Miscellaneous - Archive Articles

Glow in the dark tube roundels go on sale

What better for the tube geek than to drift off to sleep with the comforting glow of a London Underground roundel keeping the monsters away.

TfL’s smartphone app getting an upgrade

People who use TfL's own smartphone app will be able to view their contactless journey history following an upgrade expected to go live later this month.

Large scale Twitter bot farm targeting Londoners

There appears to be a Twitter bot farm, with nearly 130,000 fake accounts that are targetting London accounts, including the Mayor of London, the Evening Standard and a number of listings websites and venues.

Plans to open central London’s secret limestone caves to the public

A series of limestone caves deep under central London, which have been kept secret since their discovery in the 1950s are to be opened to the public it will be announced at a press conference later today.

Walking the Lea Valley – East India Dock Basin

A small nature reserve at Blackwall is all that remains of one of Dockland's many docks that once served goods from India, and later supported the D-Day invasions.

Your most-read IanVists of 2017

Baring some weirdness that throws the stats out later today, here are the Top-10 rundown of what you read in 2017, on this website at least. Not arf!

Cats playing in front of Christmas trees

People love photos of cats playing in front of Christmas trees, so here's my own take on that popular genre.

Free offers at 400 heritage attractions in December

A large number of venues that have been supported by grants from the National Lottery over the years since it was set up are to open their doors for free for a week in December.

Endangered crafts in the UK – cricket balls and riddles

A report into the UK craft industry has published a list of hand-crafts that are in danger of disappearing, and surprisingly, cricket ball making is now deemed to be extinct in the UK.

It’s the Imberbus next Saturday

The annual parade of vintage buses through a military firing range to an abandoned village takes place next Saturday.

Legible London Signs orienteering game on Saturday

If you see people pointing their phones at the Legible London signs dotted around London this weekend, they're playing a game.

Winter lights festival to return to London

Over 40 nocturnal light displays are set to fill central London this winter, as the Lumiere festival returns for a second time.

My first pop concert

For many people, a rite of teen passage is the visit to a pop concert, the formative memories that are looked back fondly in later years. Last week, in my forties, I went to my first ever pop concert.

The year schoolboys collected conkers for war

The schoolboy pastime of smashing conkers together was, for a short time, set aside as 100 years ago, the government ordered that all conkers be collected for the war effort.

200th edition of London’s weekly railway news

A weekly round-up of London's rail transport news...

Why did the chicken cross the road? To discover a different London.

A different London awaits, sights at once familiar, but different, unusual shops, vistas opened in unpredictable ways, and all a few metres from where you are.

I don’t like roller coasters

Fear stalks the land. Dark venues dripping with evil beguile unwary visitors with their siren songs of excitement and pleasures. Screams fill the skies, but mesmerized visitors don't turn back.

Riding a “ghost train” at Thorpe Park

Ever since the travelling funfair has existed, the cheesy ghost train ride has been a staple of offerings, but happens when you make it something a lot scarier?

A mile long artwork commissioned for Crossrail

A length of concrete wall running alongside the future Elizabeth line tracks in East London is to be covered in a mile-long work of art.

London’s weekly railway news #188

A weekly round-up of London's rail transport news...

The strange part of London that is forever Garden Centre Land

There is a part of London that will forever be green and verdant, for it is Garden Centre Land -- an entire village that is made up entirely from garden centres.

What you read in 2016

Around 1.5 million of you visited the blog this year, and the most popular articles published during 2016 are:

Advent Calendar – Day 24

The annual tradition of posting a different vintage image each day during advent, and this year, it's of London's old railway stations.

Advent Calendar – Day 23

The annual tradition of posting a different vintage image each day during advent, and this year, it's of London's old railway stations.