Tube Fancy Dress Party Quiz Results

And the winners are......

Apologies for taking a while to get the results of the quiz

Firstly you had to guess what Tube stations the following people had gone to a fancy dress party as


The answers are:

a) High Barnet b) Canary Wharf, c) Elephant & Castle and d) King's Cross St Pancras

Part two asked, if you were going to a London Underground fancy dress party, what station would you go as and what would you wear?

There are some bonus prizes here for the best guesses to part two

I liked Kristen's "The only idea I can come up with is Notting Hill Gate... dress up as a hill, carrying a gate, and keep nodding my head (although that would hurt after about 5 mins lol)".

I also liked Saff's "Turnham Green - go wearing green clothes with a packet of ham on string round your neck. Every so often, flip the packet of ham around." as it combines a costume with party food.

However, the winner from the paperclip selection of those with the most points was Billy Abbott and I also liked his suggestion of Perivale where he said he would be dressed as a small woodland clearing while carrying a jug of pear based alcoholic beverage.


Billy wins the very cuddly Tube Teddy Bear!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, September 25, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Avast, Ye Underground Mariners!

(or International Talk Like A Pirate Day)

Ahoy there me hearties!

Now be ye listening up, scurvy-dogs! Cap'n Mole has set sail fer sunnier climes and left yer olde first mate, able-assister Neil in charge of the good ship Blog, aaarrrr!

It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day today so we'll have less o' that there English as ya call it (or whatever it be that ye rotten foreign lubbers be a-gibberin' away at, yaarr!)

I say we be gettin' us hence to the underground briney, boardin' the nearest vessel and makin' them there commutin' swabs speak like corsairs! And if they be not agreeable we'll put 'em all to the cutlass under obligation of surrendering their doubloons! Yaaarrr!

Mind you mates, should we spy maidens fair on board let us not be too hasty in cuttin' their throats. Rather, I say we might try a-makin' love to 'em with our worldly charm. They like a man who speaks proper ye know. We'll be wantin' some phrases to woo 'em with so I suggest this 'ere list of delightful fayre:

• Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?
  
• Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?
  
• Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you
  
• I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon
  
• Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?
  
• How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?
  
• Prepare to be boarded
  
• They don't call me Long John because my head is so big
  
• You're drinking a Salty Dog? How'd you like to try the real thing?
  
• Wanna shiver me timbers?
  
• Let's get together and haul some keel

An' if ya manages to get some photographs (whatever they be) of fellow pirates on the underground briney then we'll be puttin' their mugs up on the mast fer all to see.

Now be off wi' ye, or ye'll be kissin' the gunner's daughter afore ya knows it. YAAAARRRRR!!!!!!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Neil Tuesday, September 19, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Poirot on the Tube Quiz - 2

Agatha Christie on the London Underground

Many thanks to a regular reader who was watching Poirot's The Case of the Missing Will over the weekend and there was a scene where a woman was followed onto the tube and pushed down an escalator.

Can you guess from these pictures where the scenes were shot? Bear in mind the producers may have used some artistic licence and shot them at a number of locations:










If you want to see them all a bit larger, click on the images themselves and there are some more which may or may not be helpful on the following page.

You have until Sunday 24th September 23.59 GMT to make your guess and all correct guesses will go into Neil's paperclip selection

The prize is another photo frame / fridge magnet styled on the ticket booths that wer around at the time and there will be a bonus prize for best captions to the fourth picture.

Also there's going to be a week's break in blog proceedings as I'm off to Malaga for work - see you next week!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, September 18, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Here's the regular weekly look at people spotted on the London Underground with a particularly unusual sense of style, or who could be considered victims of fashion.

Do they call her Mellow Yellow?

Coming back from Proms in the Park last weekend, we couldn't fail to spot this "Lady in Yellow"


Perhaps she should have sat next to the guy with the Yellow Pages Tube Map as the shade was remarkably similar.

Red & Green Should Never Be Seen

Or is it blue & green, or yellow green. I forget. Fishnet tights aside I don't think this red and green combo works.


