Food 2.0 Nom Nom Nom - Win Lunch in Tube Carriage Office

I've been working with TrustedPlaces, Cookery School and SpinVox and many other kind supporters on an interactive version of MasterChef or bloggers' cook-off, which took place on Sunday 18th May. We took 24 bloggers, foodies, geeks, photographers, online reviewers & senior members of interesting internet companies, put them together in pairs and they had to prepare a three course meal for four people in two and half hours. Photos are already being uploaded but from next week, you'll get the opportunity to vote for your favourites. You could also get a chance of winning lunch at "possibly the coolest office in London".


My friend James Grieve runs Nabokov, an innovative theatre company who have their offices in these old Jubilee Line Carriages - the Tube offices in the sky on Great Eastern Street, London.

Since first blogging about them, they've appeared on Kottke.org, coudal, scottberkun and lots of other cool blogs from around the world.


A lot of you also wanted me to try to arrange a visit to go up to their offices. Well I had a chat to James via text (he's currently in New York) and he's very kindly offered to take two of you (and possibly me) to pick up lunch at the brill BLT (Big Loaded & Tasty) sandwich shop & then have the lunch back in his Tube offices. Hopefully, the weather will be better than when I went and you'll get some stunning views across the city too.




Nom Nom Nom has a charity element as we didn't just want to have 24 people make and then gorge on lovely food without at least thinking about people who don't have the luxury to do this. We're raising money for Action Against Hunger to help those people in some way.


We already had a real time raffle on Sunday but from next week we'll be holding an online prize draw where you can make a donation/s to be in with a chance of winning a number of foody prizes, this lunch being one of them. So keep an eye on the charity prize draw page for details of how you can enter & find out what the other prizes are.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/food-20-nom-nom-nom-win-lunch-in-tube.html

Stewart Herring D'OH Stewart Lee on the Tube

At Angel this morning a bloke got on my carriage who looked remarkably like Stewart Lee (the guy who wrote Jerry Springer The Opera and a major Brit stand up comic). You know what it's like when you see someone in a non familiar surrounding you're never really sure it's them. He looked shorter than I thought he was. Plus he was having an intense conversation about pig farming.

But that's what made me really think, that must be Stewart Lee. Weirdly I had been helping to run an event about food and buying food from farmers' markets only yesterday and there was Stewart Lee (I thought) right in front of me.

So I plucked up the courage and said "Excuse me are you Stewart Herring?" He looked at me a bit strangely - probably cos it turned out that he was Stewart Lee and said "Err yes" I said, "Do you mind if I take a photo of you? As I run a blog about the Tube and weirdly yesterday was running an event about food and how it's farmed". He looked a bit awkward but said "Alright then". I said "I'm going to have to be quick cos I get off at the next stop". So managed to grab a couple of quick shots on the moving train (only just uploaded now as I left my camera lead at the Cookery School). The really blurry one is just on this link, but the one I prefer is below:


Oh yeah and the reason I called him Stewart Herring (to those who haven't already guessed) is because his comedy partner - at least when I first heard of him - is a guy called Richard Herring. D'Oh, D'Oh, D'Oh.

To see my other comedians amongst my London Underground Celebrity Stalking er sorry Tube Celebrity Spotting spots check out these blog posts: Rob Brydon Matthew Kelly, Jack Doherty (Men's Uggs Celebrity Tube Fashion Victim). Second thoughts, didn't realise I had so many comedians, perhaps I'd better not tell him, he'd have me arrested.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 19, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/stewart-herring-doh-stewart-lee-on-tube.html

Final Circle Line Party May 31st 2008

The Circle Line Parties are coming to an end and Last Orders on the Underground are holding a final one on May 31st. I first heard about this from The Guardian


Don't forget to let The Evening Standard know what you think of their coverage of the Tube Booze Ban & Circle Line Parties as their letters guy contacted me for help.


I spose he'd be including Jubilee Line Dinner Parties in his description too.

UPDATE - See how the media reported on the Circle Line Party event here. Led to very interesting discussion.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 19, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/final-circle-line-party-may-31st-2008.html

London's Routemaster Return in doubt

According to Kulveer Ranger, Boris Johnson's director of transport policy - the Mayor's plans for a newgeneration Routemaster may not happen. The Evening Standard report that "a design competition would be launched - but if no bid was good enough they would look again at the pledge."


Boris's newly appointed director of transport policy said "The Routemaster was, and indeed still is, an icon and we need something that has the same iconic status."

In terms of budget he was a bit vague:

"We'll set some sort of ball-park figure but we can't say how much it will cost at this time. Let's see what comes back.

"The plan is to have them on the roads by the end of his first term but we're not doing this just for the hell of it. If we find there are initially no suitable bids we will review [the policy]."

BorisWatchers said: "Wasn't one of Boris Johnson's campaign pledges to bring back the Routemaster as the bendy bus was evil? Wonder how many people voted for Boris because of that?"

Boris Watch have similar thoughts "How many times during the campaign did we have to listen to Boris lecturing us on how Ken had once said "only some sort of ghastly, dehumanised moron would get rid of the Routemaster", then done so himself; and how Boris Johnson, knight in shining armour, would be riding to the rescue with a new generation Routemaster to save us all from the moron’s work? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I know it was a lot.

