For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Waterborne Cabbies (05.06.09)

In the 16th Century the Company of Watermen were the equivalent to today’s cabbies. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1556 and given a grand of a Royal Patient in 1585, their trade like ours today was carefully licensed. They would ply for hire from designated locations along the Thames, with the cry of “Oars! Oars!” which later was forbidden as the cry could be confused by tourists with “Whores! Whores!”

When the watermen were not transporting people they would turn their hand to salvage and found a brisk trade in finding bodies, either suicides or those who’d accidentally drowned or been murdered.

By a curious quirk of history, the origins of which are now lost, bodies were almost always landed on the south side of the river because the authorities would pay a shilling for a body landed in Southwark but only sixpence for one landed on the north bank. Clearly waterborne cabbies were not averse to “going south of the river” in those days.

A nice little earner would be from the City to as far up river as Hampton Court, and by 1700 over 10,000 watermen plied for hire.

The trade was not without its dangers; if you wanted to travel downstream below London Bridge you risked life and limb. A major feature of London Bridge was the effect it had on the Thames. The location of the bridge’s 19 timber pier supports (called starlings) was determined by riverbed conditions and this meant that they were varied in spacing across the river. Consequently, the arch spans varied in size too and boats navigating the arches encountered different currents and river conditions at each one. Some were more dangerous than others. Over the years, boatmen christened the arches with various names, such as Gut Lock and Long Entry.

Navigating through the bridge in a boat could be very dangerous because the closeness and number of starlings backed up the river water, creating rapids. In some places the drop in water height from one side of the bridge to the other was more than the height of a man. Many people lost their lives “shooting” the bridge and “Drowned at the bridge” became a common entry in the registers at nearby graveyards.

Most Londoners took Cardinal Wolsey example. On his frequent visits to Greenwich to see Henry VIII, he would have his barge stopped above the bridge and get out and travel to Billingsgate by mule, where he would rejoin his barge, providing it had successfully negotiated the rapids.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

The Human Lavatory (25.05.09)

Gentle reader, you will come, as I have now, to a time in your life when finding a toilet becomes not a distraction but a necessity.

London loos, until the 1950s, was famous the world over, but now according to the British Toilet Association (yes, there is a pro-toilet lobby group), a third of the lavatories run by city councils have closed in the last three years. While London with a decline of 40 per cent since 1999 is the largest drop in the country. They claim there is now only one public toilet for every 10,000 people in England but only one for every 18,000 Londoners.

London’s magnificent Victorian public toilets were built after The Public Health Act of 1848, which called for “Public Necessaries to be provided to improve sanitation”. The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851 had toilets for visitors. These were installed by George Jennings, a plumber from Brighton. He felt strongly that there should be decent public facilities. To offset the cost, visitors were charged 1d for using the toilets, giving Mr Jennings a net profit of £1,790 in only 23 weeks and so the phrase was coined (sorry for the pun), to spend a penny.

The first public on-street convenience was a gents at 95 Fleet Street; it was opened on 2 February 1852. Another, for ladies, was opened on 11 February at 51 Bedford Street. As well as being a public service these “Public Waiting Rooms” had water closets in wooden surrounds. The charge was 2d entrance fee and extra for washing or clothes brushes. They advertised the facilities in The Times and distributed handbills. But unfortunately, they had very few users and they were abandoned.

William Haywood started the first municipal underground public toilets in 1855. These were outside the Royal Exchange. The contractors were George Jennings; yes it’s that man again. These toilets charged 1d, a price that remained standard for nearly all public conveniences until the decimal currency was introduced in 1971.

George Jennings became a notable campaigner for public toilets, which he called ‘Halting Stations’, hardly surprising after the tidy profit he made at the Great Exhibition. At first he found it hard to convince authorities to adopt them. It was thought a topic which should not be mentioned.

Nearly all public conveniences were for men with few provided for women. The logic was that far more men were away from home than women, either for work or leisure.

These limited facilities were far better than in the Middle Ages where people simply used a bucket or pot and then threw the contents into the gutter or the Thames. With the projecting first floors of medieval London, the pot’s contents would be thrown out with gay abandon to the warning of “gardyloo” (a corruption of the French phrase gardez l’eau hence the nickname for a toilet.

In the 12th century if you happened to be walking in London and needed to spend a penny, you could employ the services of, I kid you not, a human lavatory. These were men and women who wore voluminous black capes and carried a bucket. I think you might be ahead of me here, but I will go on. For a farthing you sat on the bucket while they stood above you and enveloped you with their cape, thus protecting your modesty.

In London an Act was passed which allowed cabbies to urinate over the rear nearside wheel of their vehicle, but only if a policeman shielded you from view with his cape. The law has not been revoked, but I have no intention of asking a female police officer if she would help me to relieve myself.

Now over 150 years after those pioneering Victorians built public “Halting Stations” your choice is now limited, do you:
(a) go to McDonald’s
(b) illegally use a suitable wall or hedge
(c) brazen it out, and use a hotel’s facilities; or
(d) go back to the tried and test method of a bucket.

Just don’t expect to find a caped crusader.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Let It Be (15.05.09)

As a child of the ‘60s I have seen The Beatles in their heyday. My first sight of them was at the BBC Paris Theatre formerly in Lower Regent Street when they first came to London and nobody had heard of the Fab Four outside of Liverpool. Within weeks they had a No. 1 record and the rest as they say is history.

