Fat Cats sponsor today's posts - Vote for Bolli

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


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

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

K Thx Bai

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/fat-cats-sponsor-todays-posts-vote-for.html

If the Tube were run by Twitter Revisited

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


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

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


It compares very favourably to the original Twitter Fail Whale.


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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/if-tube-were-run-by-twitter-revisited.html

Fat Tube - A Fat Britain b3ta Challenge

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

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

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


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


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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/fat-tube-fat-britain-b3ta-challenge.html

Three Years Ago - London Transport Terrorist Attacks

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, July 07, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/three-years-ago-london-transport.html

Battersea Power Station Tour & Tube Plans

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


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




Fuller details can be seen in the image below:


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

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


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


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

Update - December 2012 - George Osborne has approved the finance to build the two new Tube stations for Battersea and Nine Elms.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Saturday, July 05, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/battersea-power-station-tour-tube-plans.html

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

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


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


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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, July 04, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/if-tube-were-run-by-twitter-american.html

Thanks to Qype for Battersea Barge Party

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

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


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




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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, July 04, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/thanks-to-qype-for-battersea-barge.html

Allergy Tube Ad Revisited

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


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


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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, July 03, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/allergy-tube-ad-revisited.html

London Transport Museum events for London Festival of Architecture

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

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

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

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, July 03, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/london-transport-museum-events-for.html

Remains of Glastonbury on the Tube

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


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

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

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


What I said then still stands today

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

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

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

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

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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/remains-of-glastonbury-on-tube.html

Kew Gardens Plastic Bag Free - Launch Party

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


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

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


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


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


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


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

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

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


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

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/07/kew-gardens-plastic-bag-free-launch.html

Keeping Feet off Tube Seats

I find it amazing that there's signs telling people to "Keep your feet off the seats" on the London Underground. It's just so rude & inconsiderate to do this on the Tube, no matter how tired you are. I'm pleased to say I have never ever done this. Jag of Route 79 has taken an excellent picture of the woman below sort of realising that she shouldn't have her feet on the seats.


He's called it "Considerate feet on seat" in that she decided to put a newspaper down on the seat first before putting her feet up.

Probably felt a bit guilty because she's sitting right next to a sign that says "Please keep feet off seats". Technically, though, her feet aren't on the seats.

I really don't normally like Nanny State signs and ones that say "You wouldn't do this at home so why do it in public". But this is one of those occasions for me, where it should be, "You would do this at home, but you'd be wearing slippers, socks or in bare feet, and some other poor sap wouldn't then have to sit down where your dirty shoes have been - so don't do this in public".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, June 30, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/keeping-feet-off-tube-seats.html

Battersea Power Tube Station may be on the cards

Battersea Power Station's £4 billion re-development could rest on an extension of the London Underground. Well that's according to an announcement the iconic power station's developers made last week. So possible good news for Northern Line commuters for once.

The plans include a possible extension of the Northern Line from Kennington via Wandsworth Road. Improvements to transport links are seen by the South West London council where the power station is, to be necessary to support any development in the area.

Amazing aerial shot of Battersea Power Station by praguelondon

"The best option for real improvement would be an extension of the Northern Line, which we are keen to pursue," said a spokesperson for the site owner - Treasury Holdings.

"It is most likely to be entirely privately funded as (Transport for London (TfL)) money has been committed to other projects like Crossrail."

"From a planning perspective, they've got to tick certain boxes," said a Wandsworth Council spokesperson.

Treasury Holdings has now commissioned Steer Davies Gleave to carry out a feasibility study into the Northern Line extension. This will then feed into an overview of transport in the area being carried out by TfL. For more see New Civil Engineer.

From 25th June - 5th July you have the opportunity to explore the site and see the plans. "A walking tour around, and inside, elements of the Power Station building is available for adults and children over ten years old. Bring sensible shoes and your cameras for this opportunity to get up close and personal with the iconic four chimneys!" says the Battersea Power Station's development website The site is open from noon till 8pm up to 3rd July & noon till 6pm 4th July & 10am to 6pm on 5th July.

UPDATE here's my post on the Battersea Power Station Walking Tour and I believe that there are two new dates of the 13th & 19th July.

Update - November 2010 - Station Upgrade has been approved by Wandsworth Council with two new Tube stations proposed.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, June 30, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/battersea-power-tube-station-may-be-on.html

Scavenger Hunts on the Tube & Hide and Seek

There's loads of weird and funny things that you can spot in London and on the London Underground, if you have a look for them. As a tourist or even as a commuter, it's easier to take pictures of the "London postcard" scenes - or to zoom past things so quickly you never notice things.


I must have walked past the window of the shop above countless times, but it was only a few days ago that I saw the "Kind Notice", which didn't allow unaccompanied school children or traffic wardens to go into the shop. What the owner has against traffic wardens is only for us to guess.

The reason I probably didn't notice that sign (it may have been new) is because it was close to the floor. We notice most things at eye-level but often miss really interesting stuff by not looking up or down.