But just how much of a ghastly, dehumanised moron would you have to be to spend nine months telling people that if you become Mayor you will bring back an open-backed, conductor-managed "twenty-first-century Routemaster", flying in the face of expert advice and analysis of costings and practicalities, touting this as your flagship policy for months on end… only to have your transport adviser reveal, within your first fortnight in office, that chances are no such thing will ever happen at all?"

It's interesting that the Evening Standard report talks about the advice Boris was given in his first week of tenure: "mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg also warned Mr Johnson to get rid of any manifesto pledges immediately which looked unlikely to work.".

Well certainly looks like our new Mayor is being true to that piece of advice.

UPDATE: The London Transport Museum are running a series of events to coincide with a new photographic exhibition on the Routemaster which opened on the 17th May - The Last Stop. One of those events is a talk by author of the book pictured above - Travis Elborough.

"The Routemaster was taken out of general service in December 2005. It remains a famous symbol of London and in terms of postcards, books, films and souvenirs - in the eyes of the world - the Routemaster represents the city just as much as Big Ben and Tower Bridge.

Join Travis Elborough, author of the acclaimed The Bus We Loved, for a digressive, cultural tour of the Routemaster's life and times. Taking in everything from the Festival of Britain, Douglas Scott, Flanders and Swann and Cliff Richard to the Eagle comic, Sam Selvon, Alfie and On the Buses, he examines how this humble bus became a cherished global icon."

As Londonist say for a bargain price of a tenner you get "an hour of Travis talk time and entry into the museum beforehand".

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 19, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/londons-routemaster-return-in-doubt.html

I Didn't Vote Boris T Shirt "in the wild"

Mex picked up her "Don't Blame Me I didn't vote Boris T Shirt" at yesterday's Nom Nom Nom event, which we both helped to organise with Trustedplaces and Spinvox.


In light of the post above the shop might be seeing a few more orders.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 19, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-didnt-vote-boris-t-shirt-in-wild.html

Food Smells at Old Street Tube

I emerged from Old Street Tube station yesterday morning and I thought that someone was cooking a roast dinner. I don't know what it was but there was a really strong meaty smell in the air.

There are a lot of restaurants when you walk through the exit but at that time in the morning I can't imagine why any of them would be cooking a roast dinner.


If anyone who knows (TubeLines people, hint, hint) maybe you can explain.

I really do love food and love cooking (so much so I'm helping to run an foodie event on Sunday 18th May which you can find out more about here). But there is something really weird about smelling food at times and places where you're not really expecting it.

You may remember the controversial poster, asking people to not eat smelly food on the Tube which almost caused diplomatic incident between London & Italy and it was pulled.


When I've had a few drinks I've been known to eat some hot food on the Tube, and I know it's unpleasant if you're not eating. (It's like the smell of someone else eating cheese and onion crisps) But when you are starving, specially if it's late, sometimes only fried chicken or a pie or a kebab will do.

Well a kebab wouldn't do it for me actually, as I really do think they're pretty disgusting. But I will try my best not to eat hot food on the Tube anymore. It's just that you're so limited for healthy food late at night near London Underground stations, you don't get much choice.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, May 16, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/food-smells-at-old-street-tube.html

Walk of London Undeground Lines completed

Congratulations to Neil who has just completed his walk of all London Underground Tube Lines. It took him 54 days (not continuously) duing a period of six months to walk 378.5 miles to walk between all the stations on all the Tube lines of London.

He started the project last December and said "As I walk I'm recording my tracks with a GPS data logger and taking lots of photos. The walking routes and pics are on the site. London Photo Project - Tube Walking Blog - I'm expecting to have finished all 12 lines (I started when the East London line was still running) before the end of June."


Well he finished yesterday so he was within his target. You can also see a merged map of his route here.

He correctly (I think) guesses that he may be the only person to have done this, specially as he started before the East London Line was closed. It's similar to a number of other projects that try to show the how long it might take to walk between Tube stations and whether it's healthier or faster to walk, than take the London Underground.


But to walk all 378.5 miles and map your route taking photos along the way is a great achievement. Well done Neil and I wonder if you have set a challenge for someone to do the same. Sadly, they'll have to wait until the East London Line re-opens though.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, May 15, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/walk-of-london-undeground-lines.html

Bolli is Pet of the Day on Purina site

Wow - just got home to find that a picture I had taken of Bolli's very first time outside in my garden has been chosen to be one of Purina's Pets of the Day (I took advantage of no London Underground or London Overground trains running to let him have a nosy outside).

Considering Bolli eats quite a bit of Purina wet food in the form of those little foil packs of Felix, I'm sure he'd approve.


If you'd like to see him and vote him up the charts, the picture above can be found amongst the following pictures.

More Bolli outdoors pictures are in my Bolli Flickr set. Thanks Purina!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/bolli-is-pet-of-day-on-purina-site.html

Annie Mole was speaking at Ladyfest London

To anyone who follows my twitter feed you might have noticed that on Saturday I headed off to Ladyfest London, where I'd been invited to give a talk and chair a discussion workshop on blogging.


