Hammerscam

Beware of dodgey cash machine at tube stations! I just got this forwarded to me in an email this morning, and thought it was worth passing on ...



"Please be aware that gangs of criminals are targeting the cash machines on LUL premises. The pictures below were taken at Hammersmith Dist & Picc station on 21.10.04. The first picture details how the Barclays cash machine normally looks.



The criminals have been fitting portable card readers to the machines which clone the card details. The second picture details how the cash machine looks after the cloning device has been fitted with double sided tape."



Please ensure that all station staff are aware of this scam. If you become aware that a device has been fitted to a cash machine on LUL property, please contact the BTP immediately. Customers should be discouraged from using the machine until the arrival of the police. If the area is covered by CCTV the machine should also be monitored in order that those responsible are seen if they try to remove the device."

Err, what he said.

I'd also like to point out that I'm not actually living in London at the moment (temporary arrangement till the new year) so my tube stories are a bit thin on the ground.



However, if I could crave your indulgence for one post only, I'll go off topic and talk about something else - Wetherspoons.



Can someone please explain to me why Wetherspoons have merged their food menu with (or indeed changed it INTO) the Lloyds No. 1 menu which is rubbish?



Whereas before you had nice sizeable chips you've now got stringy things that stick together whilst cooking and go cold very quickly too. The switch to the Lloyds menu also means the Aberdeen Angus Pie has been removed and to be honest I consider this a disaster. Whenever I ate at Wetherspoons, it was usually the carbohydrate-laden, gravy-sodden pie which I ordered. But now they've deprived me of my very raison-d'etre vis-a-vis going there, I'm afraid I shall have to withdraw my custom.



Does anyone else feel as aghast as me at this needless change or is it just me being a stick-in-the-mud as usual?



(By the way, this post IS loosely tube-related. We went to the Penderel's Oak in Holborn to meet young Annie last week just after myself and Geoff had been running round on the tube - see the alternative tube challenges section of his his website).



Umm, here's a picture of me recreating one half of the Aldgate East picture from the Tube 7 attempt back in May (and not very well because it wasn't even the same sign and I'm standing on the other side of it and Geoff had to take the picture so he couldn't even be in it), just before we went of to Wetherhellhasmypiegone (geddit??!!) for dinner:

Disruption to service

Don't panic. We haven't gone on holiday with Annie (She didn't invite us .. tsk!), but we've just been too busy, er... catching the tube to remember to do the blog



Anyway, I'm sure Neil is about to post something up any moment now . . .

Bollox to all this, I'm off to Goa

Annie's winter break



I've not had a proper holiday in the sunshine this year and tomorrow am off to Goa for two weeks, so the blog will be left in the capable hands of Neil and Geoff. They've promised to do all the usual things like watering plants, making sure the post isn't piling up outside, keeping an eye out for men with stripy T shirts and bags with "swag" on them, etc etc.



I must also apologise if the blog has been taking an age to load for some of you. I've absolutely no idea why it is doing this. I emailed Blogger/Blogspot who weren't much help and I've left a message on the Yahoo Group for Blogspot - if anyone has any ideas as to the problem I'd really like to know, it's only been happening this week and nothing new has been added to the template, so it's a mystery to me.



Anyway, please be gentle with Geoff and Neil and I'll "see" you in November.

Tube profits soar - but by how much?

50 million quid or a 100 million quid



Depending on which paper you read (Evening Standard - �100 million) or which media you watch or listen too (BBC - �50 million), Tubelines & Metronet are making a fook or a lot of money whichever figure you believe.



I know it's slightly inane to say where is it all going - some fat cats pockets (the chief exec of Metronet gets paid �552,000 a year) - but have we really seen any major improvements to the tube since the public private partnership changes?



As far as I see on my journeys there are no extra trains, they're not particularly any more efficient.



"Tube Lines - (one of private maintenance firms) - announced it had its best quarter-year performance since it took over the lines.



But it added signal failures rose by almost 50% from 22 August to 18 September, compared with the same period in 2003."



And yet only last week Sheriff Ken Livingstone announced that Tube fares would have to go up over the next five years to help fund extra investment - D'OH, D'OH, D'OH