Emergency Margaritas on the Tube

Brilliant "In case of emergency" sign spotted on the London Underground by the eagle eyed Stuart Clary on the Victoria Line


He said "It was stuck in the same place that a normal one would be, next to a door".

Wonder how many people decided to follow its instructions? I suppose if you're going to get fined for drinking on the Tube, you may as well get fined for enjoying something like a Margarita rather than a can of Fosters! See my earlier post about the evil Foster drinkers flouting the Tube alcohol ban.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 31, 2008 Permalink

Londoners not paying for Oyster Card Failures

At a Transport for London board meeting yesterday, Commissioner of TfL Peter Hendy confirmed that neither Londoners nor TfL would pay for the cost of the two recent Oyster card failures.


Guardian writer Dave Hill who was at the meeting said on his personal blog, that Hendy

"explained that it was all the fault of TranSys, the EDS/Cubic partnership that runs the Oyster system under PFI (Do I sound as though I know what all this means?). Hendy said the incidents showed a "lack of understanding" by TranSys of the thing they're meant to be operating. Gives you confidence, doesn't it? He'll be "seeking recovery" from TranSys of the estimated £1 million lost in the two cock-ups."


Good to hear that we won't be paying for it (hopefully - I imagine that it was the real Peter Hendy saying this and not the MySpace one) and thanks to Dave Hill for giving me the heads up to this.

UPDATE - Dave's put up more of the the rest of the TfL Board Meeting here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 31, 2008 Permalink

Torn on the Platform Top Train Anthem

Thanks to a random Twitter conversation this morning about dancing zombies and social media dance offs and Web 2.0 Musicals, I can't get Jack Penate's, top train song Torn on the Platform out of my head


He was also at Lovebox although we must have missed him do this as we missed the beginning of his set then got bored with him and wandered off so something else. How fickle!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 31, 2008 Permalink

Xmas in July & London Bloggers Summer Party

Last night I was treated to Xmas in July. L J Rich took me along to a gadgety event where I saw a preview of new geeky stuff that will be out in time for Xmas.


The best thing were some noise reduction headphones. Not from Sony (as pictured above) but from Etymotic. I'll be reviewing them later once I've ordered a set to try out on the London Underground, as I am sure I am deafening myself by turning up the volume unnecessarily loud to over compensate the Tube noise.

Following that we sped along to London Blogger's Summer Party which was sponsored by Stella Artois. Fortunately Stella had the good sense to not just supply as with Stella itself as I would have been in less of a fit state to write this post.

In addition to the drinks and six trips on their airship - Star over London - as prizes for the best reviews of London pubs, they gave us some Stella glasses and USB keys which you can see modelled below:








There seriously were too many bloggers there I know to mention you all by name, but you know who you all are. I had a fab time chewing the fat and thanks to Jason Mical who arranged all of the stuff from Stella and to Andy Bargery for keeping the monthly London Bloggers Meetups going really well and finding a great venue with a lovely riverside view.


Must improve my camera skills or drink less in order to take better shots! There's a few more photos here, but I imagine, as sure as bloggers are bloggers, there'll be more pictures popping up on London blogs soon. Peter Marshall has added a load of pictures to the summer party pool.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Permalink

F'ing Breakfast Treat

There were lots of bloggers and cooks from Nom Nom Nom at the MOO party last week. It was like a mini reunion. Richard Moross MOO's founder from Uncook'd, L J Rich from the Avocadolls, James Whatley from Go Team Six, Tom Reynolds from Letting an idiot near a knife , Jon from the Cream Team, Ged Carroll from Gedmei, my partners in crime Walid from Trustedplaces & Mex from MOO, judge Jo Hemmings fresh from a stint on Big Brother on the Couch, Jamillah from BBC Radio 5's Pods & Blogs who recorded us for the show AND Malcolm Eggs from Eggs Factor, the editor of London Review of Breakfasts.


Which leads me to his brilliant post on Gordon Ramsey from the C4's The F Word and a review of breakfast at the Maze Grill in Mayfair. I'm not going to quote anything from it, as you really need to read it. Funny thing was the breakfast did remind me of some of the breakfasts that Richard Moross & Russell Davies prepared.





Moross & Davies were the Hares of Nom Nom Nom and a classic case of concept over substance. Excellent concept but poor execution, mainly because they spent more time in drinking milkshakes in the sun and didn't leave enough time to finish off their minimalist breakfasts. But thankfully, unlike Ramsey, at least they weren't charging £26 for a "full" English breakfast!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Permalink

Bolli's Girlfriend Millie needs your votes

Out with my old college friends on Saturday (the ones I was discussing the Tube Book Group with) and took some pictures of Millie their very attractive tabby cat. She's up in the running for Purina's Pet of Day so it would be great if you could vote for her:


Just look for this picture above on this link and click on the green paw print to vote.

I'm sure she'd make a suitable girlfriend for my cat Bolli and if the two of them met, who knows what sort of kittens would come out of it.

That's it, as Bolli would say KThxBai.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Permalink

Oyster card hack can be published

Not that we need much in the way of Oyster card hacks when the London Underground seem to be doing a good enough job of letting us have free Tube travel themselves. However, it looks like a Dutch hack can be shared - not for illegalities (no way) but the Dutch reckon hacking should be shared to get the powers that be to tighten up the system. A court in the Netherlands also agrees.


In March 2008 security weaknesses in the Oyster card were discovered by Professor Bart Jacobs and others from Radboud University, Nijmegen.

The BBC give a good summary: "The weaknesses centre on the chip, called the Mifare Classic, that sits at the heart of the contactless card system. As well as being used on 17 million Oyster cards, the Mifare chip is used by about 1bn smartcards worldwide, and is the basis of the Dutch Rijkspas card.

Many organisations, including governments, use Mifare technology as a secure entry system for buildings. Given the many millions of cards in use Prof Jacobs held off publishing details about how the information on the chips can be copied and used. It told the Dutch government and NXP about its work to give them time to harden systems against the attack.

Despite this, NXP sought an injunction to ensure the details of the attack would never be aired. The case went to court in Holland and now the court in Arnhem has overturned the injunction citing local freedom of expression laws." Thanks to Dav for first alerting me to this.

So that's all well and good, but what do Transport for London feel about the freedom to share how to hack the Oyster card? A spokesperson said:

"Transport for London remains confident in the security of the Oyster card system. We take fraud and the security of personal data extremely seriously and constantly review our security procedures."

"Any fraudulent card would be identified within 24 hours of being used and blocked. Using a fraudulent card for free travel is subject to prosecution and we would seek to enforce this wherever possible."

We'll see what happens in October when the research will be published by Professor Bart Jacobs (love that he's called Bart - it's just what you'd imagine Bart Simpson would do if he grew up to be an academic) & his mates.