Maybe it's the sequinned green flats which don't quite go with the pillar box red skirt. Maybe it's just the skirt itself which is almost like a micro kilt but not quite. I think at the end of the day the tabard 3/4 length black top is not doing the look a lot of favours.

Parallel Lines

I know that footless tights are this season's err.....tights, (according to The Sunday Times) but these tights are not exactly footless tights and not exactly leggings either


It all looks a little bit Blondie or Andy Warhol muse to me. What sort of length tights are you supposed to wear with that skirt?

The Avengers Look

A guest entry from James spotted on the Victoria Line


"She's wearing a combat jacket and evidently skirt/shorts small enough not be
seen below the jacket. Then to finish it off brilliant white boots."

Personally I think she's in training to become the new Emma Peel. Those white boots scream 60's throwback, yet the combat jacket is very "Take one look at me and I'll wrestle you to the floor".

The Long Tails

Finally, and just in case you were worried that men were letting the side down, something that I really hope is not going to become a trend.


From the front the guy on the left might not look particularly unusual, fairly loud taste in socks for the military looking jacket, but otherwise nothing too weird until you notice something dangling between his legs. And if you thought the guy on the right was carrying a soft toy, you'd be wrong.


Rather bizarrely they were both wearing tails.

Apparently this wasn't a fancy dress party or some sort of passing fad, as shortly after I posted it on Flickr pixeldiva said:

"Oh my god! I know this guy!

Well, *know* as in, I saw him once, several years ago, outside Forbidden Planet when it was on New Oxford Street - but he's somewhat memorable.

Can't believe he still has the same tail."

If anyone can explain the significance of this goth/punk/furry tail look, I'd be very happy.

That's it for this week. The previous week's victims can be found here and if you've missed the whole set they can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, September 15, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube World Record Broken

Five seconds makes a world of difference in Tube Challenging

In my capacity an an "able assister" on Annie Mole, I feel I should make one of my occasional posts.

Yes folks, the world record for visiting every tube station has been broken. As you may know, the record was held by Geoff and I from the 5th of May 2004, with our time of 18 hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds.

On the 30th of May, earlier this year, Steve Wilson and Sam Cawley went round all 275 stations in a time of 18 hours, 35 minutes and 38 seconds - just FIVE seconds faster than us!

As Geoff has moved to America, and I am suffering from Tube Challenge Apathy of late, there is currently no planned attempt to claim the record back, although it is accepted that both times are beatable given an efficient route and a good day of no delays.

You can find out more information about the joy of tube challenging at the Tube Challenge Forum.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Neil Thursday, September 14, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Not on the London Underground

Lord of the Lines

Continuing with the posts where the London Underground roundel spotted in an unusual place, we have the first spotting of a celebrity sporting the Tube roundel.


A big thanks to Carolyn Jones who took the picture of Elijah Wood last year.

Carolyn explains "Waterloo Records is a large independent record store in Austin, Texas, where I went on vacation last summer. I didn't even think about the sign and name until your latest round of finds. The shop is really quite famous among its genre of music stores, and, because of the SXSW festival that goes on every year in Austin, has loads of celebrity fans."

She even kindly sent in a picture of the store


Much closer to home Mark Morton spotted a great lunchtime spot in the Sheffield's university area.


Thanks to Mark and Carolyn for adding to the collection as we need to keep the Tube's lawyers globe trotting! Now if only we can spot one in Hawaii.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 13, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Stuck on the Tube with Billy Mitchell

EastEnders stars at the end of their tether

Last night's EastEnders was I think the first time they had ever shot the bulk of an episode in a Tube carriage. You often see the characters have some major argument as one of them tries to leave the show at the mythical Walford East on the District Line. Alternatively, new characters arrive from the bowels of the Tube station, slightly dazed, bags in hand, surveying the delights of Walford Square wide eyed with wonder.


