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Published: October 31st 2009
Katie Price signing books.
Getting to know these celebs wandering about eh?And so we are in London. My Mum would be pleased that we are finally visiting the UK properly. The rest of the world is there and important, of course, but the UK is really the place you should visit. Better still, I know, that we get ourselves up to Scotland but London and its area is good for now.
We have been here before but only for 5 days and we were pretty busy doing the visa shuffle in preparation for a trip through to Russia and along the Silk Road. Still a bit of visa work going on and this time it is for various African countries. Not as frenetic though. We are here for a few weeks.
The primary purpose of this time in London is research into the histories of our respective families but all work and no play is not a good idea. Our plan is to get to some shows, do some of the walks around London, hit a few restaurants and, perhaps, drop into a pub or two if all of this activity builds a thirst.
So far, we haven't done any of the 'formal' walks - although we generally manage
Another Celeb
She wanted money though. to do between 10 and 15kms when we are out and about. We have been to a show. Decided to start out with one where there was some chance they would get it about right. The Mousetrap will have been going for 57 years in November. There seemed a certain symmetry in going to see this play with our own 57 year old. It was a lot of fun and particularly for the person who has read as many Agatha Christie novels as has been possible in her time. They ask you, of course, at the end of the play not reveal the ending. I did check Wiki though and was disappointed to see it there. Don't look before you go.
Walking around after the show came out - it was a matinee but still dark when we emerged - we were surprised to see so many people out and about. This may happen every night, and probably does, but the crowds around Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and Soho were a bit of a shock to us. The place was jumping. Restaurants were doing a roaring trade, no room in the pubs, shops all busy and people pouring in
Streets of Harlesden
Our place is on the High Street so a little noisier than this but an interesting place to live â“ for a time. and out of shows. This was a Tuesday night.
There are other surprises about London. I bought a copy of the Times the other day. This is a paper of record and has been so for many, many years. Well perhaps it used to be. It isn't much now. Very disappointing. The Australian, as conservative and right wing as it tends to be, achieves a better result in terms of straight news than the issue of the Times that I read. All right, it is only one but I will think hard before I pick one up again.
They are into give-away papers here. Every now and then I grab a copy of the Evening Standard. It isn't better than the Times but, it is, after all, a give-away and you get what you pay for. I will give the Guardian a go at some stage but at the moment we are getting our news and current affairs from the BBC and a bit of color and local content from the give-aways.
There have been some interesting issues running while we have been here. The BBC runs a program, Question Time, similar to Questions and Answers that
National Archives
A good building in our humble opinion in very nice grounds. We have been spending time here. One of us has a Readers Ticket complete with photo. runs on the ABC hosted by Tony Jones. We have watched it a couple of times. They tend to use more politicians here so it pretty quickly becomes and exercise in kicking the pollies rather than having a more broad ranging discussion of an issue. They had a bloke called Nick Griffin, head of the British National Party on a week or so ago. There was a furore about even having him there with a strong push that, even though he has been elected to the European Parliament , he should still not be given in any recognition by the BBC.
As you would expect, the program quickly became an exercise in getting stuck into Nick Griffin. It was entertaining but it would have been more interesting if this clown had been any good. He tried to run lines like - we aren't really that bad, I am often misquoted, we are not anti blacks and Asians, we just want Britain to be British. He had a line running that Britain should be for the 'indigenous' British, the ones who were here at the end of the Ice Age. He wasn't picked up well on how the BNP might
sort out the mess caused by the movements and invasions of people since the Ice Age. The Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes and Normans all arrived and merged with those already there, more or less, over time just as the Asians, Carribean Blacks and African Blacks, along with others are now doing the same thing. Interesing point made by one of the other panelists that 50% of black children now have a white parent. Dammed hard to maintain racial purity when people will insist on doing what people do.
