7 July 2005
[london] Surviving a Terrorist Attack — a personal account of one of the terror attacks on the London Underground … ‘Fate is a strange thing. On this particular day a series of events transpired such that I ended up on a Tube train that was destroyed by terrorists. Fortunately it was only the carriage in front of me, but tragically it resulted in a serious amount of injuries. This is my story.’
[london] Metafilter: “Major Incident” on London Underground reported
[london] mobloguk: Tube Image, Trapped
[london] Flickr: London Bomb Blasts Pool.
6 July 2005
[london] Photos inside Battersea Power Station … ‘Built in 1933, the Grade II listed structure now faces a new future at the centre of a large shopping, leisure, conference and accommodation complex, due to open in 2009.’
4 July 2005
[live8] The Music’s Over, the Message Lingers On — nice summary of the Live 8 concert in London … ‘At midday the approach to the park was a familiar pre-rock concert landscape of men weeing under trees, jocular police and a revivalist with a megaphone: “I used to be a sinner like you, now I’m a winner.”‘
27 June 2005
[underground] London Underground accelerated time disruption map — movie map of London Underground showing disruptions over a two week period.
16 May 2005
[comics] Londonist interviews Nathaniel – a Comic Shop Employee … ‘Q: Who’d win in a fight: Fathers 4 Justice or Justice League of America? Why? A: The Justice League of America would win. They’ve got superpowers whereas the Fathers 4 Justice are just normal men in costumes. It’s obvious when you think about it.’
4 April 2005
[london] Evening Standard Headlines — a flickr set showing how the Evening Standard’s Headline writers attempt to stamp out positive thought within the London area …
‘Transplant Patients get Rabies’
‘Transplant Patients get Rabies’
13 January 2005
[death] Watery Grave — article about dead bodies found in the Thames and some of the stories behind them … ‘I must must have walked along, over and indeed under the River Thames hundreds of times. A bald and astounding police statistic comes back to me every time I look into its steely waters: along the 213-mile long Thames, a body is retrieved from the river on average every week. The majority (39 last year) are found in the London area.’
24 November 2004
[london] B3ta interviews London’s “Are you a Sinner or a Winner?” Man … ‘Q: Daddy or chips? A: Both. If your chips are down you need your Daddy (points skyward).’
22 November 2004
[tube] Blood on the Tracks — article about suicides on the London Underground … ‘How the tube got its reputation as a good spot for suicides is a mystery. It is a completely stupid choice. A large number of jumpers don’t die immediately and plenty don’t die at all. Those that are successful often manage because they get themselves crushed between the far wall and the train, instead of on the rails. It is very far from clinical. At the first “one-under” I attended, the woman was still alive underneath the train, screaming and trying to get up. The image stayed with me for years.’
11 November 2004
[blog] Thought of the Day — moblogging a handwritten thought-of-the-day sign at Oval Station on the London Underground … ‘Those who dance are thought mad by those who do not hear the music.’ [via Sashinka]
1 October 2004
[tube] What The Numbers On Your Tube Ticket Mean — from This isn’t London … ‘H: Number of loud, badly behaved teenage German exchange students in your carriage.’ [via Kevan’s del.icio.us]
2 August 2004
[london] Odderection Man — mental health problems or performance art? You decide…
Odd Erection Man, Oxford Street, London
Odd Erection Man, Oxford Street, London
28 July 2004
[blogs] This Isn’t London — lots of amusing made up facts about London… ‘All of London’s dogs are owned by the same company. Amalgamated Canine Industries was founded when the dog population of the city was nationalised under the Attlee government in 1948, and its holdings were leased back to the pooches’ former owners. Since then, this company has, in various forms, regulated all dog activity in the capital.’
1 June 2004
[london] Silver Jubilee — every Jubilee Line Underground Station got visited by Diamond Geezer last month … ‘St John’s Wood is the only station on the Underground network that shares no letters with the word ‘mackerel’. The station was nearly called Acacia Road but the name was changed just before opening (which is just as well otherwise there’d be no mackerel-free tube stations).’
2 March 2004
[mobiles] Mobiles sound on the Underground and London tube gets mobile access … ‘LU will trial mobile access in one or two deep-level stations to judge customer demand. The company stresss that this is unlikely to be a big money spinner, and it will be guided by the wishes of its customers.’ [via 2lmc]
15 February 2004
[apple] Apple to open flagship London store this Xmas — the Register on an Apple Store UK … ‘The store is believed to be located at 229-247 Regent Street, locating it near Oxford Circus and Liberty’s, Dickens & Jones, Nike and FCUK stores. The site has been under re-development for a few years now.’