It was very interesting even though mine and fellow speaker Lorrie's audience as very small (half were male) as the people in the audience all had some interest in transport & the Tube. Some had read my blog, one had even read Mecca's One Stop Short of Barking, others were thinking of running transport related blogs, one was doing research into a creative project involving the Tube.

I talked about all sorts of stuff which might be interesting to people thinking of starting their own blog. The importance of primarily writing for yourself so that ideally your enthusiasm shows through. What starts to happen once you get an audience and how people may or may not treat your blog differently. How do you deal with comments and particularly comments you don't agree with or find offensive.

They were fairly shocked to hear that I've had a persistent racist guy commenting on my blog since 2005. He is banned and knows that he is banned but still comes back using different IP addresses and makes posts at 2am or 4am in the morning as he hopes that at least some people will read his views before I get the chance to delete them. I'm not going to name him as that will give him the attention he craves. I will tell him & anyone else who's reading this, that I delete all of his posts and don't even read them, so I have absolutely no idea what he is saying to me. I treat him in exactly the same way that he treats Black, Asian, Jewish and basically any "non-white" people who he's maligned over the past three years. With complete disrespect. If that makes me a fascist - so be it. But I refuse to let him or anyone else try to use my blog as a mouthpiece for spreading racial hatred. It simply ain't going to happen.

The only good thing I can say about him is that, so far, he doesn't appear to be sexist. But I'm sure that will come in a comment made at 3am in the morning - so look out for it!

Back to other tips for new bloggers. Bloggers on the whole are very collaborative and share a lot. They usually acknowledge other bloggers stories and read and comment on other people's blogs. I love Flickr and spend the first half hour of most mornings having a look at my friends pictures to see what they've been up to and commenting on stuff.

The time went by very quickly and it was a shame the discussions couldn't continue as we also discussed copyright & legal issues, responsibility of blogging and dealing with sexism in blog comments.


Many thanks to Jess McCabe from the F Word for inviting me and I would certainly love to go along again next year.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/annie-mole-was-speaking-at-ladyfest.html

Evening Standard ask - Has our Tube Drinks Ban coverage been fair?

I've been sent an email (well two emails actually) by Josh Neicho from letters at Evening Standard. He wants me to pass on to friends and colleagues who have previously run Circle Line parties.

I only have one friend who has run a Circle Line party(well a pub crawl to be more precise - which is completely different) and I will forward this on to him. However, I imagine that that some people who read this blog, may have run Circle Line Parties (or at least been on them which is I think what Josh is trying to get at) so in the interests of giving Josh a wider sample, plus I don't read the Evening Standard that often, I hope he won't mind me blogging his email. In fact he's probably already presumed I would post it:

This is Josh Neicho from Letters at the Evening Standard. Hope you don't mind me contacting you directly - just wanted to get in touch re our coverage of the Underground and buses drink ban as I am keen to include views from some critics of the policy (so far, the responses I have had have been in support, including from non-Boris supporters). I have previously been in touch with Geoff Marshall on other Tube matters and will email him separately; I would be very grateful if you send your own thoughts or forward this to friends and colleagues who have previously run Circle Line parties and might like to comment.

Josh Neicho
Evening Standard Letters
joshua.neicho @ standard.co.uk

Josh is possibly not aware that Geoff Marshall hasn't lived in London for about 18 months to two years, well he may have been if he'd looked at his blog. But maybe the Evening Standard's coverage has got through to Geoff in the US. Also although Geoff has been on a Circle Line Tube party, as far as I know, he actually hasn't run one.

I will send Josh my own thoughts (if he's also interested in my thoughts on their sister publications' Metro & London Lite, I'll be happy to give them) and if anyone would like to do the same or through the comments here please feel free.

In the meantime you might be interested to see the londonpaper's letters page on the Tube drinks ban:


Although the Londonpaper is owned by News International their letters pages cover a similar commuter audience.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 12, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/evening-standard-ask-has-our-tube-ban_12.html

Signs of Summer on the Tube

Hope you managed to stand the heat on the London Underground at the weekend. On Saturday I spotted the guy below at lunchtime, who was a bit errr merry from booze and had clearly been out in the sun.


The red arms, chest and legs looked a tad painful, but he didn't seem to mind and his mates spent more time joking about the sweaty smells coming from one of their equally scantily clad friends.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 12, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/signs-of-summer-on-tube_12.html

Don't Blame Me I Didn't Vote Boris T Shirt Spotted

You may have seen these T shirts on Facebook, you may have seen them on this blog, but this is the first picture I've seen with someone wearing one:


It's from someone on the Boris Watch Group. Wonder how many more we'll be seeing?

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, May 10, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/dont-blame-me-i-didnt-vote-boris-t.html

Tube Booze Ban Party Planned for 11th May

I saw this earlier this morning on the Londonpaper's website, which for some strange reason I can't seem to access now, so just as well I took a screengrab.


"Protesters against the ban on booze on London's public transport will gather this weekend to demonstrate against the new law.

The 'Anti-Boris Party' will take place at Trafalgar Square from 1pm on Sunday.

Facebook group 'Boris won't ban my booze!' – which was set up during the London Mayoral Election – is being used to advertise the city protest.

