sure that the tiles were preserved - well virtually at least.


Apparently "London has been the home of the largest, most extensive decorative tiling project ever undertaken in Britain"....."The tiling of over 90 tube platforms, and associated passageways, staircases and surface-level booking halls, probably amounted to the largest single creation of decorative art on public display anywhere - and arguably the longest and thinnest art gallery in the world."

If you pop over to Doug's fascinating site you will see how owners of deep level stations from the 1890s faced the problem of maximising the light in their gloomily gaslit platforms.

"Platform walls were tiled to over the height of a man and were up to 350 feet long - in all some six miles long. For some years, station modernisation has meant that more and more of these polychrome decorations have disappeared for ever. Now only a minority of the stations give any idea of their original splendour."


"Several stations had been renamed since they opened and these usually had their former name panels painted over. Over the 20-year project, numerous of these were targeted over night. Paint stripper was used, as seen here on the Northern Line's Tottenham Court Road station. The original name, Oxford Street, had been covered up since 1908."

Doug continues "For the last quarter of a century, diligent and punctilious work has captured them, sometimes only days ahead of their disappearance. Some of them have been assembled here, so that the dramatic effect can be appreciated in full, as never before......aided by a few others sharing this interest, a systematic programme of surveying and research was carried out to try and re-create what all those platforms had looked like from the day they had opened.."

So please visit Doug's site and you will see the re-creations of stations, where you can scroll along the whole length of the platform and get a feel of what passengers would have seen back in 1906/7.

If some of you think Doug's name sounds familiar, he's the man who bought us "The London Underground: A diagrammatic history" - the excellent Tube map which shows exactly when every line (and segment of line) and every station was opened, any subsequent closures, and all the changes in station names.

However, this current tiling project will be in hardback form soon with "158 drawings and plans all specially produced and 236 photographs, almost all previously unpublished".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 15, 2006 Permalink

Another Wapping Weekend

Carry on Shafting again

If you haven't got a weekend sticking your self in front of the TV or a large screen to watch the World Cup, you might fancy popping off to a Brunel Thames Tunnel Tour which are running this weekend. These innuendo filled tours covering Brunel's Wapping shaft, are fun and informative as Robert Hulse, the curator of the Brunel Museum will keep you entertained with the history of the oldest section of tunnel in the London Underground.


For the trip under the Thames between Rotherhithe and Wapping stations the tunnels are floodlit and the trains travel a bit slower than normal so you can see the tunnels in more detail.

Robert says there's a new book about the Thames Tunnel - "The Brunel's Tunnel" that's just been published and the following section from its foreword is by Michael Palin

"This great underwater crossing was a feat of engineering which the Victorians, never short on hyperbole, called the Eighth Wonder Of The World. Its continued use today as part of the East London Line is testimony to the far-sighted technical skill of Marc and Isambard Brunel. What we shouldn't forget is the grip that the Thames Tunnel had on the popular imagination at the time; a combination of joy, pleasure, wonder and sheer excitement, which is not dead and which echoes up from the river-bed to this day.

The Thames Tunnel, the first of an underground network that transformed our city's life is something of which Londoners always were, and should always remain, rightly proud."

The tours are running on the 17th, 18th, 24th, and 25th June and begin at Rotherhithe station at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm and only cost a fiver. You'll also need a valid Travelcard or Oystercard or ticket for zone 2. To book visit the Brunel Museum's website. A group of us first went a year ago, a number of visitors to this blog have been since and it's well worth a visit!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 15, 2006 Permalink

Dangerous Door on the London Underground

Scary Door number 2 (or rather door 48)

Last week I saw another one of those mysterious dangerous Tube doors with a number of signs advising you to keep well away from them.


I can't remember where I took the picture but the door was numbered 48. These doors always make me curious as to seeing what's behind them, but I've never been around when anyone comes out of them. This one was particularly scary as there's not only a deep pit but a void behind it too.

I've just finished re-reading Neverwhere for my book group and one of the main characters is door-opener called Door (funnily enough). She travels from a parallel London called London Below to London Above (the London we know). In the London Below some of the characters (including the Earl from Earl's Court) live in those darkened "Special" Tube trains which always speed past your stop and live on Choclit & Coke from the platform vending machines.

