Happy 2006

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, January 03, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Back to work with a quiz - where on the Tube was this shot?

Scissor Sisters' Mary Video - Where was it filmed?

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

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

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









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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, January 03, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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New Year, New London Underground Fares (plus handy fare comparison calculator)

Oystercard pre-pay makes annual fare increases even more ridiculous

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

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

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

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, January 02, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Bob Crow suns himself while London Underground go on strike

January 2nd 2006 - Bob Crow spinning from Egypt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATE - 18.30 - Friday 30th December

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

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

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

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

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, January 02, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Transport Heroes in New Year's Honours List

Station staff member and Tube driver amongst those recognised

So it's not all complete doom and gloom for London Underground station staff (and please try not to give them a hard time today, it's not exactly their fault they have selfish, fat, miserable dullards as union leaders - although if I were them I'd join a different union - sorry mini rant over). Today the Queen recognises people who have made a significant contribution to the UK, and the New Year's Honours this year, rightly recognises the fantastic work undertaken by paramedics, emergency workers and London Transport staff on July 7th when 52 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the attacks on our transport system.

"MBE recipients include David Boyce, the station supervisor at Russell Square Tube Station, 'who despite the potential danger ran into the tunnel and provided first aid'.

Tube driver John Boyle, the first on the scene at Aldgate station, and British Transport Police Constable Deborah Russell-Fenwick, who tended to the injured on the scene of the Tavistock Place bus blast, both receive an MBE.

William Kilminster, a London Ambulance Service paramedic who braved appalling conditions to attend the bombed train between King's Cross and Russell Square, also receives an MBE." See Channel 4 News for more on this.

I'm sure we would all like to thank the many other London Transport staff, tranpsort police and emergency services who helped on this horrific day.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Saturday, December 31, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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World's Hottest Urban Blogger!!!!

Ooops, I seem to have won an award - World's Hottest Urban Blogger

Well, no iTunes, as I didn't win the Urbs' World's Best Urban Blog, although mightily pleased to have come second (which meant narrowly beating the great Gothamist - no idea how I managed that). But, thanks to all your votes and support, I am now the World's Hottest Urban Blogger! I was pleased to fly the flag as the only UK finalist in both categories. I must thank my rather attractive Yahoo! Avatar for making me look a lot better in cyberspace than I do in reality.

More news when America wakes up, so I can find out more about what being the Urb's World's Hottest Urban Blogger actually means (Do I have to write a cheesy acceptance speech like in Miss World? Do I get a little crown and a sash? When do I get my FHM modelling contract?). But once again, thanks to everyone who voted and I'm delighted to have finally won an award for this blog!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, December 27, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Jubilee Line Suspended for longer train upgrade & Tube Strike Latest

No Jubilee Line between 26th and 30th December (correction 29th December)

Don't forget there will be no Jubilee Line service between now and the 30th December (inclusive) while they get the longer trains with the extra carriages up and running. Update - amazingly this has re-opened ahead of schedule.

Earlier in December I was on the Jubilee Line going to Canada Water and at Waterloo at the far end of the platforom they had some interesting signs which nicely illustrate how from early January, more people should be able to get onto the trains. It will allow "an extra 6,000 people to travel each hour when the Tube is at its busiest"



Check out the Tube's website for more on the upgrades.

New Year's Eve Tube Strike Latest - 28th December Update

So the Jubilee Line will be up and running just in time for the station staff to go on strike at mid-day on New Year's Eve for 24 hours. For more on the New Year London Underground Strike see my earlier post. There is a slim chance that this could be averted as both parties say they are still willing to talk. Rail union leader RMT's Bob Crow said "we will make ourselves available for talks if the company shows it is prepared to negotiate seriously" and the London Underground said "We remain ready to talk to the RMT at any time to resolve this issue.....If the strike does go ahead, London Underground will seek to run services where it is safe to do so."

