Category: Further Reading

What other people think.

  • And the Award for Most Depressing Source of London News Goes to…

    And the Award for Most Depressing Source of London News Goes to…

    Today it occurred to me that this sunny She Loves London outlook – well, it’s just not truly representative.

    Rain on me by garry knight
    Image by Garry Knight, via Flickr

    I mean, being positive is all well and good, but I know what you’re probably thinking.

    Where are the stabbings? The beatings? The drug killings? Why do you ignore all the guns and crime that this beautiful city has to offer?

    For a minute I thought I was clearly missing a trick. There’s a hyper-local blog niche for city-wide violence not yet filled by the Mail Online, and I could totally get involved.

    But then last week I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and found myself on the receiving end of a string of really depressing London news updates, one after another, like a Misery in the City boxset of gloom. Someone else has it covered.

    London24's Depressing News Feed

    Bit intense, no?

    London is clearly a bit mental underneath all the happy tourists, jaunty-hatted revellers and cultural shindigs.

    And naturally, no one could blame you if reading all this violent news put you off your dinner, or diminished your appetite somewhat.

    Speaking of which…

    Anyone know where I can find some good fish and chips in London?

    Oh! Hang on.

    How do you like your fish? Battered?

    Fancy a chip?

    Nah. Me neither.

    In conclusion, I think I’ll stick to the good bits.

  • Questions People Ask When you Blog About London

    Questions People Ask When you Blog About London

    When you’ve got a blog about London, people expect you to know stuff.

    “Hey!” they say, bounding up to you all expectant ‘n’ that, “You know about London. Six people, Saturday night. We want jazz with a casual hip hop interlude, a sit down dinner and a fine selection of craft beer on tap, preferably north of the river. Where can we go?”

    It is at this point you invoke the Knowledgeable Face – an expression that involves pursing your lips together, looking at the sky, crinkling your brow and counting to three – before running through the options.

    “Hmm. Dunno. Not a clue. I’d ask on Twitter. Or, actually – you tried TimeOut?”

    “Oh, I just thought…” they begin, disappointment etched across their face like rampant teenage acne, “I just thought you might know. Because of your blog and stuff.”

    Then they walk away, muttering about there should be an Ofcom for blogs or something and you call after them, “Hey! Come back! I know things! Ask me the five different types of people you can expect to meet on the tube! Ask me where the cool kids sit on the bus! Oi! 139 FANS CAN’T BE WRONG, SUNSHINE.”

    Dog on Hampstead Heath overlooking London

    It’s like look, here’s the deal.

    I might not know where you can find a decent meal west of Kingsland Road, and I think I’ve been to Western Australia more times than I’ve been south of the Thames – but that’s because my social plans are an exact science.

    It’s taken years to hone this stuff, to get it down, to master the art of what I like to do in London – and when I find it, I stick to it.

    I’ve come along way since those heady days of wandering aimlessly around Leicester Square looking for any bar that’ll have me, and I’m quite proud of the fact that now, my social life on any given day can be pinpointed with GPS accuracy.

    Sunday? New Rose. Tuesday? Carluccios and Colebrooke. Saturday? Ruby’s, then the Lion. Friday? Anywhere, god dammit, it’s Friday! Then usually Barrio. Brunch? Dalston Emporium or Bardens. Can’t go home, won’t go home? The Nest. Weekday, starving, need food? MeatLiquor. Hungry after work? Wahaca, Covent Garden. Belly dancing? Gallipoli. Fancy a walk? Hampstead Heath. Dead people? British Museum.

    Ask me where to go, where’s good, what’s new, what’s happening and I will reel off one of the above.

    Ask me which carriage to stand in to get on the Metropolitan line train at Baker Street and off right in front of the stairs at Pinner? Depends on the platform, but your best bet is the second pillar down near the Snack Stop.

    And sometimes, when you’re a Londoner, that’s the only sort of knowledge you need.

  • An Enlightening Selection of Good London Blog Posts

    An Enlightening Selection of Good London Blog Posts

    Internet High Five

    Studies have shown that it’s statistically impossible for you to read everything on the internet all of the time.

    But luckily for you, I can and frequently do spend a fairly sizable chunk of my day doing precisely that.

    So here are some interesting, amusing or just plain good London related blog posts and articles you can read while I think up something original to say.

    (Thanks, internet.)

     

    Hipsters are better than you, say researchers

    Hot on the heels of my “oh, you’re calling everyone in East London a hipster…again. Yawn” type posts, came this gem from The Daily Mash:

    Hipsters tend not to breed as pregnancy is difficult to accessorize, meaning their numbers will always remain low, but Hayes also argued that while their conversations make you want to yank your brain out through your nose, they probably feel the same way about your ghastly children.

    (thanks Emma Saunders for the heads up)

    We Went On a Quest to Find the New Dalston

    I think everyone in the entire internet read this last week, but in case you missed it, here were Vice’s predictions for “the new Dalston”.

    Look, I’m not saying Edmonton’s the Bronx – I’m sure it’ll be fine in the long run, but there was a cardboard cut-out of a policeman stood in one of the supermarket windows. There was just a palpable sense of unease, is all.

     

    Who loves London? And who does not?

    I liked this post on the Guardian’s London blog by Dave Hill, where he delves into November’s YouGov survey results revealing more Londoners are unhappy here than ever before. There was light, however, below the line in the shape of a comment from one half of a retired couple, who did things another way.

    We moved to London just over 12 months ago. We did it as part of our retirement plan swapping a 5 bedrooms house in Cambridgeshire for a 1 bedroom flat. London is the perfect place to retire to. First you have the Freedom Pass. Travel around the whole of London at no cost. Before we might have thought of going to a concert or theatre but felt the time and the expense wasn’t worth it. Now we just hop on the tube.

     

    Love on the Lines

    It is almost Valentine’s Day, so here’s an article from December about the tube lines you’ll need to inconspicuously stalk in a non-weird way if you’re looking for love on the Underground. (tl;dr Avoid Victoria, embrace Bakerloo.)

    A lot of those boarding at Victoria in the morning are married suburbanites who have moved to south London or Kent for cheaper properties and better schools — so you’ve probably already missed your chance there.

     

    Searching for Something…

    A brilliantly observed blog post that most singles in London can probably relate to. No? Just me then.

    I’m pretty sure I won’t find the love of my life at 4AM in the Dolphin.  And yet there he was; an incarnation, a very close imitation of my perfect man.  Granted, he hated the Sopranos and insinuated that every Smiths song sounded like a cover of their one original, shit song, but hey, nobody’s perfect, right?

     

    Admittedly, even the pros occasionally miss stuff, so feel free to share  anything London and Good you’ve read lately and I’ll smother you in the sort of affection usually reserved for monkeys at the zoo.