But I imagine even Door would think twice about opening the door above. If anyone has been around to see what's behind them please let us know. Hopefully it's not the fire and brimstone or deep pits full of weird underworld creatures that I imagine.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, June 14, 2006 Permalink

Queensway has re-opened

Get ready for Lancaster Gate & Regent's Park to close

Hoorah, the re-furbished Queensway has finally re-opened, just in time for the next station on the Central Line, Lancaster Gate to close on the 2nd July and that will be shortly followed by the closure of Regent's Park for year too from the 5th July.


To keep track of all the closures check out this guide from TfL.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, June 14, 2006 Permalink

Severe Delays on the District plus Circle & Hammersmith & City Lines screwed

Faulty Communications Equipment

Thanks to Moley for giving me the heads up about the entire District Line being suspended earlier due to faulty communications equipment. Must have been some fault for the whole line to have come down. You'll also find your journey effected if travelling on the Hammermith & City Line as that's currently suspended between Liverpool Street and Barking and the Circle Line is also suspended in both directions between Edgware Road and Aldgate (via Embankment) due to faulty communications equipment.

Hopefully, they might have fixed all of this by your journey home, (keep an eye on the real time delays site) if not have fun! If anyone has any more news on what's behind the problems please let us know in the comments. Cheers.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 13, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Roundel not on the Underground

Quick let's warn TfL's lawyers

Here's a couple more pictures of the Tube's logo or roundel being used in some unusual places. They were both spotted by Jon Allen on his travels. The first is a puntastic advert for a bookshop in Porthmadog, Wales and not as I originally thought a station sign for Reading, Berkshire


Reading - It's never money down the Tubes! I bet the bookshop had hours of fun coming up with that byline.

From Portmadog to Reykjavik and Jon spotted this in a bar in the capital city of Kerry Katona's favourite country, Iceland


Cheers for those Jon. I've made a quick Flickr set which includes photos that other people have kindly sent in. So if anyone spots any more on their travels, please send them in as we need to keep London Underground's lawyers on their toes!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 13, 2006 Permalink

Keeping Cool on the London Underground

Not feeling so hot at Victoria?

If you travel through Victoria regularly, see if you notice it not being so hot this summer. It's been a scorching weekend in London and the coming week looks set to be just as hot, so it's time for the Tube to issue the annual press release to address the hot weather.

This time it's more than the usual one about carrying a bottle of water. Now there's "an innovative groundwater cooling trial at Victoria Tube station."

Master of understatement and LU Managing Director Tim O'Toole said: "We know it can get hot in the Tube in summer." Really?

"As in previous years, we'll be taking measures and offering advice to passengers on how to try and stay cool on the Tube." Yeah, yeah, like the poster says carry water, get off if you feel hot, stop whinging, blah, blah. I wanted to hear more about the "innovative cooling trial". Several paragraphs later, he stops spinning about "challenges", "long term answers", "solutions", yada, yada and we finally get to the section about the trial.

Apparently for the last year a dedicated team have been working on "solutions" that will help cool the Tube down.

"Research has been undertaken to look at passenger comfort levels, understand the physiological effects of heat and predict future temperature increases.

The dedicated team has completed a survey of 200 stations and ventilation plant rooms to understand the extent of heat at specific stations so that engineering solutions can be targeted at sections of the network where the problem of heat is most acute."

Victoria station appears to have acute heat problems and from the summer will be on the receiving end of "an environmentally friendly cooling system for the Victoria line platforms and will use groundwater which is already pumped out of the station." So here comes the science bit "The water supply which has a temperature of around 12C will be pumped through a network of pipes to feed three heat exchange units on the concourse area between the Victoria line platforms.

The heat exchange units have fans which will draw in the warm station air and through heat exchange with the pumped water will supply cooled air to the concourse area and the movement of trains will spread this cooled air to the platform area."

Cool. Well, er will it be? It remains to be seen whether it will actually work and already Tim O'Toole is hedging his bets. He said "Some passengers may notice a small difference this summer but we know that there is a lot more to do and it will take many years to cool the Tube."

Don't feel left out if you don't use Victoria (although you'll have a two year wait), as from 2009 new trains for the sub-surface lines (District, Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith) will come with air-cooling. Apparently "refurbished District line trains also now benefit from improved ventilation". Can't say I've noticed, but if it's in an TfL press release it must be true!

So aside from carrying around water, not pulling the passenger alarm between stations but getting off early if you feel too hot, do you have any tips for keeping cool on the Tube? Or have you seen any other passengers with "innovative" cooling ideas?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 12, 2006 Permalink

Tube stations with celebrities' names quiz - the winners

Five lucky people get some tea

Many, many thanks to the record number of you who entered the quiz to discover names of Tube Stations which contain celebrities' names - we came up with as many to do half the Tube map. (Who needs Simon Patterson? - if Transport for London didn't try to sue us perhaps we could sell the map to the Tate for twenty grand?)


