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)
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!
18 Jan 06 A full weekend of exploration
We covered so much ground on the weekend, it will be tough to recall the entirety of it to share with you, but I’ll do my best.
As I mentioned previously, we’re staying just around a corner from Trafalgar Square. On Saturday in the square was the Russian Winter Festival, and a highlight was to be a display/performance of the Kremlin Guard. We showed up before the gates opened, so made a decision to take a pass through part of the National Gallery instead of wait outside. We saw lots of paintings from 14th-17th century. I’m always surprised by how rich the colours in those religious works are, how could that paint survive so long and look so fresh today? There were so many paintings, after awhile of looking your brain just goes numb to the wonder of it. So we ventured back out to the Russian Festival.
Some booths were set up to sell Russian goodies, but with the throng of people crowded around, we couldn’t even get close enough to peek. On stage a teenage girl was belting out some songs with an incredible voice, which made for a wonderful backdrop to the mayhem in the crowd. After a few passes by the food concession stands, we decided to head out. Unfortunately we never saw the Kremlin Guard, but we did enough other stuff to make up for it.
Next we walked across the Golden Jubilee Bridge, over the Thames to the South Bank which offers good views of the city across the river, and has several galleries and theatres. On that side we spent a considerable amount of time poking through pages in the Foyles bookstore. Selection is quite amazing there, which I especially noticed in the design section. Further along the promenade was an outdoor bookmarket, some funky buskers playing great jazz (clarinet, double-bass, steel drum) and an outdoor exhibit of UK press photography from 2005. We walked across the Waterloo Bridge and down the Strand back to the hotel.
If that wasn’t enough adventure for a day, we set out to see the British Museum! On prominent display, we had a good look at the Rosetta Stone, saw one of the familiar statues from Easter Island, and walked through the African collection.
Sunday we took the tube to East London to have a look at our apartment building in the daylight. This area is a real mishmash of modern, gentrified buidings and shops, eastside arts and multiculturalism and derelict shells of businesses past. A few blocks-ish down is Spitalfields Market, setup with booths full of fashions, crafts, furniture and food. We wandered out toward Brick Lane, which is an insane market crowding a number of streets in all directions! All manner of junk is on offer there, some set on tables, other on blankets on the ground or spilling out of car boots. I can imagine that gems could be found here, but as a sensory experience it was unmatched in mayhem - good fun! For street art fans reading, this area is canvas for the likes of Banksy - we saw at least three of his pieces in our travels.
We then attempted to check out the Smithfield meat market, but it was all shut.
Later we took the tube over to Oxford Circus and did some shopping at John Lewis (department store) in the haberdashery department. What’s haberdashery, you ask? It’s the crafter’s fantasy, that’s what! There’s a large section there, with fabrics, yarn and sundry, and I bought some Noro yarn to make a new fancy scarf! Next up we visited Liberty, another department store, partly set in a Swiss chalet-style buiding. Liberty is known here for offering the ultimate in style, different from Harrod’s which is ostentatious, horrendously expensive and set in a tacky interior. We wound back to the hotel down Carnaby Street, and through Covent Garden.
So that’s what I remember from the weekend! Who’s coming for a visit?
7 Jan 06 Replacing my luck
I’ve gone and bought a compass, which is absolutely necessary to maintain my mental well-being. (The brand is Suunto and their tagline is Replacing Luck, which explains the title of this post.)
I wandered lost after viewing a flat in Pimlico. I meant to make my way directly northeast toward the hotel, but walked in vast circles into Chelsea, around Victoria Station and through Knightsbridge. At one point I thought it would be useful to refer to a map, but on its own it was no help. With a compass though, I can ease this pain in the future :O)
The flat hunt is proceeding reasonably well. Since we are unfamiliar with neighbourhoods, I’ve been looking in many areas - primarily in the east and south (that’s E1 and SW1 for those hip to the postcodes). I’ve also looked in Islington and Shoreditch. Since Matt is working in Mayfair around St. James’s Park the only location preference we’ve had is to be near transport links for him to easily commute.
Today we actually made an offer on a place! It was listed for 295/week and others offered 315/week… yes, we are in a bidding war apparently which I’ve never encountered before when renting. We offered only 300/week and that’s it, but the agent we’re dealing with said we are the landlord’s preferred choice for tenants. We met with him today and hit it off well. We should know by tomorrow if he accepts ours or the higher offer. What would you do?
