Last night came the annoying but somewhat inevitable news that talks between London Underground and the RMT / TSSA have broken down, so now TfL have announced how they hope to mitigate the effects of next week's strike.
RMT maintenance workers plan to walk out at 5pm on Monday; previous maintenance worker strikes haven't caused much disruption, but this time we have the addition of RMT and TSSA drivers, station and signalling staff walking out from 9pm as well. Both strikes are scheduled to last for 24 hours.
TfL hopes to operate some services with the 60% of drivers who belong to Aslef, but how many stations will be open for those trains to stop at won't be known until Tuesday. If you don't fancy taking your chances with the tube, TfL have unveiled other plans:
- Key bus routes will have extra services and staff deployed at hubs
- Extra capacity is being added to river services between Tower, Westminster and London Eye piers
- Marshalled taxi ranks will operate at Waterloo, Liverpool Street, King's Cross, Charing Cross and Marylebone
- Six guided cycle rides leave at 8am on Tuesday morning: Ravenscourt Park to Trafalgar Square, Finsbury Park to St Paul's, Mile End to St Paul's, Swiss Cottage to Moorgate, Brixton to the West End and Clapham Common to the City
- There's also the cycle hire scheme, but demand is inevitably going to be fierce
- TfL also points out their walking maps, but the current weather forecast suggests Tuesday is going to be horrible (ugh)
Workers at Alstom-Metro depots for the Northern and Jubilee lines are also striking for 24 hours from 7pm on Sunday. And an aside in the unions' statement might have long-term implications: members start an indefinite overtime ban from 00.01 on Monday, which could lead to random staffing problems across the network. We have been warned.
Source: Londonist
Hawley Arms on fire, 2008. Image by M@.
It's the 344th anniversary of the Great Fire of London this week. See how much you know about this and other capital conflagrations.
As always, let us know in the comments how you got on.
Previous London quizzes (go on, have a go): Bridges, Characters, Dogs, East London Line, Football, German London, Museums, Parks, Politics, Pubs, Science, Skies, Skyscrapers, Street Furniture, Supernatural London, the Thames, War.
Source: Londonist
Toshiba has just launched their StorE TV+ system which aims to keep multimedia enthusiasts happy.
There’s also plenty of support for the StoreE TV+ which can play Ogg and Flac audio files, among other standard audio options, while plenty of video support is featured including MPEG-1, 2 and 4 plus H.264. The system also offers MOV, MP4, MKV and AVI support alongside VC-1 codec abilities. The StorE TV+ also has a very nice 2TB hard drive and includes an integrated 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connection alongside a 10/100 Ethernet port.
You can pick up your new media drive this September for $307.
Source: Crenk
Selected photographs from Shoot Nations 2010 went on display at City Hall yesterday.
This year, the annual project with a competitive element, open to 11-25 year olds worldwide, was themed 'City Living' inspiring some impressive images of London amongst the UK submissions. Shoot Nations Founder, Brett Jefferson Stott, met local commended photographers Lucy, Eve, Warattaya and Anastasija at City Hall yesterday to see their work on the walls and chat to them about their photos - click on their names to find out more.
Shoot Nations photos grace the walls of City Hall lobby until 23 September. The building is open to the public from Mondays to Thursday, 8.30am to 6pm and Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm. The exhibition then moves to the Truman Brewery, Spitalfields.
Shoot Nations is a joint partnership between Plan UK and Shoot Experience to encourage young people to express their thoughts on global issues through photography and drawings. Browse all commended photos online.
Source: Londonist
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Source: Catwalk Queen
What are you up to this weekend? Here's a round up of our recommendations and a smattering of suggestions to help you make the most of your 48 hours leisure time.
All weekend:
- Secret Cinema. Sign up here.
- Offset Festival brings 2 days of music, art and fun to Hainault Forest with Caribou, These New Puritans, Mystery Jets and more. Saturday and Sunday, tickets £29-65.
