Just like buses......

Three turn up at once

To those of you who occasionally look at the "blogs that mention mine" section to the right (yeah, I did this before the term blogrolling was phrased) you might have noticed some blogs from people who actually work for London Underground. The one by District Dave has been up some time and isn't really a blog. But in the last month there must have been some sort of blogging section added to the LU staff rule book, as we have three (count 'em) three blogs by tube staff - two station assistants (The Station Master - and The Station Cleaner) and a District Line driver.

All three have been running for just over a month and they give a good insiders' view about what it's like to work on the Tube. So as with this blog they get their fare share of drunks, delays, posts about uniforms, posts about station and drivers' announcements, posts about "Baby on Board badges", posts about people travelling to Kylie concerts and all sorts of other day-to-day stuff. How long they will continue I don't know (especially as The Station Cleaner seems to be having a dispute with the powers that be at the moment), but they're all good reads and The Station Master posts some cracking pictures sometimes (see the one below for example)



I'm sure they won't mind me saying (well they probably will, as they read this blog), but they all provide quite a contrasting read. The Station Master is generally upbeat and, like this blog, covers general tube trivia and odds and sods as well as his daily job. The Station Cleaner is more political and cynical (well he sounds like he's having a tough time right now) and District Line driver's is also fairly upbeat too.

Enjoy.

Oystercard tool

Pre-paid - is it right for you?

As many of you know I keep pretty quiet about Oystercards cos I haven't got one. Geoff has one now and he seems to be making the most of it and I think Neil has always had one. But I was sent the following email from James Cridland who's built a little something that means you might be able to work out whether it's worth your while getting one:

"Annie... did you know...

...if you just commute between zone 1-4, it's cheapest to just get an Oyster pre-pay card. It beats everything else - including an annual travelcard. Sometimes, an Oyster pre-pay also beats a monthly travelcard too - for zones 1-6, you could save yourself over a grand by moving from monthly travelcard to Oyster pre-pay.

I've knocked together an Oystercard calculator to help people see the relevant costs - a fiendishly ugly page, but quite interesting, nonetheless. Hope you enjoy it. I might smarten it up one day.

Have fun"

Well I actually do commute between zones 1-4, but because I use my travelcard a lot on weekends and bank holidays and on my holidays itself - the calculator didn't seem to make pre-pay any cheaper than my annual card - also cos I get a mainline train from Richmond they don't accept Oystercard Pre-Pay on it anyway. But I'm sure it will be helpful for other people, and thanks for sending it in James.

Rabbitting on the Tube

Giant Rabbits

Sometimes when you're faced with images like this on the tube it can ever so slightly freak you out.



Dave from funkypancake, sent me this piccy and said:

"Here's what greeted me at one stop on the Central Line. Was it just luck the poster and the doors just aligned like this? It did look quite fanastic planned or otherwise!

Thankfully there were no people in the way so I managed to capture the moment in all its glory.

I've no idea what the poster is advertising."

I used to get welcomed by a similar image of a giant baby (advertising Child Trust Funds) looking through the windows when I got on the tube at the DLR at Bank.

Ticket holders......a new trend

From New York to London

Quite some time ago I spotted that the New York Subway had some specially designed clothing and jewellery based on their Metro tickets or tokens. The item I most liked was a pair of pretty hot boots with a little plastic pocket to hold your metro ticket. Bizarre place to put a ticket and I'd love to see people faffing and hopping around at the barriers pulling out their tickets.

So imagine my surprise when on Bank Holiday Monday, during a little mini bloggers meet to see H2G2 (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - see reviews by Neil and Chz), Helene from stroppycow, told me how on the way in she had seen a couple of guys on the tube playing Tetris on their mobys, mirroring each others movements like an old married couple, but one of the guys had his travelcard tucked into his sock. Eagle eyed Helene had even taken a picture of this.

Anyone else keep their travelcard in their shoes or socks? Perhaps I'm missing a trick.

Mind the Gap Ringtone v Crazy Frog

Which would be more annoying?

Someone sent me an email asking where they could get hold of a Mind The Gap ringtone. I'm sure there's not a site where you could officially or even un-officially download one, but aren't there some whizzy mobile phones around that can just record any sound you like and then you can use it as a ringtone. In which case you'd just need to stand at a station like Bank or somewhere else where there was a particularly noisy rendition of Mind the Gap and then Robert's your mother's brother.

There's even some ringtone making software around where you can transform any CD track or mp3 into a ringtone for your mobile phone.

I think you would then incur the wrath of anyone who was within striking distance of you whenever your phone went off. Particularly, if you were on a train at the time. In time this ringtone could potentially become even more annoying that the "popular" Crazy Frog ringtone, which fortunately I've never heard outside of a TV set.