Anglophile Oddities | Anglotopia

Anglophile Oddities: London Double Decker Bus Limo in Oklahoma City

July 30, 2010 By jonathan 1 Comment

A few years ago, I was going to Wal-Mart from the grocery shopping. I was quite surprised to find a London Double Decker bus parked in front. It was a marketing promotion for Rimmel but I was pretty stoked to see a London bus in Portage, Indiana. I took it as a sign that it was time to start planning another trip.

Fast forward a few years and those very same busses have ended up in Oklahoma City and have become part of the fleet of a Limo Serivce – aptly names London Limo.

From the USA Today Article:

There may be an absence of British accents, but patrons of London Limousine can still ride the top section of one of their authentic double-deckers, straight from England and complete with right-side steering. Don’t worry; it’s not much different to drive, said owner Ribaudo. Plus, at least two of their drivers are actually British.

Ribaudo is also owner of All-Star Limousines, a traditional party and luxury limousine company. He began his Anglophile affinity a couple of years ago while watching a special about London on theTravel Channel. He saw the traditional London black cabs and thought they would make perfect party limousines for those wanting something a little different. After many months of hassle and finagling, his English taxis arrived about six months ago. The two double-decker buses arrived not long after. He purchased the buses from Rimmel Cosmetics of London, who had brought them to the U.S. for a promotional tour.

Ribaudo originally used the buses as party buses, but eventually decided they were “too cool to get trashed out like that.” The new business model is a dinner tour: a three-and-a-half-hour leisurely drive around the major sites of Oklahoma City. Local musicians provide entertainment and Deep Deuce restaurant Sage provides the four-course meal.

The buses hold 14 people or seven couples all on the top level so everyone can see. Ribaudo said they tried installing tables on the top level, but that cut down on people who wanted to walk about the bus. Now, everyone is seated in the round and servers bring the meals on trays.

It may not be an old Routemaster – but this is still really freaking cool. They also have two authentic London Taxi’s and provide authentic British Beer.

Check out their website here.

Filed Under: Anglophile Oddities, Anglophilia, London Tagged With: london bus, london transport

The US Interstate Highway System Visualized as a Tube Map

July 21, 2010 By jonathan Leave a Comment

I’m a huge fan of the London Underground map. It’s such a simple way to navigate a very complex systems. It’s genius in design.

So, I love it when people take the concept behind the Tube Map and apply it to other things.

The latest Tube Map copy is visualizing the US Interstate Highway System using the Harry Beck diagraming system. It was made by artists Cameron Booth.

Click the image to view a full sized image.

Source: Flickr

You can also purchase the interstate map from the artist’s website here.

Filed Under: Anglophile Oddities, London Tagged With: the tube, underground

From Metrotwin: All Creatures Great and Stuffed – London Underground

April 16, 2010 By Anya 1 Comment

Did you know that the peak hour for suicides on London Underground is 11am? Or that Pimlico is the only tube station on the entire network that doesn’t include any of the letters in the word ‘badger’? Or that the best place to see a mouse (should you so wish) is Oxford Circus or Waterloo on the Bakerloo line? We interviewed the fantastic Annie Mole, creator of the London Underground Blog on our site this week and frankly, it was too good not to share.

Speaking of animals (as we very tenuously were) I’ve also created a list of bars in London with cool taxidermy. Certainly, the prospect of supping a pint under the glassy gaze of a pair of boxing squirrels is not everyone’s cup of tea, but, as I argued on the blog, the presence of a cigar smoking cat or a non-plussed ram, while a little freaky, actually indicates a bar of merit. I mean, for a start, it won’t be a budget pub with sticky floors and a large student population, as no one would risk a beautiful rabbit with horns in an establishment where it would be at peril from cider ‘n’ black splashes. It probably won’t be one of those places with prams blocking the doors and shrieking children running through legs either, as the prospect of seeing a storybook hero decapitated and hung on a wall is traumatic, and Fantastic Mr Fox this aint. Places with taxidermy are likely to be a little bit quirky, a little bit cool, a little bit different, and the people that inhabit them are likely to possess these traits too. Now don’t get me wrong, these are just observations, not rules fixed as hard and fast as this shrugging owl, indeed they probably don’t apply outside London where people who really, y’know hunt and shoot things, but if you’re looking for a somewhere a bit ‘different’ to go, I would suggest these places.

Photo of balloon holding squirrel by bompopsaregood via Flickr used under a Creative Commons License.

Filed Under: Anglophile Oddities, London, London Trip Planning, Metrotwin Tagged With: bars, london underground, metrotwin, pubs, random, taxidermy, the tube

Dispatches from the North: Wait, the Winter Olympics are on?

February 24, 2010 By Lisa Leave a Comment

I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t realize the Winter Olympics had started until about two days after the opening ceremonies. I still haven’t even watched a single minute of them. Coverage of the Winter Olympics is being aired live on BBC2 but I haven’t tuned in even once. I used to love watching the Winter Games as a kid, especially the figure skating and ice dancing competitions. The Winter Olympics just aren’t a big deal for most Britons and I don’t even see reports about the games in the news. Its a huge contrast to the summer of 2008 when the country was abuzz with “Team GB” spirit. It seems to me that the only time that Britain pays attention to the Winter Olympics is when there is a competitor in with a good story or good chance of winning, like Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Winter Olympics or “Eddie the Eagle” in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Eddie the Eagle has a fascinating tale which really would only happen in Britain (or the movie Cool Runnings). Michael “Eddie” Edwards was a downhill skier who didn’t make the team for the 1984 Olympics, but since winter sports aren’t a huge deal in Britain it gave Eddie an idea. He switched to an event that had no other competitors in Britain- ski jumping. Eddie was completely unfit for ski jumping being a bit pudgy and not very aerodynamic and severely far sighted requiring him to wear glasses while competing which fogged up and made him barely able to see. Eddie still managed to squeak by and qualify for the Olympics and after less than 4 years training as a ski jumper he competed in the 1988 Winter Games and finished last in every event. The ski jumping community wasn’t very happy about Eddie’s show at the Olympics or the media coverage because they thought it made a mockery of their sport. After his embarrasing show at the 1988 Winter Olympics, the IOC introduced a new rule , known as the “Eddie the Eagle Rule” which tightened entry requirements and stipulated that competitors finish in the top 30% or top 50 competitors in an international event to qualify to compete in the Olympic Games.

This year Team GB has sent 50 athletes competing in 8 sports, compared to 216 American athletes that are competing in 15 sports and the 311 athletes that Great Britain sent to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. So far Team GB has only claimed one medal by Amy Williams who won the gold in skeleton

Filed Under: Anglophile Oddities, British Sport, Dispatches from the North Tagged With: 2010 Winter Olympics, eddie the eagle, Team GB

The Galaxy Visualized as a London Tube Map

January 21, 2010 By jonathan Leave a Comment

For the London Transport geeks out there, this comes from the Telegraph. It’s a diagram of the Milky Way Galazxy if it were designed like a London Underground Tube Map.