I still prefer the much more playful Oyster card meltdown involving a jar of beetroot, some nail varnish remover & a few hours to create your own Oyster magic wand.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Permalink

100 Tube staff strike over staff assault

If you're travelling on the Bakerloo Line today and use Charing Cross, Elephant & Castle and Lambeth North stations, you might notice some picketing London Underground staff. From 7pm on Sunday night 100 LU staff staged a 24 hour walkout over the sacking of a colleague.

Jerome Bowes, a station assistant at Elephant & Castle station, was sacked for defending himself against the assault from a passenger who had already been involved in a fight. According to the RMT union, neither the Metropolitan Police nor the British Transport Police felt that there was anything to arrest Bowes for.


The fight took place on New Year's Eve and RMT leader Bob Crow said:

"Jerome Bowes was sacked for defending himself against an attack from behind from someone who had already been involved in a fight on the most volatile night of the year, and that is unacceptable,

"Neither the Met nor the BTP found any cause to arrest Jerome, who was walking away towards a place of safety when he was assaulted, and it beggars belief that LUL has seen fit to dismiss him.

"The message London Underground seems to be sending out is that defending yourself against violent assault is to be regarded as a disciplinary offence, and it is no wonder that our members are angry and disgusted."

It's a fairly tricky one this, as just because the police didn't feel that Bowes should be arrested, doesn't necessarily mean that LU aren't within their rights to sack him.

The fairness of this is a different matter. London Underground told the BBC that "We do not tolerate any assault, verbal or physical, on staff or passengers." There's even posters about it on the Tube (see above). However, they go ahead and sack a man for defending himself against a violent attack. Now that to me, and presumably to the 100 striking staff on the Bakerloo line, seems wrong.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, July 28, 2008 Permalink

Underground Reads - NYC Subway - Tube Next?

The London Underground is a great place to read and I often see people on the Tube reading the same book or the same book as me. It's a like a book group but with no one actually speaking about their books.


Last week I saw two women (pictured above - who really looked slightly similar too), both reading Patrick Gale's Notes from an Exhibition. I couldn't resist taking a picture as I've never seen complete strangers reading the same book side by side like this before.

On Saturday I spent the day with my old college friends and we were talking about book groups & I showed them this photo. Two of them had read the book. One of them was in love with Patrick Gale and thought the book was fab. One was a bit sceptical about book groups as she felt that there was a worrying level of competitiveness in them and that people felt that they had to devise fantastic pitches to get their book selected to be read. Then a further worry of coming up with intelligent questions to get the discussion going. Add to that another worry about finding something smart to say when you'd read the book, to her equalled nightmare which took all joy out of reading.

I disagreed as I belonged to a large London Book Group for about 18 months and I never felt we had that level of competitiveness displayed. We read some great books and I discovered books that I now love which I might never have discovered without the book group.

When I see a lot of people reading the same book on the Tube, I often use that as a recommendation of sorts. Or I feel like giving a thumbs up or a big smile to someone who's reading a book I've read, or even something by the an author I like.


I'm a Paul Auster fan, so really wanted to ask the bloke reading New York Trilogy above, what he thought of it.

Rob Hinchliffe Qype's Community Manager told me about a great blog which shows what people on the New York Subway are reading - Underground Reads. Garth Wolkoff is going round watching what people are reading on the Metro and asking them for a quick review or even asking for a picture of the traveller with their book.

It's a great idea and creates an online book group of sorts. One without any competitiveness and no pressure to actually read the books if you don't want to.

What do you think? Do you read books a lot on the Tube or do you stick to papers? What happens when you see people reading the same book as you - have you ever asked them about it - or like me do you just smile to yourself, happy in the knowledge that you're in a secret London Tube Book Group?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, July 28, 2008 Permalink

MOO party hat on the Tube

Browsing through Flickr friend's pictures and came across a lovely shot from Angelsk taken on the London Underground leaving the MOO party.


If he'd had been sitting next to our bowler hatted guy at King's Cross it would have been even better.


I also saw a bowler hat MOO sticker on the Oyster card reader at Liverpool Street just as I swiped myself in, but was too knackered to take a photo.


Bit worried that Angelsk's Fail Whale combined with the bowler hat sticker on the Oyster card reader may have caused Friday's Oyster card Failure on the Tube. You never know how these things work!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, July 27, 2008 Permalink

Blogging gets the girls

Just wanted to share a brill TV ad for Twix from the US that shows just how mainstream blogging has become.


So if you're a blogger and the next time someone asks you why you blog - just say "It helps me get hot chicks / guys". (Thanks to Bloggers Blog who I follow on Twitter for the link)

Oh and a quick reminder, it's closing day today for the Onya bag competition. There have been some fab entries so far, but if you haven't entered you've got till 11.59pm this evening (British Time) to have a go. KThxbai.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, July 27, 2008 Permalink

Cabbie Night Tonight - BBC4

Quick reminder that BBC4 are running Cabbie Night tonight from 8.30pm. The centrepiece of the night is Zimena Percival's film Cab Driver for Arena, which I was lucky enough to see the premier of at the London Transport Museum a week ago.




There's some great conversations / discussions / rants that take place in these little green cabins (pictured above) around London where cabbies take their breaks.

You can read my review Cab Driver here. Watching the film (which is now on BBC's iPlayer) may knock away some of your opinions of taxi drivers, or may just confirm them even more - who knows? Next Saturday it's Tube Night. Enjoy.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, July 26, 2008 Permalink

Free Tube Travel - Oyster card system broken again

Just woken up with a minor hangover (thanks to the MOO party) to hear the news that the Oyster card system has failed again & all the gates are open on the Tube, meaning free travel. Buses aren't affected this time. Now considering we were told the chances of this happening were slim and it's now happened twice in two weeks, shows that something's err ... wrong.


Here's a reminder of what happened on the 12th July when the Oyster card system failed. That was on a Saturday when fewer people travel, but still it was reported that anything from 40,000 to 100,000 passengers had their cards corrupted and travelling on the London Underground the following Monday was a bit rubbish for those commuters.

Pay as you go cards are borked today, so don't touch the readers with them, even if you see the gates open on the Tube.


So if you have an Oyster card listen out for more news and keep an eye on TfL's website - although at the time of writing 7.30am there's nowt, nada, nothing on the Transport for London site to show any problems. Perhaps they were all at the MOO party and are suffering a bit this morning too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 25, 2008 Permalink

Policing the London Underground - Tube Photos of the Week

I always thought that the British Transport Police needed more help on the Tube, and it looks like they've enlisted some help from Star Wars:


Thanks to Graham Parks for that photo taken at Earl's Court on the District Line.

Looks like a job for the above here, as Dave Hodgkinson spotted the following anarchists on the Tube blatantly flouting the law against drinking on the London Underground.