But last night Billy went slightly up the wall when his Tube was stuck in a tunnel. It's not great getting stuck in the tunnel at the best of times. Particularly when you have some nutter who's almost climbing the walls, trying to open the doors with buttons that haven't opened doors on the London Underground for years. Billy spent the bulk of the first stuck scene pacing around or standing uncomfortably close to the guy in front of him looking for a Tube station that doesn't exist.

The anguish and awkwardness on the extra's faces was pretty good, as they stared at him and at the same time tried not to catch his eye. Then the brave man opposite tried to calm him down as he was clearly making everyone else feel jittery. "Who are you mate? King of the carriage". Billy mouthed back.

Gradually more and more people moved away from Billy's seat, including the fat bloke next to Billy "Oi, you're taking up too much space. Move your legs".

When King of the Carriage stopped trying to calm Billy down, Billy, rather insightfully for Billy, says "What's up mate, rather listen to the sound of people breathing?" or "You've read that page a lot of times haven't you?".

Billy is finally shamed into silence or a moment of clarity, when King of the Carriage reminds him it's the anniversary of September 11th & in the situation people would rather not be reminded that the Tube was taking too long to move. It turns out that both King of the Carriage and Billy have had a particularly shite day and start opening up.

King of the Carriage waved a mocked up copy of The Standard with a 9/ll headline at Billy to remind him. It would have particularly clever if the writers had an inkling that around this time of year, the annual increase in Tube fares is announced.

So the rest of the carriage could have thrust non inky London Lites into his face and said "Yeah shut up you little runt, we've got a 33% increase in fares to think about".

Both of the papers must have been in a quandrary about on whether 9/11 or a fare rise should take centre stage. Strange how both decided we'd be more interested in the fare increase. Why? It's hardly news really. The fares increase every single year. I'd find the lack of a fare increase more deserving of front page news.

Back to the soaps, funnily enough on Sunday Neil and myself saw Gita formerly from EastEnders pacing up and down Kew Gardens station with steam coming out of her ears as her North London Line train had been cancelled. Perhaps EastEnders deliberately sends its more miserable stars onto the Tube to do some method acting.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, September 12, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Where's Hellathrow Airport?

Cryptic message in dot matrix indicator

Coming back from Proms in the Park on Saturday night, Neil noticed that our train was heading towards what looked like Hellathrow Airport or He!! athow Airport.


Or alternatively a cryptic clue for Ha!! Wait Terror Hop. Hopefully someone wasn't trying to tell us something.

On that pleasant note if you want read The Survivalist's theories on how to survive a subway attack. The author thinks that underground riders are not prepared enough for what to do in emergencies.

"Although officials understandably would prefer riders to stay on trains and wait for emergency rescuers if at all possible, it also stands to reason that riders should have some sense of how to escape a train and navigate the tracks if absolutely necessary. What's the best way to break a window to get fresh air? What do underground emergency exits look like? How is it possible to determine if the electrified rails have been turned off?"

Fair points as it's all very well making sure that staff know what to do in emergencies but there's very, very little on London Underground trains about a passenger evacuation procedure - if such a thing exists. Perhaps TfL simply don't want to scare us into thinking about more attacks.

In which case I wish they wouldn't display cryptic messages like the above!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, September 11, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

Ah, it's Friday again, and the regular weekly look at this week's fashion victims. The beginning of September is generally a weird time of year for clothes. It's not summer, but it's not quite autumn either and London has been reasonably warm. Although I've somehow managed to get a late summer cold. The ladies featured below are either making the most of summer's final rays or not......

Not so pretty in pink

Hmm the lady below is in a quandrary, she's managed to find items of clothing that are almost all the same shade of pink and thrown them together.


I used to go for a very co-ordinated collection of colours when I was younger thinking it would work, but as I've got older I've realised this makes it look as though you're trying a bit too hard.

Pink boots, pink belt, pink necklace, pink cardigan. Sensibly she didn't go the whole hog with pink jeans and pink underwear.

Backlaces

Footballer's girlfriend Colleen McLoughlin has been paid by Asda to do a lot of sashaying down the streets to the tune "Pretty Woman" warbled by a bunch of street urchins. She flicks back her locks at one point to provocatively reveal a backless top:


The woman above is going the same way but with much more back on show and a delightful "backlace" to go with it.