Once we took out the people who had disqualified themselves, the people who didn't leave contact details and the two people who entered past the deadline (nice try!!!), Neil did the paper clip selection and the winners of the London Underground Tea are:

Ian
Nikki
Gwennyth
Quin
Collin Kelley

So very well done to you.

Perhaps you should make some iced tea with lemon. I dread to think what the Tube's going to be like tonight going home and I've already seen The Evening Standard headlines screaming Tube Heat Nightmare! "People swelter in hottest June the 12th since records began". etc etc etc.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 12, 2006 Permalink

When will Queensway open?

Metronet criticised yet again

I hope you weren't expecting that Queensway would be re-opened today, as it looks like you will be in for a long wait. Queensway station has been shut for year and was originally due to open again at the beginning of May. When that didn't happen, Metronet, the contractors, blamed the "extremely complex" replacement of the more than 50 year old passenger lifts, but said all would be well by the 12th June.


Well it's the 12th June and the station is still closed and apparently London Underground have no idea when the station will be re-opened.

Chris Bolt, regulator for the LU's PPP is concerned about Metronet's performance. He believes that if the problems continued, London Underground could use its 'step in' rights to oversee Metronet contracts and make it pay costs for this. These penalties could be around £100,000 a week, so if I were them, I'd get a move on.

After the original opening date, a spokesman at Metronet, being more than a bit previous, said "The century-old station structure now has new life - and I'm confident that the finished product is much improved, brighter, and safer - and that the new lifts will provide many years of reliable service in the future."

Hopefully, we will see them one day!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 12, 2006 Permalink

Friday Quiz - Memorise the Tube Map in 3 Hours

How well do you know London Underground station names?

The challenge this week isn't to memorise the Tube map in 3 hours, but the prize is. Romolo Russo kindly sent me a copy of his book which poses the question "Ever wondered how fascinating it would be if you could memorise the London Tube map?" Handy, yes. Good party trick, yes. Not so sure about 'fascinating'.


Romolo's pocket sized book is a series of "bizarre stories which act as clues to remembering the stations". Romolo, says that each of the 14 stories takes an average of 13 minutes to learn. Using the 'Loci' method, he gives each station a name or identity that is more visual than the station itself, and makes it into a story that you might find easier to remember than the order of the stations. According to Romolo "This method of imagery stimulates your memory more easily and is the best way to remember a list of events."

Here's an example for the Central Line, where Hugh Grant represents Notting Hill "Hugh Grant goes to the centre to buy a huge tomato. He meets the Queen who leads the way, Burt Lancaster directs them to a huge Marble Arch. They see James Bond running towards an Ox.". etc etc I think you get what he's trying to do.

Personally I would struggle to remember the story, but it reminded me of the quiz I've had on goingunderground, with cryptic clues to station names. Soooooo, me and Neil came up with some cryptic clues to 20 station names from the Tube Map (remember the map includes the Silver Link).

Can you guess what they are? One guess only PLEASE - anyone being a smart arse & giving more than one answer will be disqualified and find their entry mysteriously disappears. You can't give the same answer that someone else has already given, so get in quick as the easier ones are likely to go first.

1. You've interred the gun, I hear
2. Beep beep! Sounds like Lord Coe's back
3. Follow procedures at this residence
4. The French have Tony all mixed up
5. Gets 21 and leaves
6. Er, drench a porky. Confused?
7. Resident of Roman England gets cross at the academy
8. Only a high-jump gold medallist can claim this title
9. Sheriff reaches his hundred but needs a direction
10. It's not cheese found in elderly McDonald's abode
11. The portly pig is firm once he's had a wee
12. Capital's department keeps me angry
13. Sounds like those distant bells have stopped
14. This garden jazz man's not off
15. Office junior joins the French
16. A circular record?
17. A part of Harold's joint is looking mouldy
18. Revolutionary joins the pretence
19. It's well-liked without you!
20. Babe's partner gives an encore

To enter leave your guess (yes, that's singular - one guess only!!) in the comments below with your email address and/or website/blog. You have until Sunday 18th June 23.59 GMT to enter. All correct entries go into Neil's paperclip selection and the first person selected will get their very own copy of "Memorise the Tube Map in 3 Hours". Because I'm feeling generous, the 2nd person will get a shiny new Tube Map mouse mat, so you can practice learning the map at your computer!


Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 09, 2006 Permalink

Take The Last Train to Shoreditch

Doesn't have the same ring as Clarksville!

I'm sure that many people people tonight will be going to see the last train rumble into Shoreditch Tube Station, as from this evening it will close forever. Somehow I don't think it will be greeted with the same levels of sadness as seeing the last Routemaster. However I learnt from Rafael's site that "This will be the first station closure on the Underground since Aldwych, North Weald and Ongar closed (on the same day) in 1994."


A new station, called Shoreditch High Street, will open in 2010 at the site of the former Bishopsgate Goods Yard when the first phase of the project to improve the East London Line is completed. Check out the Tube's press release for more on this.

Meanwhile a whole group of Tube Challengers from the forum will be travelling across this evening to say farewell to the station. The last train to Shoreditch departs New Cross Gate at 2019, and I'm pretty sure that's the one they're intending to be on. Perhaps someone from the forum could give us some more details. Although at the time of writing the line is closed between Whitechapel & Shoreditch, so let's hope it's working by the time they, er, close it.

In the meantime, bye bye Shoreditch, it's been nice knowing you!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 09, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Once again it's this week's look at commuters who could be considered slaves to fashion or have a particular fashion "style" that they have made their own. this week in London we seem to have more consistently seasonal weather. So generally everyone has been able to wear summer clothes. Although some people are hedging their bets and wearing two outfits at once.

Dresses as Tops

I'm definitely one for long tops as they can hide a multitude of sins and in general they're preferable to a fleshy display of muffin tops or gunts caused by low slung trousers and short tops. However, I don't really understand the current trend of wearing dresses over trousers or leggings. To me you get that "two outfit in one" look. Should I wear a dress? Should I wear jeans? Oh sod it, I'll just wear both!


I now this looks isn't helped by the collection of bags, but it just looks messy to me.


There seems to be a pattern though of wearing glittery Indian pumps when you do the "Dress as Top" look. This lady was wearing a black ballet style netted skirt underneath her "dress/top", just to add to the several outfits in one.

Who has the worst bag?

Three bags lined up for your perusal. For me there's no contest here, as you all know my opinions on metallic bags. this is the first time I've ever seen a green metallic bag though and it defies description.


I struggle with buying handbags at the moment, as I just don't like hardly anything in the shops now.

How to Drop A Boyfriend?

Why are T Shirts with slogans on them generally more than a bloke thing, than a chick thing?


This woman had clearly gone to some effort in accessorising her T Shirt. The cartoon was in silver and she has a silver and black bag which I quite liked. What I didn't like was the metallic silver plaited belt that you can just about see.

What men wear in the summer

I feel very sorry for men in the summer time, particularly if you work in an office. What do you wear? Shorts, three quarter length trousers, chinos?


The man above has a job where there's no dress code. Unless he works in a trendy tattoo parlour on Wardour Street where he would get best dressed employee of the week. Murrells are in abundance in Soho, so he's allright there. Tribal tattooo, yep, check, that's fine. Combat looking shorts, yes, he's got full marks.

Ooops I'm wearing my Pyjamas

I imagine that the following man works in a trendy office:


Oversized man bag, tick. Long sleeved loose T shirt, tick. Trendy brown slip on loafers, tick. Pyjama bottoms, ... err.... um.... well.

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, June 09, 2006 Permalink

Sponsor a London Underground Station

Not another money making idea from TfL

You may remember the "Commercial Tube Map" a spoof of what the London Underground Map would look like if appropriate companies sponsored the stations, well now you can sponsor or adopt your own favourite station on a charity Google Map run by Capital Radio.


Visit www.londonlandgrab.com, and you can adopt a Tube Station from as little as £25. The site lets you take 'ownership' of a London property such as a Tube station, market, pub, shop, monument or famous landmark. You can then add any text you like & any image you like to it. The money goes to Help A London Child.

I'm still not sure which Tube station to support, as I don't actually have a favourite one. After all of Tuesday night's shennanigans I was tempted to "own" Hammersmith station, so I could demand a better service for it, but someone has already grabbed it ahead of me.

If you don't fancy donating twenty five quid you can adopt a pub for as little as a fiver!

