Just spent a long weekend in London and have to say, what a damn fine city. It maybe scruffy, noisy and dirty in places but what large city isn't. I came away with the following impressions:
- prices. These were more than fair and we couldn't complain. Food, drink and other purchases were all comparable with other major cities and in some cases were cheaper so I'm not too sure waht people complain about. The only places which were a bit expensive were those directly in the center but even then we expected that and they weren't overly expensive either
- petrol. Why can't I get 98 octane but only 97? Price was also fair although I can't see why the petrol pumps can't be like in Germany where you just stick the nozzle in the tank and then click the little lever so the handle stays locked leaving your hands free and not in constant contact with the (smelly) handle
- foreigners. **** me there's a lot of them, mostly tourists though...Actually I would say that 90% of the people I dealt with, hotel, pub, eateries, etc. were not English. I think the only Enlgish people I had any dealings with were a couple of shop assistants and a bus driver. I was at Victoria bus station looking at the bus route map working out which bus to take and a friendly gentleman in a strange uniform, turned out it was a TfL one, helped me with finding the correct bus and he turned out to be Italian
- food. Good, reasonably priced and decent portions. The only problem was the curry, which was excellent, as it really made me fart badly. Bottled beer was a bit expensive though...
- weather. Cold and wet for about 50% of the time but it is November...
- people. Nearly everyone had a mobile phone in their hand, whether sitting on the tube / bus or walking (I purposely walked into a few who were so busy texting and not looking where they were going.) Does no-one interact anymore? They should put mobile signal suppressors in the tube and make people realise that there is another world out there...
- supermarket. **** me it was full on the Sunday morning and the queue of cars trying to get into John Lewis Home stuff was amazing. Whatever happened to Sunday morning paper reading / playing football / recovering / etc?
- television. Well it wasn't too bad but it wasn't particularly good either but what got me were the adverts, primarily gambling or finance and if they weren't then they were offering you finance to buy their product. Also nealry every advert has some writing at the bottom of the screen telling you something, whats that all about?
The Lord Mayors Procession was quite good though...
- prices. These were more than fair and we couldn't complain. Food, drink and other purchases were all comparable with other major cities and in some cases were cheaper so I'm not too sure waht people complain about. The only places which were a bit expensive were those directly in the center but even then we expected that and they weren't overly expensive either
- petrol. Why can't I get 98 octane but only 97? Price was also fair although I can't see why the petrol pumps can't be like in Germany where you just stick the nozzle in the tank and then click the little lever so the handle stays locked leaving your hands free and not in constant contact with the (smelly) handle
- foreigners. **** me there's a lot of them, mostly tourists though...Actually I would say that 90% of the people I dealt with, hotel, pub, eateries, etc. were not English. I think the only Enlgish people I had any dealings with were a couple of shop assistants and a bus driver. I was at Victoria bus station looking at the bus route map working out which bus to take and a friendly gentleman in a strange uniform, turned out it was a TfL one, helped me with finding the correct bus and he turned out to be Italian
- food. Good, reasonably priced and decent portions. The only problem was the curry, which was excellent, as it really made me fart badly. Bottled beer was a bit expensive though...
- weather. Cold and wet for about 50% of the time but it is November...
- people. Nearly everyone had a mobile phone in their hand, whether sitting on the tube / bus or walking (I purposely walked into a few who were so busy texting and not looking where they were going.) Does no-one interact anymore? They should put mobile signal suppressors in the tube and make people realise that there is another world out there...
- supermarket. **** me it was full on the Sunday morning and the queue of cars trying to get into John Lewis Home stuff was amazing. Whatever happened to Sunday morning paper reading / playing football / recovering / etc?
- television. Well it wasn't too bad but it wasn't particularly good either but what got me were the adverts, primarily gambling or finance and if they weren't then they were offering you finance to buy their product. Also nealry every advert has some writing at the bottom of the screen telling you something, whats that all about?
The Lord Mayors Procession was quite good though...
Comment