Micro Shorts

I'm just jealous of this girl as she has the figure to carry it off


But interesting contrast between her and her friend. Hot Pants Lady felt it was warm enough to hardly wear much at all, whereas her mate is more autumnally dressed.

Is that a Skelt?

Finally one of those cases where your belt is as long as your skirt, or is it that your skirt is as short as your belt?


There was something quite sad about this girl. It was only about 9pm at night and she was carrying a single rose. Was it at date that had ended abruptly? Or was she going on to a blind date where she said, "I'll be the one carrying a rose and wearing a belt as my skirt. You can't miss me." I guess we'll never know.

That's it for this week. The previous week's victims can be found here and if you've missed the whole set they can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, September 08, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Piccadilly Line Station of the Future

Project Eden meets The Tube


If you've got half an eye for design, good foresight, planning skills or you just like playing with "mixed media", you've got the opportunity to design a Piccadilly Line station of the future.

The example shown above looks like something out of the Jetsons or a Ray Bradbury sci-fi novel, as I really can't see us having floating stations with giant roof gardens and the sort of climate control you get in giant green houses or places like Project Eden. But who knows?

The competition is split into three categories - under 18's, over 18's and Transport for London Staff. Which is quite interesting - why a separate category for TfL staff? With most competitions that are open to the public, staff can't enter, so I can only guess there is some motivational - ten year plan - visionary thing going on, where we get to see how staff would envisage their ideal station.

I imagine the Piccadilly Line station of the future from a TfL viewpoint would be pretty empty, with no tourists, no children, no old people and certainly no one without an Oystercard. The TfL station of the future would have sensors that could recognise drunks, druggies, and graffiti artists from five yards. Once they entered the five yard radius a piercing ear-drum splitting sound would be emitted that only people who had a penchant for drugs, booze and spray paint cans could hear.

I'm generally rubbish at drawing but I have some ideas of items I'd like to see in a Piccadilly Line station of the future, and if someone wants to visualise them I'm happy to share the prize booty (including lots of cinema swag, one year membership to the V & A and goodies from CBBC's Underground Ernie - they spoiling us!). Perhaps we could come up with some sort of bulk entry.

If you're looking for some inspiration check out "Beautiful Subways from around the World", as many other countries already seem to be light years ahead of us in terms of design.

The combined metro and tram station in Oberhausen from the Rhine Ruhr area was built in 1996:


I also love this shell like entrance to Abando station in Bilbao. The entrances were designed by Sir Norman Foster in 1995 and are nicknamed fosteritos


Ideas welcome in the comments and the more futuristic the better.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, September 07, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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The Tube by the evening freebies

London Lite and The London Paper battle it out

Regular commuters will know by now that in addition to the morning Metro, we now have not one but two free papers to see us home at night. London Lite escaped last Friday and on Monday The London Paper hit the outside of Tube stations. Moley kindly sent me an email with some interesting thoughts on how the one of the capital's new papers covered the London Underground. Will it be the sign of things to come?

"Monday was the night when The London Paper was launched to go head to head with last weeks new freebie, the London Lite.

So, apart from the fact that they both ran with the same lead story - Steve Irwin's untimely death - you thought one of them might have gone for a big fat London exclusive.

Well, yes - one did. The London Paper on page 6 has the story "£6bn Games travel plan" which begins:

"A £6 BILLION masterplan aimed at ending London's commuter misery and reading the capital for Olympic glory has been exclusively revealed to thelondonpaper...."

This exclusive story has more big gaps in it than the Northern Line's service to Mill Hill East! I choose just a selection for you....


"Long-suffering commuters on London's neglected North London Silverlink line and passengers on the East London line from Shoreditch to New Cross will be among the first to benefit."

OK - The NLL comes to TfL from Autumn 2007, but the East London Line (phase 1) will not be fully delivered until June 2010!!!! If they are among the first, then we should all panic now.