Speaking of Google maps, Jon Allen and a number of others have told me about another interactive London Underground map that calculates the quickest Tube route between two spots including walk time! I'd take some of the connections it gives you with a pinch of salt though. I mapped my route home and the map was under the mistaken belief that the Piccadilly Line stops at Turnham Green all the time (it only stops there after about 11pm at night), as changing there was suggested as my fastest route!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 08, 2006 Permalink

Waiting for a Richmond Train is like Waiting for Godot

Angry Man on Hammersmith's Platform (with apologies to The Clash)

Last night there was not just an angry man on Hammersmith's platform, but an angry woman too (me), and also a pretty fed up, but less angry looking, platform of people. I have a theory that there are more District Line trains bound for Ealing Broadway than there are for Richmond. With statistically uneven chances, almost every time I get to Hammersmith from the Piccadilly Line, the next District train can be predicted to be Ealing Broadway.

Some of you will be saying, "Yeah, yeah, she's wrong again. There's a 50-50 chance of either train appearing first". Whatever (don't get me into a Sebastian 'Talk to the Hand' strop)! Last night there were seven - count em, seven Ealing Broadway trains in a row. Me and the other passengers waiting for the Richmond or rather Bermuda Triangle bound train were none too happy.

After the third Ealing Broadway train, I tried pressing the button on the little "Help" Point lollipop thingie which graces the platform at Hammersmith. A few rings and then nothing, so I gave up. It's about as much help as a chocolate teapot at the best of times.

After the fourth Ealing Bdwy train, a man managed to connect with the disembodied mumbling voice which came from the Help point's bowels. He walked away disenchanted. By now a small group of us had formed into a tutting moaning alliance, as we asked the man what the voice had said. "It's useless. They've no idea." he grumbled.

With the fifth train we were taunted with the appearance of Richmond bound Tube. Well, the indicator said Richmond. However, when the Tube pulled in it had Ealing Broadway on the front. A few people climbed on, for some bizarre reason actually trusting the platform indicator. The train hung around with passengers half standing in and half standing out of it, straining their necks to see if a member of staff had decided to make an appearance and tell us what was actually going on. Pigs have been known to fly!

I went back to the lollipop help thingie and almost punched it. More rings, and then nothing again. A rather angry looking man leapt out of the train and started running towards the driver saying "You're having a laugh aren't you?". Clearly the driver was far from laughing at this point. "This is the fifth bloody train to Ealing Broadway. Why change it at the last minute?" Shouty Man shouted.

The man who managed to get through on the lollipop help thingie, was one of the people hanging in and out of the train. In a futile attempt at passenger revolution, he refused to move from the doors as they were trying to shut. After a number of "Stand clear of the doors" automated announcements, he remained where he was.

Some of us looked at him with a mixture of quiet admiration and the benign amusement you have when you just know someone's fighting a losing battle. The doors attempted to close a few more times, and we marvelled at his Herculean strength at keeping them open. But in the end, sadly both we knew & he knew, that he wouldn't be able to change the train's destination by brute force.

When he finally gave up I half expected the platform to give him a little round of applause. But we just smiled benignly at him and waited. And waited.

And waited. And waited. Samuel Beckett would have had a field day. With the sixth Ealing Broadway train, I felt that I was going to be stuck at Hammersmith, sitting on a bench for the rest of my life.

Shouty Man was pacing up and down the platform muttering "Bollocks" at anyone who caught his eye. I was turning into a muttering mad woman myself, and went back to punching the button of the lollipop help thingie, just to take my frustration out on something. Remember during all this time (25 minutes) there had been no official announcement.

When the seventh Ealing Bdwy train pulled in, Shouty Man, fit to burst, ran to the front and screamed at the woman driver of the train. She appeared to give as good as she got and told him it was nothing to do with her, and she couldn't suddenly just change the train's destination.

When the eighth train showed Ealing Broadway on the platform indicator, I felt I was definitely on "You've Been Framed", or was part of a sick TfL experiment into passenger reaction when given absolutely no information about delays. However, when the Tube rolled in, it was surprise, surprise, a Richmond train. By then, we stood half in and out of the train again, as we couldn't believe it would actually go to Richmond.

And Hallelujah, not only was it for Richmond but we were treated to a innaccurate platform announcement saying the train bound for Richmond would be with us in approximately 6 minutes time and that London Underground apologised for the delay to our journey. Yeah, right.

Looks like I have another Customer Charter form to fill out! I'm still astounded that it took half an hour for us to get a piece of inaccurate information and no real explanation for delay. At times like this it's great having a blog to let off steam.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, June 07, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Art

Would someone care to explain?

