tenlinks
• How old are the houses around your way? Ollie's created a small-area map showing the age of housing stock across England and Wales, coloured grey and blue for old, and orange and red for new. It gets anywhere I've ever lived pretty much spot-on. [more background here] [also in the same series, a post-war housing map and a faintly distressing house price map]
• I've enthused about Threes before, the 4×4 slidy game that's better than 2048 (remember that?). Well, Threes is now available to play online whether you have a phone or not, which might just while away a few hours over Christmas. [top strategic tip: prioritise combining your reds and blues to avoid premature blockage]
• Someone thought it'd be useful if my Comment Value Hierarchy was easily accessible from the blog's front page, so I've added a permanent link in the sidebar, over to the right, just above the monthly archive. [cheers Caz!]
• When the onslaught of Christmas TV gets too much, escape into a simpler world by downloading the very first Christmas Radio Times, from 1923. [from an era of wireless ads, Hornby train sets and chocolate brazils from Hackney Wick] [pdf here]
• Will it rain tomorrow? The Met Office's interactive rainfall forecast map now offers a 30-hour heads-up on shower/downpour strength in your locality. [if you're still fixated on the symbol-heavy five-day forecast, you're behind the times]
• The new Star Wars VII is damned good, but the film bubbles with so many mysterious loose ends. Here are 33 questions without answers from the latest tour de Force. [warning: massive spoilers]
• Is it possible to make a tube map out of Quality Street? Why yes it is, thanks for asking. [and thanks @geofftech for doing]
• Dreamland in Margate reopened this summer, recreating the classic amusement park for the 21st century. If you've not been yet, it's opened up as The Frosted Fairground over Christmas and the New Year, with free admission up to 3rd January. [book your free tickets here] [the rides still cost, including the legendary Scenic Railway]
• Have you tried the very-difficult very-transporty London Reconnections Christmas Quiz yet? You have until 30th December to send in your answers. [and no spoilers!]
• As a reminder of summer, spend 50 minutes this Christmas watching John Betjeman's documentary Beside the Seaside, a bird's eye view of our recreational heritage, first transmitted on 25th December 1969. [if you've got one of those web-tellies, why not play it in big?]