"On Wednesday, Mayor Ken Livingstone will confirm he has signed a "225 million new contract to deliver 30 new trains on the North London Line"
How about this press release then from last Thursday.

Page 10 and 11 then go onto show the improvements for the Olympics - as you will notice they are all 'shocks'

Jubilee Line - Upgrade to the signalling

District Line - Rolling stock refurbished by 2009

Central Line - Capacity Upgrade

Station Upgrade - All 275 stations refurbished by 2010 (This is way behind schedule)

Bond Street to be upgraded sooner than 2010 (They obviously have not been through Bond Street recently, it's happening - now!)

Upgrading of all sub surface lines to get 15% increase in train service by March 2012 (They however forget to mention the S Stock.)

Canning Town, West Ham and Stratford - Stations to be upgraded to take DLR services. (Well, I've used DLR services at Canning Town and Stratford before - so 1/3 isn't bad!)

Woolwich Arsenal - Extension of DLR line with new station (Yes, because this is already under construction).

Bank to Lewisham line - Platforms to be extended for 3 car trains (Old news? They go on to tell you that an increase from 2 to 3 cars is a 50% increase in capacity - you don't say!).

Poplar and Canning Town - "New three car-trains" (We don't know what they will do with these three car trains at Poplar and Canning Town - perhaps turn them into offices?)

Four new stations to relieve at High Street, Abbey Road and Star Lane. (Yup - count them, one, two, three - errr????).
"Hoxton clubbers can look forward to their own Tube stop for the first time" - since when has there been planned a TUBE service to Hoxton? TfL Rail - yes indeed.

Finally - the article states "Up to 240,000 passengers disgorging at the Olympic Hub [Stratford]" - The Dictionary definition of Disgorging:
1. To bring up and expel from the throat or stomach; vomit.
2. To discharge violently; spew.
3. To surrender (stolen goods or money, for example) unwillingly.
4. To discharge or pour forth contents.

Erm, I'm staying away from Stratford!!!!

As you can see Moley wasn't exactly wild about the "news" in The London Paper.

He concludes by saying: "The London Paper appears to have modelled itself on the Guardian whereas London Lite is a cross between The Metro and The Mirror. Incidentally, tonight the distributors were both stood next to each other trying to convince their victims (sorry, I mean readers) to choose their respective papers. There also appears to be an unwritten rule whereby you may not have a copy of each free paper! As I got yelled at both distributors for taking one of each!

After tonight's performance, The London Paper have scored an almighty own goal and handed the upper hand to London Lite. Let battle commence........"

It's too early for me to have developed a favourite yet, but I am now having a bit of a time warp and thinking that night time is morning time with the amount of discarded papers strewn over the seats in the evening. Are London and the Underground seats big enough for two evening freebies?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 06, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Out of this world on the London Underground

Tube Roundel in a virtual world

Continuing in the series of the London Underground Roundel spotted in various places around the world other than London. Many thanks to James Petts who was in the virtual world of Second Life when he spotted part of the roundel


So it appears that even virtual shops are nicking the roundel for their signage. James said "It was not clear why the logo had been chosen, but it is the first take-off of the roundel that I have seen in a virtual world. Where next - Mars?"

I had seen the logo in a Tomb Raider game where Lara Croft was acting like any normal person on the Tube


"Run and jump to grab the crack in the wall, and shimmy right. Jump to the ceiling panel and drop to the crawlspace. Use the ticket at the barrier, wary of rats and other vermin."

Weird how there's no escape from the Tube even when you're trying to get out of this world.

But if you're Harvey out of So Solid Crew and now in Daddy Cool you might think the Tube is as exciting as a virtual world. In yesterday's London Lite he said "The Tube is an adventure, the way all the lines join up". If that's an adventure, I'd love to know what he thinks a hum-drum day is.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, September 05, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Pantless in Paddington or Keckless in Kensington

Trouserless subway riders arrested

Many thanks to Sara who sent a link to a video from Improveverywhere where a group of New Yorkers travelled on the subway without any trousers and bizarrely got themselves arrested:


"One frustrated cop freaked out and called in 25 more. 8 were ticketed and summonsed to court, 6 of the 8 were handcuffed and traveled in police vans to a precinct. Everyone has been released and is fine."