When sending this photo to me, Dave said "Where's the SWAT team then, eh? It's not the drinking that pisses me off, it's the lack of enforcement of an unenforceable law.

Bah."

Looks like the police may have been too busy chatting to their new Stormtrooper mates to notice.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 24, 2008 Permalink

Tube is the Pits for Advertising

At the risk of giving Right Guard even more publicity but to stop people from emailing me saying "Have you seen this?". Right Guard antiperspirant, clearly on too many drugs from their Lovebox Love Van sponsorship are supposedly trialling armpit advertising or pitvertising. Where else to do this, but on the London Underground?


Ananova broke the "news":

"The innovative new concept uses digital TV screens built into the armpits of shirts. It was developed by deodorant manufacturer Right Guard as the ideal way to market its products.

A hired team of 'Pitvertisers' was sent out into the streets of London to test the new medium.

Passers-by were reportedly amazed by the new marketing tactic - some were clearly impressed; but others thought it the pits".

As soon as I heard about this I thought it was an April Fool. But you're sposed to believe Ananova aren't you? By the time the third person had told me about it and muttered about photoshop, I thought, they don't really need photoshop for this and could easily get a couple of people from the office to stage the shot on the Tube.

But good for them, they've managed to convince a number of other sites that the technology exists including Engadget, WatchingTVOnline, Crunchgear, ubergizmo and gizmodo. I'm sure many others are also reporting that it's a real trial.

Thanks to Jon Justice, Webponce & Wayne Z for being the first three to alert me to this.

If someone from Right Guard would like to invite me to see this "trial" in action and to see the product brief, rationale & business case for it I'd be more than happy to eat my words.

In the meantime you might find the people from ImprovEverywhere or Spacehijackers having a go at convincing people that any ads in people's armpits would be good for the Tube or subway.


We spend enough time looking at people's armpits in the rush hour perhaps the guys from Right Guard aren't so mad after all. Or perhaps they'd be better off sponsoring some of the straphangers (above) which are now part of the London Transport Museum's exhibits.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Permalink

Love starts on the Tube - Lovebox 2008

Monday morning and recovering from Lovebox yesterday. If you want to see how this photo taken at Mile End London Underground Station turned to the most amazing summer festival I've been to, the photos from Lovebox 2008 will tell their own story





Goldfrapp's amazing Happiness set:


Goldfrapp and the wolf women:


Plus other Lovebox Love


Don't forget, I'm sharing the love with a Lovebox competition and your chance to win an Onya Bag. Enjoy!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, July 21, 2008 Permalink

Love London, Lovebox, Love the planet? - Win an Onya bag

I'm going to Lovebox today which is the first of my summer music festivals this year. I like my creature comforts too much & won't do any festivals involving camping. Spending some days in big parks listening to music without all the wellington boot & trench foot & communal showers & cleaning your teeth in a field stuff is fine by me.

The only thing I have to "worry" about is wondering whether the London Overground will be running OK so I can go to Highbury & Islington and then get a bus (unfortunately not like the loved up one on the postcard below) to Victoria Park, or whether I have to take the London Underground to Mile End & walk. Even though TfL's site shows no problems with the London Overground today, I've not seen one go past my house - so currently can't trust it.




In the spirit of Love, I was given a bundle of Onya bags by the lovely guys and gals at Onya, for no real reason other than changing a link I had to their Australian site to the UK site, when I blogged about Kew Gardens going Plastic Bag free. So they gave me the bags as a thank you - which is remarkably sweet of them.


So I'm sharing the bounty & giving them away. If you want to do your little bit to "Love the Planet", use fewer plastic bags and have a tiny but super strong bag instead there's three ways you can get one.

1. Have a look at yesterday's entry about the London Transport Museum. There's an error in one of the photos - if you're the first person to spot the error I'm thinking of, you get an Onya backpack.

2. Goldfrapp are playing at today's Lovebox, hopefully they'll be performing Happiness, which is my new favourite track of theirs. (Update to say they "performed" Happiness at Lovebox was an understatement - it was mind blowingly mad - photos from Lovebox here) Who's the best dancer at the end of the video & why? Person I think has the best reason gets an Onya original bag.


3. That leaves two bags. I'll get Onya involved in this one. Just tell us why you want an Onya bag. The two answers that me & Onya like the most will get an Onya original bag each.

Leave your answers in the comments below and you've got till 11.59pm UK time on Sunday 27th July for your answers. Please leave an email address or a blog address or some way for me to get in touch with you too.

If you want to return the love - a vote for Team Bank would also be much appreciated - cos we're losing Ahh, no worries we came 2nd in the end! Thanks for voting!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, July 20, 2008 Permalink

London Transport Museum - Rockin' Cocktails, Rockin' Stories

At the risk of sounding like an anorak, the London Transport Museum is seriously my favourite museum in London. Admittedly I don't go to many, but it's turning into a place that's not just a collection of things (mainly trains, Tubes & buses like it used to be, before the multi million pound refurbishment) but it's a collection of stories and people's lives. Which rocks!


Last night I was there for the premiere of Cab Driver - a BBC4 documentary about London's black cabs. I'm lucky enough to know Zimena Percival, the producer & director, as she somehow persuaded me to do all manner of stupid things for her Arena documentary on the London Underground a couple of years ago.


So knowing Zimena and her dogged determination for finding characters (like cabbie turned counsellor Len Fox) and getting them to tell their stories rather than doing a "love fest" on the transport itself, I had a feeling that Cab Driver was going to be good. The audience in the Cubic Theatre at London Transport Museum (brill moquette on the seats) weren't disappointed. It was funny, touching, sad, informative, thoughtful, uplifting, ridiculously sweary (it was a film about cabbies), musical and basically brill. You can see it for yourself on the 26th July 2008 on BBC4.

It's the middle part of her "Transport Trilogy" made with the support of the London Transport Museum. Tonight at 9pm on BBC4 you can see a repeat of her film on London's Routemaster or double decker bus as part of Bus Night. Next Saturday, it's Cabbie Night and then on the 2nd August it's a repeat of Tube Night, with me.

But back to the Museum, they're continuing with their trend of amazing design values by working with people like Ted Baker who's produced a whole lot of T-shirts & accessories for them.


There's a Ted Tini cocktail in his honour too and last night we had a few "Where 2 Guv" cocktails in discounted to £4.50 each for the Cabbie evening.


You can also buy umbrellas with "I don't go South of the River" on them.

For a museum that's about transport it's as much a museum about people and their lives and their stories. I chatted with Wendy Neville the museum's Communication Manager after the film. She was fascinated with us as bloggers (I went along with L J Rich & Anna Mondo - from Team Angel fast catching up with my Team Bank - in the recent L T Museum Flickr Scavenger Hunt) and wanted to learn more about why we did it. But for me it was great to hear about their plans for more events, more story telling (including some Carry On stars - can't wait), more travellers from the past in character, and another outing of the 1938 Art Deco Tube in August.


