Archive

30 May 2012

Taking sides

In an age when it's hard to get a cigarette paper between the lives, education and ideology of the leaders of our three main political parties, it's hard to imagine a time when views were so much more polarised and one's political allegiances were very much more manifest 200 years ago.

The Whigs (who transmogrified into the Liberals or anyone else they could form a coalition with) would belong to Brooks's Club, while White's was, and still is, for your blue blooded Tories.

Part of this ritual of taking sides was played out at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, now celebrating two centuries since it was rebuilt in 1811. The theatre is the fourth to have been built on the site, and I suppose the original actually was in Drury Lane unfortunately Knowledge students these days are surprised to find that the theatre's main, and only, entrance is facing away from Drury Lane in Catherine Street.

Two hundred years ago when a new play opened there, the great and the good would attend the first night, but here was their dilemma: King George III and his son the Prince Regent hated each other and would refuse to sit in the same room, let along speak to each other.

In the days when Royalty would attend a first night - they hardly do now for instance the theatre's current offering is Shrek - The Musical - the theatre's staff ensured that the King and his son would sit at opposite sides of the auditorium.

The problem for their acolytes was to make sure they were seen to go up the correct staircase according to whether they supported George or Prinny. They needn't have bothered to follow either; the King was going mad and in the year the theatre opened he had given up most of his powers to his eldest son but not before he had lost us most of the American colonies in the War of Independence, while the son's extravagant lifestyle including the building of the Brighton Pavilion did little to endear him to the public.

This tradition of taking sides continues to this day as theatregoers are directed up "The King's Side" or "The Prince's Side". It's just a shame they didn't manage to put the door in the correct place.

28 May 2012

Maidens without midriffs

Travelling along one of London's busiest road it's easy to miss St. Pancras Church, which when built in 1819 cost £76,679 and at the time was the most expensive house of worship built since the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral some 100 years previously.

Standing on the corner of Euston Road and Upper Woburn Place covered in grime thanks to the traffic hurtling past, with vagrants sleeping under its spacious Ionic portico it's hard to imagine what it must have looked like in its prime, when its architects William and Henry Inwood returning from Athens with measured drawings under their arm based their building on the Erechtheion of the Greek Acropolis.

On the side facing the Euston Road are three caryatids, copies of a purloined original on display in the British Museum nearby thanks to Lord Elgin - was there anything he didn't take that wasn't screwed down in Athens?

Now I don't want to appear unchivalrous, but tell me don't the beautiful hand maidens supporting the projecting alcoves, look, how can I describe it? Dumpy.

The statues were made of Coade artificial stone, a formula which had been lost but has since resurfaced on Wikipedia, taking the sculptor three years to make. They were brought to the church looking dainty until they were ready to be put up into place, Mr. Charles Rossi, their creator, found that the measurements were a little out. He presumably had been working to metric while the builders of the church chose imperial and try as he may he couldn't get the Greek goddesses to fit the recess. With a large crowd bemused at his misfortune Rossi needed to act rather quickly to regain his self respect. He performed a miracle operation with 12 inches being extracted from their midriff, their draped Grecian gowns helping to conceal their stunted torsos.

25 May 2012

The London Grill: Peter Watts

We challenge our contributor to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don't take "Sorry Gov" for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London's skyline to find out what Londoners really think about their city. The questions might be the same but the answers vary wildly.

I am a London journalist and blogger. From 2005 to 2010 I worked at Time Out as their features writer, which allowed me to explore my fascination with London. In that time, I really got to see the city, going everywhere from beneath the streets in the old Fleet River to the top of a Hackney church tower to interview Iain Sinclair. I still write regularly about London for various publications, and blog about the city at www.greatwen.com.

What's your secret London tip?

This might not be popular on a black cab website, but walk everywhere. It's the best way to see those parts of London between main roads and tube stations, which is where most of the really fascinating London treasures are to be found, like the Russian tank in Elephant or the spoons of Clerkenwell.

What's your secret London place?

So many choices but Bookmongers second-hand bookshop in Brixton is probably my favourite spot to spend an hour or two at the moment. Great book, lovely dog and always a decent soundtrack.

What's your biggest gripe about London?

House prices and transport fares.

What's your favourite building?