With some of the microskirts we've seen on the Tube, I'm not sure if anyone in London would have even noticed, but where is the crime in travelling around on the subway with no trousers? Perhaps if Pantless Subway Riding was labelled as performance art the participants would have been given the Turner Prize? Do you think the same thing would have happened on the Tube?

There have been occasions when Circle Line Parties have been stopped due to the police being a bunch of killjoys. Perhaps the powers that be are just happy with keeping the Underground a miserable place where you can't have any fun, you can't talk, you can't have a laugh or even try to get fellow passengers to have a double-take.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, September 04, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Fancy Dress Quiz

A Costume for Cockfosters

I often get asked about how to get hold of the London Underground Font to produce and invite to the London Underground Fancy Dress party. People then ask for suggestions as to how to how to dress up as a Tube station (well like the names of Tube Stations) as an idea for themed parties. Last week Toyoko sent me the following picture where you had to guess which Tube stations people were dressed as


So I thought it would make a good quiz. It's in two parts:

1. Guess one of the stations that people are dressed as above - a, b, c or d. Just one please (people being smart alecs and guessing more than one will be disqualified) and you get a bonus point if you give a different guess to the person immediately before you. You should be able to make them out and c's pretty obvious.

2. If you were going to a London Underground fancy dress party, what station would you go as and what would you wear? Again please just make one suggestion so other people have a chance to guess too. Although if a number of you want to go as Cockfosters that's fine as long as you all come up with a different costume!

The prize is a Tube Traveller Teddy Bear



To enter leave your email address and/or blog/website with your answers in the comments below. Please leave all your answers in one entry and you can only enter once! You have until 23.59 GMT, Sunday 10th September to enter.

Neil will do his paperclip selection from the people with the most points and I'll probably throw in some suprise prizes for particularly inventive answers to part two.

Have fun.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, September 01, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

You've still got a few days to nominate Ms and Mr TFV (Tube Fashion Victim) 2006, but we're back with the normal week's look at slaves to fashion on the Tube or people with a particular style that they've taken and "made it their own" (Ah X-Factor Louis Walsh we love you - I'm almost tempted to be the 46th member of his fan club).

Girls in Combats

Seem to be a growing trend of women wearing camoflagued combats at the moment. They're a fairly blokey thing to wear, so how do you make them look a bit more girly.

One trick is to buy a pair that have butterflies in them and wear with some big black boots - just in case people think you've sold out by getting girly butterfly ones in the first place


Alternatively go full the full on camo look but make sure you're wearing a lot of girly bracelets to go with them.


Luggage Trousers

The following guy's trousers provide a very efficient way of dealing with the hand luggage ban we had on planes recently.


Wear trousers that look as though you could fit enough things for a short break in the pockets. Certainly handy when the Tube announcer tells you to remember to take all of your personal belongings with you when you leave the train.

We Lurve Leopardskin

Well I don't really, but the two ladies below were in a bit of a leopardskin frenzy. Firstly we have leopardskin leggings with a micro denim skirt so micro that you can't even see it


Then we have a leopard skin bag where the lady loves leopards so much she decided to keep the poor creature's face in the bag


She's resourceful though this woman. She obviously accidently spilt a load of bleach onto her jeans which also ripped each leg in half down the front. I think she then used the points on her Ali Baba shoes to poke some holes into her jeans, only so that she could tie them back together again with some leather straps. Genius.

Crocodile Rock

At last we capture the lesser spotted Croc on the Tube. Are these hideous rubber clogs set to be this year's Ugg boots?


I spotted so many people wearing them in general but Neil managed to grab this woman wearing a pair on the Tube. What a fine worn specimen they are. Half clog, half wellington boot and about half as comfortable I'd imagine.