22 December 2003
[london] Sinners and Winners: A Confession — more info about the Oxford Circus Megaphone Man … ‘I suppose it’s about time I held my hands up and admitted that if it wasn’t for me the “Sinners and Winners man”, or Terry as he’s actually known, would be substantially less annoying. You see, it was actually me who bought him his megaphone…’
8 December 2003
[preaching] What is that Oxford Circus Megaphone Man all about? … ‘ARE YOU A SINNER OR ARE YOU A WINNER?’
‘What most people don’t know is that the religious nut used to think he was a werewolf and would occasionally get on London news reports because he would beg the police to lock him up come every full moon. Then he found God, or more specifically a cassette tape of some preacher which he is constantly listening to and repeating out loud ‘
17 October 2003
[weblogs] London Bloggers — the London Blogs Tube Map Directory redesigns … ‘There are currently 644 registered London weblogs.’
28 July 2003
[flash mob] London Flash Mob — Where = Soho, When = August 7th … ‘Flash Mobs are seemingly unplanned gatherings of large groups of people that converge in public (or semipublic) places for brief periods of time. All members of a Flash Mob simultaneously converge to form the mob and then quickly disperse again at a given time, all members departing in different directions.’ [via Voidstar]
13 July 2003
[london] Going Underground’s Blog — weblog about the London Underground … ‘ Got rather trashed last night and had to put the auto tube pilot into gear. Got on at Leicester Square at about five to minight, then fell asleep. Did my auto wake up at Turnham Green and amazingly the next District Line was going to Richmond.’
4 July 2003
[london] Oystercard — a new smartcard for London Transport replacing Travelcards (rechargable via the Internet!) … ‘Oyster is the new ticketing and revenue system that is bringing smartcard travel and all of its associated benefits to Transport for London and its customers. At the heart of this system is the Oyster card which can be used on Tube, bus, Tramlink, DLR and National Rail services within London.’ [via Wanderer’s Weblog]
30 June 2003
[web] Capital Numbers — a months worth of London numerology from Diamond Geezer. ‘…because London Counts.’
9 April 2003
[crime] Metropolitan Police Most Wanted — the list includes mudrerers, paedophiles and map stealers … ‘Bellwood, 50, is currently wanted for questioning by both Danish and Welsh police following thousands of thefts of high-value maps from libraries throughout Europe. [..] It is estimated that 4,500 maps of this type are missing from libraries across Europe.’
9 March 2002
[machines] Why does it take so long to mend an escalator? — lots of escalators being replaced on the London Underground at the moment… ‘Why does it take so long to mend an escalator? As far as that goes I am willing to believe what I am told: that escalators are big, complicated machines packed into tight shafts and there aren’t many hours when you can work on them. More money wouldn’t remove those obstacles to seamless service, nor would improved logistics. In fact, a large influx of capital would, in the short term, increase time-outs – it takes longer to replace an escalator than to maintain it – even though the end result would be fewer maintenance sessions.’ [via Feeling Listless]
16 August 2001
[books] You ask the questions: Peter Ackroyd. On genuinely disturbing parts of London: ‘There are a couple of spots of London that have always interested me. One of them is a small area known as Angel Street by the old wall of Newgate Prison, which has been a haunted spot for many centuries. It was here that the black dog of Newgate used to be seen in spectral form — certainly not a place for the faint hearted. Stew Lane is another spot. It’s a little-known alley that leads from the river upwards to Upper Thames Street. It’s dark and narrow — I’ve never known why it’s called Stew Lane or what happened there, but it is a curiously uncomfortable place.’
7 June 2001
[links] Nice controllable London webcam with preset views of the Millenium Eye, CentrePoint and Wardour Street from a roof in Soho…
5 June 2001
[map] Classic London tube map from the 30’s… [via bitch.org.uk]
29 April 2001
[profile] The Independent profiles Ken Livingstone after a year of being Mayor of London. ‘After Labour’s triumphant election in 1997, he predicted a recession and suggested that Gordon Brown should be sacked. When the recession did not arrive he claimed, with a mischievous smile, that this was because the Chancellor had adopted his policies. Mr Brown did not reciprocate with a smile. In the 1980s, Mr Livingstone similarly fought against Neil Kinnock’s policy reforms. At a meeting of Labour’s national executive in 1988, he is said to have declared with a hint of self-pity: “I won’t be silenced by the party machine.” Mr Kinnock responded by saying: “Silenced? You have been on every bloody media outlet for the last 24 hours.”‘
27 April 2001
[blog] David is walking across London… and it’s being blogged LIVE here via “cyber-Boswell” Ian. ‘Hopefully he’s going to stop for a cup of coffee; this pace is killing me. (At this rate he’ll be at Heathrow by dusk!)’