Today, All Saints church on Margaret Street north of Oxford Street - it looks as if it has been plonked into its space by a giant hand from above. I am not religious, but I do love London's churches. I also adore Senate House.

What's your most hated building?

I've never liked No 1 Poultry.

What's the best view in London?

People go on about Waterloo Bridge, but I've always enjoyed the view from Vauxhall Bridge, which gives a nice panorama of the Thames from further west. Height-wise, I've spent many happy afternoons on Primrose Hill admiring the vista. You also get a surprisingly good view from the dentistry department of Guy's Hospital, which is on the 22nd floor near London Bridge.

What's your personal London landmark?

Whenever I return to London on the train from the north, I always get a little thrill when I see the first tube train on a parallel track - it's like a 'welcome home' sign. I also have a soft spot for the North Stand at Stamford Bridge and the canal at Lisson Grove.

What's London's best film, book or documentary?

Film: Performance and An American Werewolf In London.

Book (fiction): Christy Malry's own Double Entry by BS Johnson and King Dido by Alexander Baron.

Book (non-fiction): London Encyclopedia (ed Christopher Hibbert) and Pleasures of London by Felix Barker and Peter Jackson.

Documentary: Primitive London (DVD on BFI Flipside).

What's your favourite bar, pub or restaurant?

Bradley's Spanish Bar in Hanway Street was a favourite haunt for many years. Upstairs on Acre Lane in Brixton is a great, little-known French restaurant.

How would you spend your ideal day off in London?

Pancakes for breakfast at the Lido Cafe in Brockwell Park; then to a museum or gallery (any will do); a walk through somewhere like the City, Clerkenwell, Borough or Holborn; then to Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park for a picnic lunch and a wander. Back to town for dinner somewhere expensive, and then a whiskey in a cosy mews pub.

23 May 2012

Stopping dead cats flying

You are sitting in your deckchair enjoying the sun when from next door a ball is kicked into your garden. Annoying? Just think of what it must have been like for George Augustus Henry Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington - Lord George Cavendish to his friends - to have oyster shells (the takeaway food of the day)  landing on his head, along with apple cores, empty bottles and the occasional dead cat, thrown over his garden wall from the adjacent alleyway.

The garden wall was the western boundary of his palatial London home which for modesty's sake was only called Burlington House, which now is the home of the Royal Academy.

After much thought on how to resolve the detritus conundrum he came upon the brilliant idea to turn this alley into a shopping mall, making it one of the world's earliest. Completed in 1819 these tiny shops remained virtually unchanged until an upper story was added in 1906 creating a series of rooms which prompted one wag to remark "they were let to the better sort of courtesan" These ladies would use these small rooms as their places of work and when they saw guards coming they'd whistle to warn their pickpocket friends down below of the imminent danger. This has led to the beadles (the private police of the arcade) imposing the no whistling rule which remains to this day, sometimes with embarrassing consequences.

In the early 1980s a beadle warned a whistler asking him to refrain, the offender turned round to reveal Paul McCartney who was giving an impromptu performance from his repertoire. To cover the beadle's embarrassment McCartney was given whistling exemption for life. He now admits to doing his Christmas shopping each year and while in the arcade gives a furtive little whistle.

Only one other alteration has been done to this Regency masterpiece, the beautiful triple-arch entrance was destroyed in 1931 for no discernable reason, but much of its Grade II-listed  interior remains as a day it was first built by Lord Burlington nearly 200 years ago.

Until now, for the new owners having spent £104 million on the purchase intend to carry out a £2.5 million makeover, including a new floor and lighting and incorporating art installations by Angel of the North creator Antony Gormley.

Existing shop tenants fear that the refurbishment will destroy the character and quaintness of the arcade by enlarging the units to accommodate such downmarket brands as handbag maker Lulu Guinness and cobbler Jimmy Choo.

What next? Soon the beadles will drop their ban on running and carrying an open umbrella and perish the thought - allow the builders laying the new flooring to whistle - which in all probably their song of choice will be Yesterday . . all my troubles were so far away.