London student Beth Powell, on behalf of the Student Revolt Against Boris Johnson, posted the invitation to 'Drink as much as you want' during the eight-hour "party"."

The article did not link to the Facebook Groups but if you want to see them, Here's the "Boris won't ban my booze" group which is not affiliated with the Student Revolt Against Boris Johnson Group which the Londonpaper article might lead you to believe.

Here's what the "Boris won't ban my booze" group have to say "Drinking on the tube in London is an institution of night time revelry. With vast distances to travel across London from house to pub or pub to club, a top-up is necessary for saving both time and money. The proposal is misguided, ineffective and serves only to victimise responsible tube-riding drinkers such as ourselves."

I have no idea how many people will turn up to students' protest / party. I imagine it will be crawling with police. It'll be interesting to see how this is reported on Monday.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, May 10, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/tube-booze-ban-party-planned-for-11th.html

Woman attacked on Central Line

Just heard on Heart FM radio that the Police are looking for two men in connection with the attack of a woman last night on a Central Line carriage between Lancaster Gate and Queensway. The woman in her 20's was seriously assaulted at around 8.30pm. Doubtless more news of this will follow as internet news agencies get hold of the story. But in the meantime, if you saw anything please contact the police.

Obviously, this is awful for the poor woman who was attacked but good timing for Boris Johnson and the Government, as yesterday they both introduced plans to cut down crime & anti social behaviour on public transport. The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith said: "I also understand people's concerns about anti-social behaviour on public transport. Working with passengers, transport staff and operators, Ruth Kelly and I will take action to answer these concerns.

"We want to stamp out ASB (anti social behaviour) on our buses, trains and trams. If more powers are needed to protect staff and the travelling public, we will provide them."

As Andrew Sparrow from The Guardian said of the Government's statement yesterday, "I may be wrong, but it looks like a last-minute addition inserted to show that Boris isn't the only politician concerned about yobs on buses."

The Home Secretary's speech with the ironically yobbish title "Anti Social Behaviour - We're not Having it" can be read in full here.

Andrew Sparrow said that Home Office's announcement "is not directly comparable. But it does show that, on the subject of unruly teenagers, the government does have something to say."

As Boris Johnson announced the ban on alcohol on all of London's public transport, questions were raised about the feasibility of the ban. The RMT union described the policy as "impractical", and admitted that their members suffer violence at the hands of drunk passengers.

RMT Leader Bob Crow said "We are in favour of any measure that will make our members' lives safer and curb anti-social behaviour, but it appears that this really hasn't been thought through very well and could well make matters worse. We are being told that it will be our members who will have to approach people drinking and ask them to stop - but the mayor hasn't asked us what we think."

For more on the RMT's thoughts about the alcohol ban, please see my earlier post below.

Update - I've just been sent an email to another attack to a woman on the Central Line. D Metcalfe wrote "Is it possible there were two recent violence incidents on the Central Line or is this story the one you mentioned?

If so these facts seem quite different from yours and - to me - much more troublesome. If this news story is accurate I'm simply amazed that a car load of Brits could sit/stand by and not intercede on behalf of this mother and daughter. Simply unbelievable. What has happened to the culture of so-called "civilised" folk that they would allow such an assault to take place? And not help? Or speak up afterwards as witnesses?"

It's possible that Heart FM got the dates and locations on the Central Line wrong, but that's unlikely, so it sounds like these are two separate instances.

D continues "But I'm mad that my favorite form of transport was so badly besmirched. I've ridden that line a couple of time at about that time of day. And I'm a 77 year old Yank that as a kid rode street cars in Los Angeles during the "zoot suit" wars, so I couldn't have kept myself from butting in if I'd been in that car the other night. Just makes my blood boil."

Sadly D as I mentioned in the comments here you are in a minority when it comes to standing up to violence on the Tube. More police with real powers are needed and not just a simple crack down on alcohol on public transport. How you can instill a culture of people caring about their fellow commuters is way beyond me, and as much as I hate to say it, it sounds like there may have been some racism involved in this second attack.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, May 09, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/woman-attacked-on-central-line.html

Dissolved Oyster cards may make great magic wands

I'm sure a number of you read Boing Boing (I don't but often get sent interesting stories from it - eg the spoof terrorist posters), its editor has a particular bugbear about the "Big Brotherness" of Oyster cards and how they can track your every move. Regular readers know I don't share this view.

As he hates Oyster cards so much, he showed a couple of attempts of how an Oyster card can be destroyed using some kind of industrial strength acetate and how the chip inside it will still work. Problem was that none of the attempts did actually work. At least not until now. Heads up to Gia who originally found this attempt.

SkeptoBot mananged to dissolve an Oyster card using very simple methods & ingredients:


1) 400ml of Nail Varnish Remover - I bought 2 bottles of Boots own brand at 99p each. I could probably have got by with one.
2) An oyster card - I bought a prepay one for £3, though I got a funny look when I didn't want to top it up there and then.
3) A jar big enough to contain the oyster card - I bought a jar of beetroot (urgh) for 72p.

