Author: yarbs

Photo via Telegraph UK

A London tube passenger nearly suffered the most painful commute of his life last week when he discovered a scorpion hitchhiking a ride on his bag. According to the Evening Telegraph, the man was in the Victoria Station and began screaming when he spotted the arachnid, alerting London Underground staff. The creature was captured in a plastic box and has since been identified as a Centruroides, a particularly venomous species that may have come from the Carribean. The article quotes a London Zoo expert who said the discovery was bizarre and lamented the fact the scorpion “has been exposed to such a stressful situation.”

Stressful for the scorpion? I would have probably lost my lunch. Thank god we only have bedbugs on BART to deal with.

h/t Telegraph UK

It would be hard to imagine a San Francisco without cable cars. But in the early 1950s, the city nearly moved forward with plans to replace the city’s famed trolleys with buses. The fight to save the cable cars was captured in this very cool 1954 news reel that British Pathé recently uploaded to its YouTube channel along with thousands of other videos. Interesting tidbits: cable cars are “no bigger than an automobile,” and can apparently fit 120 people.

Also in the British Pathé collection is a 1946 video showing cable cars, streetcars, and motor coaches speeding around San Francisco and drivers undergoing reaction tests. Sadly, there is no sound.

Got any old photos on Muni or memories you’d like to share? Use our submission inbox or send us an email.

h/t: CurbedSF