Speaking of things which make no sense, I took this picture of some "art" at Leceister Square before my Hammersmith experience:


Zero Built a Nest in my Navel. I couldn't agree more! Well, it makes you think. Doesn't it? How would you "speculate on its meaning"?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, June 07, 2006 Permalink

Tube radio system "antiquated"

Is London Underground's radio network unable to cope with another bomb attack?

Forgive me coming over all Daily Mail for a moment, but when will we ever learn? Yesterday's London Assembly report into the July 7th attacks say that "if another major incident occured emergency crews would not be able to communicate with the surface because their radios do not work underground. Tube drivers would be unable to talk directly to passengers to reassure and guide them in the darkness".

Reports after emergenices are inevitably going to end up pointing fingers and say, 'well if this was working this wouldn't have happened', or 'if we could have done this, more lives would have been saved'. We can have these sorts of arguments until the cows come home, but to me, the only point in having them is if we can learn something for the future.

The report has called for a unified radio system to let 999 services work underground. Fortunately, the report as outlined by the Evening Standard had nothing but praise for the emergency services on July 7th. Difficulties and delays in communications had a "minimal impact" and the services "responded well to the incidents against an immediate backdrop of confusion and poor telecommunications".

However, it makes 63 recommendations, a number of which are focussed on poor radio communications between Tube drivers and line controllers. One of the Assembly investigators compared the "antiquated" system to communications that we had in the First World War. "I have been down in tunnels with all the lights switched off. It's instant blindness. For those passengers to be trapped down there and to have temperatures hitting 110 degrees, with the dirt and smoke and injured, it's at that point where they really do need to have reassurance. We owe it to them to get communications sorted out". Apparently he has been assured that a new radio system will be in place by the end of 2007. We'll have to wait and see.

Andrew Gilligan, well used to digging up dirt, is happy to do more finger pointing and points his finger much more firmly at ministers. After the King's Cross fire, a recommendation was made to fit the Tube with a better radio network. Gilligan reminds us that was "a mere 17 years before the 7/7 attacks". The Government's response to poor communications & surveillance of suspects, or as Gilligan says "shameful failings in the absolute basics", is a "frenzied burst of new tough talking, iniatiative-mongering and law making, intended to look like 'decisive action' but whose only effect is to put further pressure on a misfiring system". He concludes that "We are probably no safer now than we were on 6th July. And that is the real worry."

So what do you think? A tough but fair conclusion or do you feel the Government has done a lot to protect us? Are moves such as putting metal detectors at Tube stations part of the "frenzied burst of tough talking" too?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 06, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Spoof Song Spoofed

London Underground Song Mimers

Don't you just love YouTube? Blogs have allowed the world to see our diaries. But with the advent of YouTube we get a chance to look at thousands of home movies and people miming away to their favourite songs, hairbrushes firmly in hands, tongues unfortunately not so firmly in cheek as they should be!

Pedro sent me a link to two guys who clearly should get some money back on their "Miming made easy lessons" who are "singing" along to the "classic" London Underground Spoof Song.


There are some brilliantly over-the-top mimes to lines such as "what you smell is what you get, Burger King and piss & sweat" and "So I'm standing here in the pouring rain. Where the f**k's my f**king train?".

I suppose this video will have to do if you can't get along to the Edinburgh Festival this year, where the song's writers Adam Kay & Suman Biswas aka Amateur Transplants will be performing this along with other "ballads".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, June 06, 2006 Permalink

Me , My Dad & Moorgate and Underground Ernie

Two TV views of the Tube

It's funny how the timing of some TV scheduling works to bring two very different Tube views just days apart. On Saturday night I saw the dark sillhouette of a jug eared character who after a few seconds was recognisable as Gary Linekar. Thinking it was going to be yet another plug for the World Cup, I was about to tune out, then he started talking about Tube lines and the screen burst into colour & turned into a trailer for the new Underground Ernie series which starts on BBC2 children's TV at 9.00am and CBeebies at 4.30pm today.

Last night I watched a fascinating programme on Channel 4 called Me, My Dad & Moorgate. Laurence Marks is a BAFTA award winning sitcom writer whose work includes Goodnight Sweetheart, The New Statesman and Birds of a Feather. His father was one of the 43 people who were killed on 28th February 1975 when a train crashed into a dead end at Moorgate, making it the worst train crash in London Underground's history.

Marks was 26 at the time and admitted that he didn't have the greatest relationship with his father, who was old enough to be his grandfather. In fact the last time he had seen him was seven days before the crash and they had argued. Laurence Marks was a Fleet Street journalist at the time, and ironically had to report on the crash and the investagation into its cause.