Total Cost: £5.70

Once the Oyster card goes into the nail varnish it melts enough so that you can tear away the layers of plastic and you are left with the chip. He said:

"It's best to keep checking the card, first it will get soft, then after about 90 mins it folded over and I was able to peel off the first layer of the card, exposing one side of the chip. Then I cut the centre of the card out with scissors (so there was less plastic for the acetone to work on). I put these pieces next to the jar, and I was quite suprisied when the time-lapse showed them wobbling about.

Then after another half hour or so, the other side of the plastic loosened enough to peel that away exposing the intact chip and antenna."

You can see a time lapse video of the whole process below:


But would it actually work? After all the meltdown, would he then be able to get the chip topped up and would it let him through the gates on the Tube? He took the chip, put it into an Oyster card wallet, so as not to look suspicious, and then topped it up with some cash, then videoed the experience (see below):


It worked. So one now has potentially endless opportunities of not being restricted to your blue card if you want to get about. SkeptoBot quite fancies sticking his chip onto a wand and waving it in front of the reader, saying something like "Open Sesame" and the gates would open - as if by magic.

Watch his blog for further developments to see if he can turn it into a wand.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, May 09, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/dissolved-oystercards-may-make-great.html

Boris spotted on the Tube

And not a PR person or journalist in sight

Eagle-eyed James saw Boris Johnson on the Victoria Line yesterday morning.


James said: "He was going from Highbury & Islington to Green Park (presumably for the Jubilee) and at least one person congratulated him and complained about the trains. He was also going to be late as it was 9 when I got off at Green Park. Terrible."

Just as well he wasn't on the same carriage as RMT's Bob Crow, who's not too happy about how his members will have to enforce the alcohol ban on all of London's transport.

He said: "Perhaps the Mayor will come out with his underpants over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done, and maybe tell a crowd of Liverpool supporters that they can't drink on the train."

He's also not happy about Johnson's pre-election claims of trying to stop their right to strike. I raise my eyebrows at the first sentence here, but with rest, he has a point:

"Our members have never taken strike action at the drop of a hat - the legal constraints we face make that charge laughable.

But it would be insane for us to surrender our democratic right - our human right - to withdraw our labour to defend our interests. Politicians from all sides praised South African dock workers when they refused to handle a Chinese shipment of arms bound for Zimbabwe, but had that happened in Britain the union involved would have been hauled into court.

So, for the new Mayor's benefit, I say this: the RMT wants good industrial relations, but it will never enter into a no-strike agreement."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, May 09, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/boris-spotted-on-tube.html

Reading Morning Papers on the London Underground - what do you read?

Yesterday morning I went to a breakfast seminar which had some fascinating speakers. Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not a great morning person and I generally don't like breakfast meetings or seminars as I think, why not just do them at a time when people are a bit more awake. However, this was worth me leaving my house at 7.30am. (as it was I didn't get there till 8.45am but that's a whole other story and will be the subject of a Customer Charter Refund form to TfL)



Because I got a much earlier train than normal there were loads of school kids and teenagers on my train.

The guy that you can see in the picture above was reading Metro and I've always banged on about the best thing about Metro and the free sheets is that they actually get teenagers and kids reading newspapers. Some people respond to me and say "ah but they only read the gossip, TV and sports sections". I say "well at least that's something". But in reality I actually think they read way more than that.

The teenager in front of me was reading the cover story about the tragic cyclone in Burma. He also proceeded to read the rest of the paper. Other teenagers around me were reading stuff about Pete Doherty mixed in with stuff about the American elections, Boris Johnson, a gun seige in London, Britney Spears seeing her kids and a whole lot of other stuff from yesterday's papers.

Mixed amongst the Metro readers (the majority of people in my carriage were reading the Metro) were The Sun readers (most males over 30) and the odd broadsheet reader.

So indulge me for a moment if you would. What paper do you read on your morning commute into work? And if you want to say roughly how old you are, that might help to prove or disprove my theory about Metro meaning that more teenagers are reading papers. Thanks!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, May 08, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/05/reading-papers-on-london-underground.html

Please help out a fellow blogger

I've just spent about ten minutes completing quite a fun questionnaire about blogging. Normally ten minutes on a questionnaire is a little too long for me but I was attracted by the following email that was sent to me:

Hello

I've recently come to realise that blogging – which is to say, the way people blog and the reasons people blog and the things people blog about - is a complicated and profound and endlessly fascinating thing. So, because I'm an inquisitive beast, I've compiled a questionnaire about that very thing and I'd be honoured and thrilled if you'd fill it in for me.

If I don't know you personally by the way, it doesn't mean I don't want to. For the moment, I'm probably virtual friends with one of your other virtual friends. I did a little two-degree roll-trawling to get what I hoped would be a willing sample. Fingers crossed.

Of course, if you'd rather have your corneas scraped with poison arrows than answer a bunch of questions about your private blog habits, then please delete this email at once and I'm genuinely sorry to have bothered you.

If you do fancy it however, splendid! All information proffered will be treated with complete confidentiality and all results will be attributed anonymously. Unless of course, you tell me something particularly juicy, in which case I will contact you and ask your permission to single you out for special praise.

Oh, this is fun already.

Right. The survey is here:

http://www.polldaddy.com/s/33F57E9A1193D2A4/

Feel free to circulate.....

Cheers!