Of course if you like, you can still salivate over the old trains, Tube carriages, buses, horse & carts, old cabs etc etc. The iconic fonts, designs, posters, maps and signs are all there too - displayed really creatively as we found on our first Flickr Scavenger Hunt there. But I do love the human part of the museum, the cocktails, the chunky chips and the connecting with people from the past.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, July 19, 2008 Permalink

Converses on the London Underground

Converse shoes are taking over the Tube. I'm a Converse fan, mainly as a result of writing about them on this blog for the Tube Fashion Victims. So I've become a Fashion Victim myself and wear them a lot now. It's not just because the current Dr Who wears them, it's because they're ridiculously comfortable and for woman with big feet I can buy "men's" ones and not look like I'm wearing mens's shoes.


Yesterday I decided to carry out a little experiment and see how many people I could spot wearing Converses or at least footwear that looked like Converses on the London Underground.

There were a lot of them and I didn't go on a particularly unusual journey to spot them. The picture above has my foot on the left with my new-(ish) black and red Converses (see below) sitting next to woman wearing the traditional black and white All Stars.


I got off at Hammersmith and there were loads of them:


This rock guy above won the "Too Cool for School" Converse on the Tube award. Other Glamoursmith ones are below including a couple of pretenders:


Onto the Piccadilly Line and there were several more:






Plus a guy wearing Merrells (I've been corrected in the comments - thanks) Etnies - which aren't Converses I know and much more blokey (I think)


Coming home late there weren't so many or I was too tired to spot them. There was a guy in some Vans (again not Converses)


But my favourites were a group of girls with Converses and Onya bags. They rocked - cool and green at the same time.


Look out for Converses on your Tube journey today and let me know how many you see. Feel free to count yourself if you're wearing them.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 18, 2008 Permalink

Cab Driver Night at London Transport Museum - free tickets up for grabs

One of the clues for the recent London Transport Museum Flickr Scavenger Hunt was the following: A cabin with a difference near a sacred station. It was one that my team - Team Bank - got correct.

"Cabbies have those little green huts dotted around London where they have tea and Lori knew that there was one near Temple Tube Station. So we jumped on the Tube and found it."


Not surprisingly this was also where we grabbed our first challenge picture - a Typical London Cabbie.


"He wasn't exactly typical as he was smiling (sort of) and didn't put the clock on the minute we stopped to speak to him. But he was kind enough to let us take his picture - so thanks Mr Typical London Cabbie."

Anyway I found out that tonight is Cab Driver Night at the London Transport Museum. it doesn't mean that the place will be filled with taxi drivers, or that they'll take you to London Transport Museum for free. What it does mean is the premier of Zimena Percival's BBC Arena documentary film about the lives of five extraordinary cabbies.

Their: "experience spans 70 years on the unforgiving streets of the capital." and "Arena: Cab Driver goes well beyond the average ten minute journey to unearth the soul of the London cab driver."

If you're thinking that Zimena's name sounds familiar it's because she also produced and directed BBC Arena's Tube Night in April 2007.


Part of her film featured me looking like a idiot and "quirkily" re-counting Going Underground's Tube Rules and more seriously talking about my experiences of the 7th July 2005 terrorist attacks on our transport system.

Considering the things Zimena can get people to do for her films and the sorts of people she finds, I'm sure that Cab Driver will be fascinating. There will be a question and answer session with Zimena and star of the documentary, Len Fox, after the film. I'm going along tonight with L J Rich and we also have a a pair of spare tickets - so if you want them - please email me with your name, I'll leave them on the door for you. First come first served.

Otherwise it starts at 19.00 and finishes at 20.30. The tickets are only £7.50 (and include free entry to the Museum galleries from 17.00). Tickets should be pre-booked on 020 7565 7298 and full details are here.

Update - I reviewed the Cab Driver BBC4 documentary at the London Transport Museum here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 18, 2008 Permalink

What's going to happen to Tube Buskers?

Last Friday I was on my way to the Social Media Café (Tuttle Club) and just coming up to the escalators at Leicester Square I heard the simply haunting sound of Abba's Money, Money, Money. You don't normally think of that song as "haunting" but it was being sung by the busker Hadar the winner of Capital FM & the londonpaper's search to find the King or Queen of the London Underground. Well King or Queen in busking terms.






I was amazed that she was still doing busking after winning the prize. Just found her video on YouTube of "Queen of the Underground" - see above. She's had some airplay on the radio with that song, after winning and there she was, with only a handful of coins in her guitar case. I gave her two quid and a thumbs up.

She has an absolutely fantastic voice and is equally on a par with Katie Melua, Norah Jones and any other mournful female singer songwriter who's had success of late. As I travelled up the escalator, the much slower than normal tempo of the Abba song remained with me.

As luck would have it - Lloyd Davis who started the Tuttle Club was still there when I arrived and he's a Tube busker too. I asked him why she hadn't got a record deal. He shrugged and said it was no surprise as he felt that the whole competition was more of a database exercise for the sponsors than anything else. It seems hard to get "discovered" by a record label if you're a busker, even if you win a major competition.

Unfortunately this seems like it'll be harder still as Lloyd reported yesterday that there was some uncertainly over the future of the official busking operation. London Underground are taking the management of licensed busking in-house after sponsorship dried up.

He wrote: "No new sponsor has been found to replace Capital/The London Paper - the sponsorship package of £1m+ has funded the administration of the scheme by Automatic Management who ran the audition/vetting process, employed Busking Site Managers (BSMs) to visit the various pitches regularly and ensure all is well, and managed the telephone and internet booking process.

The contract with Automatic seems to have been terminated with very short notice - while we all like to have a moan about how things have been run, they’re a good bunch of people and I hate to see the BSMs especially out of a job.

The internet booking system is to be discontinued and all bookings will now happen over the phone and rosters will effectively be fixed by 2pm the previous day as that's when they'll be faxed (yes faxed) to Station Supervisors."

This seems pretty antiquated and Lloyd thinks it will be a "recipe for double-booking disputes on the one hand and pitches needlessly going empty on the other".

But what if they never find a sponsor, does that mean that we'll lose official buskers altogether? Since they became official it had really cut down the number of unofficial buskers on carriages, who are generally pretty annoying as there's no escape from them.

I'm still amazed that a record company or another radio station hasn't jumped on a sponsorship package for the buskers. Some labels were toying with paying buskers to play specific songs a few years ago and although that wouldn't have to happen, surely they must get some benefit from the millions of people who pass by a busker each day.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 17, 2008 Permalink

Looking & Keeping Cool on the Tube

It's getting pretty hot again in London. But because there's also been a lot of rain, there's that real dilemma of what to wear. On the London Underground you'll see a number of people in shorts, mini skirts, T-shirts, flip flops and sandals and an equal number wearing tights, cardigans, fleeces and boots.

