Linkdump: March 8th – March 11th

Linkdump: November 5th – November 7th

Linkdump: November 2nd – November 4th

Horsies and squirrels and Bears, oh my!

“He who is tired of London is tired of life. ”

We’re not tired of London, and are already plotting a return trip. But it’s time to move on to the Cotswolds for five nights and we won’t miss our cramped little hotel room near Paddington.

On Sunday, I made good on my threat to attend services at St Johns-Hyde Park. Met the Rev. Margaret Legg, who presided while the Vicar preached. Very diverse, forward looking people- they’re looking forward to the Blessing of the Horses Sep 21, where the vicar will don cope and split cassock and bless the cavalcade (I believe there is a pub visit as well). Terrific young female soloist, plus a young man who played classical guitar.

Before church David and I walked in Hyde Park, with all the dogwalkers and riders on horseback. We paid several appendages to eat breakfast at the nearby Hilton. After I returned we headed out and wasted a lot of terrific on the Original Bus tour on a boat to Greenwich; took too long and the museum was closing by the time we got done with lunch and then had a terrible time getting back on the tube.

Review: Tube Status

Next up, a free application shows the status of the London tube lines in a slightly different way… clean, simple, but there’s not a lot to it:

Pretty straightforward – when you click the blue i for more information, you get:

And that’s it – no maps, no routefinder, but more updates are promised in future versions – iTunes still shows version 1.0

Review: Tewks London Tube iPhone App

This little app won’t be that useful on our upcoming trip to Britain, but we should be able to access it via hotel wifi. It’s called “Tewks London Tube.”

The first screenshot shows our closest station as the crow flies. A Londoner might find this feature useful, especially when deciding between several nearby stations. For us, it’s just a little frustrating, as it’s several thousand miles away at the moment.

Note bus stop numbers

Note bus stop numbers

The next screenshot is a close-up of the London Bus map, which shows plenty of detail as to routes and gives an idea of where to catch one of the big red buses. The other maps are the standard rote map and a handy tourist version that shows major attractions and points of interest. Quite handy, if the garden variety tourist can get access, perhaps via wi-fi if not full-on cell service via some sort of “jailbreak” measure.

The next shot shows the loading screen with all the pretty colors. Basically, after it loads, all the line names come up on the appropriate line colors with service updates, or “Good Service” if no problems are reported.

Here’s what it looks like after the status is updated:

And that’s about it. No route planner, no schematics of large stations showing exits, services, or accesibility options. This is a paid app and some reviews mentioned a free one, which will be reviewed later. It looks pretty, and all the stations appear on one screen if all you need is the status of your chosen line. It costs 0.99USD – about 50 new pence, or half a quid if I’ve got my Britspeak right. Pretty good, but there are a couple more applications to check.