Stan

--

http://betedejour.blogspot.com/

I thought the questionnaire got a little too long. I won't tell you how many questions there are, as it might put you off, but if you aren't doing a number of things that it asks, ie if you don't have a stat counter, don't carry ads, don't have affiliate links, don't have an RSS feed enabled, haven't had sex as a result of your blog, haven't had a relationship with someone as a result of your blog and don't have comments enabled on your blog, you can skip a lot of the questions.

As I have or have done all of the above it took me a full ten minutes to answer. So if you have a blog give it a go if you fancy it, as it will get you thinking about all sorts of things about why you blog and why you carry on blogging and also asks the questions in a fairly fun way. If you don't have a blog, skip to something else on this blog that takes your fancy.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, May 08, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Signs of Summer on the Tube & Cooling the Tube job

You know that summer's coming on the London Underground when you see the appearance of the inevitable Heatbusters ads for air conditioning units


Regular readers know that the problem of cooling the Tube is a big one and over a hundred people went to a talk on how the London Underground planned to tackle heat.

Jon Justice who's a regular commenter and contributor to the blog sent me a link to a role that Transport for London advertised on the 30th April - Operations Liaison Manager - Cooling the Tube.

"Operations Liaison Manager - London SW1
c£50k plus generous benefits

The Tube. Best Served Chilled.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Operations Liaison Manager who will act as the representative of local operational management on all Cooling the Tube Programme (CTP) activities. You will ensure that planned project works are delivered with minimum impact on the operational railway; help prepare and implement an operational readiness plan for using the new assets, ensuring that local teams are ready to use the new assets when delivered; and will work with Line General Managers and their teams to implement migration, transition and changeover plans."

Full details can be found in the link above and you have until Sunday May 18th 2008 at 1159hrs to apply. It's a very healthy salary to say the least, for what would be a very challenging role.

As well as carrying out the specific duties outlined, candidates require:

• Extensive planning and organising experience to achieve business objectives
• Experience of interpreting complex information and communicating findings and recommendations
• Good understanding of principles of railway operational management
• Awareness of customer priorities
• Computer literate with good analytical skill
• Financial and business acumen
• Influencing and negotiating skills
• Good working knowledge of the PPP Contract

God alone knows who would have the last requirement, but if you have, or think you know someone who has you know where to go.

Although perhaps Ian & Pete from The Londoneer might feel qualified as they made very comprehensive notes from the lecture in March.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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TfL win People's Voice Webby's Award

Congrats to Transport for London's website for winning the People's Voice Award for Government in the Webby's (the Oscars of the internet world)


It was nice to see two of the sites that I hoped would be in with a chance of winning, actually win the People's Vote.

The other site was MOO who fought off some stiff competition to win the People's Vote in the Services category.


So congratulations to both.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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20% of London's Tube Drivers are "unsafe"

If you're about to take the London Underground into work this morning take heart that according to the BBC up to one in five of the trains you could board will have an "unsafe" driver at the controls.


The BBC in a Donald MacIntyre Investigation report that "Up to 20% of London Underground train drivers are sent on retraining courses each year because of unsafe driving. About 700 drivers were sent on the courses each year since 2003 for wrongly going through red stop signals.

The figures, which were obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, include drivers who may have been on courses twice in the same year."

In each case the drivers (or operators as they like to be called) were retrained as a result of signals passed at danger or SPAD's as they are known in the trade (the reality TV programme The Tube is how I know this), which can occur when the driver (sorry, operator) misjudges the train's braking distance. If a train goes through a red signal the brake system is automatically triggered.

The train operator is then supposed to report this to the control room for advice on when it is safe for the train to proceed. If they don't report the incident it could result in disciplinary action.

Not suprisingly, Transport for London (TfL) assure us that all is well and in a statement said: "There have been no injuries as a result of these incidents.

"It must be noted that as London Underground upgrades its signal system a part of its signal system as part of its current rebuilding program, these incidents will be eliminated by the implementation of automatic train operation."

Well that's nice to know then.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Booze to be banned on the Tube (and London Transport)

At the end of Boris Johnson's mayoral acceptance speech he said the following words about starting his new job: "Let's get cracking tomorrow and let's have a drink tonight". Not exactly wise words for someone whose first London Underground promise is to call for alcohol on the Tube to be banned. No more cracking good drinks on the Tube then.


Even one of Boris's supporters Iain Dale claims to find banning not so great (not sure where he stands on banning guns then - but that's by the by) "As a liberal Conservative I instinctively recoil from banning things. However, is it liberal to allow tube users to be abused by drunken louts? No, definitely not. I think this policy will be welcomed by many as long as it is policed properly."

Yes I'm sure we can rely on the new Mayor to police it properly. He got a lot of practice in this morning, just by wearing a policeman's hat. Check out The Sun

By the way loving, Iain Dale's ads for Laithwaites wine all over his blog. It's great that some people can be trusted to booze responsibly and yet it appears there might be a blanket ban on booze.

More on the Tube booze issue on Boriswatch.

Update - 8th May- it will be across the whole public transport network in London from 1st June - see the BBC & today's Metro for more.


"The ban, starting on 1 June, on the Tube, buses, trams and Docklands Light Railway is one of his election pledges.

