SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS (n.) The presiding officer of the Lower House, who, despite the title doth say very little.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
Grumpy, London’s cabbies?
London’s cabbies are renowned for having forthright opinions, many of which are just moans about the job/passengers/mayor or as diamondgeezer has given its unique title: Grumpytutters. Here are 50 top cabbie grumps:
1. Eating food in the cab
2. Lack of civility when stating the destination
3. Putting feet on the seats
4. Kamikaze cyclists
5. Telling the driver they’ve missed the destination when they could have mentioned it earlier
6. Being asked, “How long have you been a cabbie?”
7. Potholes
8. When TV interviews drivers in their cabs they’ll always broadcast the one who talks like the late Len Goodman
9. Pedestrians crossing the road just yards from a crossing
10. “Do you go Sarf of The River?”, Yes!
11. Boris Bikes riders wobbling down the road
12. Idiots who cross the street whilst watching videos on their phones
13. LTNs
14. Drop off charge at airports
15. Other drivers sounding their horns as the traffic lights change, look we’re not in the Middle East!
16. Drivers who won’t indicate
17. TfL – naturally
18. Unregulated Uber
19. Pedicabs blaring music, or just pedicabs period
20. Passengers who only use a cab occasionally who ‘just know’ the driver took the wrong route
21. Festive passengers emanating fluids
22. “Who have you had in your cab?” Are you really interested?
23. Banning cabs from Bank Junction
24. “Do you know my bestfriend’s/brother’s/son, he’s a cabbie? No, but with the number giving up the profession, I’ll soon know them all by name
25. Worrying you’re travelling at 20.1 mph
26. Bilkers
27. Confusing signage. Are cabs allowed or not?
28. The BBC conflating private hire with black cabs
29. Poor editing in a drama, when the protagonists jump in a cab and the driver goes the wrong way or covers the distance in impossibly record time
30. Cabbies whose vehicle is filthy
31. When ITV’s London Today does a piece about pollution, they use for an establishing shot, cabs – usually electric ones
32. Roadworks lasting ages to complete
33. Lack of toilets
34. Hotels banning cabbies from entering their foyer
35. Being told condescendingly that The Knowledge is just a memorisation test, inferior to a bachelor’s degree
36. Not finding a charger that doesn’t charge charging an extortionate price
37. Cabbies who ‘broom a job’, refusing to take a passenger and telling them to get the next cab in the rank
38. Being told you’re just a minicab driver
39. Punters who ask for Suffolk Street, near Trafalgar Square when they mean Great Suffolk Street, Southwark
40. Fare £4.80 “Do you have change of £50?” If my name was Lloyds I would
41. Leaving litter in the back of the cab, or the half-eaten fish and chips once left in my cab
42. Being told before getting in that private hire charge less
43. Having an old cabbie prefacing a conversation with “Back in the day…”
44. Hire light not showing in daylight on the LEVC TX
45. Speed humps, especially in Islington
46. Being asked to go faster to catch a train
47. Scruffy cabbies
48. Being told the address of a hotel, and the Ritz is in Arlington Street, not Piccadilly
49. BMW drivers, don’t we all?
50. Oh! And did I mention Sadiq Khan? Thought not
London in Quotations: Anna Quindlen
They come, not to see what London is, or even what it was, but to confirm a kind of picture-postcard view of both, all red telephone kiosks and fog-wreathed alleyways.
Anna Quindlen (b.1953), Imagined London: A Tour of the World’s Greatest Fictional City
London Trivia: Hitting the jackpot
On 19 November 1994 defying the odds of 1-in-14-million seven lucky lottery winners won Britain’s first national lottery aired live from a London studio. 35 million tickets were purchased and the winning numbers as drawn were 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22. The bonus ball was 10. A lottery took place in 1566 for a jackpot of £5,000 according to a letter from Queen Elizabeth I, giving instructions for collecting money, commanding that persons of ‘good trust’ be entrusted with the prizes.
At the Royal Albert Hall on 19 November 1987 a rare 1931 Bugatti Royal was sold for £5.5 million at the time a semi-detached house cost £50,000
For some crimes the guilty were locked in the pillory then had their ears nailed to the frame, upon release were forced to leave them behind
King Street, St James’s is named after Charles II, King Street, Covent Garden is named after Charles I and Kingsway after Edward VII
The American talk show host Jerry Springer was born at Highgate during the Second World War: his mother had taken shelter in the station from an air raid
Trafalgar Square was to have been called ‘King William the Fourth’s Square’; however, George Ledwell Taylor suggested Trafalgar Square
It was at 9A Denmark Street (Tin Pan Alley), then La Gioconda, where David Jones (Bowie) and his first backing band – Lower Third – met
The Sanderson Hotel, Berners Street was a showroom for Sandersons wallpaper, the listed sign meant the hotel could have no other name
The oldest (and possibly most bizarre) medal winner was John Copley who won Silver in the London 1948 Olympics for an etching he was 73 at the time, drawing was in the Olympics until 1948
Charles Pearson, MP and Solicitor to the City of London, is credited with successfully campaigning for the introduction of the Underground. He died in 1862 shortly before the first train ran
During the war, some stations (now mostly disused) were converted into government offices: a station called Down Street was used for meetings of the Railway Executive Committee
Brydges Place named after Catherine Brydges daughter of 3rd Baron Chandos at 15 inches at its narrowest point is London’s tightest alley
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.
Previously Posted: Slow boat from China
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.
Slow boat from china (12.10.2010)
If ever evidence was needed to support the claim that London’s streets were paved with gold the place to find it would be Exhibition Road. This 3/4mile long road is undergoing a transition that in the words of Nick Paget-Brown, Kensington and Chelsea’s Cabinet Member for Transport will transform it into “the most beautiful road in London”.
Unable to source enough granite locally the Tory council has obtained enough stone to match the colour required from China and by using a slow boat from China the council claim the “carbon footprint” is much reduced. An alternative supplier in the north of England would presumably have parachuted in the granite sets by a gas guzzling Tornado jet.
The total project is estimated to cost £29 million which equates to £22,000 per yard; truly London’s streets are paved with gold.
When completed both drivers and pedestrians will share the same space in what is termed a “transition zone”. The most recognisable characteristic of shared space is the absence of street clutter, such as conventional traffic signals, barriers, signs and road markings. This according to the council encourages motorists to slow down, engage with their surroundings and make eye contact with pedestrians – resulting in a higher quality and more usable street area, with enhanced road safety.
When writing last year I described Kensington and Chelsea’s attitude to both pedestrians and vehicles sharing this road as:
“For most of us who use London’s roads encounter inappropriate speeding, overtaking on the nearside, rude and careless drivers, and a complete disregard of pedestrians and cyclists.”
But it would appear that The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s roads department don’t populate the world that I live in (or most accurately the world that I drive in).
Their world is akin to Camberwick Green when everybody is aware of other road users, greeting them with a cheery riposte, and continuing on their journey unimpeded. They help little old ladies cross the road and slow down for children.”
The Royal National Institute for the Blind have been objecting to the plan since its inception even resorting to 150 blind and partially sighted people campaigning outside the London Assembly. The western side of Exhibition Road is used by 19 million pedestrians a year visiting the many attractions in the area, surely there is still time to ban vehicles for most of the day and let everybody enjoy the space of “the most beautiful road in London”.
CabbieBlog 