Animals on the tube -
and I don't mean us
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| It's in the New Scientist
so it must be true!! |
THE ultimate
opportunist was the pigeon that chose the maternity ward of a
London hospital in which to lay its egg.
About a year
ago, a pair of pigeons hopped onto the Circle Line at Aldgate,
stayed by the door and alighted with purpose at the next stop,
which was Tower Hill. How did they know the platform for Tower
Hill was on the same side of the carriage as that for Aldgate?
Sabiha Foster
(30 September 1995)
..........................................................
DURING
1974-76, I regularly encountered a single pigeon of light
reddish colouring boarding the underground at Paddington and
disembarking at the next station. Could it be the same bird that
Robson saw--perhaps now having graduated to a senior citizen's
pass? Or has the habit been passed on to the next
generation? If the latter, is there a genetic component in
this?
Jim Brock
(30 September 1995)
A PIGEON, calm as you please, hopped into my
Northern Line carriage at King's Cross and stood quite calmly
near the door. The tourists did the cooing, not the pigeon; they
thought it was an added London attraction and tried to tempt it
with crisps, but, unusually, the bird wasn't interested. It
appeared to know where it was going and as soon as the doors
opened at Euston, it flew out. 
Many thanks to Lewis Cox of Lew's Tube for the piccy.The
second occasion was during a Piccadilly Line journey to Heathrow
three weekends ago. This time the pigeon waddled in at an
overground station, Hounslow Central. A bird-phobic passenger
shooed it out, whereupon it repeatedly walked back in, to be
hustled out again every time. The bird appeared quite determined
to make its journey and when it was shooed out for a final time,
just before the doors closed, it made one final frantic swoop
towards the door, rather in the manner in which some human
passengers launch themselves at tube doors just before they
close.
From observing the birds, I feel quite sure that
travel, not food, was their purpose. Pigeons are intelligent and
easily trained and I see no reason why they should not have
cottoned on to the fact that travel by tube saves their
wings--especially as there are so many deformed and crippled
pigeons in the city.
Lorna Read
(30 September
1995)
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| Pigeons on the
Underground - the debate continues
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I've started a thread in a
couple of newgroups uk.transport.london and uk.local.london about Pigeons
on the Underground, just asked for some funny or unusual
stories and the following are my favourite
replies
"I saw one once get on at Gunnersbury.
When the train pulled in at Stamford Brook, the pigeon waddled
over to the door, and looked expectantly at it. Since there
was no one on the other side, a woman got up and opened the
door for the bird, which flew off...
I got the
distinct impression that that pigeon had done that journey
before..."
Adrian Vickers
Whereas Tristan
White doubts the intelligence of pigeons as he
says
"FACT: Pigeons cannot tell the difference
between Cheese Graters and Toffee Apples.
FACT: To the
ordinary passer-by, pigeons appear stupid. This is because
they are.
FACT: Pigeons cannot eat anything bigger than
their head.
FACT: Because pigeons have wings, they
always feel fresh, dry and confident.
FACT: Pigeons are
not born; They simply come free with every densely populated
area.
FACT: Pigeons are capable of travelling great
distances by stowing away in the exhaust pipes of long
vehicles.
FACT: Until the late 1950's, pigeon were
employed in teabag factories around the world to "peck"
perferations into teabags.
FACT: Pigeons are very
enthusiastic. This is why they go "Coo!" all the
time."
"According to Capital Radio yesterday (following
a story in the Express) pigeons are getting on the underground
at West Ham and coming into central London because they know
they will get more food.
Honest.........."
Tanya (11/5/99)
"I didn't think
they'd be tall enough to stick their tickets in the machine to
let them onto the platform. And they don't have pockets so
where would they keep their tickets?"
Poss,
confused.
"One travelled on a train I was on
from Paddington to Farringdon this morning! It attracted quite
a bit of attention, as you might imagine."
Ian Jelf
"I trust these reports of fare-dodging
are attracting the attention of the RCI fellow. I don't see
why we should subsidise the feathered miscreants."
Tom McCaffrey
"Where did I say it
didn't have a valid travelcard or ticket?!"
Ian Jelf
"No stories but I do know that
Northfields Station (Piccadilly line) was the first (I
believe) to let Hawks or Kestrels or something loose at night
to kill the pigeons."