But the Rail Maritime and Transport Union said the policy appeared "not to have been thought through very well" and could make matters worse."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, May 05, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Transforming your Tube this Bank Holiday Weekend

I was trying to take a picture of the leaflet which announced the Bank Holiday Tube Transformation works and Bolli insisted on appearing in the photo


For once Transport for London had done a very good leaflet. Wonder if they had taken on board the frustration and confusion caused by the errr not so clear leaflets and posters they had previously done for this?


This current one is really super clear and they've even made sure that the Piccadilly Line trains stop at Turnham Green (which will be a massive help for me getting into town - although I still won't use those fooking replacement buses). There's a remarkably clear section with "alternative travel advice" which tells you which local bus services you can use.


For those who asked for more pictures of Bolli, here's others where he wouldn't get out of the way:








Bolli is available for hire to Transport for London for modelling services and only wants food for payment.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, May 03, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Don't read this if you voted for Boris

I really am not interested in anyone who comments on this post and says why don't you just focus on the London Underground then. There's shedloads of posts in this blog about the London Underground and there will be shedloads more. It's time for a change isn't it. Most of London thinks so. Here's a post NOT about the London Underground.

Please avert your eyes and go off and read the posts that interest you. This is just one post out of hundreds that are about the Tube. Read the posts about bendy buses, Japan, mainline railways and the myriad of other posts that aren't "all things underground" but don't seem to get any complaints. So if you're still reading this post at this stage, you know what you're letting yourself in for.

By about 6pm I felt it was unlikely that Ken Livingstone would win the mayoral elections, but in my heart of hearts I kind of hoped he would pull it off. We know that he didn't and we know that we now have four years of being run by a "character" who is possibly one of the most essentially un-diverse people you could have running a city that prides itself on diversity.

A person who has little appreciation of what it's like to live in London & mix on a daily basis with people of a variety of races, with a people who have a variety of sexual preferences, with people from different parts of the UK, with women who'd rather not be cheated on and lied to by their partners.

Whatever you think of Boris's ability to run this city and there's little evidence of him being any good at that. How anyone can believe that such an undiverse character can change themselves in a matter of weeks is simply beyond me. Time after time after time the man has come up with racist gaffes, homophobic gaffes, Liverpudllianist gaffes and countless others. Yet he says sorry and ahhhh loads of people forgive him until it's time for him to make the next one.

The article in Thursday's Guardian confirmed every suspicion I had about the man. It listed lots of people that you may well admire and respect who were all horrified about the prospect of Boris running this city. David Mitchell, Arabella Weir, Charlie Brooker, Bianca Jagger, Ben Okri and Vivienne Westwood all give quotes in that article of how Boris is unsuitable for the role.

If you haven't the time to read that article here's some of Boris's own words:

"Right, let's go and look at some more piccaninnies."
· Reported remark, while visiting Uganda, to Swedish Unicef workers and their black driver, the Observer, 2003

"It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies."
· Daily Telegraph, 2002

"I'm down with the ethnics. You can't out-ethnic me, Nihal ... My children are a quarter Indian, so put that in your pipe and smoke it."
· To Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Asian Network, 2008

"Gay marriage can only ever be a ludicrous parody of the real thing."
· Daily Telegraph, 2005

"The clerics gave us [journalists] a wigging for being so mean to the Church of England ... Why did we draw attention to tricky subjects like homosexuality, aka the Pulpit Poofs issue?"
· The Spectator, 2000

"I've slept with far fewer than 1,000."
· On whether he has slept with fewer than 30 women, like Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Daily Telegraph, 2008

More from the BBC's site

"If I was in charge I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like" - striking a blow for the right to eat pies at the 2006 Tory conference. He later described Oliver as a "national saint".

"I will add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology" - after suggesting the country was known for "chief-killing and cannibalism"

But London believes it's time for a change and that Boris is the best person to do the job.

If my making a political stand which you disagree with makes you never want to read this blog again, go ahead and don't read it anymore. I won't be sorry to see you go. Right now, I'm about to join this Facebook Group - Boris not in my name and will also become a fan of Boris Watch - as you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be watching him like a hawk.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, May 03, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Who will be London's Mayor? Long Wait begins

Well that's it. The wait begins. Polls closed at 10pm yesterday. Counting for London Mayor does not start until 9am this morning with the results expected around 12 hours later at about 5pm ish.

It's going to be a very close call. Boris the Buffoon may possibly just do it. No one really knows despite Evening Standard's usual accurate billboards hardly representing what's in the paper.


Meanwhile on the bbc's site or watching their election live coverage you might like to see Jeremy Vine doing a rather odd cowboy accent with a stetson and gun toting and shooting party / seats ie cans off a fence.

Emily Maitlis is "blogging, twittering, chatting, whatever" as she speaks to "blog land" or rather some bloggers who've been selected to give people's online views.


At time of writing Boris Johnson's dad is talking to Emily Maitlis saying that he's not a buffoon and saying The Guardian's approach is libellous. Well he would say that wouldn't he?

Whatever happens later today it will affect London's Transport either for better or for worse. I'll carry on blogging about the Tube and it will certainly be interesting if I have to expose Boris's inexperience and buffoonery.


Right now people do seem more interested in the story about this blog that a lot of other news today, so I've got a responsibility to keep people informed.