8 April 2001
[paranoia] More from Jon Ronson…. Paranoid London – from A-Z ”P is for Prince Philip’s home (Buckingham Palace) …LaRouche adds that Prince Philip secretly determines government policy in the UK. Foot and mouth, furthermore, is a manufactured front designed to terrify the British public into joining the satanic European Union. And Prince Philip’s well-documented foot-in-mouth disease? Another front. He is not dim. He is an evil genius.’ [via Digital Trickery]
15 March 2001
[credit] Finally, the homepage of the amazingly rude tube map which I saw on Usenet a few months ago… [via tsluts]
21 February 2001
[travel] This is so useful… First / Last Trains on the London Underground.
11 February 2001
[comics] Brief reviews of London Comic Shops… the top three are the best shops in London… Gosh: ‘Fight through the superheroes on the ground floor and head for the stairs at the back of the shop. The lead to a basement full of alternative & independent stuff. Usually a couple of shelves of self-published bits.’
4 January 2001
[underground] Transport Plans for the London Area — interesting if you heavily use public transport in the London Area…
3 January 2001
[underground] Extremely rude alternative map of the London Underground — I apparently live in “Bell End”. :)
20 November 2000
[underground] Guardian Unlimited has a revealing portrait of what it’s like to work for London Underground written by an insider. ‘The only behaviour, apart from rudeness, that can be safely relied upon is acute stupidity. Almost everyone who travels on the underground seems to be braindead by the time they reach the station. People constantly come and ask where to go to get the train and are then surprised to be told to go down an escalator. Sometimes they walk out of another exit back to the street. Even if there are only two platforms and two escalators, no questions are too humiliating to ask. Some ask where the Southern line is, so they can get back to where they came from that morning! There is no reasoning with these people, who take their right to be cretinous as God-given, and when the odd sarky remark slips out all hell breaks loose.’
5 October 2000
[pizza!] I’ve recently been introduced [thanks, Teresa!] to the the wonderful Eco Pizzeria in Clapham, South London. Highly recommended… ‘The pizzas themselves are formidable. Twelve inchers can look a bit daunting to the faint hearted, but fear not, the dough is wonderfully crisp and light, and the toppings are generous and moist. [..] If you want to eat well without spending a fortune and drink well into the bargain, in a buzzy place that’s – well funky’s what we said, we still recommend ECO for best pizzeria South of the River.’ [Contact: Eco Pizzeria, 162 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG Tel: 0207 978 1108]
2 October 2000
[london] Thora Birch describes “My London” in This is London. ‘What was the last conversation you had with a London cabbie? This guy offered me and my mom some pot (which we politely declined) and then told us what every member of his extended family did for a living.’ [Related Link: Ghost World Movie]
18 July 2000
[bridge] Somebody call in Howard Roark — newsUnlimited talks about the emotional design of the millennium bridge. ‘At one stage, the architects successfully re-submitted some rejected drawings by making the sky bluer and the bridge users younger. “What Nor man absolutely correctly judged,” says Fitzpatrick, slipping easily into a public relations abstraction, “was generating the sense of wonderment”‘.
9 July 2000
[prostitution] Prostitutes Phone Cards and Pokémon — getting blogged everywhere. Pig Inc: “By the way, I’ve got the ‘Cindy Crawford’ transexual model card if anyone wants to swap. Very rare, posted in the Bayswater area only. Mint condition.”
16 June 2000
[london] Feed on London and the London Eye — includes Quicktime panorama view of the Eye. [via Guardian Weblog]
4 June 2000
[murder] newsUnlimited covers a nasty murder on a bridge in London last year. “‘We’ll never know what happened that night,’ she said. ‘It seems inexplicable. I believe there was a group dynamic which forced them to do what they did. Peer pressure and a boy shouting “throw them in the river” was enough to create an atmosphere in which there was no going back. It will have been one person who started it and the others would have followed like sheep.'”
29 May 2000
[dando] Interesting thread on the Jill Dando murder suspect Barry Bulsara in uk.local.london. “A man stepped out who looked rather like Freddie Mercury and a buzz went round that it was his cousin. He produced a large, white floral tribute in the shape of an arch, with a gold plaque on the bottom inscribed with a message, and signed from “your cousin, Barry Bulsara” (Bulsara, being Mercury’s real surname). My sister, knowing I had some artwork of Freddie on me ( I had it with me to show somebody I was meeting), went and asked him to sign one of my pictures, which he did.”
16 May 2000
[anarchy] Seen on the tube today — the wisdom of Eric Cartman: “Capitalism sucks ass!” and Moon at the Monarchy 2000.
10 May 2000
[ken4london] Livingstone and Labour close to compromise deal reports newsUnlimited.
7 May 2000
[ken4london] newsUnlimited has an interview with Ken Livingstone — the new mayor of London. “It suddenly dawns on you that all those people have gone out and voted for you, and it was overwhelming and incredibly humbling, and I hadn’t expected to have that feeling…”