Here's two approaches to looking cool on the Tube that I spotted in the last couple of days on the Northern Line. One I think looks really cool and is practical. The other ... well ... err ... isn't.




If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know what I think about people who wear their sunglasses inside the Tube, specially when they're trying to read newspapers at the same time. And yes, I've heard all the comments about "well perhaps they've got eye problems" etc etc. Perhaps the guy above did. He got off at Old Street so could have been going to Moorfields Eye Hospital. However, they just don't look quite like prescription sun glasses to me. I'd put money on his final destination being more like Hoxton (home of trendy new media types) than Hospital.


Top marks to "fan girl" though and I love the way her fan colour co-ordinates perfectly with her tights. Very cool! Much more cool than the platform exit of Old Street Tube station which decided it was cold enough to not switch on the comedic giant fans. Sadly that decision was wrong.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Permalink

Oyster Card Failure recovery

Looks like things are getting back to normal after the Oyster card failure on Saturday morning, where, depending on which newspaper you read, anything from 40,000 to 100,000 passengers had their cards corrupted and travelling on the London Underground on Monday would have resulted in a big FAIL for their cards. Many other travellers benefited from free travel as the gates on the Tube were left open & buses let people on free for most of the day.




Although perhaps this time the Tube Fail Whale picture above should have had Oysters at the bottom of the sea, with Mike Brown, Transport for London's Chief Operating Officer trying to lift them up.


Thanks to The Ticket Collector who sent me an email with a "leaked statement" from ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) telling staff what to do in each circumstance of failure and how to issue refunds.

Personally I can't get that excited about the statement as it doesn't really add much to what people already know about what to do if their cards didn't work on Monday.

There's no comment at all about the rarity of this problem happening. Nothing about what caused it in the first place. Also TfL aren't commenting on the suggestion that it was all caused by a disgruntled member of staff. So I guess we'll never really know what happened and we should count ourselves lucky that it didn't happen on a weekday, when the problem would have hit hundreds of thousands more commuters.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Permalink

Londonist plug Flickr London Transport Museum Scavenger Hunt

Hazel from Team Dagenham who's also co-editor of Londonist gave the recent Flickr LT Museum Scavenger Hunt a bit of a plug here.

I really love this shot of their team with the living statute


Don't forget to vote for your favourite team (Bank possibly) and best photo.

Thanks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 16, 2008 Permalink

London Transport Museum Scavenger Hunt - Vote for Team Bank

On July 6th about 26 Flickr photographers including me went on a photographic scavenger hunt hosted by the London Transport Museum and kindly sponsored by Qype. We sped around Covent Garden and the surrounding area north of the river to gather the answers to cryptic clues as part of the London Festival of Architecture.


There were eleven clues and four challenges. Our team were victorious, OK we weren't.

We certainly weren't the first team back. We were the last. We certainly didn't get most right. Don't think we got most wrong either. But we had a laugh, and we need your votes as it's not over till it's over. If you want to see what we did & photographed pop along to this page.

So now we, the members of Team Bank will give you our eternal thanks, love and kisses if you vote for us. Please.

Four other teams took part, but we won't mention them. Well, you can look at them if you like, but not for too long!

There's also a page where some of the photographers have submitted photos for best picture of the day and you can vote for them here. The winner gets an iPod Shuffle.

Thanks from me, imajes, the Londoneer, Bloo Phoenix, Archie & Lori Smith. TEAM BANK!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 15, 2008 Permalink

Bride & Groom Travel to Wedding by Tube

One happy couple clearly didn't let Saturday morning's Oyster card problems get in their way, as in full white wedding gear they got on the London Underground to get to their wedding. They also took the whole bridal party along with them from Dollis Hill to Baker Street Tube station. They then walked to their ceremony at the registry office in Marylebone.

The bride Stefanie Schmiedel who wasn't an anorak or Tube fan, said 'It is important for both of us to have an environmentally friendly wedding. I have been encouraging my relatives to travel over from Germany by Eurostar or by coach, as opposed to flying the short distance.'

Her dress was made from reusable material, her engagement ring was second-hand and the menus and order of service were all printed on recycled paper. The catering at their reception used local produce and the wedding cake was organic.

Her husband Robert Gray added: "We didn't feel that we needed a stretch limo to get to their register office when we have got an Oyster card and the Tube"


The couple are members of Brent Friends of the Earth.

Penny Hazell, Jubilee line General Manager, said: 'We're delighted that this bride and groom have chosen to go to their wedding by Tube. Public transport is a sustainable way to travel around the Capital.

'London Underground is not only convenient for commuters and tourists but also for people on their way to a very special event like a wedding. We wish them all the best.'

Many thanks to Katie from Bridalwave for letting me know about this.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, July 14, 2008 Permalink

Good News for Early Birds Oyster system down

Apparently the Oyster system is down in London right now which means that all the gates on the London Underground are currently open and bus drivers can't take fares either.


I've heard that it'll take a couple of hours to put right so that means by 11ish or 12 noon today it will be up and running normally again.

So if you're an early bird and need to get anywhere, if I were you I wouldn't be reading this much longer & would get out and about on the Tube and buses while it lasts!

UPDATE - 11am It's working again but some gates are still open and buses appear to be taking a little longer to get back to normal. Here's the statement from Transport for London:

"Due to a technical problem with the Oyster card computer system, card readers across the network were not accepting cards from around 5.30am until 10.30am on Saturday 12 July.

The problem has been rectified and cards are now being accepted across London Underground, DLR, London Overground and on those First Great Western, First Capital Connect and CTC that accept Oyster. A number of buses may still be affected but all passengers are being accepted to travel.

All passengers who incur a maximum fare on Saturday 12 July will be given an automatic refund on Tuesday. They do not need to take any action.

We are investigating the cause of the problem, will ensure that any necessary refunds are honoured and apologise to our passengers for any inconvenience caused this morning."


UPDATE - Sunday 13th July - Just had an interesting update in the comments as it appears things might not be as rosy as the TfL statement above makes out:

"Anyone who touched in or out yesterday morning has probably had their Oyster card disabled (code 30) and will need to change their Oyster card at a ticket office using the failed Oyster card procedure. If it is a student, child card etc, then they will need to contact Oyster for a replacement. Even our staff have had their passes disabled. Yesterday by 22:30 my station had changed nearly 600 oyster cards. We normally change about 5 a day."

Have fun on Monday!

UPDATE Monday 14th July - Just heard on the radio that 40,000 people tried to use their Oyster cards on Saturday morning and if you were one of them you'll need to get it replaced. So pleased I didn't use mine at all on Saturday.

Here's some of the official word from TfL following from their previous statement

"A number of cards used on London Underground before 9.30am yesterday may not be working as a result of yesterday's technical problem. Customers who topped up their cards at Oyster Ticket Stops during the day may also have been affected. Customers whose cards are not working are advised to go to their nearest London Underground ticket office where they will be able to exchange their card for a replacement.

A small number of Freedom Pass and Young Persons Oyster card holders may also have been affected. They will be required to apply for replacement cards through their relevant local authority and through the young persons travel card helpline respectively. Our staff will be instructed to allow these card holders to continue to travel whilst replacements are issued.

We are investigating the cause of the problem and apologise to our passengers for the inconvenience caused. "

Reports are that 40,000 to 100,000 people had corrupted Oyster cards.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, July 12, 2008 Permalink

From slow Tubes to no Tubes

The only advantage of having your house back onto a London Underground Line means that you can tell whether your line is working well or not. The District Line between Richmond and Turnham Green was running really slowly for most of the morning and I just heard on the radio that it wasn't running at all now.


This is the view from my study window where I'm currently typing this post. So I can usually tell whether the radio reports or the TfL updates are right or wrong.

The line not running is great news for Bolli as he sometimes sits on the wall at the back of my garden. The shot below is also from this morning.


He's not quite as brave as he looks from this photo, now that you've seen how close the Tube runs. As the minute he hears the Tube he leaps from the wall and runs indoors. He's just about OK now sitting in the garden when the trains go by but if they go by on the near-side to my wall he'll still leg it indoors.


This is his "train look" where his ears go slightly back and he crouches getting ready to make a quick getaway. More Bolli pictures in this morning's garden set here.


Ah there's a rumble, I've just looked up and the line's running again. It's slow but at least it's working. Bad news for Bolli, good news for me as I'm just off out.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 11, 2008 Permalink

Words about the London Underground - Wordle

I've seen a number of people using Wordle which is a gloriously wonderful way of displaying words from your blog, thoughts in your head or any piece of text you like really. I think I saw it first on Russell Davies's stuff for Interesting08. Here's what happened when I put in the RSS feed from this blog to make my Wordle


You can randomise it, make it in different colours, change the orientation of the font, use some lovely fonts with great font names like Grilled Cheese BTN, Sexsmith, Silentina Movie and Berylium - I used Coolvetica.

It will definitely be on my next set of MOO cards - which I'm going large with. And thanks to the MOO blog for giving me that idea. If you add your Wordle to the gallery you can also make a nice little icon for your blog and I've added it to the stuff on the right.

I actually thought "delays" and "signal failure" would feature in it more, but as it's picking up what I've been writing about most recently rather than over the entire blog, I suppose that's why it's come out the way it has. I love it!

UPDATE - Finally got round to ordering my MOO Business Cards




I love them!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 11, 2008 Permalink

Stillness in King's Cross Rush

Over 70 million people pass through King's Cross Station each year making it the third busiest station on the London Underground. I'm one of the people who passes through it each day and you do see all of human life there.

Yesterday, for example in the morning I saw an old guy in a suit with a bowler hat and regulation British brolly slowly making his way towards the escalator amongst hoodies, luggage and general rush hour rush


Coming home late tonight there were a couple of police people questioning a young down and out woman who was sat on the floor and not going anywhere.


Two people moving slowly or not moving at all and the millions pass through King's Cross speeding along to their destinations. I'm the same, I was in a rush when I took the photos above, hence the blurriness - coupled with the mad rush there.

But there's something about that station that makes you rush. Maybe because it's the ultimate interchange on the Tube. The station that has the most London Underground lines passing through it. That makes it less of a destination and more of a place to get in and out of as quickly as possible.

Passenger numbers will definitely be well over 70 million now that the Channel Tunnel Rail Link has been completed. The redevelopment of the whole area will make it busier still and the slow or non moving people will appear even more lost.

If you change at King's Cross, what do you think? Or don't you think and see it just as a place where you change trains?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 10, 2008 Permalink

Rain on the Tube

Enough rain now. K Thx Bai


I'm just waiting for the closures on the London Underground now due to flooding.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 10, 2008 Permalink

Tube Portable Bikes - which are cooler?

Some of you may have seen an ad on the London Underground for Ridgeback bikes as the "cool way to get to work". However some people still have to get their bikes on the Tube and portable options seem to be getting more popular, as not all Tube stations let you carry full sized bicycles, particularly not in the rush hour.


I've seen a lot of portable bikes over the last few weeks, but which do you think are actually cooler?

Is it the classic fold away Brompton?


Or this Nathan Barleyesque scooter?


Is the retro Micro Scooter back in style or is the Brompton still king?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 09, 2008 Permalink

Tube Map for the Disabled developed by Brain op survivor

A 24 year old designer who was left with learning difficulties after a brain operation is helping TfL to design a London Underground map specifically for disabled people.

Byron Konizi, found it hard to travel in London using public transport and called the London Mayor's office in his frustration with the current Tube map.

Byron from Chingford, Essex said: "I spoke to a man called David Morris and I was shocked to discover he was disabled from the waist down and uses a wheelchair to get around.

"He is an absolute angel and arranged for me to attend a course in Cambridge to find out more about my condition,"

The Guardian - Waltham Forest report that: "The new map will alert passengers as to whether they can change trains without using stairs or escalators, whether they cannot change trains without using stairs or escalators, whether passengers can change trains in a certain direction and if step-free access is available."


Byron added: "The map includes a list of bus routes in case disabled people want to travel to a place which doesn't have an Underground station.

"For example, if they want to continue journeys from Walthamstow Central to Chingford, the map will include information about the 212 bus route."

A TfL spokesperson said: "We are working with disabled people to revise our current information products and we will be launching them later this year."




Let's hope that TfL also find time to update their "Large Print Tube Map" which (at time of writing) has no news about Tower Gateway's closure on it and one would still believe you could change onto the Central Line from Shepherd's Bush.

Many thanks to James B for sending me the link to this story.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 09, 2008 Permalink

Fat Cats sponsor today's posts - Vote for Bolli

There's a definite theme of Fat Cats in the posts below - but here's a quick request. My cat Bolli has reached Purina's Pet of the Day charts for the 2nd time (I know they must be desperate). So look into those cute green eyes and vote him up the charts by clicking on the green paw once you find his fluffy little face on this page


He was very sick this morning through eating his food like his life depended on it and will be lying around pretending to be a skeleton when I get home this evening.

