|
Post by magpiejack on Sept 29, 2019 10:32:57 GMT
The price will drop further when some second-hand copies come up for sale. The library is another option. Yes, I do buy almost all my books secondhand. I spent so much time living on little when I lived abroad that I can't get out of the frugality habit! I did look on Blackwells, £17.99 there with free delivery and you can pay with book tokens. I put a bit onto my book token every pay day for books that I really can't wait to appear in the charity shops, so I might splash out. It does sound a fascinating read; coming from a railway family I do have an interest in rail transport topics. Blackwells occasionally do good discounts, I prefer them to Amazon who seem to be taking over the world.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 4, 2019 8:11:53 GMT
Owls at Vauxhall
The St. George Wharf development at Vauxhall near Nine Elms includes five buildings that look as though they have sinister owls perching on top - from certain angles and if the light is right. I am sure I have seen pictures with a better likeness, but this gives an idea of the resemblance: They are close to the sinister MI6 building:
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 5, 2019 7:44:21 GMT
St. George Wharf Tower
This residential skyscraper is part of the St. George Wharf development at Vauxhall. It hit the headlines in January 2013 when a helicopter crashed into the crane attached to it while it was under construction. The pilot and a pedestrian were killed and 13 others were injured. This fatal crash was discussed in great detail on the old David Icke Forum, as many coincidences and connections were involved. Just as the MI6 building stands to the east of the five owls, the Tower stands to the west i.e. on the Nine Elms side. Were these deaths a sacrifice?
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 7, 2019 9:15:30 GMT
Owl statue at Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a strange place. I always feel disoriented when I go there. I have seen some of the other marble statues there, but not this one:
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 9, 2019 17:44:10 GMT
Elephants at Marble Arch
London is full of public art, some permanent some temporary. The Marble Arch Jelly People highlighted above have been replaced by 21 bronze elephants. I have seen them myself. They are very impressive:
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 23, 2019 8:05:03 GMT
Alan’s adventures underground
Underground tunnels and disused stations are features that make London a place of interest. The TV comedy The New Statesman was introduced in the Brexit discussion thread. Series 1 Episode 4 Waste Not Want Not (1987) contains a scene in which politician Alan B’Stard visits a fictional disused tube station in East London to have a secret meeting with his ally Norma/Norman Borman. Haggerston railway station exists, but there was never an underground station called Haggerston. The programme makers did a good job of creating an authentic-looking old underground station. As this blog tells us, it is easier to build a set than to actually film in a real disused station: london-underground.blogspot.com/2012/05/haggerston-london-underground-station.html
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Dec 26, 2019 12:54:26 GMT
Underground tunnels and networks are a bit more common than you might think. It depends on whether there is a merchant element to the location, I think. I know Southampton, Ashford in Kent, and Canterbury all have such hidden features.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 27, 2019 7:33:38 GMT
Underground tunnels and networks are a bit more common than you might think. It depends on whether there is a merchant element to the location, I think. I know Southampton, Ashford in Kent, and Canterbury all have such hidden features. Merchant element? I am not sure what this means! There is talk of a tunnel between the MI6 building and Westminster.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 29, 2019 19:48:31 GMT
James Bond and Vauxhall Cross tube station
Vauxhall Cross is another fictional disused tube station. It appears in Die Another Day. Although the abandoned Aldwych tube station was used for inspiration, Vauxhall Cross, just like Haggerston, was a specially constructed set.
|
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Dec 29, 2019 20:41:03 GMT
Underground tunnels and networks are a bit more common than you might think. It depends on whether there is a merchant element to the location, I think. I know Southampton, Ashford in Kent, and Canterbury all have such hidden features. Merchant element? I am not sure what this means! There is talk of a tunnel between the MI6 building and Westminster. Southampton is a Medieval Merchant city, Ashford a prominent market town. Canterbury has tunnels between the cathedral and the shops. Thinking about it, Ramsgate in Kent has an underground tunnel system, built to cope with the air raids in World War Two. It had been made to be able to allow emergency transport of patients to and from the Hospital. You know, Paul Merton wrote Unreliable Memoirs, and he was talking of using a secret tunnel system to travel about London.
|
|
|
Post by magpiejack on Dec 30, 2019 14:17:53 GMT
Maybe a lot of the tunnels date back to the 18th century, when smuggling was the national pastime. Those locations mentioned are on or near the south coast.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Dec 30, 2019 19:52:53 GMT
Maybe a lot of the tunnels date back to the 18th century, when smuggling was the national pastime. Those locations mentioned are on or near the south coast. The Tibetan Tunnellers are responsible!
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Dec 30, 2019 22:53:30 GMT
Maybe a lot of the tunnels date back to the 18th century, when smuggling was the national pastime. Those locations mentioned are on or near the south coast. Smuggling is more the Romney Marsh area. That was where it was really rife. Southampton is a merchant port city, and the geography it has today is different to the past. It used to have a beach, and also there was a lot of land reclamation in the Sixties. Also, be careful of people saying caves were being used for smuggling! It could easily be a local legend that does not pan out, rather like the Margate Caves. Also, Dover Castle has a tunnel system as well, and they were used a lot for World War Two as well.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Dec 30, 2019 22:54:27 GMT
Maybe a lot of the tunnels date back to the 18th century, when smuggling was the national pastime. Those locations mentioned are on or near the south coast. The Tibetan Tunnellers are responsible! Tibetan tunnellers?
