Clipper Conversions

21 September, 2023 Gibson Square Leave a comment

As featured elsewhere on CabbieBlog, Clipper Automotive takes a perfectly serviceable second-hand cab, gives it a thorough overhaul, installs an electric motor and new drive train and replaces the dashboard. This work produces a much more economical vehicle with zero emissions.

Now that we realise the issues associated with waste, you’d have thought that re-purposing a vehicle recognised all over the world as London’s iconic form of public transport was to be commended.

Not so TfL and London’s Mayor who refuse to licence these vehicles, preferring to send parts of 12-year-old vehicles to landfill.

So much for their claims ‘Saving the Planet’.

Puppydog tails

Johnson’s London Dictionary: Albert Memorial

20 September, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

ALBERT MEMORIAL (n.) Doth dedicated to Her Majesty’s late consort, once constructed the monument was allowed to decline for 150 years, the restoration took as long as the original construction, and much monies.

Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon

An urban view

Not One Lamppost

19 September, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

Word on the Street is an occasional post about discoveries found on London’s streets, from street furniture, urban byways and trivial roadside facts.

I like to tell anyone who’ll listen that there are no ‘roads’ in The City of London, just streets, passages, alleys or other curious titles like Crutched Friars.

Goswell Street was renamed Goswell Road, in the past the northern section (that being furthest away from the City) was named Goswell Street Road. In 1994 boundary changes brought the eastern half under the jurisdiction of the City of London, while the western carriageway remains firmly in the Borough of Islington.

The boundary now runs down the middle of the road, pedants might argue that this still, technically, means that there isn’t a single road within the City of London, merely a half-road.

Curiously The Square Mile also doesn’t have street lamps, not on the pavements, anyway. Thanks to an old bylaw, all street lighting must be attached to buildings, or else run along a central reservation – you won’t find a single lamp jutting out from the pavement proper. What are dogs to do?

In all my journeys driving a cab in London, how could I have missed this major peculiarity?

London in Quotations

London in Quotations: Wendy Cope

Quote 18 September, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

On Waterloo Bridge where we said our goodbyes, / the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes. / I wipe them away with a black woolly glove / And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.

Wendy Cope (b.1945), Serious Concerns

London trivia

London Trivia: Windy city

17 September, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

On 17 September 1091 a tornado which subsequently was estimated at 200 mph badly damaged London Bridge and demolished 600 houses. It laid waste to the church of St. Mary-le-Bow reports stated that four huge rafters were driven deep into the London clay so that only 4ft of their 26ft lengths remained visible. Incredibly, only two deaths are said to have been caused by the event. After the Tornado William II rebuilt the bridge, but a fire destroyed it only 40 years later.

On 17 September 1993 the British National Party won its first seat, lorry driver Derek Beackon beat Labour by 7 votes in Millwall by-election, he held seat for 8 months

After execution at Tyburn Highwayman Jack Sheppard was buried at St-Martin-in-the-Fields in front of 200,000, some protecting his corpse

Kensington Olympia’s Grand Hall famed for its barrel-roof made of iron and glass was the largest building in the country covering 4 acres

Rule, Britannia! composer, Thomas Arne, is buried in St Paul’s, Covent Garden, he also wrote a version of God Save the King, and the song A-Hunting We Will Go

Women’s Rights Campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst once lived at 120 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea it was little more than a rest stop between her numerous countrywide tours for the Women’s Social and Political Union

Wimpole Street was once home to poet Elizabeth Barrett, author Arthur Conan Doyle and Paul McCartney who wrote Yesterday there

The Palace Theatre opened in 1891 as the Royal English Opera House by Richard D’Oyly Carte wanting it to be the home of English grand opera

Old English skittles, once popular in pubs across the South East, is confined to a single alley at the Freemasons’ Arms in Downshire Hill is thought to be played in London and nowhere else

According to Transport for London Underground trains travel a total of 1,735 times around the world (or 90 trips to the moon and back) each year

In the 1800s London prostitutes were sometimes referred to as ‘Fulham virgins’ during this time there were probably about 30,000 street sellers

Kew Gardens holds the largest and most diverse botanical collection in the world, including around 7 million dried plant specimens and a living collection of over 19,000 plant species spanning two sites

Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog.
A guide to the symbols used here and source material can be found on the Trivial Matter page.