💬 Cab News

You couldn’t make it up: Conservative MP and Minister for London Paul Scully has bemoaned the lack of Uber drivers willing to take him ‘Sarf of the River’ and begrudged paying the metered price by London’s black cabs for taking him the 16 miles to his home. Paul Scully MP’s original post on Twitter said: “Genuinely can’t remember the last time I could find an Uber driver in central London who’s prepared to go south of the river.”

🎧 What I’m Listening

There seems a curious convention among those who travel in the back of a cab. First, the cabbie is asked how long they’ve driven a cab, followed by: “What time you on ’til?” This question is now the title of a podcast by two Northern cabbies, JP and Ryan, who give their opinions, with a humorous twist, on industry news and stories from the past month.

📖 What I’m Reading

According to Caroline Roope’s The History of the London Underground Map, the map or Diagram, as she refers to it in her excellent book, fundamentally lacks key mapping elements such as topography and urban detail, but what it does is encourage a mental map of London, one that exists inside the passenger’s head allowing them to traverse the city, much like London’s cabbies achieve when studying The Knowledge. London’s Underground Map can be found on t-shirts, keyrings, duvet covers, and the app has been downloaded an astonishing 20 million times. After nearly 100 years it remains an icon of British design and ingenuity. Caroline’s book takes you through the history of the Underground and the different variations of this cultural artefact. Fascinating.

📺 What I’m watching

Mark Monroe whose London Grill is featured next month studied musical theatre at the Arts Ed School in Chiswick, becoming a jobbing theatre actor and after picking up a few prestigious roles, he then realised the fragility of treading the boards and undertook The Knowledge. In May 2019 he created Secret London sharing facets of London on his YouTube Channel where he shares a side of London that very few people are aware of.

❓ What else

For some time now I’ve been a top reviewer at Netgalley which offers free book downloads for honest reviews. Top Reviewer sounds like an impressive title but only means that a least three of my book reviews have been featured by a publisher.