It was quite moving to see him in this film meeting one of the firefighters who was responsible for getting the dead and injured from the train. The firefighter, with some difficulty, described the scenes as if it were yesterday and remembered Marks' father (a former policeman) as a distinguished "City Gent", who even in death sat bolt upright with a military air about him.

At the time it was believed that the driver of the train had some illness which prevented him from letting go of the dead man's handle as the train overshot the platform and ploughed into the tunnel's dead end. However, Marks' investigations questioned this. Alcohol was found in the driver's bloodstream and only the week before he had overshot another platform. It appears that suicide was a more likely scenario but because a note was never found the coroner's verdict was accidental death.

However, the programme wasn't all doom and gloom as Marks' father's death, led to Laurence Marks somehow feeling that he could be free from his father's stern behaviour and disapproval of his long hair! He moved into comedy writing and the programme showed how, perhaps unconsciously, his father appeared in some of his sit coms - most notably the dim policeman PC Deadman (spot the irony) in Goodnight Sweetheart.

Now onto the brighter topic of Underground Ernie. It seems ages ago when I first blogged about the London Underground version of Thomas the Tank Engine (although it was only October - twice! - me childishly looking forward to it? Never!). Now finally it reaches the screens. Many of you greeted Ernie's arrival with a lot of enthusiasm so I get the impression that a number of adults will be taping it, or if you have kids around, find an excuse to watch with them tomorrow afternoon.

You can find out on the BBC's site how Gary Linekar felt about playing "an underground supervisor who is dedicated to his work and always ready to go the extra mile to make sure his passengers reach their destinations safely and on time." I'm sure we know lots of them!

Doubtless there'll be a number of people who pick holes in the "set", story & design of the trains saying "Oooh Jubilee Line 95TS stock would never just have four carriages", or "Why's the Victoria Line train red? That's not very up to date". I'd be interested to see what you think of it. But let's try not to analyse it too much though. Remember it's a kids programme, it's fictional, tube trains don't talk, they're not "fast & efficient" and not all station supervisors sound as cheerful as Gary Linekar!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 05, 2006 Permalink

Pigeons on the London Underground

Brian's Pigeon Cam

You know there's something mad about blogs when you get a blogging pigeon making a film on the Tube. Even madder when you find that the pigeon has dedicated the video to you! So many thanks to Brian, who took a pigeon's eye view of the London Underground


Click on the picture above & press play when it opens to see what the Tube looks like to feathered commuters who are only about five inches high. I don't know how he managed to take it without more people looking at him. He said "Did it at night coz I figured prob less obvious - till I found out a pigeon with a cam round it's neck is totally obvious - esp at night."

He's also done an excellent job keeping his head relatively still. I think it's a cool little video and perhaps people will stop calling pigeons vermin now. When did you ever see a rat with a video-cam? Pigeons are in a league of their own as fare evading commuters, although sometimes I'd rather they didn't sit on the seats!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 05, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Sock Quiz Results

And the winner is.......

I think this is only the second quiz I've held where no one got all the answers correct and it was the date of the last steam trains carrying passengers which threw everyone who entered.

So the answers are:

1. The London Transport Museum will open in the spring next year. How much money will have been spent on the improvements?

£18.6 million

2. When the London Underground began in 1863, steam trains were used underground. When did the last steam train carrying passengers run on the Tube?

29th May 2000 - Steam on the Met special this threw everyone.

3. The Bakerloo Line celebrated its centenary earlier this year. Which line celebrated its centenary immediately before the Bakerloo & in what year?

Central line, 2000

4. In the lifts at Covent Garden (the nearest Tube station to the museum) there used to be a recording of a famous voice saying "Turn right into the Piazza for one of my favourite museums - The London Transport Museum". Whose voice was it?

Loyd Grossman

5. In what year do you think the black socks were made? I don't know the exact year, but when's the latest they could have been produced?

I was looking for 1994 as they have Aldwych on them - although IanD has a point in saying that they could have been made later

6. The socks are supposedly men's socks fitting size 6 - 11. What's my shoe size?

7 or 8 depending on the shop.

Jonny Lyon, Nicola and Jon Justice got most correct and went into Neil's paperclip selection, and the winner of the delightful pair of socks is.......

Jon Justice.

Thanks to those who entered, and goodness knows how many paperclips Neil will need for the next quiz, as even with five prizes, there's still a large amount of entries!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, June 05, 2006 Permalink

Friday Quiz - Tube Stations with celebrity names

When will I be famous?

