Top all-time · #2695
diamond geezer
Personal blog · diamondgeezer.blogspot.comculturehistory
diamond geezer is a personal blog at diamondgeezer.blogspot.com about culture and history. Since 2015, 28 different Hacker News readers have linked it 77 times, most often “How deep are the Crossrail platforms?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (15) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this London blog for transport data, such as station distances and Underground yield figures, and for London curiosities like high streets, a wandering sheep and the Match Girls.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 15 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- How deep are the Crossrail platforms?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-01-06
- /2025/01/a-sheepish-apology.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-01-23
- /2024/06/londons-shortest-and-longest-high.html2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-06-09
- Where else in London are there pylons?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-10-26
What Hacker News says?
I value links. WordPress used to have a Links section in the sidebar by default. It was later criticised for the default links being to WP founders/devs. But it was there, and you could change it. Links are the web for me. "If you like my site maybe you will like what I like". Go look at https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/ - links! Go look at other sites and if they are WP chances are no link list. Am I blaming WP?…
Comment linking /
on “Microfeatures I love in blogs and personal websites”Submitted Asbestosis as a story · 288 points
HN discussionNot exactly the same thing, but you might well enjoy the Boring Conference: http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015/05/boring-v.html
Comment linking /2015/05/boring-v.html
on “How I Became a Knife Steel Metallurgist”Submitted Four strange places to see London's Roman Wall as a story · 287 points
HN discussionLooks like there's an errata, already :) https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-sheepish-apolog...
Comment linking /2025/01/a-sheepish-apology.html
on “Where is London's most central sheep?”Submitted Where is London's most central sheep? as a story · 247 points
HN discussionFYI - he's published an update: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-sheepish-apolog... tl;dr; - he missed a small zoo near Waterloo Station.
Comment linking /2025/01/a-sheepish-apology.html
on “Where is London's most central sheep?”Submitted The candy stores of Oxford Street as a story · 142 points
HN discussionThat's not right, I'm afraid - the Underground is usually profitable and subsidises loss-making forms of transport (particularly buses). Here's some high-level, pre-pandemic figures: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2018/03/average-yield-and... (based on TfL's draft budget for 2018-19)
Comment linking /2018/03/average-yield-and-operating-costs.html
on “South Kensington station's escalator replacement project”Submitted How many High Streets are there in London? as a story · 105 points
HN discussionI'm a zone 4-6 dweller of 40+ years and don't recognise this characterisation, I'm afraid. Three years ago Diamond Geezer published a map of all the places in London's boroughs which are more than 1 mile (yes, not km, but bear with it) from the nearest station, so you can see the "prisons" here: http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2015/07/over-one-mile.html
Comment linking /2015/07/over-one-mile.html
on “What a Real Train System Looks Like (2009)”Submitted How to walk underground from Liverpool Street to Farringdon as a story · 98 points
HN discussionThere is never a "majority" vote. It would take the majority actually going out to vote. There is a silver lining there as well for the Tory-disappointed. Keep in mind that most likely a lot of the votes that gave Cameroon his win, came from people who might have voted UKIP and changed their mind in the last minute. I'd like to believe the Conservative of today are not those from the 80s and that today, all parties…
Comment linking /2015/05/majority-2015.html
on “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”Submitted Where else in London are there pylons? as a story · 90 points
HN discussionThe factory and strike recently gained a heritage blue plaque. https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-match-girls-b...
Comment linking /2022/07/the-match-girls-blue-plaque.html
on “The Match Girls”Submitted Crossrail gets cross as a story · 89 points
HN discussiondg follows up about High Roads and other questions https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/06/high-streets.html Many of his points are answers to issues raised here - he has read this thread.
Comment linking /2024/06/high-streets.html
on “How many High Streets are there in London?”Submitted Reading’s Bayeux Tapestry as a story · 82 points
HN discussionDiamond Geezer has been blogging for years and definitely understands what a high street is. In fact he’s probably planning a follow-up already about High Roads. (There’s already a visit to the shortest high streets as a follow-up: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/06/londons-shortest-... )
Comment linking /2024/06/londons-shortest-and-longest-high.html
on “How many High Streets are there in London?”Submitted Waverley, the last seagoing paddle steamer as a story · 61 points
HN discussionToday's blog post is related: London's shortest and longest High Streets https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/06/londons-shortest-...
Comment linking /2024/06/londons-shortest-and-longest-high.html
on “How many High Streets are there in London?”Submitted The Angel, Islington as a story · 51 points
HN discussionThanks for posting this, it was interesting although I agree that including a trans-train ambulation was cheeky. The author's subsequent post strikes me as extremely valuable given the advent of 205 metre long trains... https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2022/05/where-to-sit-on-c...
Comment linking /2022/05/where-to-sit-on-crossrail-train.html
on “How to walk underground from Liverpool Street to Farringdon”Submitted The longest periods of British Summer Time as a story · 30 points
HN discussionFound via: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2025/05/local-news.html Sometimes the provenance is just as interesting
Comment linking /2025/05/local-news.html
on “Cows get GPS collars to stop them falling in river”Submitted A History of British Summer Time as a story · 17 points
HN discussionThis chap https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/?m=1 Goes into all sorts of London miscellany as well.
Comment linking /?m=1
on “The Mythical Creatures of London”Submitted London's Longest Unbroken Road as a story · 15 points
HN discussionNot sure if Diamond Geezer is reading this forum, he may be, some of his blog posts get reposted in here and sometimes mentions extra 100k views. https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com
Comment linking /
on “UK Postal Address Oddities”Submitted Non-London Universities in London as a story · 11 points
HN discussion