Rafal
Heydel-Mankoo
Gosh that sounds really cruel!!! More on
this later.
"I'll give you a couple of facts
re; pigeons and rats.
The pigeon population in London has
became so due to two factors.
#1 - Pigeons were used
for spying during the World Wars and after the 2nd WW they had
no further use so they were released.
#2 - Racing
pigeons quite often get lost when crossing the Channel. Most
of these end up flying alongside the Thames and arriving in
London. London has a large population of woodpigeons (rock
doves to some) and these have been interbreeding with the
racing pigeons. That is how the pigeons in London have no
colours to them. Some have a bit of woodpigeon in them and
don't look too messed up.
As for rats - did you know
that the rat population in the UK exceeds the human
population. I have seen a rat as large as a leveret. I
actually thought it was a rabbit until I was informed
different. Sewers are populated with what is known as super
rats because of their size. I believe that they are black
rats. Due to the demolition of industrial areas rats have been
able to breed freely as there is no longer any factory cats to
control them. Bear in mind also that most private landlords
will not accomodate any person with a pet and councils are
moving along those lines to. Could there be another plague? It
is highly likely that over the next couple of decades that we
will see another bubonic plague in the UK. Hope that info
helps. TTFN"
Ken Davies
We
now have an alternative view to Ken, from Claire who signed my
guestbook
"Your correspondent Ken Davies who
says that "Sewers are populated with what is known as super
rats because of their size. I believe that they are black
rats." is talking nonsense. Black or ship rats (Rattus rattus
species) a) live up trees, in the roofs of buildings and on
the seashore, not down sewers; b) are extremely rare in
Britain; and c) are much smaller than the brown, common or
Norway rat. (See my homepage
website for information on and photographs of this interesting
and attractive mammal.)
Incidentally, somebody I know who is into rats and pigeons
reckons that pigeons are even brighter than rats. As rats are
already very bright this is good going.
Not exactly a tube story: but some years ago I came across
an account of a sheepdog travelling by coach on its own.
Unfortunately I can't remember exactly where I read it, but it
was in some fairly reliable and respectable paper or magazine.
According to this article, a National Express coach was
standing with its doors open at a bus station in Wales,
waiting to set out for London, when a Border collie jumped on
the coach and refused to get off again, snarling at anyone who
tried to dislodge it.
In the end, the driver had to give up and set off with the
dog in situ, in order not to be hopelessly late. When the
coach got to London the dog jumped off and disappeared. The
driver thought he'd never see it again: but several hours
later, when the coach was about to set off to return to Wales,
there was the dog waiting for his (or her?) lift home again.
I can only suppose that the dog had previously been to
London on the coach with his/her master, recognized that this
was the coach to London from London-type smells on the wheels,
and remembered what time the ride home was due - something a
human would find extremely hard to do without a
watch!"
Thanks Claire!!!
"Has
anyone noticed that most of the pigeons that frequent such
places as Paddington underground have deformed feet, i.e. feet
reduced to stumps or with claws missing? I am sure that this
is due to the ubiquitous wire spikes that have sprouted on all
ledges that the pigeons might wish to use. Whilst I understand
that the birds might make a bit of a mess I do not think that
the authorities should deliberatley set out to torture them by
ripping off their feet and claws with those spikes. I'm
surprised no-one else has commented upon the cruelty of
this."
C J.Brady
"Isn't
Deformedpigeons@Paddington a 'comedy' show on BBC1? (reference
to a new comedy show on BBC1 called handp@bbc (Hale and Pace @
BBC and also possibly a fly on the wall documentary about the
people who live at Paddington Green)
"I suspect that as
well as the fighting etc. that other posters (to newsgroups)
have mentioned, some of it is down to not quite getting out of
the way of trains in time."
Carl
Bowman
"Please do not say deformed pigeons.
They are alternatively shaped and differently
abled."
Andrew
Pigeons with
deformed feet have been around London for many years. They're
possibly more numerous than they would be due to the easier
opportunity for urban scavenging available without which they
would otherwise have died due to their
injuries/deformities.
Charles
Ellson
The reason (why pigeons have deformed
feet) is a little deeper than those posted.
