28 Feb 06 History of Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets
Unfortunately it’s practically impossible to recycle in the district we live in and I’ve been harrassing the Tower Hamlets council (only via email thus far) for information on how to get the mounting recyclables out of our flat. I’ve filed three official requests and still no resolution, but I’m determined.
This morning I discovered some brief historical info on Wikipedia about our borough of Tower Hamlets and more specifically our area of Whitechapel.
The Tower Hamlets page has an overview of the geography, demographics and politics of the area, which seems slightly skewed by the fact that the Docklands development is a part of it. Docklands is somewhat like Vancouver’s Yaletown, filled with upscale condos and the tallest buildings (bank towers) in London. By the way the tallest habitable building in London, and Britain, is 1 Canada Square.
Honing in on Whitechapel, though, some historical nuggets are interesting:
1888 saw the depredations of the Whitechapel Murderer, later known as Jack the Ripper. In 1902, American author Jack London, looking to write a counterpart to Jacob Riis’s seminal book How the Other Half Lives, donned ragged clothes and boarded in Whitechapel, detailing his experiences in The People of the Abyss. Riis had recently documented the astoundingly bad conditions in the leading city of the United States. Jack London, a socialist, thought it worthwhile to explore conditions in the leading city of the nation that had created modern capitalism. He concluded that English poverty was far rougher than the American variety.
Not long before our move here I finished reading How the Other Half Lives to learn more about New York history, so it seems logical I should now read The People of the Abyss. I doubt people in the neighbourhood were battling for recycling services at that time.
21 Feb 06 Hailstorm
It’s really windy and cold here at the moment, the most chilly since we arrived. I was caught in a hailstorm today that lasted at least two whole minutes… it’s dry again though. At first I thought it was snowing, which I think would have been a freakish event here, but alas, it was just frozen rain.
Had a few errands to run, which started at the Job Centre a block away from our flat. Need to find out how to acquire a NIN - National Insurance Number - a.k.a SIN, SSN, you get the idea. It’s a convoluted process just like many tasks here seem to be. You have to call one of eight phone numbers to set up an in-person appointment. That’s all I know about it now, but just getting through on the lines is apparently a near-impossible thing. You can work here without having a NIN, but you pay extra tax called ‘emergency tax’, so it’s in your favour to set it up ASAP.
I need to do some whizbang fabric repair on my beautiful felted purse, so ventured out to see the local haberdashery shop. Unfortunately there was an ominous WHOLESALE ONLY sign in the window, like many businesses in our neighbourhood. This is wholesale fashion land which at times causes upset, like when you see a handbag displayed in a window that you just have to have to have, but the sign on the door says GO AWAY YOU’RE NOT WELCOME HERE! Sad.
Over the weekend a building down the block was burned and gutted. The road was blocked off for a good part of Saturday which in a way was a treat because there was no traffic outside the flat! Since the fire station is directly across from us, all the trucks were out and I’m sure they worked a hard day. By the way, do all fire stations have pool tables in them? From our windows we can see all the goings on over there, including a full-access view into the workout room (ladies!)…
I checked out the St. George’s swimming pool, which is about a 10-minute walk from home. It’s a good big size and the schedule allows for plenty of public swim time - some adults or women’s only - which is great! I definitely feel a need to get better exercise than pounding the pavement, so I’ll head over there when the mood strikes. It costs £2.30 for a swim during non-peak hours, whenever that is.
Again I’ll say that we’re quite loving our neighbourhood here, feeling we made a solid choice for a first place to live. Every direction you walk in holds new surprises. Down Whitechapel Street most days you can buy produce from stands that line the sidewalks. They fill up big bowls full of one type of fruit or veg and you pay £1 per bowl - good deal! Also on Whitechapel, from the mosque, you’ll be lucky to hear the call to prayer over the loudspeakers. It’s a beautiful chanting sound that fills the street and drowns out all other noise pollution.
Oh and I can also tell that ‘Christian Road’ doesn’t have a very Christian feel :O)
15 Feb 06 Eh to Zed
If you live in London, you probably own a London A-Z Map that maps all central London streets and includes a full street index and tube station index. It’s the BIBLE - don’t leave home without it or you just might (ie. probably will) get too lost too find your way back home on your own. That’s if you’re a newbie anyway…
These are sold everywhere from your corner convenience store to grocery shops and bookstores. Shortly after we arrived someone advised us to pick one up, but we waited a few days before pulling the £5.50 trigger. Never look back, best pounds you can spend! Especially helpful when trying to guide your way out of a circus. By definition, I think, a ‘circus’ is basically a circular park with at least 8 roads leading out of it in all directions.
