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Thread: What's happening in London in August?

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  1. #1

    Default What's happening in London in August?

    Apart from the breakdown of the social order, rampant cannibalism, petrol wars etc I mean

    Due to unfortunate circumstances, the Ginger and I will be returning to London again this year, a week and a half or so beginning the second week of the month. So far, all we know is that we'll be seeing Book of Mormon on the 10th. We intend to see Wicked and the Lion King as well if possible, and avail ourselves to some Shakespeare in the park maybe catch a movie as well but other than that our itinerary is very open.

    Do any of you Londonites have any good insider info on fun things coming up this August? Anything you're looking forward to in particular? We're not fussy, we mostly enjoy wandering around in urban settings and people-watching but find musicals, comedy etc. esp. enjoyable.

    As always, if you're in town and would like to hit up a pub or catch a show, holla no politics allowed of course.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  2. #2
    So it's been pissing down all day and every single part of me is likely to remain damp for the remainder of my natural life, but we're now in the intermission of Wicked and oh my GOD. Goosebumps! Tears I have no idea how they'll top what we've seen so far.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  3. #3
    Ooh I love Wicked! We've been to see it 3 or 4 times, love it every time. Have fun.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer View Post
    ℬeing upset is understandable, but be upset at yourself for poor planning, not at the world by acting like a spoiled bitch during an interview.

  4. #4
    Ah so you've landed in my fine city! Most excellent, sir.

    I must apologise for yesterday's non-stop rain. Rest of the week and weekend is looking fine though for sight-seeing shenanigans.
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    It's actually the original French billion, which is bi-million, which is a million to the power of 2. We adopted the word, and then they changed it, presumably as revenge for Crecy and Agincourt, and then the treasonous Americans adopted the new French usage and spread it all over the world. And now we have to use it.

    And that's Why I'm Voting Leave.

  5. #5
    Check your PMs, come play with me and Spawnie tomorrow!
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  6. #6
    When's the southern US vacation? Lots of fun things to do here, from Confederate flag spotting, to tasting different varieties of fried chicken, to boiling alive in the summer.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
    When's the southern US vacation? Lots of fun things to do here, from Confederate flag spotting, to tasting different varieties of fried chicken, to boiling alive in the summer.
    Vacationing in the south during summer outside of a cruise is just poor planning. Vacation in the north during summer and the south in winter.

  8. #8
    Just got back from a trip to Texas. Whoever designed the road and highway system there needs to be driven through each town center while people shout "shame."
    Hope is the denial of reality

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by RandBlade View Post
    Ooh I love Wicked! We've been to see it 3 or 4 times, love it every time. Have fun.
    It was uneven after the intermission, but nevertheless one of the absolute highlights of the trip. I don't know how the new lead compares to the previous one, but team Sweden are huge fans. Saw Book of Mormon the following night. Was looking forward to that a lot more than we'd looked forward to Wicked, which we booked kinda last-minute on a whim. I'm honestly a little torn. On the one hand, it was hilarious, skilfully crafted and the second best story about female circumcision I've ever seen (granted, I've only seen three). On the other hand, it was basically 90% white dudes who grew up laughing at each other's shitposts on the internet. Overall, we had a great time while feeling that it was extremely superficial. The acting was less satisfying and, although the songs were all well-made, only one really stuck (Hasa Diga Eebowai ).

    That was the day of our wedding anniversary, which we also celebrated by revisiting two of our fave restaurants from our first anniversary. The remainder of the trip was excellent. We took it very easy, walked around everywhere, ate ridiculous amounts of good food. I was pleased to see that quality of food in London has improved in every price range, as has the quality of service (everywhere except in stores). We did a lot more shopping than we usually do, having been extremely restrained this past year, and found some great casual clothes for everyday use, at good prices.