- Ignite at the Royal Opera House is 3 days of contemporary arts curated this year by Joanna McGregor. Daytime events are free, evening events include a lying down in a forest concert, Jah Wobble and Talvin Singh and the Tashi Lhunpo Monks of Tibet (£12 each).
- Brand new musical dance show Shoes opens at Sadlers Wells and runs until 11th September.
- It's the penultimate weekend of the Proms. Queue up for those £5 tickets.
Friday:
- Late at Tate Britain gets real (6.30-10pm, free).
- Him out of Gavin and Stacey continues his excursion into DJing with a brand new night Poot at Islington's Old Queen's Head, 8pm-2am, £4.
Saturday:
- A conference about death, held in a cemetery, courtesy of the Folklore Society.
- Get a face full of photographic fun Shooting Portraits in and around the National Portrait Gallery with Shoot Experience (10.30am-5pm, £15).
- The largest gathering of Morris Dancers assemble on Queens Walk outside the Southbank Centre for an afternoon of dancing. Noon till 5pm, free (and Sunday).
- Play Musical Bingo in the National Theatre's Green Room bar between 10pm-1am.
Sunday:
- Chelsea Autolegends celebrates Le Mans 24 in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, 10am-4pm, £12/15.
- Try beer with your Sunday lunch at the Jolly Butchers, Stoke Newington
- Relax to the classical strains of the Bloomsbury String Quartet in the garden of Myddleton House, Bulls Cross, Enfield EN2 9HG between 6-8pm. Take a rug, a bottle of wine and a picnic. (£7.50, book on 08456 770 600).
Other good stuff:
Don't forget to comb our specialist selections: all things literary in the Book Grocer, show openings and closings in Arts Ahead, gigs galore in Music Choice and things for when you're skint in London on the Cheap.
You can also browse all latest arts and events features and salivate over our latest food and drink content for gastronomic inspiration.
What did we miss? Shout it out in the comments.
Source: Londonist
Mark Sanders-Crook, who was sacked from his position as beefeater at the Tower of London, has received a full apology and compensation after his employer admitted that the dismissal was wrongful.
HIstoric Royal Palaces, the charity that runs the Tower and several of Britain's historic attractions, gave 44-year old Mr. Sanders-Crook the boot after he was accused, along with two other men, of orchestrating a bullying campaign against the first female Yeoman of the Guard, Moira Cameron. The case was due to go to tribunal before the charity admitted their error and settled in their former employee's favour. Some reports suggest that the money was in the region of £100,000.
So what exactly happened behind the gates of the Tower? Cameron complained that her £1,400 uniform had been defaced, and that unpleasant notes were left in her locker. That a number of her fellow Yeomen were unhappy at the prospect of a female colleague seems certain enough, and if Cameron felt she was the subject of a bullying campaign, then Historic Royal Palaces were right to take the matter seriously; yet the fact that they paid Mr. Sanders-Crook off early, rather than see it go to tribunal, suggests that there was an overreaction on at least one side. Were the allegations justified? Or was Mr. Sanders-Crook simply not involved? We may never know.
Source: Londonist
A clutch of Vivienne Westwood bags were stolen overnight from a store on Conduit Street, W1. Shortly before midnight, a group of four men ram-raided the shop with a pair of "Vespa-style mopeds" (seriously) and helped themselves to around 30 of the bags, worth up to £800 apiece, which were part of the new autumn/winter line. The thieves remain at large and on-trend.
Source: Londonist
What do you mean you haven't done it yet? A night in a 5 star riverside hotel with your preferred plus 1 is just a cunningly crafted twit away. Follow @easytobook and tweet why you deserve to scoop the luxury night's kip on the Southbank, add the hashtag #etbprize and it could be you. Competition closes at 5pm this afternoon so do it, now. Good luck! Easytobook.com specializes in discount rates on hotels all over the world.
Source: Londonist