21 May 2012

London's secret tower

If I had written this post 18 years ago it is quite possible that MI5 would want to talk to me. It's hardly the stuff of John le Carré but from the day it was built until Kate Howie MP, speaking in Parliament on 19th February 1993 spilt the beans by announcing to the public, and I quote:

Hon. Members have given examples of seemingly trivial information that remains officially secret. An example that has not been mentioned, but which is so trivial that it is worth mentioning, is the absence of the British Telecom tower from Ordnance Survey maps. I hope that I am covered by parliamentary privilege when I reveal that the British Telecom tower does exist and that its address is 60 Cleveland Street, London (Hansard col.632).

The 621 foot high BT Tower was Britain's most poorly kept secret. Londoners were expected to not notice its presence, in fact for many years it did not appear on any map as its location was protected by the Official Secrets Act, even the taking and storing photographs of the building was forbidden.

In a further secret twist Londoners seem to have been unaware of the changes that have recently been undertaken above their heads as engineers removed the 31 microwave dishes, once used to transmit top secret data across a nationwide network of similar towers. Right up until the 1980s, the microwave network was responsible for transmitting television signals and other data - some of it military. The arrangement comprised of a link of transmitters, stretched across the United Kingdom from north to south; with towers similar to the London GPO erected in Birmingham (at Snow Hill) and Manchester (in Heaton Park).

Being extremely secure, the system was also known by the codename, "Backbone" and, in the event of a nuclear attack, the resilient network would have provided vital communications for the government.

The tower is mostly circular because the designers noted that the only buildings that survived in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were round, with the shape allowing the enormous blast wave to surge round them. But considering the searing heat and 500mph blast wave unleashed by a nuclear weapon, it is doubtful that any buildings (or indeed people) would have been left standing.

The tower was conceived in the 1950s when broadband microwave technology seemed the best way serve the growing communication needs of the nation. It was designed to exchange microwave radio signals with other similar towers in locations such as Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth. Built in a yard off an existing telephone exchange, it was quite a neat engineering feat. A borehole survey revealed the hard chalk suitable for supporting foundations was 174 feet down, too far to be practically used. Instead an 88 foot square concrete "raft" was placed some 26 feet below street level, supporting a seven metre tall flat topped concrete pyramid, which in turn supported a hollow concrete shaft that forms the core of the tower. Even in 100mph winds it will not sway more than 7.4 inches. Swaying isn't good for microwave transmission especially in a nuclear holocaust.

In 1962 the GPO Tower (as it was then known) overtook St. Pauls Cathedral as London's tallest building, that title was briefly snatched away by the newly constructed Millbank Tower which took less time to build, but was regained when completed. It held that record until 1980 when the NatWest Tower (now renamed Tower 42) rose above the City skyline.

Known formerly as the General Post Office Tower its presence (or at least its purpose) might have remained a secret but for the fact of a restaurant which revolved every 22 minutes on the 34th floor which was operated by the holiday camp king Billy Butin. By 1971 the tower had been visited by over 5 million people, it only closed in 1980 amid security fears after a bomb had exploded in the gent's toilet one night causing extensive damage which took two years to repair.

In defiance of the prohibitions placed upon acknowledging its presence it has appeared in BBC's Doctor Who the War Machines which curiously does have a "D" Notice slapped on it as the YouTube clip has now been withdrawn by the BBC. A popular backdrop to science fiction films among others V for Vendetta, The Fog, The New Avengers episode Sleeper, The Day of the Triffids and Harry Potter flies over it in a Ford Anglia. But the all time favourite the tower is featured in the most famous scene in The Goodies when it is toppled over by Twinkle the Giant Kitten in the episode Kitten Kong.

London's secret tower is based upon an original post on Black Cab London by Charlie on Cold War London.

18 May 2012

The London Grill: Lucy Inglis

We challenge our contributor to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don't take "Sorry Gov" for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London's skyline to find out what Londoners really think about their city. The questions might be the same but the answers vary wildly.

Lucy Inglis writes the award-winning blog Georgianlondon.com. It is the largest body of study on eighteenth century London freely available online. Unearthing murders, love affairs, shady business dealings, spiritualism, corsetry and dog-napping it has featured in The Times, the Guardian and Time Out. Her book on the same subject is out with Penguin later in 2012.

What's your secret London tip?

Walk as much as you can, and look around you instead of at the pavement.

What's your secret London place?

The City of London at the weekend. It's so full of people rushing around in the week that it's hard to see the landscape.

