London yesterday - what a scruffy old dive!

[srw]

Not the bloody Jubilee Line, they didn't. Why did they stick a station out at the end of the Greenwich Peninsula where nobody lives?

So that we could all trot dutifully along to the Dome.

And for the newest line in the system, they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time fixing it.

It was built on the cheap, like every major public project these days. The financial projections only took account of the first few years and not the long-term cost implications.

 

[spindrift]

So that we could all trot dutifully along to the Dome.

Now the most popular venue in Europe.

Kylie's there this week, I've had her.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Lots of problems on the DLR into Bank this week, so that might account for all the trains you had to take.
It was really spooky last week, sitting in the front of a driverless train as it went the wrong way down the tunnel.

 

[tdr1nka]

Are you sure it's unsubsidised?

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/TfL_Factsheet_May_2008.pdf
seems to suggest otherwise.

Ben

I stand corrected.
Although I was under the impression public transport in London was being run into the ground in the final days of London Transport, pre TfL.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

So that we could all trot dutifully along to the Dome.

Now the most popular venue in Europe.

Kylie's there this week, I've had her.

having one off the wrist to the video for "i should be so lucky" doesn't count you know…

 

[CopperBrompton]

I stand corrected.
Although I was under the impression public transport in London was being run into the ground in the final days of London Transport, pre TfL.

I think the core issue with London's transport infrastructure is simply that all of it (road, rail and tube) was designed a century ago, when its population was 4.7 million and there were only a few prosperous overseas tourists visiting.

Today, the population of London is 7.5 million and last year 15.2 million overseas tourists visited the city.

As you saw from the TfL link, we can and do throw billions in subsidies at public transport, but fundamentally we're trying to move too many people in too small a space.

Given that fact, I think London's public transport is amazingly good.

Ben

 

[zimzum42]

that might be the official population figure, but way more people than that live in London.....

When trains first ran on the tube, sometime in the late 1800s, there were one billion people in the world.

Now one billion journeys are made on the tube every year......

 

[Fnaar]

London You're a Lady
By Shane MacGowan (1989)

Ah London you're a lady
Laid out before my eyes
Your heart of gold it pulses
Between your scarred up thighs
Your eyes are full of sadness
Red buses skirt your hem
Your head-dress is a ring of lights
But I would not follow them
Your architects were madmen
Your builders sane but drunk
Among your faded jewels
Shine acid house and punk

You are a scarlet lady
Your streets run red with blood
Oh my darling they have used you
And covered you with mud
It was deep down in your womb my love
I drank my quart of sin
While chinamen played cards and draughts
And knocked back mickey finns

Your piss is like a river
Its scent is beer and gin
Your hell is in the summer
And you blossom in the spring
September is your purgatory
Christmas is your heaven
And when the stinking streets of summer
Are washed away by rain
At the dark end of a lonely street
That's where you lose your pain
'Tis then your eyes light up my love
And sparkle once again

 

[wafflycat]

As a londoner born and bred, but often working away, the 2 things that get on my tits going back are:

-women driving round roundabouts whilst talking on their mobiles
-man bag men. Probably non-london in origin. The type that shake your hand as if you're a leper. The type that look like their face would crack if they had to smile. The double breasted duffle coat wearing shadows of humans that you just want to give chinese wrist burns to.

Can one take it, then, that men doing exactly the same thing doesn't get on your tits?

 

[NickM]

So that we could all trot dutifully along to the Dome.

Now the most popular venue in Europe.

Never been there. After 5 years of being a white elephant maintained at the taxpayers' expense, the place now teems with riff-raff.

I don't know which is worse

 

[simon l& and a half]

I think the population of London is still lower than it was just before the war - although I'm sure that ZZ has a point, and that there is a bit of undercounting.

 

[Abitrary]

Can one take it, then, that men doing exactly the same thing doesn't get on your tits?

Yes, men do talk on their mobiles whilst driving, and that gets on my tits.

However, I've only ever seen women attempting complex manoeuvres or navigating roundabouts whilst on the phone. I can only put it down to sheer bravado.

 

[LLB]

Can one take it, then, that men doing exactly the same thing doesn't get on your tits?

Isn't this what they call 'multi tasking'

 

[Ludwig]

If you stay in London go to Kings Cross, Earls Court, Paddington etc where you are close to the vibe, museums, galleries, West End etc and tidy budget accommodation.. London is the financial and cultural centre of the world and much smarter than most capitals. After all why does the whole world want to live and work there.

 

[snorri]

and tidy budget accommodation.. London is the financial and cultural centre of the world and much smarter than most capitals. After all why does the whole world want to live and work there.

How many hotel nights do you spend in the average year in London and other capital cities Ludwig?