In 1969 The Beatles released their final album Abbey Road, with the iconic pedestrian crossing sleeve, photographed by Iain Macmillan, who had but 10 minutes for the shoot on the 8th August 1969. Apparently the man on the pavement in the background was an American tourist who only found out much later that he had been immortalised. On the left of the original picture is a VW Beetle which they had tried to have moved for the shot. The owners lived in the appartment block opposite and later the number plate was stolen as a souvenir. The car was sold at auction in 1986 for $23,000 and is on display at the VW Museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.

The genesis of this week’s blog was started by a recent fare of mine who lived next door to the studio, who told me that once she saw a Japanese man walking naked across the crossing, being photographed for posterity. Dozens of near accidents happen here, and all day vehicles are sounding their horns. At least if there is an accident, some evidence could be available as there is a 24 hours live web cam of the crossing.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but can anybody tell me why everyday scores of people, many not even born in 1969 risk injury by being photographed jaywalking across this crossing?

These same people also graffiti the wall of the studios (and their neighbour’s wall), which the clever Abbey Road people have painted white for that very purpose. The wall get so much attention that it has to be repainted white every 6-8 weeks.

Paul McCartney lives nearby and he must be as baffled as the rest of us at this behaviour, especially as most of these people have never heard the Abbey Road album. Well Paul McCartney might not have to wait much longer to sell this album to these young blades. Later this year, after many hours of work in the Abbey Road Studios (who claim incidentally to have the largest purpose built recording studio in the world), the entire back calalogue will be available on a new completely remastered set. Whether downloads, previously unobtainable from i-tunes, will be sold remains to be seen.

Well all of you, buy the CD set but just keep off that bloody crossing when I’m driving past!

As a footnote to this, the late Freddie Mercury’s Kensington house also suffers the same fate.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Keep on the right side (12.05.09)

The Savoy, one of London’s best-known hotels, opens soon after a £100 million refit although only 160 rooms will open while work continues on the remaining 100. The hotel, which overlooks the River Thames, first opened its doors to guests in 1889.

Apparently the building with its distinct Art Deco style is to be restored to combine its former glory with modern amenities. Under the new plans the hotel will be divided into Art Deco and Edwardian areas and the style in each will be distinct. In 1910 the external balconies were enclosed in order to add bathrooms to each room. Many felt the best views in the building were lost, including the view that Claude Monet painted when staying there.

The dry martini is thought by some to have been invented in the American Bar and a murder took place in the Savoy’s corridors back in 1923.

Much of the original internal fittings have been sold including 200 beds, curtains, a large oak parquet dance floor and an early 20th Century mahogany and gilt metal bureau from the Monet suite in addition the signature pink and white Savoy china. So CabbieBlog will be interested if this is an improvement, or some tacky expensive makeover.

Savoy Court is the only street in the United Kingdom where vehicles are required to drive on the right, and in addition the small roundabout needs a turning circle of 25 feet, this is still the legally required turning circle for all London cabs. For more than 100 years now vehicles, be they horse drawn or mechanical, have entered and left Savoy Court on the right-hand side of the road. When approaching and leaving the hotel it is easier to do so while driving on the right-hand side of the road. Savoy Court is privately owned property. It is not a public thoroughfare as it leads only to the hotel itself. Therefore driving on the right-hand side of the road does not contravene British traffic regulations. Finally, it may be of interest to note that when being chauffeured in a horse-drawn carriage the lady or dignitary would traditionally sit behind the driver. By approaching the hotel on the right-hand side of the road, either the chauffeur or the hotel’s doorman was able to open the door without walking around the car. This would allow the lady to alight from the carriage and walk straight into the hotel.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Wish you were here (08.05.09)

If you go on holiday to London don’t, I repeat, don’t buy me a souvenir as a memento of your visit. The poor tourists who come to these shores face a bewildering array of souvenir crap to purchase.

But it doesn’t end with the legitimate shops which proliferate on our capital, walk across Westminster Bridge and you are confronted by the delights of figures made from bent wire, a busker playing the bagpipes or whistles to imitate birdsong, being sold in full view of the police outside Parliament.

Do you want a T-shirt with the worn joke on the front “my Dad went to London and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”? Well, if you received that, thank your lucky stars. You could receive a cardboard policeman’s helmet, or how about a Union Jack umbrella. If you really want to stand out in the crowd try wearing a fur top hat in red, white and blue.

If this is not to your taste, go upmarket to the Buckingham Palace gift shop there are expensive reproductions of the Queen’s china, just like she uses at 4.00 every day for afternoon tea.

There is something to be said for receiving a tea towel, naff, but useful, if only to mop up after the cat, and admittedly some Buckingham Palace gifts are tasteful, even if of dubious practicable value. They at least have the virtue of giving one a warm Regal glow, when partaking of one’s afternoon tea.

But who would treasure a gift of this rubbish. Forget receiving a postcard of Big Ben; send them a 20 year old picture of a spotty punk rocker.

These shops are so revered by the middle classes; they even had a competition instigated by The Institute of Architects to design a replacement souvenir shop when Hungerford Bridge was being improved.

But London isn’t the worst, not by a long shot, I recently went to Italy, and coaches have to pay over £100 just to park for a few hours in these tourist traps. At Pisa (of leaning tower fame) you run the gauntlet of dozens and I mean dozens of Africans selling fake designer goods, and the authorities had the temerity to put up a sign that read “it is illegal to purchase fake goods; offenders are subject to a €1,000 fine. Maybe London isn’t so bad after all, anyone want a die cast model of a taxi, going cheap.