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Dec 30, 2019 22:55:31 GMT
Did I mention that Paul Merton had written a book called Unreliable Memoirs, where he talked of having used a secret rail tunnel system to get about London as he pleased?
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jan 1, 2020 19:21:41 GMT
Tibetan Tunnellers
In December 2017, I said: “I would rather read Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It has references to Charles Fort, Tibetan Tunnellers, Hollow Earth, raining fish and much more. It is a very amusing book....” Avacyn replied: “I read Good Omens when I was sixteen.”
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jan 1, 2020 19:34:37 GMT
UnseenI, that was a little while ago. I have lots of books to get through... the pile keeps growing!
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jan 1, 2020 19:37:16 GMT
It is a good time of year for reading - and investigating for this place.
|
|
Avacyn
Project Manager
Posts: 11,247
|
Post by Avacyn on Jan 1, 2020 19:41:11 GMT
I'll get my magnifying glass ready!
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jan 3, 2020 8:27:12 GMT
The live owls of Lambeth
In addition to wild owls that live in and around London, owls from wildlife sanctuaries and similar places can be seen at various shows. I have been a few times to the Lambeth Country Show, where you can see owls of various species and sizes:
|
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Jan 30, 2020 8:21:46 GMT
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Feb 6, 2020 20:09:49 GMT
Pestiferous pigeons and Harris Hawks
Pigeons are a major nuisance in many places in London. People at big railway stations who were eating something had to fight them off. Their droppings fell on people too. There were many complaints until a solution was found. Harris Hawks are being used to keep the messy food thieves under control. I have seen them in action many times. Pigeons are afraid of them and fly away but crows and seagulls get very angry and mob them. On duty in Trafalgar Square and at Kings Cross Station:
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Apr 5, 2020 7:06:38 GMT
London lockdown
The central London area is mostly deserted. There is very little for sightseers, tourists, shoppers and people who want a good time to come to the West End for now. The luxury shops and hotels, the chains and big stores, the pubs, clubs, theatres, cinemas and restaurants etc. are closed. Even places that could stay open for takeaway only have closed. Perhaps now that many people are working from home there is not enough footfall to make opening worthwhile. A lot of the windows have been boarded up as a protection against looters. The fountains in Trafalgar Square have been turned off. It sometimes looks like a scenario from a disaster film. The tour buses were the first to go. There is still a good red bus service. The drivers have had plexiglass screens for a while now as a protection against violence and now they help to safeguard against the virus. I have noticed that some seats closest to the drivers are made off-limits with tape - at first I thought that someone had spilled their coffee but it is to protect the drivers. Entering by side doors was to have been stopped as from the end of March as many people were cheating by not touching in, but now the drivers are directing people to the side. Construction workers and people digging up the roads are still around: this is their big chance. Many are working on 5G... Regent Street:
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Apr 5, 2020 15:27:20 GMT
False flags, fake news and old pictures
I know that we should not trust the MSM or take what they tell and show us at face value. The DM for example had some pictures of central London’s deserted streets a while back that commenters immediately said were taken in the early hours when not many people would be about!
However, I have seen everything mentioned in the above post for myself: empty Oxford St. and Regent St, the closed and boarded up shops... there is no exaggeration now.
The main shopping streets really are deserted. Central London really is on lockdown.
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Apr 5, 2020 15:36:47 GMT
Advertisements on London buses
There have been several campaigns in the past to get some advertisements on public transport banned, both general and specific. For example, in 2018 it was announced that junk food adverts would be banned on all modes of transport by Transport For London. Some specific horror film adverts have been removed in response to complaints, including this one in 2011, which features the number five: “The advertising watchdog has censored a bus and tube advertising campaign for horror film Final Destination 5 which featured a skull skewered by iron rods, after complaints from parents that the violent image had made their children cry.” www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/07/final-destination-5-poster-banned
|
|
aletheia
Junior Member
Still upright, still drawing air
Posts: 118
|
Post by aletheia on Apr 6, 2020 11:03:09 GMT
The main shopping streets really are deserted. Central London really is on lockdown. It is a shame that I no longer live in London as that would have been, while disconcerting and melancholic, a very unique sight. I was last walking around the Leicester Square area on the 15th March and whole junctions had been turned into construction sites. I had to navigate a maze of building fences and planks to get from A to B. I do wish to go back there when things are back to normal. I hope my favourite shops survive this economic shutdown.
|
|
aletheia
Junior Member
Still upright, still drawing air
Posts: 118
|
Post by aletheia on Apr 6, 2020 11:13:29 GMT
One bus advertisement that I remember causing a stir was this message that said "There's probably no God. So stop worrying and enjoy your life."This was partly funded by Professor Dawkins and the total was £11,000 to place two sets of adverts on thirty London buses for a four-week period. This gives us a good idea of the sums paid by companies to get their adverts onto London buses, this was back in 2008, so I am assuming that the price is higher now. I am interested to know if there is a division of prices based on the specific routes of the buses and whether companies deliberately target specific routes based on demographic breakdowns (age, ethnicity, class etc.). It wouldn't make a great deal of sense having this bus advertising in Whitechapel, for example! www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/oct/21/religion-advertising
|
|
UnseenI
Eternal Member
"Part Of The Furniture"
Keeping on keeping on
Posts: 8,078
|
Post by UnseenI on Apr 6, 2020 17:01:35 GMT
I remember the buses with religious slogans - I didn't think it was a very good idea. A company called Global handles all the advertising for TFL; I don't think they have specific advertisements for different areas. Maybe TFL decides which bus gets what.
|
|