This is a
result of, what one may call an evolutionary dead
end!
One of those "Stange but true" facts is that
pigeon poo actually rots the feet of pigeons.
This
question cropped up in the "Answers to Correspondents" section
of the Daily Mail, and some guy of a ornothological leaning
gave the above answer.
Hope this has solved the
mystery.
Eric Richardson
I remember
in 1973(?) when working in the Edgware Road area on joining a
district line train at Edgware Road, two pigeons were
copulating in the area adjacent to the door runners. The doors
closed and the two pigeons (going about their business) got
trapped in the doors and were there until Paddington. Needless
to say the one on top survived. This was prior to the
instalation of door warning beepers.
Garry
A good story from a
regular visitor to my site
"Weelll a LONG
while ago, back in the late 1980's (when most of you, gentle
surfers, were very, very young), this bird brain used to make
several trips in the late evening on its way home from Aldgate
to Bayswater.
And there were several Pigeon trips by
all sorts of different pigeons:- standard "Trafalgar grey"
ones, mottled ones, brown and dusty-white ones, some crippled
with legs or toes missing, others looking hungry and some just
plain manic. Sometimes they seemed to be looking for food and
accidentally found themselves on an unplanned trip but others
definitely planned their itineraries, strutting on board with
a determined gleam in their eyes.
And the journeys?
Always the same... FROM Edgware Road and TO Paddington.
Strange, because they would never be seen travelling from
Paddington to Edgware Road... So why was there never a crush
of pigeons piled up at Paddington? Such a mystery.
Perhaps they only liked flying away from the sun
(Edgware Road being east of Paddington - not North as the
stylised tube map might suggest). Perhaps they have much
longer to embark at Edgware Road. (As someone once said in the
"Evening Standard" once; there must be millions of people who
spend longer at Edgware Road than those who actually live at
the place).
Or is there some other factor involved?
What could it be? They are only to be seen travelling
alone - never in pairs - as quoted in "Tube Animals" so
x-rated pigeon scenes are out, I'm afraid to say.
Suggestions on the back of a Tube ticket
perhaps?"
Tube Chicken
And a word
from a singatory to my guestbook
"I've been
riding NYC subways since I was knee-high to a grasshopper
(okay, since I was 15), and I've never seen a rat or a pigeon
in a subway car. I don't think pigeons or rats are _stupid_
enough to ride in the cars here -- a lot of New Yorkers
wouldn't hesitate to kick or otherwise brutalize them. New
Yorkers are very much of the "rats with wings" mentality. I
have often seen rats and mice on the tracks, however, and on
the platform, too, in off-hours (especially very late at
night/very early in the morning).
"I had an interesting
experience with a pigeon just last week. My husband and I came
home from work at 1:30 am (we are night shift workers) and
when we opened the street door of our building, a pigeon was
standing in the lobby, staring at us. I tried to shoo him away
and outside, but he would neither walk nor fly away, and his
wing looked a little funny, so I thought it might be broken. I
took him into our apartment and kept him for a week in an
airline carrier designed to transport dogs and cats, giving a
him a jar of fresh water daily and feeding him lots of
cockatiel food, bread, etc.
"After doing much internet
research (and after being turned away several times by
veterinarians and veterinary hospitals), I finally found a
wildlife rehabilitator in NYC who would treat him. It turns
out he's fine. The kicker to the story is, I liked the
wildlife rehabilitator, her organization and her work so much,
I'm now volunteering with her, helping to rehabilitate injured
urban wildlife."
Kristin Peterson from New
York
More from the newsgroups:
"I think you'll find that since the introduction of
on-the-spot fines for not having a ticket, the pigeons have
had to stop using the tube."
Shaz
"Nonsense - they may not be able to afford the
full fine, but they always leave a deposit!"
Tony
(UK)
The debate will continue I am sure.
Now, have your say, and cast a vote
here
Are pigeons
really intelligent enough to use the tube? 
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| Pigeon
scaring kestrals
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 OK it's official, the London
Underground do use kestrals to "scare" those pesky pigeons off
the tube. A recent article in Metro newspaper proudly
confirmed this:
"Meet Hamish the Harris Hawk, the new
high-tech, sky-tech security patrol at the Millenium tube
Station. Hamish is fitted with a radio transmitter as he
swoops and glides up to 200ft above North Greenwich. His
mission? To stop pigeons, gulls, sparrows and starlings from
setting up home in the sparkling new station.