What's your biggest gripe about London?

The public transport. I walk or cycle pretty much everywhere to avoid it. Or take a cab of course!

What's your favourite building?

St Paul's cathedral. It's a beautiful building with an amazing history. And it really did rise from the flames. One of my favourite images is of Old St. Paul's burning, and young William Taswell, a Westminster schoolboy coming to explore the still-baking ruins. He put pieces of twisted metal from the molten bells in his pockets and against the east wall he found the corpse of a woman who had huddled there, trying to shelter from the fire. Her body had been mummified by the heat.

What's your most hated building?

NeoBankside, currently being built behind Tate Modern and completely ruining the roofline. Or Baynard House near Blackfriars, which is a rotting monument to the worst London architecture of the 1970s. Baynard House probably.

What's the best view in London?

In all directions from an empty Millennium Bridge at dawn on a summer morning.

What's your personal London landmark?

The dome of St Paul's cathedral, particularly after a long day or time away. Then I know I'm home.

What's London's best film, book or documentary?

A Clockwork Orange captured the menace of bad urban planning perfectly. 

What's your favourite bar, pub or restaurant?

The Rising Sun in Carter Lane is always friendly and their beer is good.

How would you spend your ideal day off in London?

A quick look around Borough Market, early to avoid the crowds, a drink by the river with my husband, walking the dog to Wapping. Mainly just sitting somewhere and watching the world go by.

16 May 2012

Fluffers, harlots and herb-strewers

People are always asking about what it's like to be a cabbie and how we did "The Knowledge"; even Londoners ask and it would seem that the public's appetite for enquiring into our fellow jobs is undiminished. But no matter how unusual a London cabbie's profession might be, it is not comparable to some of the very strange ways that some individuals earn, or have earned, a living in the capital.

Take the Constable of the Tower of London who for 600 years has been officially authorised to extract a barrel of rum from any naval vessel using the river; any livestock falling from London Bridge, he has the right to claim as his own and should your pig stumble into his moat, he will charge you 4d, an old penny for each leg. One of his staff - The Ravenmaster - is charged with preventing the ravens from leaving the Tower, as tradition dictates that England's crown will fall should they so to do. An unlikely event as he rather cheats by clipping their wings.

James Donalson is commemorated by a 17th century memorial in St. Margaret Pattens Church, Rood Lane, in the City of London, as being the man who specialised in selecting spices - The City Garbler.

In the 1860s with London's population only at one third of today's size, 80,000 prostitutes touted for business giving the decade the nomenclature "the heyday of the whore." During the Profumo Affair, back in 1963, Harold Wilson was quoted as complaining of a society which pays a harlot 25 times as much as it pays its Prime Minister.

In the days when London's streets were not as clean as they are today, Lady Herb-Strewers were employed to scatter sweet-smelling petals wherever the monarch processed within the royal apartments as well as outside in the streets. Today the Fellowes family, which Julian Fellowes - Director of the movie Gosforth Park - is a member and can still claim that hereditary right on behalf of their eldest unmarried daughter to be the official lady herb-strewer.

Now replaced by machines Fluffers were employed for years on London's Underground to walk the tunnels each night collecting waste material, the largest component of this waste left behind by the passengers - human hair.

14 May 2012

Kilroy was here

With the Blitz at its height in 1940 and the need to find safe accommodation for Londoners the Home Secretary Herbert Morrison at the time announced the decision to construct a series of Deep Level Shelters to be dug under the existing tube network. The idea being that after the war the tunnels could be linked up to form a new express subway.

Ten sites were chosen which were completed in 1942. Four sites were given over for civilian use while the remainder to house military and civil authorities, each could accommodate up to 8,000 individuals on two separate levels and were built at a cost of £40 per head. One at the Oval was abandoned for fear of flooding by the river Effra and another to be built at St. Paul's never started with worries about the stability of the cathedral. Evidence of the other shelters can be found at Belsize Park, Camden Town, Chancery Lane, Clapham Common, Clapham North, Clapham South and Stockwell.

Another at Goodge Street was built for the Americans, reinforced above ground by a circular pill box, housing staircases and lift machinery with slits in the walls to enable this heavily defended bunker protection from the most determined attack it even had an anti-aircraft emplacement on its roof.