Jesus Loves Calvin Kleins

Finally Mr Post Modern Irony man


Simply loving the way he teams camo combats with a Jesus Loves You belt and a Bollywood bag. Coupled with his grey Calvin Kleins he looks trendtastic!

That's it for this week. Don't forget to nominate Mrs & Ms TFV and if you've missed the whole set they can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, September 01, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Snakes on a Drain

Drain Delayed

Just as you thought you could travel on the Waterloo & City Line again. Just as you were going to happily wander through the never ending white corridor. Just as you were about to drop a few coins in the cheerful busker's guitar case along the way. Along comes Samuel L Jackson screaming "Get those mother f**king snakes off that mother f**king Drain"


Surely that's got to be the reason why the Drain isn't re-opening on time.

I spose we should have got suspicious when Metronet took the countdown clock from their website. I think 4Queen&country has inside knowledge as when I asked people to make a guess as to when it would open, she said September 11th which is now looking like the earliest date. How spooky is that?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, September 01, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Life on the Moscow Subway

Greetings from Russia

Not sure where Moscow appeared in the public transport survey featured yesterday, but it's good to see that it's not all grand palatial stations and they have their fair share of weird and wonderful commuters too. Many thanks to Jess who sent me a link to a blog entry from englishrussia which included the following photos:


A soldier cleaning his gun on the subway with the woman next to him not remotely interested.


Interesting subway sleeper - certainly not the most comfortable headwear to sleep in.


What looks like Joseph Stalin on the subway!

And they've even got their own subway fashion victims.....





Check out the the whole blog entry - loads more pictures and as the blogger says "There are plenty of other interesting people that you would be able to meet if you decide someday to travel to Russia".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, August 31, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London has World's Best Transport System

It's official London's Transport Rox

Just remember if you used any public transport to get around today that it's the best in the world. Forget about yesterday's strike which "crippled" South West Trains, that was just a blip. If you travelled under someone's armpit this morning, don't worry, that was just being cosy. If you stood for half an hour waiting for a bus and then three turned up at once, just laugh along with fellow queuees, and say "Don't you just love having the best transport system in the world?". If you travelled on the Northern Line. Erm, well, erm. Oh just ignore this next bit.

TripAdvisor (with emphasis on the trip - what were they on?) carried out an international survey where they questioned 2,000 people and 25 per cent believed that London had the best public transport in the world.

New York was second, Paris was third and Los Angelos came bottom. But how many cities' public transport system had each person used for London to be top? I have travelled on the subway in Paris, Mexico, Lisbon and Toronto and as much as I like the Tube I'd say they were all a good deal more efficient than London.

Perhaps it's a case of the grass always being greener on the other side. Admittedly I've never commuted on a daily basis in any of those cities (although I have travelled on all of them in the rush hour), so perhaps commuting is like a marriage or a relationship in that you really have to live with something day in, and day out before you can either appreciate its little quirks or rush off to marriage guidance.

If the majority of people questioned were holiday makers, perhaps like me, they just remember the good things about travelling in London. City travel while on holiday is like having an affair or a holiday romance. You probably even see the delays and over crowding as exciting or charming ('Guess what', you can say at dinner parties in Australia, 'We were stuck on the Tube for two hours - how we laughed'). It's sort of fun because you haven't got to put up with it all the time.

"Two in five said the most important quality of a transportation system was that it went everywhere they needed to go, which was considered even more important than safety (30 per cent), proximity (16 per cent), frequency (5.5 per cent), cost (4 per cent), cleanliness (1 per cent) and comfort (0.8 per cent)." So I'll grudingly accept that you can get more or less anywhere in London by public transport - although it's interesting to see that speed of getting there didn't figure as part of the equation.

Also the respondents weren't completely deluded. No matter how much TfL try to spin that we have great value travel in London, we don't - and that's official.

"London's public transport services get a lot of bad press but it seems that the international travelling community think it's the tops all round, even taking into account that it is also thought to be the most expensive" said Michele Perry from Trip Advisor.

Enough of my ramblings, what do you think? Does London deserve it's honour of having the best public transport in the world? If not, which city would you have voted for?

