Tag: London

TUBE TUBE Back2Work (1 of 7) – London Underground Short Film Series

TUBE TUBE – a short film series set entirely on the London underground – is back. It looks like this time they are doing a 7 part series surrounding Back2Work. To find out what it’s all about watch the video above. You can learn about the series from their YouTube channel, Facebook page and twitter account.

Victoria Line Underground Stations – Facts, Trivia And Impressions

This post is part of my Randomly London v. The Tube Challenge. Get the latest about challenge updates here. Donate to Bowel Cancer UK here.

Retro Map at Pimlico Station
Retro Victoria Line Tube Map Found At Pimlico, the only station still using this type of map.

Given that London has few sunny and warm weekends, especially in September, most Londoners make the most of them when they do happen. I, on the other hand, chose to ride the tube from Brixton to Walthamstow Central along the Victoria line.

The Victoria line is an interesting one for a few reasons: it was the first deep level underground line to be built across central London since 1907, it is the longest line entirely underground (at least for the travelling public), and almost every station has tiled artwork relating to the station itself, or the surrounding area.

I visited each of the 16 stations on the line over the course of approximately 3 hours on the very sunny 8th of September. Here are my impressions and a random fact about each station:

Brixton

Entrance to Brixton Station Brixton Station Art
Huge London Underground roundel at Brixton station and tiled artwork at platform level playing on the “brick” part of the name.

Impressions: Brixton is among the more interesting areas of London. It has reputation for being somewhat dodgy and dangerous, but in my opinion this view is increasingly outdated. While Brixton remains at present a mixed area, all signs point to rapid gentrification. The most noticeable feature about Brixton station, to my mind, is the huge London Underground roundel over the entrance. It was also extremely busy on the day I visited.

Random Fact: Brixton station opened in 1971, 3 years after the first section of the Victoria line. Tweet This

Stockwell

Stockwell Station Exterior Stockwell Station tiled Art
The entrance to Stockwell Station and the bizarre dazzle inspired tiled artwork at platform level.

Impressions: If Brixton is one of the most interesting areas of London, Stockwell feels like one of the most bland. Stockwell station is one of the ugliest stations on the whole network. The view is not much improved once you leave, as you’re immediately thrust onto busy Clapham Road. The one interesting thing I did notice about the station is that there is no up escalator from the northbound Victoria line platform. I guess not many people go from Brixton to Stockwell by tube. It was also far less busy than Brixton.

Random Fact: Stockwell is the southernmost London underground station that serves more than one line. Tweet This
Continue reading Victoria Line Underground Stations – Facts, Trivia And Impressions

London, Gangnam Style – Top 5 PSY Video Parodies Set In London

PSY’s Gangnam Style is perhaps the most popular viral music video of all time. As of today the video is closing in on 275 million views on Youtube. Of course when something gets this popular people are bound to parody it. Here are the Top 5 Gangnam Style parodies (by views) filmed in London:

Continue reading London, Gangnam Style – Top 5 PSY Video Parodies Set In London

Waterloo & City Line – Walk And Tube Station Visits

This post is part of my Randomly London v. The Tube Challenge. Get the latest about challenge updates here. Donate to Bowel Cancer UK here.

Waterloo Station

The Waterloo & City line is the amuse bouche of my 11 course tube challenge. The line itself is both the youngest* and shortest on the network. At only 1.5 miles (2.5 km) long and consisting of just two stations (Waterloo and Bank), I was able to walk the whole thing in about a half hour. A nice easy start.

However, everything did not quite go according to plan. The original idea was to both ride and walk the line on the same day. I set off on a beautiful sunny Sunday (Aug. 19th, 2012) walking to Waterloo from South Ken. Normally the Waterloo & City Line is closed on Sundays. However, Transport for London (TFL) moved to a 7 day a week schedule for the line during Olympics.

I naively assumed that this applied to the whole period from the opening ceremonies of the Olympics to the closing ceremonies of the Paralympics. Even TFL’s website seemed to indicate the line was going to be open. So I was somewhat surprised to find the whole thing shut down. Really not a big deal, but it meant I had to make a separate trip a few days later to ride the train.

Continue reading Waterloo & City Line – Walk And Tube Station Visits

Emirates Airline North Greenwich – Timelapse Video

The latest in the timelpase videos from TimelapseLondon.co.uk. This one breaks the mould a little bit. Instead of being taken at sunset it was taken in the afternoon. It shows the Emirates Airline in North Greenwich in full swing. I still haven’t had the chance to give it a try, but I gather it’s been rather popular. Taken using a Canon 5D MK I.

Sunset by The Shard – Timelapse Video

This is the last in the sunset timelpase videos currently created by the guys at TimelapseLondon.co.uk. This was taken back in March of this year and it’s interesting to compare it to their first video taken from Tower Bridge. The Shard is virtually complete in this video, although it’s still well before London would be subjected to the inaugural laser show.