"Hamish's
owner, falconist Wayne Davis, says: 'Pigeons don't only foul
and damage buildings - they spread tuberculosis, salmonella,
ornithosis and other respiratory diseases to humans.'
"
Apparently pigeons lived on cliffs until they were
domesticated for food in the Middle Ages. But now they have
"bred out of control" because their natural predators aren't
around. 36 year old Wayne trains seven falcons, but claims his
kestrals don't actually kill pigeons but just give them a good
scaring!!
He says this of his feathered bouncer: 'He
doesn't kill the birds. He's a deterrent, so we do the job
without guns or poison'.
So one look at Hamish and the
birds think 'right I'm off, this Kestral's too hard'. Hamish
is a sort of feathered Vinnie Jones.
Wayne was
nicknamed Kes at school because he had a pet kestral there. He
fondly says: "Hamish isn't malicious. He's just at the head of
the food chain (What chain? McHamish's Big Pigeon burgers),
and people are amazed how beautiful and gentle he is. I love
him to bits and our bond is very strong. He is at North
Greenwich twice a week. I pop on his radio transmitter so I
know where he is and he flies overhead as I walk around the
site. Then I call him back and give him a bit of steak or
quail. He's much better fed than me."
The last word
comes from London Transport and Derek Allen who is a
maintenance manager: "The real test will come when the Dome
opens and there's a regular supply of food, which will
encourage the bird pests to nest."
This all sounds
remarkably dubious to me. Are Hamish and his six mates
seriously not killing pigeons? Wayne says he's at the
head of the food chain, which to me reads as though he is
killing and eating pigeons. If so, is this OK....is it more
humane than shooting or poisoning them? I really like pigeons.
They sit happily in the trees in my garden and make far less
damage to my garden than squirrels. Also Trafalgar Square is a
major tourist attraction because of its pigeons. If they are
so disease ridden - why are they allowed to entertain tourists
there?
I posted this question to a few relevent
newsgroups and it was an issue that really seemed to "put the
cat amongst the pigeons" (sorry couldn't resist that. I was
amazed at some of the reponses as people seem to be really
really prejudiced (probably not the right word) against
pigeons. Calling them rats with wings, disease ridden etc etc.
I've shown an example of some of the comments
below:
"When is a dove not a dove?
One of the
particularly curious things about city dwellers is that they
expect their environment to be sterile. They just don't like
pigeons,gulls, starlings or other so called "vermin" species
sharing THEIR space. Ironically, it's often human litter that
attracts them.
They become perceived as an
inconvenience. So they kill them. Sometimes they poison them.
Perches soaked in a poison which is absorbed through the skin.
It can take five days for a poisoned bird to die, and it does
so in agony. That poison can enter the food chain.
So,
is everyone who lives in a city civilised?
Does anyone
actually have ANY figures at all for the numbers of humans who
contracted disease from pigeons. That is, members of public in
the street, and not those who race or breed them. I think that
you will find that those numbers are very low indeed. There
are a great many myths about "vermin" species and this is one
of them. Pigeons host less bacterial flora than many many
species.
Wordwings
"What's so bad about
killing pigeons? The hawk is just doing what comes naturally,
and so are the pigeons. Hamish killing a few pigeons is hardly
going to affect the vast numbers of pigeons in London so there
will be zero effect on tourism. Where's the problem
?"
Patrick Magee
"This is strictly my
opinion, but I saw on television where they were shooting the
pigeons for target practice. They didn't all die right away. I
don't think there are many people that enjoy seeing one of
God's creatures suffer needlessly."
Sharon
"
I hate to think. Disgusting, flying rats. I don't know whether
to campaign for their eradication, or to be thankful that
there is one animal that will eat the vomit that so
copiously scatters our pavements these days.
Annabel
Smyth
"They're a verminous, out-of-control plague.
There used to be sparrows in Holland Park around the cafe, now
they're gone; they can't compete with these filthy creatures.