Now named the Eisenhower Centre this unremarkable candy striped concrete structure was the headquarters of "Ike" the United States President and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe and during the latter years of World War II was used to plan the D-Day invasion of Europe. This seemingly little building was kitted out to support 8,000 support staff with bunk beds, self contained with ventilation systems, gas filtration units and a hydraulic sewerage system.

One in south London had a rather curious final use, in 1948 the Clapham Common Deep Level Shelter became briefly home to several hundred Commonwealth citizens who had arrived on the SS Empire Windrush, laying the foundations for nearby Brixton's Afro-Caribbean community.

Needless to say the high speed rail link was abandoned - where have we heard that before - and after a fire in 1956 the Eisenhower Centre was closed for many years. It is now used for commercial storage, with its bunk beds making useful shelving it is rumoured that Sir Paul McCartney stashes his gold and platinum disks within its vaults.

11 May 2012

The London Grill: Malcolm Edwards

We challenge our contributor to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don't take "Sorry Gov" for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London's skyline to find out what Londoners really think about their city. The questions might be the same but the answers vary wildly.

I'm a 60 year old West Londoner, born in North Kensington I moved all the way to Notting Hill 30 years ago and have remained here ever since. I am a strictly amateur photographer and an irregular blogger (London Ramblings for those interested!). I can't imagine ever living anywhere else.

What is your secret London tip?

There is a whole lot more to London than the famous historical sites. Wander freely, there is something of interest just about everywhere. Don't forget to look up, there's a lot going on above eye level . . . and don't be afraid to go south of the river LOL

What's your secret London place?

Never give away too many secrets but for a quiet place to sit and think in the City, try the garden of St Dunstan in the East . It's best avoided during the middle of the day as it's a popular spot for the local office workers to spend their lunch hour, but at any other time it is certainly worth a visit.

What's your biggest gripe about London?

The usual, uncoordinated road works, traffic congestion, expensive public transport. Museums and galleries that close too early. People (both tourists and locals) who treat the city as one huge litter bin. Oh yes, and the Olympics!

What's your favourite building?

St Paul's, closely followed by the Natural History Museum.

What's your most hated building?

One New Change, no contest!.

What's the best view in London?

I love a high viewpoint such as Primrose Hill or Greenwich but the cliched truth is that it is the view from Waterloo Bridge. Both upstream and down stream. A great place to watch the sunrise and, especially, the sunset.

What's your personal London landmark?

The Post Office Tower (yes, I am several name changes behind!), with special mentions for the much maligned Centre Point and Trellick Tower.

What's London's best film, book or documentary?

The Lavender Hill Mob for it's views of the war torn area around St Paul's.

What's your favourite bar, pub or restaurant?

The Angel, Bermondsey Wall. A good place to  sit outside on a summer evening  with a pint and some friends and watch the sun go down behind Tower Bridge. Plus, everyone should visit E. Pellici on Bethnal Green Rd at least once in their lives!

How would you spend your ideal day off in London?

On a good day. Breakfast and a book in Holland Park. Followed by a walk through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park and St James's Park down to the river. Across Westminster Bridge and along the South Bank to  Tower Bridge. If the tides are right, that would include a walk along the foreshore from the Royal Festival Hall to Bankside. From the Tower I would head back west through the City until either the time or my legs suggest that it would be a good idea for me to hop on a bus home. On a bad day, either South Kensington and the big three museums or the British Museum, lunch in the Great Court followed by an random wander through the galleries.

9 May 2012

Racking your brains

Professor Eleanor Maguire continuing further research first published by University College London into students of The Knowledge has concluded that those who qualify to become London cabbies have a greater volume of grey matter than those that fail. The study suggests that the brain might change to accommodate the mass of information needed in order to become a London cabbie.

Following a group of 79 trainee cabbies and a "control group" of 31 non-taxi drivers (presumably private hire drivers using SatNavs), the volunteers were subjected to MRI scans and memory tasks over a period of approximately four years, the time it takes to qualify as a London Cabbie.

The results make interesting reading, for the students who qualified had gained a greater volume of grey matter in their posterior hippocampus, an area of the brain known to generate new neurons into adulthood, this suggests that memory loss in the old could be improved by training their memory.