As usual I will keep you posted when I learn more. The very latest appears to be London Underground (LU) proposing talking to ACAS, the arbitration service, on the 29th but with RMT saying that as far as they know, no union officials will be there! (See Bloomberg News for more on this) Meanwhile, LU is urging the RMT to attend the talks on Thursday. While you wait for them to get their acts together, you might like to pop along to this post for more on the arguments behind the New Year's Eve Tube strike and join the discussion in the comments.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, December 27, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Hoorah for the January (post Xmas) Sales

I love post Christmas Sales

Just got back from some of that shopping, where you go out to buy a handbag in the sales and come back with five candles, two cardigans, three tops, two camisoles, one jacket, two handbags, a suedette reversible throw, some filofax innards for your filofax and...... a reduced price wooden toy Tube train, as mentioned as one of the Xmas Gifts the day before Christmas Eve.



The two toy London Underground carriages were already a bargain at a fiver and now they're even more of a bargain at £4

Get down to an Early Learning Centre near you before they sell them all!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, December 27, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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On the Twenty Fourth Day of Christmas.....

My Tube Love gave to me

Some London Underground Travel Sweets

Today's the day that a lot of people will be driving home for Christmas or taking long train journeys home, so what better way to keep your concentration or refresh a yucky mouth, than to suck on some London Underground travel sweets.



These were available in Whittards for £3 a tin.

I'd never really seen the point of Tube travel sweets until now. With the proposed New Year's Eve London Underground strike more people will be taking to their cars and National Rail so they may need them there. But I was particularly interested to see that the flavours of these sweets seemed to be aimed at RMT union leader Bob Crowe - bitter lemon and sour grapes!

(See the Twenty Third day of Christmas Gift here)

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Saturday, December 24, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Thames Tunnel Wapping Tour - Today

Wapping fun if you've done your shopping!

Almost forgot to mention that today is the last day for 2005 of the truly brill innuendo ridden Thames Tunnel Tours at Rotherhithe and Wapping, held by Robert Hulse.

So if you've smugly done all your Christmas shopping or if you fancy going to Wapping anyway, you can have an expertly guided tour of Brunel's twin tunnels and his Wapping Shaft!

Tickets are £5 each and you also need to have a valid zone 2 ticket/travelcard/Oystercard to travel between Rotherhithe and Wapping. It includes free admission to the Brunel Museum which apparently is "decked for Christmas Shopping". Tours leave every hour on the hour from 1pm till 4pm from Rotherhithe London Underground Station - for more details - click here or call 020 7231 3840.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Saturday, December 24, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Festive Cheer on the Piccadilly Line

Santa girls collect for children's charities

Just to lighten up from the proposed New Year's Eve Tube Strike, when me and Neil were travelling back yesterday on a crowded Piccadilly Line train, a couple of girls got onto the Tube dressed as Santas with collecting buckets. They were collecting for children who will be in hospices and hospitals over Christmas and it was warming to see that the majority of people in the carriage gave them some money.



A Very Merry Christmas to you all and I'll probably be back on the days between Xmas and the New Year! Have fun!

Oh and if you've enjoyed the blog over the past year, please vote for it and me in the Urban Blogging Awards - I'm up for World's Hottest Urban Blogger, which I seem to be in first place for at the moment and World's Best Urban Blog, where the blog is currently a close second. Voting is open until 26th December - Boxing Day. Many thanks!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Saturday, December 24, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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A not so Happy New Year thanks to striking Tube Staff

New Year's Eve London Underground Strike on

News just in that the talks between RMT and the London Underground have broken down, so short of some miracle happening it looks like the first of two 24 hour strikes will be going ahead on New Year's Eve.

"RMT officials and Tube chiefs failed to reach a deal in the dispute through the conciliation service Acas.

"London Underground station staff have also voted for another 24-hour walkout starting on 8 January......

"The Institute for Advanced Motorists said it thought the strike, which is due to begin at midday, could increase the risk of people drinking and driving because of the lack of public transport."

The full story is on the BBC and for all of our opinions and discussions check out yesterday's post.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, December 23, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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On the Twenty Third Day of Christmas.....