That's it and now onto Tube stuff. As Bolli & all other LOL cats would say

K Thx Bai

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Permalink

If the Tube were run by Twitter Revisited

On Friday I wrote a post about the Twitter Fail Whale and pondered what would happen if the London Underground were run by Twitter and TfL had to come up with a 140 or less character message explaining "over capacity":


"Personally, I think that London Underground should have their own Fail Whale and it would be a cartoon of an inflated Boris Johnson head being lifted by hundreds of flying Oystercards. If I was remotely good at PhotoShop or could be arsed, I would make it. But I'm not."

Fortunately Ian of Whoknowswherethoughtscomefrom is better than I am at PhotoShop, could be arsed and produced the following Tube Fail Whale


It compares very favourably to the original Twitter Fail Whale.


Ian it rocks and I particularly like the orange London sea that the Boris whale is being carried up from.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Permalink

Fat Tube - A Fat Britain b3ta Challenge

Speaking of large inflated whale like things the ever brilliant b3ta are running an image contest where they wondered what would happen if everyone in Britain got fat.

"People of Britain! You're getting fat! Our nation is in the grip of an obesity epidemic. How will our celebrities adjust to their growing girth? What will life be like when we're all massively overweight? Tell us in porky pictures."

Regular commenter & contributor Jon Justice spotted the London Underground themed entry:


That's a winner in my opinion, but I also liked this one:


Will be interesting to see if either get featured in Friday's b3ta newsletter.

If you're really fat though, travelling on the Tube is a no no. You're going to get a lot hotter than everyone else, I would have thought. You stand no chance of fitting onto most of the standard seats, as the arm rests would make that pretty impossible. You'd take up two seats on the ones which didn't have arm rests, & get glowering looks from thinnies. It'd be a nightmare.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Permalink

Three Years Ago - London Transport Terrorist Attacks

One of the most horrific days in my memory for the London Underground Tube and bus system as 52 people were killed in an terrorist attack on July 7th 2005. From a day of mammoth blogging updates, shock in the comments, nightmare images of blown apart carriages, increased security, fear of rucksacks, armed policemen eating in McDonalds - all things I hoped I would never have to see or write about.


Then the shock of the attempted attacks only two weeks later and the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes:


It wasn't just doom and gloom, Londoners showed a display of strength, defiance & unity that I still feel proud of. Thousands went to vigils and memorial services. A number of us helped through spending even more time on the Tube through a charity Tube Challenge to raise money for the victims & their families.

As Londoners we didn't wring or sit on our hands and slowly more people got back to travelling on public transport again. Gradually things got back to normal and London recovered.

All the arguments and finger pointing and blaming have been covered many, many times on this blog and loads of others.

However, what remains is that 52 people are dead through going about their every day travels. 52 families have lost people they cared about. Jean Charles De Menezes is dead because the police thought he looked like a terrorist. Hundreds of other people have been physically and mentally scarred (Rachel North), disabled (Gill Hicks) & hurt and nothing is going to take that away.

Flowers will be laid outside King's Cross Station today to remember the victims.

Everyone will have their own memories of that day and that summer, and you may want to share them in the comments below. My thoughts today are with the survivors of the attacks and the families of the dead and I just hope that we will never experience anything like this again.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, July 07, 2008 Permalink

Battersea Power Station Tour & Tube Plans

As mentioned yesterday a small group of us went on a walking tour of Battersea Power Station to take some pictures and try to find out more about the plans for a possible London Underground station there. It was amazing to see the iconic site so close up and it's absolutely enormous.


The plans for the site, which stopped producing power in 1983 and became a listed building in 1980, are pretty impressive and ambitious. Better public transport was seen as central to the development of the area. The current proposal is for a new London Underground Station - Battersea - and this would be on the Northern Line in an extension from Kennington via Wandsworth Road.





Fuller details can be seen in the image below:


It's going to be privately funded and could be in operation by 2015. The proposed extension would carry 24,000 people per hour, with a journey time of around 11 minutes to Bank and Leicester Square. If this happens it will absolutely rock, as the area is sadly lacking in decent public transport and Vauxhall is apparently at capacity already.

It's well worth going along to see the entire plans for the area including the futuristic & ginormous EcoDome where it's guaranteed not to rain!


The site is open from 10am to 6pm on 5th July 2008 and we saw signs that the opening & walking tours have been extended to Saturday 12th & Saturday 19th July 2008. Check the site for full details and opening times of these new later dates.


There's a few more of my pictures from our afternon at the Battersea Power Station here and I'm sure that TikiChris, Mex and Jemimah will upload more pictures soon.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, July 05, 2008 Permalink

If the Tube were run by Twitter + American Song to Celebrate 4th July

Happy 4th July to all the American readers of this blog. I've been amazed at how many US readers still read & comment on the blog & and send me personal emails. I really do appreciate it. So, thought you might like a little song about the Twitter Fail Whale which is sung to the tune of American Pie.


Twitter for people who don't know it, is sort of like a public form of instant messaging (or micro blogging) where you can tell "the world" or just your friends what you've been up to in 140 characters. My twitter profile is here. From being a super geeky thing it's now getting much more mainstream since appearing on FOX TV and having Amazon invest an undisclosed sum in it.


Problem is that it's getting so popular it can't cope with the millions of people now using it and whenever it's over capacity - which as has been many, many times of late you see the Twitter Whale or the Fail Whale (pictured above) as he's now called.

The Twitter Fail Whale now has thousands of fans including myself who celebrate his appearance and the frustration that he causes to millions of people around the world who have to stop twittering and do something else instead. The fan club's founders say he's:

"one of coolest whales we know... you know... the handsome whale and his birdie entourage who show up occasionally on Twitter to let you know that it's time to push back from your keyboard and to go take a break."

The Twitter Fail Whale Song from The Joy of Tech should be sung to the tune of American Pie and you can see the full lyrics by following the link from part of the screen grab below:


Personally, I think that London Underground should have their own Fail Whale and it would be a cartoon of an inflated Boris Johnson head being lifted by hundreds of flying Oystercards. If I was remotely good at PhotoShop or could be arsed, I would make it. But I'm not.

However, I can make an attempt at a couple of Transport for London messages in 140 characters or less, (like the one that opened this post) that you might see if the Tube were run by Twitter.


"Tube is over capacity Too many tourists We'll try to lighten the load making off peak fares higher & we'll have things back to normal soon."

" Tube is over capacity Too many commuters! We'll try to lighten the load making peak fares even higher & we'll have things back to normal soon"

Idea inspired by Pete Cashmore's Twitter downtime tweets. Feel free to try others in comments or give us your thoughts on Twitter too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 04, 2008 Permalink

Thanks to Qype for Battersea Barge Party

Just recovering from two great days at 2gether08 and just because I hadn't drunk and talked enough, the days were rounded off by a river boat party with Qype on the Battersea Barge

I'm off to take some photos of Battersea Power Station later today with fellow partygoers TikiChris & Jemimah from Radio 5's Pods & Blogs, & will try to find out more about the plans for a possible Tube station there. So it was nice to have a great view of it from the boat last night.