A few weeks ago Heart FM's breakfast show did a phone-in where people had to come up with celebrities that had London places in their names. I quite liked some basic ones like Harry Enfield, but then they got a bit more inventive with Patsy Kensington and Whitney Euston. So can you name a celebrity that has a Tube Station in their name. You are allowed to have some poetic licence so I will let you get away with ones like St Paul's Gascoigne.


I don't think we'll come up with enough to make a Tube Map out of them (although that never stopped Simon Patterson with The Great Bear - see detail above), but I imagine there are quite a few.

Please only give one name each (anyone showing off and giving loads will be disqualified) and you have to give a name that is different to everyone elses. You have until Sunday 11th June 23.59 GMT to enter. As usual please give you email address and/or website/blog in the comments below when you enter.

And the prize(s), I'm feeling generous and seem to have acquired lots of tins of "London Tea" (whatever that is) with London Underground Maps on them. So five lucky people who are selected from the entries will win a tin.

There's only enough in each caddy to make five or six cups of tea, so don't think you can have a massive tea party if you win!

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, June 02, 2006 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's Friday's look at people who I've seen as slaves to fashion. This week is more of a reflection of fashion trends, as I didn't manage to spot any complete horrors this week - or rather the people who've gone out on a limb to take a style "and make it their own" - why hasn't Louis Walsh said that on Celebrity X Factor yet?

Tattered hems on jeans

Now I know a number of people who like this look (you know who you are!!!), but I personally don't see the point of deliberately buying jeans that you know are going to drag along the floor and look tatty. Perhaps those of you who wear your jeans like this would care to tell me!


Trainers with peasant skirts

I think the peasant / gypsy skirt boho look is almost over, (at least I haven't seen pictures of Sienna Miller flouncing around in them lately) but I could be wrong. But surely if you're going to wear a very floaty summery skirt like this one, wouldn't you wear slightly different shoes.


They're not even Converses, but very heavy looking adidas trainers.

Cuffs and Tattoos

I really hate large tattoos. It's all very well looking like a Robbie Williams clone when you're a young muscular whipper snapper. But what's going to happen when a lot of these people reach their fifties and sixties? Personally I think they're going to look even worse on them than they do now.


Tattered knees and Metallic pumps

Just returning to the tattered jeans, this lady had gone for the worn knees approach. I don't quite know how you get your jeans to wear like this naturally. Perhaps you scrub the floors a lot - no idea!


She's teamed these with a pair of metallic ballet style pumps. Please, please, please can someone tell me when the metallic look is going away?

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, June 02, 2006 Permalink

Compensation for Tube Passengers

Should commuters get compensated for a bad service?

Thanks to Steve Everett for letting me know that the passengers who were stuck on the Victoria Line for over two hours on Monday are to be given £100 each for the "distress" and "disruption" they were caused. This is quite unusual as none of the 150 passengers required medical attention and the compensation appears to have been unprompted & is possibly another way of blaming Metronet for the signal failure that led to the problems.

'TfL works hard to give passengers the best possible service but in this case the service wasn't up to scratch,' the spokesman said. 'Therefore we believe this one-off payment is the right thing to do given the distress caused to our passengers during their journey.'

This is great as I imagine it must have been fairly upsetting to be stuck on a tube for that long, not to mention the massive delay (although it could be argued that a hundred quid isn't enough). But I wonder how far TfL will go with compesation in the future? Is this setting a precedent?

We all know that we can get our fare back for being delayed by more than 15 minutes (although I wonder how many people do it because of the paperwork and simply forgetting about it). Perhaps all passengers on the Northern Line deserve compensation for the distress of travelling on the Misery Line.


Yesterday Metro reported that a woman is claiming compensation from Southern trains for alleged distress because the toilets on her train are rarely working. "She claims she has been forced to take early maternity leave because the trains cannot cope with her need to go to the toilet every 45 minutes." It'll be interesting to see if she wins!

I think I could quite rightly claim compensation every time I see that I have to get on a packed London Underground train. I know that it's going to be uncomfortable, I might get a crick in my neck. I might be stuck next to someone really sweaty and that causes me distress! I could also claim compensation for the amount of times I come across a chocolate machine on the Tube that isn't working. I have the expectation of getting chocolate and when I see it's not working, I'm distressed.

I bet a lawyer could probably have a field day working out the types of compensation we could get for bad service, delays and breakdowns on the Tube. Is there anything you feel you should be compensated for on your London Underground journey?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, June 01, 2006 Permalink