The flat is in a most ideal spot for Matt. He could walk to work in 10 minutes, straight across the park. This is a large one-bedroom in a 70s building near the Home Office (and Buckingham Castle), SW1, practically on top of St. James’s tube station and very near a Sainsbury’s (groceries). It’s got a really modern kitchen with a large fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer. It’s fully furnished, down to replacement lightbulbs! Great condition, lots of storage, secure building, etc. We really like it, but won’t be heartbroken if the higher bidder wins. We’ve still got till the end of January to confirm a place, so there’s no great urgency. It was nice to have Matt along looking today and moreso since it’s been the best flat so far - by a long shot. Speaking of Matt, I’ll bug him to make a post to tell how his work is going :)
Let see, what else is going on? A few discoveries of Britishy things…
- We tried a cornish pastry (pasty) which, somewhat surprisingly, was a very tasty pasty!
- Discovered Roasted Chicken-flavoured crisps and had to give em a try and guess what.. they taste like roasted chicken. The texture of crisps is different enough from potato chips though that indeed they deserve a different name.
- Many thoughts in my head now have a British accent, and I’ve also practiced my accent out loud for Matt. His opinion: it’s horrific! :)
- Water closets are annoying! That’s WC for short. I curse evertime I open the door to go to the bathroom and see no toilet there.
- Perhaps I’ll get a job driving a bus, double-decker big & red. They are hiring…
- Nearly every corner has a Pret or an Eat shop for a quick pre-packaged lunch grab.
- Don’t just order “water, please” at a restaurant. It’s still water (bottled), sparkling water, or tap water.
- Canadians say eh at the end of a sentence, Londoners say yeh
Also, I had to get a mobile phone. Everybody (and I mean everybody) in this city has one. Not only that, but the voice messaging system in our hotel room failed, and I needed to be reached by lettings agents. You can get a pay-as-you-go mobile here by walking into Carphone Warehouse and handing them less than 10 pounds. Just like that.
The surroundings, the architecture and history, are really beautiful. I haven’t taken photos yet as I’ve got plenty of time to gain some perspective before shooting, as opposed to just taking snapshots. Besides, it’s another few weeks before I’ll be able to share them on the blog. Imagine though - our hotel is steps away from Trafalgar Square, around the corner from a fabulous view of Big Ben. It’s alright!
12 Dec 05 “I want that one”
Thanks to Jen for recommending we watch Little Britain “in preparation for your relocation!”
It’s hilarious short-sketch comedy with multiple characters - all performed by the same two actors, the best of which are Lou and Andy. Always the same gag, but funny every time: Lou asks Andy to choose something, Andy says “I want that one” without ever looking at the choices, Lou asks “Are you sure? Are you sure you’re sure?”, Andy answers “Yes, Yes” then changes his mind at the point of no return.
In Herby City live Andy and his carer Lou. Lou selflessly dedicates his life to looking after wheelchair-bound Andy and Andy selfishly dedicates his life to making things as difficult as possible for Lou. What Lou doesn’t know is that there’s nothing wrong with Andy’s legs, and whenever he turns his back, Andy’s off out of his chair and gambolling about like a fat, balding, semi-naked spring lamb.
Second-funniest is Daffyd, the only gay in the village!
30 Nov 05 Synonymous with Fog
While imagining a possible title for this blog, I typed “London” into the reference.com thesaurus. The results:
1 entry found for london.
Main Entry: fog
Part of Speech: noun 1
Definition: mist
Synonyms: brume, cloud, effluvium, film, fog-eater, gloom, grease, grey-out, ground clouds, haze, London fog, miasma, murk, murkiness, nebula, obscurity, pea soup, pea souper, smaze, smog, smoke, smother, soup, steam, vapor, wisp
I’m thinking this would aggravate Jag at Route 79 who says:
..it always mystified me as to why North Americans in particular always associate London with fog - “London Fog� in fact. Perhaps it’s to do with too many people growing up with a false impression that London is always a really “foggy� place. Perhaps fuelled by too many TV documentaries about Jack the Ripper set in the dark foggy streets of Victorian London?
I’ve been reading Jag’s blog for quite a few months (long before we knew we’d be moving to London), since I went looking for an awesome Mutter Paneer recipe. I can confirm his mutter is fantastic and I plan to cook up more of his recipes in the future - the Indian Style KFC for one!
OH - and I haven’t decided yet what this blog will be called, but at least temporarily it’s Now London… design will morph too, along with the experience.
GET FED: