She Loves London

Month: January 2013

  • Err, I Think the Buses are Laughing at Dalston

    Err, I Think the Buses are Laughing at Dalston

    As if the cliché ridden magazine articles and reviews weren’t bad enough when it comes to quietly poking fun at Dalston and surrounds, now even the BUSES are at it.

    The bus stopping at Dalston Junction Station (lol)

    LOL yourself, WORLD.

    With this and the reports of late night revelers weeing and chucking up in the street, isn’t it time someone wrote something nice about the Dalston for a change?

    I’ll start:

    “I like it when you go past Super Kebab on Kingsland Road in the evening and the police are all lined up in there getting their dinner.”

    There. See? That wasn’t so hard. Give it a go sometime, London.

    Have you been on an “LOL Dalston Junction” bus? Do you know why it’s there? TELL ME.

  • Lost for Words to Describe East London? Look No Further!

    Lost for Words to Describe East London? Look No Further!

    If you’ve been tasked with writing a magazine article about East London, or are reviewing a bar, restaurant, pub, market or road in the area, don’t worry.

    The trendy Hackney locals realise it can be difficult to come up with hip adjectives and arty, bearded ways to describe the scenesters and alternative moustache-wearing crowd you’re expecting to find while stumbling through the borough’s experimental decor.

    So if you’re unsure of what words to include in your copy, here are some hints gathered from other well-known  guides and newspapers, which will undoubtedly serve you well when portraying a clichéd view of London’s area du jour.

    Handy tip: Grabbing a pen and checking them off as you go will help to make sure you don’t use the word “hipster” twice in one sentence.

     

    Trendy hip buzzword suggestions for people writing about East London

    “But how does it work in practice?” I hear you wonder.

    Like I said, don’t worry. These words apply to any East London establishment you wish to describe.

    e.g. Car-boot sales

    Princess May Road Car Boot Sale listing in TimeOut
    TimeOut says fashionable locals can’t get enough of second hand Fischer Price toys

    Bars:

    Dalston Superstore: home of moustache-wearing bike riders
    Moustache – BING! Fixie bike – BING!

    And city farms, where even if the terms aren’t appropriate, they can still be used:

    Arty, hipster crowd flocks to a trendy city farm cafe
    Trendy foodie hipsters DON’T flock to city farm cafe, according to The Guardian

    Keep up the good work, guysh. George Orwell would be proud.

  • Foolproof Resolutions for Lazy London Locals

    Foolproof Resolutions for Lazy London Locals

    Sod the gym. Sack off Dry Jan (or congrats if you already have). Renounce your self imposed veganism, and don’t bother buying a bike; it’ll only get nicked.

    In fact, if like me you’re not at all interested in setting yourself on the road to self improvement this year, why not do something that helps London be a bit better instead?

    Sunrise over East London

    • Eat, shop and get drunk locally

    This year, it’s all about supporting the local shops, cinemas, cafes, restaurants, bars and markets so London’s good bits aren’t infected by the Tesco Drone Machines. Not only are London’s markets brilliant, but independent businesses are 70% more likely to have dogs in them (see Huh in Dalston) and honestly, you haven’t lived unless you’ve bought some meat from my dad’s butchers shop on Mill Hill Broadway. Vested interest in this one? You betcha.

    • Explore a new bit of the city

    Thanks to the Overground’s lovely link-up job completed last November, you can now go in a big, brilliant circle all around London. This also means that those from the south side officially have no need to wistfully look upon north London from afar while sighing “Oh, if only it was within reach” while waiting for their delayed South Eastern train. Come towards the light! It’s wonderful up here, we’ve got tube lines and everything.

    • Look up (and put your phone down)

    We live in one of the most historic, diverse cities in the world, but most of us don’t spend nearly enough time looking at it. And I don’t mean through a camera lens, or even a blog (ironic, yeah) – I mean with your eye things. Same goes for food – stop taking photos and just eat it, will you? I don’t care how meaty your liquor is, at the end of the day, no one needs to see the inside of your kebab. Stop sharing for a minute. Put your phone away, log off Facebook, and stop bashing into people as you write texts on the Strand (guilty). Your mate’s baby might have been born yesterday, but St Paul’s cathedral has been there since 1675. Per-spec-tive.

    • Don’t be an idiot

    Last year I tried setting myself a challenge to smile at at least one person a day – I failed, spectacularly. Not because I’m a miserable, grumpy, sad faced person, but because it’s really, really hard to grin manically at a stranger without freaking them out. Nevertheless, I think we could all put steps in place to turn our music down on those crap Apple earphones and pick stuff up if it’s fallen down (people included). Let’s generally be a bit nicer, and tut, elbow, sigh loudly and slam our rucksacks in peoples faces on the tube a bit less.

    If you would like to add to this list of easy things London locals can do, please feel free.

    Also, this isn’t a hugely commercially minded blog – but if you run an independent business and want to give me a heads up about it, I will probably take a look. Especially if you have dogs in your shop. I’m all over that.