If you like looking out for interesting things and have a camera (or at least a camera phone) you might like And I Saw (part of the Hide & Seek Festival) which carries on today - Sunday 29th June at the Royal Festival Hall.

And I Saw "is a game of finding things and making a list of them with text messaging. It's like a treasure hunt, it's like "I Spy", in fact it's quite like a few things you may have played to relieve boredom as a child. However it's been bought up to date through the use of SMS and mobile internet....

To play the game you'll need to register your phone number and give yourself a tagname. Then all you need to do is bring your phone, yourself, a camera if you like, and most importantly your keen sense of vision. Anything could be part of the game, a balloon, a person wearing a T-shirt, a sticker in a shop window, a fellow player."


Also, next Sunday 6th July 2008, the London Transport Museum (supported by Qype) are holding a Flickr Photographic Scavenger Hunt.


As part of the London Festival of Architecture 2008, the London Transport Museum supported by Qype providing prizes are getting people to try and capture some of the overlooked design highlights on London's transport network. In a race against time, teams of photographers will have to unlock a series of cryptic clues in order to snap roundels, station murals and much more. Prizes will then go to the first team home on the day (with the most correct answers), and bonus goodies will be awarded for the best pictures uploaded to Flickr.

It actually filled up very quickly, as there were only 30 places available, but there's been one drop out, so if you can get to Covent Garden & are free next Sunday afternoon and would like to go, please express your interest here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Sunday, June 29, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/scavenger-hunts-on-tube-hide-and-seek.html

No X-Ray machines at London Underground Stations

Yesterday The Guardian reported that (not really surprisingly) plans to install airport-style x-ray machines in every Tube and mainline rail stations across the UK were ruled out. This was because passengers might find the delays caused by this a tad inconvenient and it would lead to "passenger rebellion". A trial at five unspecified locations over the past six months found that airport-style checks would be impractical and antagonise the public.

"The transport minister, Tom Harris, said the public would not accept the resulting delays and there would be objections about personal privacy if an extensive screening regime was introduced.

"Screening equipment and dogs can be effective in the railway environment," said Harris in a written statement to parliament. "However, given the very large passenger flows and thousands of entry points on the UK rail and underground networks, 100% airport-style screening is currently not feasible."

Even back in 2005 after the July bombing attacks it was thought to be impractical then. A Transport for London spokesperson told Metro in October 2005 "Body scanners are completely impractical on the London Underground. Heathrow handles 67.1 million passengers each year - London Underground carries 976 million.

"You can just imagine the delays if such technology was introduced on the Tube. We are constantly reviewing technology to see what could be potentially employed - but body scanners are not an option for us. Our stations just don't have room for them"

This isn't to say that people don't want some form of security. Yesterday Phil Trendall, from the British Transport Police, said: "The public are broadly supportive of the need for security measures."


From Thursday you might notice more sniffer dogs and special x-ray machines to screen bags will be used at a "handful" of stations.

Thanks to Jon for giving me the heads up to this.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, June 27, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/no-x-ray-machines-at-london-underground.html

Rob Ryan & Sandwiches on the Train

I love Rob Ryan's beautiful illustrations and wonderfully intricate laser cut greetings cards and anyone following my twitter stuff would have seen that I went to his shop opening yesterday.

Could hardly contain my excitement on seeing this transport related card about calling in sick, taking a train to the sea, eating sandwiches on said train and getting drunk on fresh air.


If you can't see the image, which is such a shame if you can't - the card says "Can we, shall we? One day, very soon, Let us go away together just you and me, call in sick and go to the sea and hold hands all day. Eat our sandwiches on the train, get drunk on fresh air and come home tired and never tell anyone.... ever."

I also got a signed copy of his latest book "This is for you". His artwork and images are sort of an example of that studied clumsiness that was being spoken about at Interesting08 in that the lettering is beautifully uneven. But the intricacy of the cuts on the card is just amazing.


I asked Rob if he would mind his picture being taken. He was somewhat reticent and said if I emailed him, he would send me one. So I will, but in the meantime if you're in the East End, get yourself over to RyanTown, 126 Columbia Road, E2 7RG to check out some amazing stuff. He's recently collaborated with the designer Paul Smith and I can easily see why. You can tell I like him!

Update - I've had a lot of personal emails and direct messages on Twitter about Rob's work. People really like it! Just to say that his shop only opens to the public from Sunday 29th June - so please don't try to go there till then. Thanks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, June 27, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/rob-ryan-sandwiches-on-train.html

Media catch up with Tube Cooling News

Going to the London Blogger's Meet Up on the Tube last night I noticed that London Lite had a picture of one of old school cartoon looking fans, I blogged about two weeks ago on their front cover.


I find it interesting when the media "discover" a story that a number of bloggers have already been discussing beforehand. The Tube being hot in the summer time is always going to be front page news. Always has been and unfortunately looks like it always will be.