My Tube Love gave to me

A Wooden London Underground Tube Train

Many thanks to regular commenter Fimb for sending the penultimate of the London Underground related Christmas gifts. It's a Toy Wooden Tube Train from the Early Learning Centre and as Fimb says it is a bargain for a fiver.



Although it's on the Early Learning Centre's website, Fimb took the above picture showing that it's still available in stores now, so if you need a last minute gift pop over to your nearest branch. I love the caption on the website though:

"2 tube train carriages to take the city people to work."

With the rate the RMT are going with the New Year's Eve threatened London Underground strike, two carriages is probably all we will be getting in the New Year.

(See the Twenty Second day of Christmas Gift here)

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, December 23, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Fashion Victims

Last Tube Fashion Victims of the Year

It was a bit light on fashion victim spotting on the London Underground this week, mainly because there are a lot fewer commuters around as it's the holiday season. Also lots of people were in black tie or party gear and so there weren't too many people around I could see in clothes that really "screamed" fashion victim.

So we only have one this week, a teenager wearing some "interesting" trousers:



And just in case you couldn't get enough, she's ready for her close up, Mr DeMille:



I particularly like the length of these "leisure pants" and also the way that the general cut of them makes her .... er... arse (why split hairs when you are obviously wearing something designed to make people look at it?) look a load bigger than I'm sure it is.

Check out last week's London Underground Fashion victims here and there's also a Flickr set for them.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, December 23, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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A moment's diversion.....

Getting to know you meme

I'll update the blog with the New Year's Tube strike news as and when I hear, but in the meantime you may fancy doing the blog challenge or meme on my non Tube Blog. Either put the results on your own blog (let me know if you do), or leave them in the comments area below.

Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, December 23, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Yet another Tube Strike Threat (updated - Tube Strike on)

New Year's London Underground Industrial Action

With more ridiculous predictability after the threats of the Christmas strike we now have threats of a New Year Tube strike. It's probably very unlikely to happen but you can learn more about it on the BBC site. "Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) members are expected to vote for industrial action which could take place on New Year's Eve. The RMT fears the planned closures of ticket offices, as more people adopt Oyster cards, could lead to job losses.

But Tube bosses said they were redeploying staff to more "visible positions" and there would be no cuts."

The London Underground say that since the introduction of the Oystercard, one million fewer paper tickets are being sold every week. Although I can't say I've noticed any shorter queues since the Oystercard made its merry way into some commuters lives.

"Because of this reduced demand on our ticket office, we are deploying some staff to more visible positions on stations and platforms," said the spokesman.

Watch this space or Google News for further updates and the latest, but I have sneaking suspicion that it will be resolved fairly quickly and may not even reach ballot stage.

UPDATE - I was wrong. It has reached ballot stage and members voted in favour of the strike - check out the full story on Yahoo News and BBC News

"The strike is set to begin at midday on New Year's Eve and finish 24 hours later. The second one-day action will begin at 6:30 pm on January 8.

A spokesman for London Underground said they would run a service where "it was safe to do so," without elaborating."

So much for the free New Year's Eve travel sponsored by Nat West, if there's hardly any travel at all. Let's hope it does get averted by LU in the meantime.

UPDATE - Friday 23rd December - 8.30am - The talks are taking place between the RMT and the London Underground later today at Euston. Yesterday Ken Livingstone (the Mayor formally known as Red Ken) condemned the strikes saying that the RMT's plan conflicted with a "groundbreaking deal" it signed last year. The deal meant that RMT tube station staff would effectively work a 35-hour week.

Sheriff Ken said, "These moves have been agreed and safety validated for 40 out of the 44 station groups. London Underground have also given the unions categorical assurances that there will be no staff cuts.

"There can be no justification for the RMT now reneging on its agreement and trying to ruin New Year's Eve for thousands of Londoners."

UPDATE - Friday 23rd December - 3.40pm
Just heard on the radio that it looks as though there has been no resolution in the dispute, so unless some miracle happens it really looks like there will be no Tubes on New Year's Eve. This has been confirmed by BBC News.