Oystercard Overseas

Is there nothing that Ken Livingstone won't do to flog Oystercards? Dmitri sent me a link from the BBC's site showing that from March next year if you live in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Portugal and the USA, you'll be able to travel "smarter, faster & cheaper" with Oyster.

However our Sheriff wasn't quite as positive as the glowing research above "The best way for visitors to travel around the capital is usually by public transport" he said. "Usually" by public transport? C'mon Ken, you know nothing, we've the best public transport system in the world, there's no usually about it.

But hey-ho at least having an Oystercard might mean a faster route through the barriers themselves. It's quite galling being behind anyone who 's not got fast ticket or Oystercard swiping action at the gates. I've seen a number of tourists try to put their credit cards through the travelcard slot, or waving their credit cards over the Oystercard reader and expecting their cards to be magically debited. Perhaps those days may be coming to an end.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 30, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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This content could "challenge or offend"

Radio 4 series on blogging

Catch me and Anna Pickard from Little Red Boat this morning at 9.30 - 9.45 talking about blogging. I recorded my piece quite some time ago now, and have completely forgotten the majority of what I said, so hopefully it's not gibberish. (You can hear me and Anna on Listen Again - or the full hour long unedited interiew is here.)

I usually still find it difficult to talk about something that I just end up doing. I'm still surprised I'm doing it three years down the line. I'm still surprised that millions of other people do it too. I find it pleasantly surprising there's even more and more blooks (blogs based on books) selling very well in the shops. Both Random Tom Reynolds' (who appears later in the series) and Girl with a One Track Mind's books seem to be selling like hot cakes and the great thing is that they're both still blogging.

Anyway, Radio 4 listeners have been warned that the links that follow to the blogs contain content that "could challenge or offend". I wouldn't think that mine comes remotely within that description, unless you're the PR department of London Underground.

Cheers to Mark Savage for letting me rabbit on and I'm looking forward to hearing the results even though I'm sorry they didn't keep the original title of "The Mouse That Roared"

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Cryptic Quiz Results

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

Lots of entries to the 2nd cryptic quiz - so Neil had paperclips galore to choose from. Also the first time I believe a family entered the quiz - so very well done to them! I feel like Bruce Forsyth (Gen Game) or Les Dennis in Family Fortunes.



The answers were almost all completely guessed and are as follows:

1. Mr Winton has a fling with Mr Salmon
Colindale
2. My share is looking healthy
Stockwell
3. Simon tags behind a contrary woman
Marylebone
4. Where birds of a feather nest
Chigwell
5. Sounds like wheat alternative has taken a tumble
Ruislip
6. Where pixies' friends meet Atkinson
Elverson
7. A stupid boy rotates in this thoroughfare
Turnpike Lane
8. Entomb the soap above sea level
Sudbury Hill
9. Prince looks sick next to soap star
Willesden Green
10. Rodney's former brother was traditional
Russell Square (no one got that one)
11. Sounds like you should stop going in this direction
Northolt
12. The truth about the tree
Gospel Oak
13. I hear the pristine fruit has stopped growing
Newbury Park
14. Greek Dawns is all mixed up
Kew Gardens
15. Heidi's house
Swiss Cottage
16. Othello's leisure garden
Moor Park
17. Diminutive rookie Queen is not all there
Bethnal Green (no one got that one)
18. Cheese is stuck in the mud
Leicester Square (no one got that one)
19. Heinz' headquarters
Canning Town
20. Two football heros share a dollar
Buckhurst Hill

There were also some very good cryptic clues to Barkingside including Neil's very ingenious "Paddington goes round vicious monarch" which my Neil had to explain to me (yet another Neil to join the many Ians and Petes and Alans....and Gommons!). Jamesthegill's "Outside of a tree is not outside" and Alantan's "A place to put your drinks on half of a chess board."

However, the lucky paperclip winner is Rosie - who'll win a copy of Underground London. Well, done Rosie! Good game, good game, points make prizes, nice to see you to see you nice, didn't they do well, etc etc!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, August 29, 2006 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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