TfL’s Museum Depot in Acton was opened to the public on the same weekend England advanced into the semi-finals of the world cup. Naturally, I was more excited about the former, because I’m not interested in football nor am I English.

The Museum Depot is where the London Transport Museum stores their collections that are not on display in the museum. The depot isn’t usually open to the public, but there are open weekends throughout the year, typically in April, July, and September. This time they had a family theme, but that didn’t prevent me from visiting alone.

The depot itself is right across the road from Acton Town station, but I decided to take the E3 bus from Turnham Green instead because my travelcard only goes as far as Zone 2 and I wasn’t really in any hurry. Tickets to the depot can be bought at the main gate, or they can be booked online in advance like I did. Most of the exhibits were inside the main shed, which was not particularly huge by train shed standard. The shed housed several old train carriages. Even though I don’t really get excited by rolling stocks, there were a couple that caught my attention.

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After finishing the last of my exams at the end of May, I started what is to be my last ever summer holiday before I start my graduate job in July. Without anything to do, and with the weather being unusually good, I decided to walk around London and go to places I haven’t been to, because I haven’t done a lot of that in the 4 years I studied in London. Here are some of the places I think you should visit as well.

1. Ruislip Lido Beach

Out of all the places here, this is the furthest away from Central London, being all the way in Zone 6. It is by no means hard to get to though, from Ruislip Station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines, it’s only a 20 minutes bus journey (H13) or a 30 minutes walk away. When you get there, you will be greeted with a sight you never thought would be geographically possible within London. It’s a beach. Yes, a sandy beach, with sand; and one that is large enough to actually accommodate a couple dozens of families on a hot sunny day. Admittedly, there are signs all around the beach warning you not to go in the water because there’re no lifeguards, but it’s a nice place to enjoy the sunshine nonetheless. Furthermore, after you have had enough of the sun, Uxbridge is just 3 stations away from Ruislip where you can shop and eat comfortably in one of the shopping arcades.

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1. Branding Carlton – Interview with Lambie-Nairn Creative Director Brian Eley

I have a particular interest in TV channel branding, which is why I found this interview transcript with the creative director of one of the most prestigious TV branding company immensely interesting. The UK “TV station” ITV is actually a network comprised of two companies – STV, which broadcasts in Scotland, and ITV plc., which broadcasts in the rest of the UK. There used to be a lot more TV companies in the network, serving smaller regions, before they all inevitably merged into what we have today. One of these companies was Carlton, which initially served the London region on weekdays. Carlton did not have a good reputation, some will even say that it destroyed the network by initiating merges with smaller regional stations.

Nonetheless, this interview, which talked about how Lambie-Nairn designed the on-screen identity of the station throughout its existence in the 90s, was a fascinating read; especially the last few paragraphs where Brian Eley expressed how the need for a strong brand for a TV channel is diminishing in this multi-channel and online age. I feel that this is particular relevant at a time when many criticised “the lack of creativity and thought put” in the idents for the flagship BBC channel.

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1. YoGPoD

This podcast hasn’t officially ended, but considering that the most recent episode was published in 2016 and that the podcast feed has since been used for another podcast, I think it’s safe to say that this podcast has ended. This, however, doesn’t change the fact that it is my favourite podcast of all time.

The podcast is hosted by Lewis and Simon, the two founders of the Yogscast (hence the name of the podcast). As one of the listeners has said, it really just feels like two friends who woke up in the morning, called each other, and just had really funny conversations about random things. I have yet to find another podcast that is this funny, up-lifting, and infinitely re-listenable.

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