Moving to your foggy town

My grandad drove his car into a shop window in Regents street during rather severe pea souper during the black-out. He was probably pissed the cunt..;)

what fog?? I never heard London being referred as foggy or even smoggy.

Yup, cleanest air in Christendom cough

*Last edited by chris crash; 12 Hours Ago at 20:08. Reason: yay spellings *

Fuck me! Never thought I'd see that. The Grammar Police clear-up rate just improved...

Spill the beans. Which one and where?

Welcome Kattt - you missed a right old pea souper today.

its on the isle of dogs

OK

Second Hand bikes: ask here first (which you have admirably done: but keep an eye open for people selling stuff) then try reputable indy bike 'shops' (i.e. not really shops at all) that do second hand/recons, like kiwicycles, Roberto's Bicicletas, FixedGearLondon maybe, and Tour De Ville (Jos & Keith). Search for these as topics on here to contact when you're ready to talk turkey.

London: Not foggy much, except in Tim Burton films and Lionel Bart's Oliver! I guess its because there's some Amercian brand name called London Fog isn't there?

Its funny how touchy some people can be about stuff like this: I once said to some American friends they were 'yankees' and they were quite pissed off at me - whereas I just thought it was a gentle friendly nickname. So sorry for some of us, me included, being touchy.

Also... London, being the largest urban agglomeration in Europe, should probably be referred to as a City. I would even contend it's multiple cities: 'The City' (CBD), and then zones: West End; central, buzzy places (say Camden, Southwark or Shoreditch); mid urban mixed places (say Brixton, or Hammersmith or Bow), mid urban leafy, quite rich places (say Canonbury or Hampstead or Kennington); and boring as fuck suburban nightmarish places (I hope you don't need the names of these!) So choose according to taste and budget where you're gonna live. A LOT of people on this forum seem to live 'round Brixton/Clapham way (south), and Shoreditch/Hackney (east/north east). These kinds of places aren't way out from central places, and have a good mix of the high and low sides of life. But you'll learn more about the areas when you get here. You may have the budget to live somwhere smart like Hampstead or even stupid-money places like Kensington, I don't know.

Have a ton of fun when you get here. I'm certain you will.

321 you're back in the room

Welcome Kattt!

I generally consider myself an East Coast girl (Boston, Baltimore, New York) but I've spent a lot of time in San Diego as well. I moved to London about 2 years ago.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions!

*"Americans may think smog was invented in Los Angeles. Not so. In fact, a Londoner coined the term "smog" in 1905 to describe the city's insidious combination of natural fog and coal smoke. By then, the phenomenon was part of London history, and dirty, acrid smoke-filled "pea-soupers" were as familiar to Londoners as Big Ben and Westminster Abby. The smog even invaded the world of Shakespeare, whose witches in Macbeth chant, "fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air."

Smog in London predates Shakespeare by four centuries. Until the 12th century, most Londoners burned wood for fuel. But as the city grew and the forests shrank, wood became scarce and increasingly expensive. Large deposits of "sea-coal" off the northeast coast provided a cheap alternative. Soon, Londoners were burning the soft, bituminous coal to heat their homes and fuel their factories. Sea-coal was plentiful, but it didn't burn efficiently. A lot of its energy was spent making smoke, not heat. Coal smoke drifting through thousands of London chimneys combined with clean natural fog to make smog. If the weather conditions were right, it would last for days."*

OK

Second Hand bikes: ask here first (which you have admirably done: but keep an eye open for people selling stuff) then try reputable indy bike 'shops' (i.e. not really shops at all) that do second hand/recons, like kiwicycles, Roberto's Bicicletas, FixedGearLondon maybe, and Tour De Ville (Jos & Keith). Search for these as topics on here to contact when you're ready to talk turkey.

London: Not foggy much, except in Tim Burton films and Lionel Bart's Oliver! I guess its because there's some Amercian brand name called London Fog isn't there?

Its funny how touchy some people can be about stuff like this: I once said to some American friends they were 'yankees' and they were quite pissed off at me - whereas I just thought it was a gentle friendly nickname. So sorry for some of us, me included, being touchy.