London’s full of circuses :O)
14 Feb 06 Unpacking!
Just taking a break now from the fun of unpacking boxes! Two cheery guys happily carried all our belongings up three flights of stairs, without complaining once! They were really efficient so it didn’t take long, and they even unpacked all the kitchen boxes. One broken casserole dish, nothing major.
We recently bought a lovely wood filing cabinet, but it didn’t make the journey well and needs some serious repairs. Funny that yesterday I was wishing we hadn’t shipped it since standard paper size here is 8.5 x 12, an inch longer than the cabinet was built to hold :( All things considered though, we’re pleased with the outcome of the overseas shipment.
If I could change one thing, I would have done WAY more purging before we left. I can’t believe how it seems like there’s so much crap I don’t want… or won’t use. Anyway, we should be nearly finished unpacking tonight, though books are staying in boxes until we buy some bookshelves.
We placed an order the other day with Argos for some things we really need, like a vacuum and DVD player (and lots of other things). What an incredibly easy thing! Not having a car makes transporting items like that quite complicated, and these guys deliver your entire order for £4.95 - perfect. The store’s motto is “Don’t shop for it, Argos it!”
Our phone line has been installed, but internet may take up to another 2 weeks… unbelievable. Ah well, I’ve got my kitchen back so what’s there to complain about?!
11 Feb 06 London Bridge…
is falling down, falling down, la la la…
When people hear that song in North America I think it’s common to have a picture in your mind of this bridge here, right?
Moonlight and the Bridge, photo by tompagenet
It’s a fun image to conjure, but the bridge above is Tower Bridge, which crosses from the Tower of London to the south bank.
Here’s the real London Bridge:
London Bridge, photo by tompagenet
and though you can’t see in this picture, the bridge’s name is clearly carved into each section that props it up. That settles onsite any arguements tourists might have about it!
9 Feb 06 In the neighbourhood
First off, we just got news our shipment from New York has arrived in London and cleared UK customs! Delivery is set for Tuesday morning 14 Feb, the same day as BT is scheduled to hook up our landline. All other connectivity is dependent on having that landline working… It will be really fun to unpack those personal things here on the other side of the Atlantic, and to be able to change up the wardrobe I’ve been wearing for nearly 2 months!
Exploring our neighbourhood has been great, though a decent-sized grocery store (Waitrose) is a bit further away than we’d like. Closer by we have a Sainsbury Local and a Tesco Metro, both of which offer a couple of cold cases more than your average convenience store. Finding other home basics nearby is also a challenge. In one direction is the City, where shops and restaurants close down early in the evening and at weekends altogether. Really the best direction to go is underground to the tube and into a different neighbourhood for that stuff.
We are located very near to three particular markets: Petticoat Lane Market, selling lots of clothing, shoes, baggage and bedding; Spitalfields Market has plenty of art, crafts, kitschy stuff and some food; Brick Lane Market, which I’ve mentioned before, is a mish-mash of all things.
There’s no shortage of wonderful arty cafes around to have coffee, lunch and relax. There’s Coffee @ Brick Lane, Rhythm (on Whitechapel) and my favourite, Root, which is just off Brick Lane at Truman Brewery. They’ve got lots of comfy couches, great (loud) music and use candlelight during the day. Perfect place to write or curl up with a book.
Also we can almost see the Whitechapel Art Gallery from our window which we plan to visit this coming weekend. I forgot to mention previously that most galleries and museums here have free admission, but have several boxes where you can make a donation. Those boxes are often stuffed with currency from all over zees great big world :O)
So I’m on the hunt now for a stick-vac which is the perfect way to clear dustbunnies off hardwood floors, but I’ve got no idea where to begin…
2 Feb 06 Moving in
I’m writing this in an internet cafe around the corner from our flat. We won’t have phone or internet access now until at least 14 Feb, as we’re having problems with BT. They’ve got a monopoly on phone service here, so there’s no way around the lengthy wait!
The flat is great though, very comfy, especially considering we have none of our personal stuff in it yet. There’s enough furniture included to make it an easy transition, but clothes are still in the suitcase! We have managed to set up a bank account at HSBC on only the second try, and we’ve got all the utility services happening too.
I had to go shopping yesterday for bedsheets, a duvet and some towels which turned into a saga since I had to drag it all back on the tube during rush hour! Add the fact I transferred at one point going the wrong direction and it was a total nightmare… at least we had a comfortable first night sleeping in the new flat. Most things work too! The water pressure is quite pathetic though, and we need some weather stripping around the front door.
Other than that, life won’t be too settled until mid-month. And I’ll be posting from down the street when I can.
GET FED: