Today’s collection of lunchtime news chum brings together a number of articles all connected through a great city and great country, in fact, a Great Britain….
- Underground Anniversary. As this is the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, there are loads and loads of articles being written about the service. One in particular caught my eye (not surprisingly): An article from The Atlantic on how the London Underground map has changed over the years. But wait, there’s more! Two additional things. First, the Underground is well known for its escalators. Escalators are a plague for many an underground railway, so here’s an article about all the work BART is doing to maintain its escalators. Secondly, given my love of maps, you know I can’t stop at one. Here’s a neat map of the San Fernando Valley from 1924. Note what is there… and what isn’t.
- Good British Food. EaterLA alerted me to an article in the Burger Business blog that asked the question, “What is a Pub Burger?” After all, more and more restaurants are trying to attract patrons by serving burgers supposedly similar to those sold in English pubs. So what are they? The conclusion. Pub burgers are… trendy. I actually chuckled at the one comment, “I don’t know why you would want to copy English pub burgers, as on the whole they are cheap, overcooked rubbish.” But wait, there’s more! The same EaterLA post also alerted me to a fascinating article about a restaurant that serves burgers: A tell-all from a Hooters waitress about what it is really like working there.
- It’s More Complicated… A hat tip to Andrew Ducker for this one… A very interesting article on all the implications of the proposed change to royal succession in Britain to permit the eldest daughter to assume the throne before a younger son. There are profound and far reaching changes, including the ability to marry Catholics and changes to some of England’s oldest laws. But wait, there’s more! In another story about needing to change an old law to reflect modern times, an 1872 law in California will likely be changed because it only recognizes rape for married women. According to this law, as interpreted by the judge, if a man impersonates a husband and rapes the wife, it is legally rape, but if they aren’t married and he is impersonating the boyfriend, it isn’t.
The London Underground known for its escalators? My experience is that the vast majority of stations have only stairs and a few have massive elevators.
Admittedly, I was last in London in 1982, but my vague recollection from back then was that there were some escalators. Perhaps I’m confusing it in my memory with NY and DC.