I think they should let that guy go back to catching
them for the smart London restaurants so the unspeakable can
tuck back into the uneatable.
The fact is they're
allowed to entertain the tourists is because no one can figure
out how to reduce the pigeon population.
Adrian
Legg
"HA! I am exonerated! I reported this months
ago on this very newsgroup(u.l.l.) and met with a lot of
disbelief. Birds of prey were (are?) used by London
Underground at Northfields to deal with pigeons. I believe
Tristan White cross-posted my post to u.t.l and others for
confirmation).
All the best"
Rafal
Heydel-Mankoo (who is rather depressed to be back in
Ottawa after having spent four wonderful months in
London).
"Hey Britons!
Have you ever thought
about what language you would be speaking if it were not for
pigeons during WW1 and WW2. Your problem is not with all
pigeons. Just the feral pigeons that are out of control. There
is birth control out now, so have your local authorities look
into it instead of showing the world that you're ignorant of
the facts. Not stupid, just ignorant."
J
Doriger
"Quite so! Ignorance seems to be uppermost
in this pigeon thread. When speaking in terms of hazard to
human health, it would be just as valid to make a bald
statement like 'humans are diseased' as it would to make the
same generalisation of pigeons. Pigeons (and several other
avian species) have indeed the POTENTIAL to harbor - or, more
often, incidentally transmit - disease which could possibly
harm people, given pretty specific circumstances. It is
possible, for instance, to get a respiratory illness from
inhaling dust from long-term accumulations of dried droppings
when these are disturbed, IF these have been contaminated by a
particular type of fungal spore found in certain kinds of
nitrogen-rich soil which has been transported on the feet of
pigeons (or some other species). The pigeons don't actually
harbor the disease (but bats do - beware bat droppings!).
Those who habitually deal with pigeons such as fanciers,
vets, laboratory workers, etc. are most at risk - if they
don't take the kind of precautions any sensible person would
when working with animals. I read of just one case where
someone got 'ornithosis' from a sick pigeon:- he took it home
and tried to look after it without any sanitary precautions or
veterinary advice - asking for trouble! In fact, you're more
likely to get it from a pet parrot! The US centre for disease
control (and several other reputable scientific bodies) state
that the chances of the 'general public' getting a disease
casually from pigeons is extremely remote - not so getting
something from other members of the public!
Killing pigeons is pretty pointless - except for the pest
control companies who'll get a lot of repeat business, and are
very keen to brand pigeons as vermin. The only effective
longterm solution is deterring their presence by bird-proofing
roosting/nesting sites and maybe people cleaning up THEIR act
by not leaving the crud that pigeons/gulls/urban foxes/etc.
feed on laying around and picking up possible harmful bacteria
in the first place!
As for pigeons affecting Sparrows - rubbish! Pigeons don't
sit in bushes eating fruit, and there's plenty on the UK
birdwatching about sparrow decline. By the way, we only got
pigeons because we 'domesticated' them in the first place!"
JayDee
"Birth control is not the answer. Stop showing Mary Poppins
(Feed the birds etc), clean up the litter."
Simon
Heffer
"While there may be a few pigeons killed by the hawk the
occasional presence of a hawk in the area will cause a wide
variety of birds to depart for a while.
I recently saw a very large group of birds exiting the
neighborhood I was watching in S. Texas and for a moment
didn't understand. Then I looked back on their route and saw a
small group of hawks circling. I didn't see any hawk attacks
then. Their presence caused mass evacuation."
Frank
Matthews
See I told you it all got a bit heated!! If you want to see
all the comments please click
here and if you have any other opinions share them through
the guestbook
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| There's a rat on me
train, what am I gonna do?
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(Apologies to UB40 for the
title)
Rats are common on the tracks of the
London Underground.
 But it seems that in New York they seem to
be as bold as London Pigeons: Hank
Eisenstein of New York supplied the following story:
"It happened while I was still in high school. On one of
my days off from school I decided to have some fun. Fun, in
those days, was as simple as taking the NY subway somewhere,
anywhere... I was on the F train, the 6th Ave. local, and I
was sitting in the last car. At 14 At, a rather large rat
boarded the train. Besides myself several other passengers saw
the rat. Many of those retreated to the opposite end of the
car. I, on the other hand, did not feel threatened by the rat,
and I decided to remain in my seat.
The rat poked and
sniffed around some crumbs and garbage in the corners of the
train. By this time we pulled into the 23rd Street station.
The rat went to the door, stuck his head out the open door,
looked both ways, and turned back into the train. I was
fascinated. This was a new adventure for me. I was aware that
the NY subway is home for many rats, but I had never seen one
actually boarding and riding the train. The identical scene
was repeated at the 34th and 42nd Street stations. It was
interesting to observe the reaction of people attempting to
board at the door the rat was hanging around. Some decided to
board at the next set of doors, some even felt it was better
to wait for the next F train, while still others stepped
carefully around the rat.
At Rockerfeller Center the
rat again poked his nose out the door, sniffed for a second,
looked in both directions and decided to jump off the
train.
I was left wondering whether he had paid his
$1.15!"
Several other stories confirm that some
rats actually utilize the NY subway to
"commute".
reprinted by kind permission of
Routes, The Sequel, by Heinz Hammer, on the net at:
http://routesinternational.com - see link
below.
It's that Tube Chicken visitor again
with thoughts on rats:
"RATS RATS
RATS!
I am not really sure that they are rats
really.... I have seen plenty of grubby little mice on the
tube but never rats. I saw a water rat once on the banks of a
river near the Cathedral at Winchester but I don't think that
counts.
Good "mice-spotting" sites are usually on the
old lines, (anywhere on the Northern Line Underground
sections), The Bakerloo line Northbound at Waterloo - a bit of
a let down for travel-weary folk who have just finished a
journey on Eurostar one thinks - and any platform at Oxford
Circus.
Tube Chicken
This came from
Fortean
Times - so need I say more
"There are rats, needless to say; in the popular
imagination these are not common Rattus rattus known from all
the alarming rat-plague reports, but "monstrous" or "killer"
rats of phenomenal size, intelligence and ferocity. They are
planning a James Herbert-style blitzkrieg and the victims of
it will be you and me.
Then again there are the sewer-pigs, if the rats haven't
eaten them; I believe that some Londoners still talk of them,
even if they can't entirely believe in them."
I've never heard of sewer pigs, but then who
believes anything they read in The Fortean Times!!
Speaking of rats on the tube, there's a TV ad featuring a
rat on the London Underground. Have a look at this
page and go to the section TV ads about the tube.
Are you scared of rats or birds?
Looks like you'd need to avoid the tube then! However you might be able to appear on TV as Vincent Lopez signed my guestbook with the following request:
"I'm with a television production company in Los Angeles...and we're producing a documentary for Animal Planet and the National Geographic Channel about people's Fear and Phobias of RATS and BIRDS.
"Sometime this Spring we will find ourselves in the UK and would love to locate RAT & BIRD phobics who will allow us to document their experiences.
"ALSO, would love to find a present or past employee of the Underground who had to deal with the extermination of RATS.
"If you work or worked for the Underground we want to hear from you. If you or someone you know in the UK are terrified of RATS or BIRDS, we would love to know more. Please email me with more information.
"Thank you for your time and help!
"Vincent Lopez
Associate Producer
Arcwelder Films
vincent@arcwelder.com"
Thanks for your help folks!
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| The
Mozzies are out to get you
|
According to a news story from
BBC Wildlife magazine, there are some problems on the London
Underground with bird biting mosquitoes which found their way
into the Tube system 100 years ago. Instead of tucking into
birds they've decided that human blood is a lot
tastier.
"Scientists say the insect has evolved so fast
that the difference between the overground and underground
forms is as great as if they had been separated for thousands
of years. They have even found genetic distinctions between
mosquitoes living on separate lines."
The mozzie is
called Culex pipiens and it probably ended up in the
tunnel network when it was being dug during the last century.
With fewer birds, although I thought there were loads
of pigeons on the Underground, the insect now lives off
rats, mice, and sometimes humans.
"During World War II
the pest became notorious for attacking Londoners sheltering
from Hitler's bombs in the Underground. Researchers Kate Byrne
and Richard Nichols, from London University's Queen Mary and
Westfield College, found underground and overground
populations of the mosquito were genetically quite different.