I hope NatWest ask for their money back for sponsoring the free travel.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, December 22, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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On the Twenty Second Day of Christmas

My Tube Love gave to me

Some London Underground Fridge Magnets



Yet another gift that you can buy at most tourist shops in London. Obviously you don't have to use fridge magnets just for your fridge, but for filing cabinets and .... er..... well..... er... filing cabinets.

I particularly liked the chunky rubbery feel these ones had, even though the font was a bit much to be desired.

I got a set of four for £5 which was a bargain!

(See the Twenty First day of Christmas Gift here)

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, December 22, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Toothing on the Trains?

First Dogging now Toothing for Train and Tube Commuters?

Thanks to Station Supervisor, The Great Orme of London Underground Life I came across a story about a "craze" that is supposedly taking over the UK, in an attempt to make life spicy for commuters!

"Bored UK commuters are arranging impromtu rumpy-pumpy via their Bluetooth phones and PDAs. The new craze - known as "Toothing" and certain to displace dogging as the sexual flavour of the month - began on a London commute when a flirtatious bluejacking escalated into a meeting in the railway toilets.

According to a report on Reuters the first toother was a chap called Jon, who also goes by the exceedingly clever handle "Toothy Toothing". He says that he was flirting with a fellow commuter via Bluetooth for a couple of days on his normal train journey. Eventually, she suggested nipping into the lav for a quickie, and toothing was born.".....

"Bizarre as this sounds, Jon estimates that there are thousands (yes, thousands) of toothers on trains in the UK. The message boards on his site are certainly busy."

Mmmm. This whole thing sounded remarkably dodgy to me and with a bit of digging around I found out that it was all a hoax:

"Dozens of news organizations, including Wired News, (and the Daily Mirror - see the end of their article - "Websites have sprung up dedicated the craze, including some devoted to using it to hook up with strangers for no-strings sex.") were duped by pranksters claiming to be practitioners of "toothing," in which strangers in the U.K. were meeting up on commuter trains for clandestine sexual encounters. The liaisons were supposedly organized through messages broadcast via Bluetooth phones and handhelds. However, one of those involved now says the story was an elaborate hoax. After first creating an online forum, the pranksters persuaded friends to fill the site with scores of salacious, but fictitious, stories."

Check out Wired for the full story.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, December 22, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Giant Milk Carton Spotted on the London Underground

And you thought the Tube Santas were weird....

Version-3-point-1 left a cryptic message yesterday about me not receiving something about a milk carton on the London Underground. I asked her to explain and she did a little more by re-sending me the following:





Version-3-point-1 then explains that it was a fancy dress outfit which caused more than a a few looks when she got on the Tube with it:

"Mike refused to both stand and sit next to me on the Tube. Embarassed by me and my costume, he still managed to take photographs of me. I was glad I managed to cheer up some of the other passengers too. I spied some people getting out their mobile phones to take pictures as I tried to keep my balance in the milk carton."

Read the full story here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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When Mince Pie Eating was Illegal

Step away from the Mince Pie, step away from the Pie

On the Tube last night after coming home from yet another Christmas night out (Mecca's Publisher's Jo Hemmings' Birthday Party - if you're interested - and it's my ex employer Justgiving's Xmas Party tonight), I saw some drunken people tucking into some Mince Pies on the Piccadilly Line. In the days of Oliver Cromwell, it's likely they would have been punished for doing this, as I learnt on the radio that Oliver Cromwell banned mince pies.

"Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Council abolished Christmas on December 22, 1657. In London, soldiers were ordered to go round the streets and take, by force if necessary, food being cooked for a Christmas celebration. The smell of a goose being cooked could bring trouble. Cromwell considered pies as a guilty, forbidden pleasure. The traditional mincemeat pie was banned."

The DJ, Jamie Theakston took this a bit further as he reckons that the law hasn't actually been repealed, so we could all find the police knocking on our door on Xmas Day sniffing out Christmas goodies!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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