And while I am on news from here, it will come as no surprise that British Labour are very heavily on the nose. It has become a running joke in the media . Worse than anything we experienced with John Howard or Paul Keating from what I can tell. Government Ministers on TV sit there like rabbits in the headlights waiting for the truck to flatten them. It is very sad. Tony Blair could become President of the European Council after the Lisbon Treaty is finalised. You would think that most would put aside their party positions and be pleased that they have a strong candidate for such a
Camden Markets
A nice approach to recycling. Must have all run into something wiping out the front end. thankless, but potentially very important, task. But it seems that people from all sides of politics are aghast at the idea. They simply can't get past their own narrow perspective.
But the worst, I think, is the sacking of the head of the Advisory Council on Drugs. This is a scientific body and the chairman appears to be an eminent scientist. On the basis of the best scientific analysis available, this fellow - no fiendish, drug crazed, hairy, psychotic - has said things like more people are hurt by horse riding than by ectasy, and marijuana does not have as many harmful effects as alcohol and tobacco. To add insult to injury this bloke doesn't even get paid for the job from which he has now been sacked. So it is tell the truth and get yourself clipped in the best traditions of Westminster.
Still on things that surprise, we are just a little surprised by the number of people who have cars and who drive them around. It is not as if there aren't options. The Tube, for us, at least, provides an excellent service. It is very well patronised, a little too well at some times
For Adam
This bloke is everywhere. They seem to like Michael too. of the day. It is not especially cheap but, compared to driving a car, I suspect that it would pan out well. They also have a bus system of course and it seems to complement the Tube and the Overground pretty well. Parking a car, unless you have an allocated car park that comes at a considerable cost, appears to be very difficult. Roads often have single and double yellow lines and those in residential areas are normally for parking by residential permit only.
We did decide to drive here on one day. The original plan was to get the train or tube to a place on the outskirts and rent a car there. But on Sundays there are none available. They seem difficult to find on other days as well. Would have thought that it was an obvious plan but apparently not. We picked up a rental at Victoria near the station - smack in the middle of town - at 9.00 am on a Sunday to drive up to Norfolk. Still traffic about but not too much. Probably just a little more than a typical Darwin peak hour. Took one wrong turn, just one, and by the
Camden Lock
Or one of them. Was more impressive with the water coming through but you will have to wait for the movie to come ou time the Etrex found us again we were well on the way to somewhere else. It cost us in time and frustration getting out of London but, once out, the Ms and As are pretty good - apart from one 20 km stretch on one of the As that, inexplicably, was just 2 lanes.
Getting back was more interesting. We followed the Navman back along the M1 onto the M25, which tries to circumnavigate London, I think, and then cut off onto the M4 which takes you into the city proper. All very straightforward. We had to have the car back by 7.30 and had left ourselves plenty of time leaving Norfolk a little after 3.00. Things went very well after we made it on to the M1 and were OK for a while on the M25. We were well ahead of our time and would make it with time to spare. Then it all slowed down. We did make it in time to get the car back but with only 15 minutes to spare. There didn't even seem to be anything special to hold people up. Some roadworks on the M25 but really it was just the bulk
400+ Years Old.
You would buy it if you could wouldn't you? A great project! of traffic. More people on the roads than they could cope with.
We can now say that we have driven in London and survived the experience which is good. We won,t be making a practice of it.
This is really an amazing place. It doesn't seem to ever stop. We are living on a fairly main suburban road. There is a period around 4 or 5 in the morning when things are relatively quiet. There are still vehicles around mind you, just not so many. For the rest of the day and night the traffic is constant. People in this neighbourhood are often out on the footpaths. There are a lot of people around most of the time. The place is always buzzing.
Our flat is a 'double studio' or a studio with a double bed. We have a kitchen and the tiniest bathroom that can fit a toilet and shower and still allow a person in. It is half the size of Sarah's place and there is no verandah. It is, however, cosy and warm with good heating and, most importantly, has double glazing which means that we can shut out most of the noise and
get some sleep.
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adam
non-member comment
google
hasta la victoria siempre! Anyway, I now think that you saw Liz Hurley - which is more impressive than Jordan anyway. I just googled the date, London and Estee Lauder and got this http://forums.superiorpics.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2268833/Elizabeth_Hurley_London_Launch I'm like sort of super-detective-ninja! Love, Adam