It's definitely that time of year. Heatbuster ads have been on the tubes for at least 6 weeks and those announcements about carrying a bottle of water with you (too late once you're in the bowels of the platforms) are resonating blandly on a regular basis. So, it's time for TfL's latest wheeze to cool the Underground down.

Cue: GIANT FANS!

Genius.

Around 40 portable industrial fans will be introduced at key stations to improve air-flow (move the hot air around) whilst Victoria's temperature will continue to be tempered by innovative ground water cooling. Lucky girl.

Whilst trying to work out how we felt about TfL's latest attempts to big up their Cool the Tube team - and don't get us wrong, we're sure they're working really hard and we do appreciate that a Victorian underground transportation system doesn't lend itself to 21st century air conditioning - we found ourselves being more distracted by Boris Johnson actually using the words "boffin" and "chuffed" in the press release. It must be the heat.

So, as always, if you want to stay cool on the tube, carry water with you, stay calm and get one of those ickle personal fans and other sensible things.

Image courtesy of Annie Mole's Flickrstream courtsey of the Creative Commons Attribution license.