http://150greatthingsabouttheunderground.com/
I really like this blog. Mainly because it makes feel smug that I’ve noticed them all already but whatever.
Aldwych
Tickets for the closed Picadilly line station Aldwych, go on sale again this year. Closed for the final time in 1994, but featured in films such as V for Vendetta and Death Line, it’s a rare chance to visit one of London’s many ghost stations.
It’s pretty pricey, costing between £18-25, but you don’t get the chance that often, and it usually sells out quickly. I went last year and really enjoyed it (see a few pictures below) so I definitely recommend it, if you’re the least bit interested..
Buy your tickets from the London Transport Museum website here from November 19th.
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Seizure (2008)
Really wish I hadn’t missed this. How often do you see entire flats covered in copper sulphate crystals? Apparently, it’s all somehow been extracted and is being moved to Yorkshire Sculpture Park next year, having escaped demolition. Pretty good news, but not as good as seeing it in a council estate in Southwark I’d imagine. Damn..
September 21, 2012 · 17:07
Open House London 2012
Update #2: After a few more crashes they have now decided to change from a pre-booking system to all-email ballots for the most popular places. Which to be honest, seems a lot easier and fairer (well I say that now..)
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Update: The website crashed yet again today and they are yet to confirm when it will be up again. Additionally, Tower 42 and Heron Tower will now be ballots, which can be entered by emailing names and addresses to tower42@open-city.org.uk and herontower@open-city.org.uk respectively. More info on the Facebook page here
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After apparently having a few technical hitches, booking starts again 12 noon tomorrow for Open House London. Which is good for me, because I almost completely forgot about it.
The annual architecture festival takes places this year on the weekend of the 22nd-23rd September. Last year I luckily managed to win some holy grail BT Tower ballot tickets, which I really loved. Sadly it’s not open again this year, but if you want a good view over London, lots of the other towers in the City are taking part – including the Gherkin (which is first-come-first-serve rather than open to pre-bookings), Heron Tower and Tower 42 (which I was supposed to have a meeting in last week, and coudn’t make, doh).
There are also tons and tons of other events available. A few other things that I really want to go to include: the Neasden Underground Bunker (which I missed out on a few years back), St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Balfron Tower/Trellick Tower, the BFI IMAX (which is doing tours of the projection booth), Canary Wharf Crossrail Station’s construction site, etc. etc. etc. etc.
However, by far my most wished for are the sewage works/pumping stations – Lee Tunnel & Beckton Sludge Generator, Abbey Mills Pumping Station and Western Pumping Station. I’ve been obsessively getting into all things subterranean recently, and I really, really want to visit these, they sound absolutely amazing. (Also, I should really get around finishing my review on Underground London, which has been sitting in my drafts box for month.)
See also:
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Time Out London goes free
So I came back after a little holiday and read my mini-pile of Time Out to find that it’s being re-launched in the autumn as a free magazine.
I really do love Time Out, so I’m understandably a little apprehensive. They’ve have said that the quality will not change, but it will be thinner and missing the soon-to-be online only TV section (which was only just re-introduced). But, just how much smaller it will get, and whether the quality really won’t diminish, is questionable – I’m very worried! It has already got smaller and smaller recently, and there will inevitably have to be a load more adverts. The only comparison I can think of, that has made the jump to being free, is the Evening Standard – but then that was always horrible wasn’t it?
On the other hand, I’ve always thought that despite the quality of the content, Time Out has always been far too expensive for a weekly (currently £3.25). So it’s a pretty big jump and good news for my pocket. Therefore, I should be a little happier – apart from the fact they just took a load of money from my account for my new subscription. Typical.
But anyway, all will be revealed in the autumn, and I really hope this will mean a positive new start for Time Out, rather than the beginning of the end..
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A Sleepy Walk down the Thames Path
From the ‘other’ side of London Bridge – Bermondsey to Canary Wharf
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The Secret History of Our Streets
Very late blog, just to say how much I enjoyed this series.
Part of the BBC London Season, which been mainly been fantastic, the programme has been an engrossing look at the social history of different areaof London. The Caledonian Road episode, in particular was really fascinating (clearly because it was the road I know best).
This one focused on a landlord who has managed to build up an oddly large number of properties on the road. Seemingly, portrayed as a ‘loveable rogue’, he was actually clearly just a very, very bad landlord charging people for living in awful conditions, and often illegally.
Since the programme, an action group called ‘Cally Cows‘, has been set up by tenants of the rogue landlord, and in then turn the members were given eviction notices. Pretty disturbing stuff, and indicative of the worrying state of the rental market. But, hopefully some good will come from highlighting just what this landlord has been up to.
For the main part, it was a great series, one gripe being that it was was a shame the series was only 6 episodes long – it definitely missed a huge chunk of NW London. And also, on a side note, one thing that The Guardian picked up on, and which did irk me at the time, was the unnecessary use of subtitling for people with strong accents in the programme. Something that probably did let the series down.
For more programmes on London, there’s also a really good archive of films on the BBC website here.
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June Talks
A couple of interesting talks and events coming up in the next few weeks.
Wednesday 13 June, 18.30- Roma Voices.
Part of the 3 day symposium Roma: Self-representation and popular media, this event looks at representations of Roma communities in the media, with a particular focus on the Channel 4 programme Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.
See more info here and register for free tickets here
Friday 15 June, 17.30 – Cafe Oto – Slavoj Zizek.
A 24-hour launch for Zizek’s new book Less than Nothing. The event will have an introductory talk about Hegel, a talk from the man himself (Zizek, not Hegel obviously!), and then people will be reading from the book throughout the night. Really looking forward to this! Tickets to the main event are sold out, but you can still go to the overnight reading.
See more info here
Saturday 16 – Sunday 17 June – Alternative Conference for the Rio Summit.
A free 2-day conference, taking place the weekend before the Rio summit. Organised by the Campaign against Climate Change and the SOAS Department for Development Studies, it will feature a range of seminars, workshops and speakers from the Green Party, Labour, New Economics Foundation, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth, Occupy and lots more. Subjects include food security, climate jobs, generational justice and fracking.
Find out more info here
Wednesday 27 June, 18.30 LSE public lecture – Should we build on the Greenbelt?
An interesting question. Although my knee jerk reaction would always be ‘no’, it is something that needs to be considered. Dave Hill wrote a blog on the issue a few weeks, have a look here.
More info on the talk here
Thursday 28 June, 18.30 – LSE public lecture – Amartya Sen Lecture.
A discussion between Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. Free but you need to request tickets from the link below from Thursday 21 June at 10am.
More info here
Friday 29 June – LSE public lecture – Joseph Stiglitz.
The author of Globalisation and its Discontents discusses his new book The Price of Inequality. Like the previous lecture, you will need to request tickets for the event.
More info here
Other links
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A London Blog 