Journal tiled_rainbows's Journal: What was that URL on Hungerford Foot Bridge? 2
This has been gnawing away at the back of my mind for many years. First, a little background for non-London dwellers:
Crossing the Thames Between Waterloo and Charing Cross, pretty much in the geographic centre of London, is a large railway bridge with a footbridge running along side it. This is called the Hungerford footbridge.
Nowadays, the footbridge is a big shiny contemporary looking-thing, but up until about three years ago it was a narrow, crappy-looking thing bolted to the side of the railway bridge itself. Being a bottle neck for commuters walking to either Waterloo or Embankment Station, it was popular with beggars, itinerant street vendors, and sundry other weirdos and vagabonds.
At the North end of the bridge, where the walkway ended and the stairs down to street-level began, was a high set of spiked railings designed to prevent access to a flat roof, covered in soot and pigeon shit, that lay underneath the rtailway bridge. A dark and grotty corner such as one might find anywhere in Central London, more so in those days.
Anyway, the point is, on a wall abutting this flat roof was chalked a long URL. Since the new bridge has been built it is no longer there, but before that it had been there since I could remember, and I have been crossing that bridge since before there were such things as URLs.
I cannot remember what the URL was - indeed, when I first saw it, I didn't even know what a URL looked like, but I passed it nearly every week for several years
I think (and here it gets interesting) that it began http:\\slashdot.org. I think (and here it gets even more interesting) that it pointed towards someone's journal; I seem to remember a tilde character ~ in it.
Does anyone else remember seeing this URL? Was it for a Slashdot journal? Whose? Are they still active?
If it was, indeed, a slashdot URL it must have been from the very very earliest days of Slashdot. When did Slashdot start up? 96? 97? That would just about fit, I think.
Anyway, if anyone knows anything, do let me know.
Re:Your name (Score:2)