Most attempts to cross the two types of mosquito failed,
suggesting they were well on the way to becoming completely
separate species."
The differences between mosquitoes
living on different lines were said to be caused by draughts
created by trains which dispersed the insects along, but not
between, Tube lines.
Roz Kidman Cox, Editor of BBC
Wildlife Magazine, said: "It's a remarkable story of
evolution.
"The scientists we talked to say the
differences between the above and below ground forms are as
great as if the species had been separated for thousands of
years, not just a century."
I'm not sure how much of
this story I believe as I don't think I've ever been bitten by
a mozzie on the tube....does anyone have any other views?
Please let me know through the guestbook.
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| What's
Anthea Turner got in common with a load of mice?? |
Many of you will be saying
"who's Anthea Turner?" Who indeed? Well basically she's one of
those annoying, cheerful, bubbly, clean-cut, airheaded, perky
blondes who's managed to make a name for herself on UK TV
because she's vacuous. She was the original hostess when the
National Lottery first appeared in the UK. She was on
Breakfast TV. She now hosts the highly popular holiday travel
show "Wish You Were Here" and she's just got back with the man
she very publically had an affair with (Grant Bovey -
publicity seeking hound extraodinaire). He left his wife for
Anthea. Then went back to his wife very publically - then him
and his wife appeared in a very lovey-dovey fashion in the
celebrity gossip Hello magazine. Now, very publically,
he has got back with the wonderful Anthea (she used to live
round the corner from me, when she was married to the former
cheesy Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell).
Bet you wished you'd
never asked who she is now.
 But,
thanks to a friend, I've just learnt that she and her sister
wrote a series of children's books about mice who live in the
Underground. Perhaps she was hoping they would turn into a
nineties version of The Wombles (strange furry creatures who
collected litter on Wimbledon Common). So if you fancy
checking them out - they're very cheap at Amazon
.co.uk.
Here's
another one. And
another. And if you click on the picture of the book
you'll find another. I'm sure they'd also make a good present
if you wanted to keep young kids quiet on the Underground, as
you could constantly keep them on the look-out for the mice!!!
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| Favourite
Links and where to go next
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|
Home
page
Share your views, comments and questions here 
and find out what others are saying about my site!!! If
you want to look through my old guestbook please click
here |
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Music
on the Underground
My page about buskers and other
music on the tube. |
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Tubespotting
or Celebs on the tube
Have you seen any celebrities on
the tube? And find out about a new film about travelling on
the tube. |
|
Food
on the Underground
If you want to find out where to eat
on the Underground and whether or not cheese and onion crisps
should be banned from the tube, visit this page. PS Cadbury's
won't be too keen on this page, so bang goes my chance of
trying to get sponsorship out of them!! |
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Etiquette
on the tube
Another page of my site. How to get by on
the tube. When to give up your seat! How to annoy people!
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Advertising
on the London Underground
Yet another page of my site -
find out about advertisers try to sell us their wares on the
tube.
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The Funny Side of
Transport
If you join "Routes International" (it's
free) you'll have online access to a collection of weird and
funny stories about public transport. There are a number of
stories about animals who've appeared on public transport.
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Stop The
Pigeon
Absolutely nothing to do with the tube, but if
seeing the "Stop the Pigeon" cartoon (above) has got you
thinking about the theme tune to the cartoon, think no longer,
cos you can hear it on this page - it's near the bottom. I
guarantee you'll probably be humming it for the rest of the
day. You can also send e postcards to friends using images
from this site.
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Looking after lost
London pigeons
I seriously quite like pigeons and don't
think they are "rats with wings" or pests like many other
people. So this page is excellent if you find an injured
pigeon and want to help it. It's also got loads of other
information about how smart and intelligent pigeons are. | |
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Please
sign my guestbook. Also try to have a look at and participate in
the various discussions in the newsgroup, uk.transport.london.
If you
have any funny stories or tales please let us know through the
guestbook or e mail me and
I'll pass the tales on.
And don't forget to bookmark my site
before you go.
Hope you'll return soon to catch up on all the
latest news and views.
Thanks
to everyone who's signed the guestbook. It's great to get
feedback.
If you like this site, spread the word and let your
friends
enjoy the ride too!
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