Also... London, being the largest urban agglomeration in Europe, should probably be referred to as a City. I would even contend it's multiple cities: 'The City' (CBD), and then zones: West End; central, buzzy places (say Camden, Southwark or Shoreditch); mid urban mixed places (say Brixton, or Hammersmith or Bow), mid urban leafy, quite rich places (say Canonbury or Hampstead or Kennington); and boring as fuck suburban nightmarish places (I hope you don't need the names of these!) So choose according to taste and budget where you're gonna live. A LOT of people on this forum seem to live 'round Brixton/Clapham way (south), and Shoreditch/Hackney (east/north east). These kinds of places aren't way out from central places, and have a good mix of the high and low sides of life. But you'll learn more about the areas when you get here. You may have the budget to live somwhere smart like Hampstead or even stupid-money places like Kensington, I don't know.

Have a ton of fun when you get here. I'm certain you will.

321 you're back in the room

Dude, love the way you've written 500 words trying to be helpful then post a picture and a catchphrase from British show? That must have Katt scratching her head

Also, if you ever get it in a pub quiz, England does not officially have a capital city, although London is the de facto capital, sort of an unwritten constitution.

Also, if you're ever in a Pub Quiz, I have it on good authority that you should never use the team name "The Enumclaw Horse Incident".

Dude, love the way you've written 500 words trying to be helpful then post a picture and a catchphrase from British show? That must have Katt scratching her head

The Kenny pic was mainly for pj.

Cor blimey, i've got two-4-pand treackle!

Enjoy the Landan experience sweet-hart, it's blindin......now where's that mary poppins got to?

I believe the correct pronunciation is 'Schweedhard-T', at least, that's the way the cafe owner said it the other day.

although in many ways i feel like i've gotten dumber from reading these posts... thank you ;) i've been looking on gumtree and this other student housing/flatshare website i've found but everything seems to be super last minute as far as housing is concerned. i'm from pennsylvania/philadelphia/new york. in the states you're referred to as "foggy londontown" quite often which is why i titled the thread that way, perhaps a mistake, but i meant no ill will. these diy bike shops skullhead named are just what i'm looking for.. thanks!! and hey, if anybody you know is in need of a flatmate, let me know. thanks again for all the little tips. i was reading about bike polo, too, and it looks awesome. kinda makes me wanna get a fixed gear instead of a ss, although last night my friend was showing me a little gadget on the hub of his new bike that switches it from fg to ss... how common is this? seems like a pretty cool idea. i'm mostly just worried about getting plowed over by a double decker while learning to adjust to fixed. ok have a great day guv'nors.

Hammo, That is presisly correct old boy. Very good, very good indeed.

Katt, some of us speak like Dick Van Dike out of Mary Poppins and the rest of us speak like Stewy out of Family Guy!

Here is the kind of west end shows you can expect to see;

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scX1R4yKDSU&feature=related"]YouTube
- Fast Show - How Queer[/ame]

i'm mostly just worried about getting plowed over by a double decker while learning to adjust to fixed. ok have a great day guv'nors.

Be ware of the open topped double decker buses, they fall over all the time. Like this one today

When was the last time they updated history books in the US?

Pfft! Mademoiselle you are ze french, are we not les rosbifs to you?!

Be ware of the open topped double decker buses, they fall over all the time. Like this one today

looks like me, trackstanding

When was the last time they updated history books in the US?

before the civil war?

before the civil war?

Any southerners here? No? Fine, then I'll say it on their behalf (I lived in Maryland for 5 years, it was a slave-owning state):

Not "civil war". "War Between the States", dammit!*

• Disclaimer: the commentary in this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the poster.
  

When was the last time they updated history books in the US?
There's no point, there hasn't been enough history to warrant a book yet. Let alone multiple volumes.

Not the War for Southern Independance?

IMDB is the closest thing needed to history books in the US. It covers all of the things they're interested in at least.

Pfft! Mademoiselle you are ze french, are we not les rosbifs to you?!

Sir, even though I sound 100% like a frog, my blood is half rosbif/half frog.

En fait, il etait une fois beaucoup de rosbifs etait grenouilles... donc il est possible que ton sang est 100% grenouille...