At the end of the banter filled night at the Coach & Horses (summarised by Ged Carroll), some of us caught the tail end of the BBC news also reporting on the fact that the London Underground was hot. They used some footage from 2006 of people getting trapped on sweltering Tube trains and pulled out a TfL talking head to talk about what was being done to air condition the Tube.


With the sound down we couldn't hear what the Transport for London guy said, but it was fun to speculate.

"Blah, blah ... Victorian system... blah, blah .. not enough space... blah, blah .... efforts consistently being made ... blah, blah .... investment into cooling ....blah blah .... Victoria Line improvements .... blah, blah ....it's harder than you think". Etc etc

Now I've been able to watch & listen to what he actually said and it wasn't really that far off what we'd been imagining.


See BBC News video here
Love the "You'd actually be Cooler in Cairo today" quote from the anchorman at the start.

The 40 giant industrial fans on the Tube's network are apparently the best TfL can do at the moment (Londonist are also somewhat amused by this). So once again we have to grin (or rather grimace) and bear it.

Jaz Cummins sent me a link to an interesting YouTube video a week or so ago where people were using a novel approach to keeping cool on the London Underground


I just love how people will try anything, even the most basic methods to cool down.

Hi to all who came to the Meet Up last night including Ged Carroll, Rob Hinchcliffe, The Londoneer, Sandrine, Cedric Chambaz, Lolly, Julius, TikiChris, Londonist Matt, Jaz Cummins, Peter Marshall, Darika, James Whatley, Sian and Tom (Flashboy) and big thanks to Andy Bargery for arranging it.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/media-catch-up-with-tube-cooling-news.html

Allergy Sufferers on the London Underground

My sympathies go out to all hayfever sufferers this summer, as the pollen count in London is really high at the moment. If you follow my twitter feed you'll have seen that I've also been suffering from hayfever. It's got worse as I've got older and I certainly never had it as a child. I think generally people are getting more allergies these days, which is why I found the Tube ad below really striking:


However it led to a lot of questions. Why did they blank out the station name from the poster? It's clearly Baker Street on the Hammersmith & City Line. Baker Street on that line has one of the most recognisable platforms on the London Underground.


Did Baker Street Tube station say "you can't use our name"? Or did the agency think "Mmmm we need to make this look like 'every station' so let's blank out the name"? In which case why not use a more non descript station platform that's not so easy to recognise?

I also discovered some really weird allergies from the poster & wondered how did people find out they were allergic to certain things. Newspapers for example. Reading some newspapers certainly makes my skin crawl sometimes, but I'd hate to be allergic to them. You must never be able to go into certain shops if you're allergic to newspapers & have a permanent fear of those guys handing out the free sheets. So what happens when you're allergic to newspapers?

Thoughts on any of the above most welcome. Plus if you want to share your allergies with us - it might only be - the apparently rather basic now - hayfever. Or perhaps you have something more exotic like an allergic reaction to the smell of sweat, crisp packets or moquette upholstery which would make Tube travel pretty difficult for you.

UPDATE - the plot thickens there's another version of the allergy Tube ad with Baker Street.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2008/06/allergy-sufferers-on-london-underground.html

Interesting 08 - How not to pay for a Tube ticket & other stuff

I was one of the extremely lucky people to get a ticket to see Interesting 08 yesterday. A collection of funny, fascinating, funky & often frankly foolish people who Russell Davies collected together to talk about interesting things. There is tons to talk about and if I were more of a creative generalist I would have a field day in this blog. But in the interests of sticking to my specialism (ish), here's some things that may interest people who are interested in the London Underground, transport & trains.


Don't pay for your Tube ticket or basically anything over 20p in 2p's or 1p's because it's not legal tender. I learn this from Matt Dent, who should know about these things as he won a competition to design the UK's new coins. This legal tender point was a massive jaw dropper for me as I'm sure I've paid for loads of things over 20p with 2p's but technically the person you're buying from can refuse to take them.


Jenny Owen had lots of brilliant stories about Winston Churchill including this. Churchill was on a train that got derailed which meant he was going to be late for some important war meeting. He had words with the driver, demanding that he get it back on the tracks. The driver ummed and arred for quite a while saying it wasn't that easy to just do it so quickly etc etc. Anyway, Churchill said you will be helping the war effort if you do and I'll remember you. Driver probably thought "Yeah right" and managed to get it back on the tracks. Churchill did remember him with some special medal for civilian heroics - the Alba(?) medal.


Andrew Webb from Channel 4's Big Food Map driving an Asparagus Picker. It'd never make it onto Top Gear as a fast means of transport, but I love the wacky look of it.


Finally, just discovered that Mr Last FM who was directing 30 recorder players pictured above was involved in the Deptford Project Cafe - transforming an old railway carriage into a cafe, which I blogged about last weekend.


He also has a keen eye for spotting neat handwriting on the Tube

If you'd like to see the rest of my photos from Interesting 08 - including stuff on toilets, magic mirrors, doodling, studied clumsiness, World of Warcraft, LOL cats, Henry the Hoover, beating insomnia & more they're here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Sunday, June 22, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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