Personally I'd rather be blogging about the Tube being improved rather than it being turned into even more of a nightmare for the next four years - but who knows - it ain't over till it's over.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, May 02, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Playing Cards with the Tube

Cards featured a lot in my day yesterday. At lunchtime I went off to see Channel4 for a work and play related event. I'm soooo lucky that my day job has quite a lot of resonances with my blogging life and it means I get to combine the two.


Someone at the event made exactly the same comment, but she felt that only two people in the world read both of her blogs, as the things she did at work and play were very unrelated.

On the way back, I sheltered in the rain and stood gazing up at the London Underground Head Office (which is really close to Channel 4's office). I was sheltering under the canopy of the Met Police's head office (they're all really close to each other, near St James's Park Tube Station, so I use them as landmarks).

It was weird though because I'd never noticed the flag flying from their building before. Maybe it always has been or maybe it was something to do with elections.


I was a little too close to their front door and was taking a picture - obviously making me a terrorist. The nice policeman on the door asked me what I was doing. I told him. He said "Fine, can you just move over a bit as you're blocking the entrance. Nasty weather isn't it." Then we had a bit of a chat about how pants it was one minute and how sunny then next. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but he rocked!

Coming home last night I saw the perfect example of the extreme ends of Tube commuters. There's those that try to hide behind their papers and never look at anyone wanting to get the journey over with as quickly as possible. Then those that use the long journey as a way of getting other stuff done and an extension of their bedroom, office, living room, whatever. The two below definitely fell into the latter category:


They were engrossed in their game of cards and seemed to be taking their playing very seriously.

Anyway time for me to get ready for work now. I've got a busy busy day and then tonight I'm off to see Iron Man with some blogging mates. Sizemore, Jess, Tiara Diamond (may not be safe for some offices), Whatleydude & L J see you all later.

Oh and if anyone wants to know how Bolli my newly acquired cat is doing, as you can see below he's demanding breakfast and doing well


You would not believe how much this cat can eat. He acts as though he's starving most of the time and would seriously eat all day if I let him.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, May 02, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London votes for Mayor today

Well it's finally arrived. The day of reckoning. The day that Londoners can choose who is going to become their Mayor for the next four years. Obviously, I've been following the mayoral campaign for quite some time as London's Transport and the London Underground is a key part of the Mayor's responsibility and also as three million people use the Tube in London every single day it's bound to be of importance.


Most of you, who've been reading this blog for some time, know who I'm going to vote for as Mayor. I'm not going to try to influence your vote with this post. Even though I'm apparently influential & popular now (it's official Reuters say I am - thanks guys & Jane). It's not fair, I'm not a politician, I'm not going to use the Reuter's traffic to say vote for X. You're hopefully grown up enough to realise the importance of your vote. You are sensible enough to know that voting for who is going to run London isn't about who might make the funniest Mayor. It's not necessarily about change for change's sake. It's not about who's more "right on than thou". However you vote today will influence your travel and life in London for the next four years. That's quite some time, so think carefully.

I've shown the ad above because voting is not a joke. As much as I joke about stuff on the Tube and can see the funny side to things, I take my power as a voter seriously and I urge you to do the same too.

What am going to do is show you what two people of very different ages have been saying or seeing about the Mayoral campaign. Peter is in his sixties, Kate is 25.

At Tuesday's London Blogger's meet up I was talking to Peter Marshall who was telling me that he had blogged very recently about seeing Ken Livingstone on the Tube:


"My photographs of London owe a great deal to Ken Livingstone and his transport policies at the GLC in the 1980s that made a quantum change in transport across the capital. It's hard now to imagine the difficulties and of getting around the city before the Travelcard - assuming you aren't in the class that always travels by taxi.

As Ken left, I decided it was time for me to go as well, and I wasn't at all surprised to find myself following Ken into Aldgate East underground station. I sat down on the train next to him, and after talking briefly asked if he would mind if I photographed him on the tube.

During the few stations to Embankment, where we both changed, he sat there catching up with reading a few documents. Several groups of people - including some Norwegian tourists - came up and talked to him and some took photographs too. As always, Ken had a smile and a few words that made them all feel welcome."

Kate wrote a piece that the Londonpaper chose to feature about the importance of 2nd voting. She used the votematch service that I also used last week.


She wrote: "I have found various tools on the internet to help me decide who to vote for. The best by far has been VoteMatch (www.votematch.co.uk) The website is set up to tell you which candidate you agree with most. I was surprised by the result it gave me. All of the mayoral candidates have answered a set of questions (yes, there are more than two candidates). The questions are designed to bring out the differences in their policies (again, yes, Ken and Boris have policies). The website then tells you, in a very helpful graph, which of the candidates you should support".

Like Kate I'm still undecided on who gets my 2nd vote for Mayor, even though votematch helped. I certainly know who's not getting it. With the London Assembly vote I'll probably take Ken Livingstone's advice and vote LibDem.


Polls open at 7am and close at 10pm. From a weather front in London, it's going to be dry & sunny in the morning and really wet again in the afternoon. Please don't forget to vote and don't assume your vote doesn't matter. As usual look forward to comments whether you are from the UK or overseas. Thanks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, May 01, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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