There's a couple more pictures here and I'm sure that other Qyper's will add more soon.




Many thanks to Rob, Sabrina & Andy at Qype for their great hospitality, Manhattans & golden food. Where's the Rennies?!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, July 04, 2008 Permalink

Allergy Tube Ad Revisited

More mystery around the London Underground ad for allergy sufferers. Firstly thanks to everyone who commented on their "unusual" allergies in response to me seeing the ad for Piriton. I wondered why the name Baker Street had been blanked out from the ad - when they had shown such a recognisable station it seemed weird to do this.


A number of you came up with some theories and then Chris said he had seen the ads at Liverpool Street with the name Baker Street in them. I've been at an event all day called 2gether08 (more on that soon) which was held in Shoreditch, so I came home via Liverpool Street & completely forgot about Chris's comment until I found myself in front of the advertisement.


Lo & behold there was "Baker Street" in the ad complete with roundel and everything. So what's that all about? There's a couple of replacement allergies too - chewing gum replaces leather (although how you'd be allergic to chewing up on a platform floor unless you were wandering around with bare feet, is a bit of a puzzler - if you were wandering around with bare feet, then allergies would be the least of your problems). Mould spores replace moisturiser.

The client or advertising agency must be testing this. Perhaps there is higher recall with a station name. Or maybe without it, as it looks weird? Any more theories on this?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 03, 2008 Permalink

London Transport Museum events for London Festival of Architecture

If you have an interest in urban development and design and can get to Covent Garden tonight (3rd July 2008) or Monday 9th July there are two interesting talks at the London Transport Museum.

First up is Malcolm Smith who's the Design Director at Arup's Integrated Urbanism Unit. He'll be revealling his pioneering work on Chinese eco-city Dongtan near Shanghai, which will run entirely on renewable energy. "By 2050 up to half a million residents will live in a zero emissions city - proving environmentally sustainable urban living is possible.".

Then on Monday Wayne Hemingway, designer and founder of Red or Dead, will talk about his passion for creating affordable and well-designed homes.

The talks are both held at the very cool Cubic Theatre, London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, WC2E 7BB. They run from 19.30-20.30 & tickets are £10 adults, £8 concessions.

Further information about the events can be found at www.ltmuseum.co.uk and tickets can be booked in advance on 020 7565 7298.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, July 03, 2008 Permalink

Remains of Glastonbury on the Tube

Looks like Glastonbury's over then! After tripping over rucksack strings getting out of the London Underground on Thursday and Friday & gagging on the smell on of the many newly box-fresh designer Wellingtons, all I had to face was this beauty yesterday:


Seems like "peace, love & harmony" has made it into the 21st century with this lovely retro "Flower Power" looking luggage tag. Although I must admit I would have felt much more love and harmony to the woman carrying it, if she had forgotten she was on a Tube, made a sharp twisty movement and almost knocked me out with her rucksack when she left the train.

People with ridiculously large rucksacks on the Tube has always been a particular bug bear of mine and made it into my
Tube Etiquette page years ago.

You might remember the Tropicana advert on daily challenges a Londoner faces, which I used to illustrate my point:


What I said then still stands today

"Now I know that many of you reading this are tourists and are planning to use the Tube as a cheap form of travel to and from airports and to railway stations to get you out of London and into the country.

But nothing annoys people more than ruck sacks the size of mini camper vans strapped to people's backs. Particularly when those people suddenly think they ought to be auditioning for the ballet and start doing pirouettes in the middle of a carriage.

If you're going to turn around with one of those great things on your back the chances are, if you're travelling in the rush hour, someone will be very close behind you and won't appreciate having a piece of canvas, Goretex or whatever smashed into their face. Give us poor daily commuters a break and try and travel outside of the rush hour with your backpack."

I know it isn't always possible to travel outside of the rush hour, but you won't get so many glares from regular commuters if you do.

Please feel free to share large rucksack or large luggage on the Tube stories or comment - perhaps I'm being an old misery about this. But when half your journey is on the Piccadilly Line which has just come from or going to Heathrow Airport you'll know what I mean.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Permalink

Kew Gardens Plastic Bag Free - Launch Party

Some people coming out of Kew Gardens London Underground Station last night would have been surprised to walk into a crowd of people listening to musicians, drinking wine, chatting to local environmentalists (The Ecologist editor - Zac Goldsmith - pictured below), snacking on olives & not carrying plastic bags. As from today Kew Gardens becomes the first place in London to go "Plastic Bag Free".


50 local traders pledged to no longer give out plastic bags and there was one notable exception. I blogged about this a week ago saying that Kew was not quite plastic bag free yet.

The party was good fun and actually did engender a community spirit which is what one of the traders - Mark form the Kew Traders Association (pictured below) was really keen on saying.


I got to chat properly to Sara Novakovic the owner of Olivers Wholefoods store - where I first saw the wonderful Onya bags that we used for Nom Nom Nom.


Also had a great conversation with Ulrike the owner of Lloyd's of Kew - lovely second hand & antiquarian bookshop in Kew. There were loads of kids, my next door neighbour came along, I chatted to other neighbours & people from the Kew Society including their chairperson Michael Glazebrook (pictured below) who had all brilliantly organised the whole event.


Jenny Tonge the outspoken former Lib Dem MP was also there - she got there a bit late as a fire at Earl's Court had caused major delays on the District Line. She spoke passionately about the effect of plastic bags on the environment and how it was amazing that the UK's government were being really slow to follow leaders in countries like France, Australia and India who appeared to be doing more about plastic bags.


As I said before I'm not a card carrying green eco warrrior, I don't recycle everything, I wear leather shoes, I eat meat, I drive a small car, I buy things from Primark & Tesco, I probably use more electricity than I should, I've flown to Blackpool. But I am becoming more and more aware of how doing less of the above can make a difference, particularly if more and more people all do less of the above. Going to GeeKyoto made me think this even more, as being green doesn't necessarily mean being preachy & worthy and can be fun.

If you'd like to see some of my other pictures of the Greener Kew Launch Party, they're here and I'm sure many will go on Greener Kew's blog. Apparently BBC Radio London will be interviewing the brill award winning butchers Pether's of Kew between 7am & 7.30am today to talk about the whole campaign, and there may be something on BBC London TV tonight.

Finally I took a rather strange picture of a Zac Goldsmith "not a plastic bag" bag at Kew Gardens Tube station a week or so ago.


Not sure if the sticky tape cross was to hold the bag together or whether it was a sign that they don't Back Zac anymore. The mind boggles, but then again, Kew is a fairly unique pseudo village - with some fairly unique residents!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Permalink