The 40 who failed and the non-taxi drivers showed no discernible difference in their brains. However the Knowledge students who qualified to become cabbies were found to be worse at recalling complex visual information suggesting there might be a price to pay if you qualify to become one of the world's best cabbies.

What is not clear, however, is whether those students who became fully-fledged London cabbies already had some biological advantage over those who failed. So could some of us have a genetic predisposition to become cabbies?

Trying to hide a rather smug countenance I thought that it was time some comparisons should be made with other cities' cabbies:

Parisians are always complaining they can never hail a taxi in the street, hardly surprising for the number of cabs plying for hire in Paris was capped in 1937 at 14,000. Today just 15,900 operate within the city limits. When Nicholas Sarkozy took power in 2008 he sought to increase that number up to 60,000 by making it easier to become a Parisian cabby. The outcome? Two strikes by the cabbies resulting in the status quo being maintained.

 To become a taxi driver in Paris, you must buy a taxi licence. They are limited in number, and only become available when an existing driver dies, or gives up the job. A taxi licence can cost drivers anywhere between €30,000 and €250,000. An average Parisian licence costs €186,000. The licence allows a taxi driver to operate, so drivers literally buy their way into the profession, the downside is that licences do not come up very often.

If the cabbies are so miserable, it is because their job is not an easy one. The average Parisian taxi driver will work from five in the morning until eleven at night for six days a week. Many drivers will also work on Sunday mornings and have to clear €150 a day before they make any profit.

All potential New York Taxi Drivers after criminal and solvency checks must complete a defensive driving course. The course is six hours in length and cost around $50 and must be satisfactorily completed within six months of filing their application. The applicants must then attend an approved taxi school for either the 80-hour or the 24-hour course. According to the Taxi and Limousine Commission "taking the 80-hour course increases your chances of passing the taxi exam because it covers additional material not covered in the 24-hour course", that would seems pretty good advice to me.  After completing this course applicants have to pass an English proficiency test and then take a written examination based on the course all of which is undertaken at the same taxi school.

Assuming they pass a useful little gadget is available to know just where you are in Manhattan:

LOST IN MANHATTAN? Ask the MASTER CABBIE

The New York City address slide guide (t.m. s.m. patent pending). A simple piece of folded (Sleeve) cardboard, with another piece of cardboard inserted. With a cut out to pull the inserted card to a desired location on the decorative front of the sleeve, and a slot for viewing addresses and cross street on the inside of the sleeve . . . Ingenious.

How many people can name the nearest cross street to an address on a Manhattan Ave. without looking it up? Not many . . . I must admit there are a few I would have to look up, but not many. The Manhattan Grid is the key. Addresses were designed to allow for easy calculation in finding an address.

Example: 780 1st Ave. is at 42nd ST.

Process to calculate: Cancel last digit of address 780 = 78 and then divide by 2 = 39 and then add the key number +3....= 42 Street.

Where do you get the key number??? From the Master Cabbie of course www.mastercabbie.com it's as easy as that in New York.

Even among the notoriously hardworking Japanese, Tokyo cabbies keep up a relentless schedule. It isn't rare for a driver to start at 9 am and burn on through until 4 o'clock the next morning. Short breaks and plenty of coffee keep them from shutting down completely, which is why it's no surprise that back alleys are often full of sleeping cabbies, those who have made the decision to give themselves and their workhorses a rest. With all this hard work, you would expect drivers to take home a decent wad of cash. Yet the Tokyo Taxi Association says the average wage is around ¥4.5 million.

In the face of such difficulties, who, then, would become a Tokyo cabbie? Actually, pretty much anyone who wants to. Companies are always hiring, and the process is remarkably straightforward: applicants just need a clean driving record and a passing score on a 40-question examination that tests their knowledge of the city's layout. Once a driver has cleared that hurdle, he or she joins one of the city's myriad companies, picks up his keys, and starts the never-ending road trip that is his job. After drivers hit the road, companies grade their performance via a system that assigns a letter grade from C (the bottom) to AA (tops). The system is a boon for highly rated drivers but increases the pressure on everyone else.

In light of the four years of unpaid work a London cab driver has to go through before he can get his license, its understandable why Tokyo cabbies rely so heavily on their GPS systems.