    On Friday we met up with that never-aging hollow-legged scoundrel Spawnie, and toured some of Soho's finest (aka least crowded) pubs and restaurants. We mostly steered clear of Soho the last time we were in London so this was a new experience for me, and it was nice to get a glimpse of a regular London friday night without too many tourists around. I fell victim to a cunning, sinister and highly enjoyable campaign that left me somewhat worse for wear the following day, and I blew several months' worth of drinking money on a couple of the priciest margaritas I've ever had. I'll be sober henceforth. I recovered with the help of six different scoops of nitro-frozen ice-cream (verdict: Chin Chin's is better than Four Winters', with the winning flavours being vietnamese coffee, basil & chocolate chip, and grilled peach, all with tres leches cake). We spent a couple of hours wandering around the world's largest evidence locker.

    The last day of our trip, we learned that our flight had been delayed by over 6 hours, so we got a whole extra day to just saunter around. We went to four bookstores and got some very promising books, sat around drinking coffee and reading, and then ate our last wonderful meals (one at Flat Iron, one of my favourite restaurant chains because they do one thing but they do it so damn' well). By the time we got to the airport we were stuffed but I was so annoyed at our airline that used both the compensatory meal vouchers (for lunch & dinner) to treat ourselves to one last expensive but ultimately disappointing meal. In Sthlm, there was no handling agent who could help us with booking a complimentary hotel night as we'd been promised, so we ended up booking an extra night at the airport hotel before slowly making our way back home to the soon-to-be-frozen north, after eating some more overpriced meals on the airline's dime. It looks like we are, in theory, entitled to 400 EUR each in compensation, from the airline, in addition to compensation from our home insurance's travel coverage and the travel insurance. If there's any hassle I expect I'll hand it over to a company that specializes in recovering compensation from airlines, which will be an interesting experience.

    We both enjoyed our visit much more this time around, partly because our accommodations were so much better and more convenient than previously. The new regulations on roaming charges are BRILLIANT and they'll make travelling in Europe much more hassle-free.

    I noticed one interesting difference from our previous trip: almost every single person we interacted with at pretty much every single restaurant as well as our hotel--waiters, managers, bartenders, cleaning staff etc--were foreigners rather than native English or even British. French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Bengali, Pakistani, Indian... almost all of them were not just friendly and courteous but extremely professional. I heard that esp. those who work for less fancy places work and live under less-than-pleasant conditions with extremely long hours, extreme stress & uncertainty and overcrowded accommodations. The hospitality industry is gonna be hella weird after Brexit.

    The difficulty of finding and keeping a decent flat appears to be a major social problem. Everyone was talking about it, everywhere. Incidentally, we found ourselves on at least one occasion every day in the vicinity of someone loudly talking about the most private details of their lives and their relationships with their companions (some dude telling some woman about how his wife feels bad at college because she feels old and insecure when she goes dancing), a semi-alcoholic "natural born MBA" loudly enumerating the large number of unforgivable slights he's had to endure over the years, mostly in the form of people who don't want to hang out with him, a woman who had opinions about her boyfriend's feet, etc. It took me by surprise every single time and I was like, dudes, srsly.

    Anyway, now we're back home for a couple of weeks before the trip to Venice and to sthlm. I'm already trying to figure out if we can squeeze in one final pre-Brexit trip to London next year because, for all its faults and deficiencies, it's a damn' fun city to be in.

    Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
    When's the southern US vacation? Lots of fun things to do here, from Confederate flag spotting, to tasting different varieties of fried chicken, to boiling alive in the summer.
    I know you're trying to make it sound horrible but I've long wanted to visit I have friends, family, acquaintances and shady online contacts spread out all over the south and it'd be fun as hell, although perhaps not in the middle of summer. I just don't dare go until things really settle down over there, and I fully expect to wait until we're approaching middle age, which will give me time to develop a proper beer-gut (camoflage).
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    I know you're trying to make it sound horrible but I've long wanted to visit I have friends, family, acquaintances and shady online contacts spread out all over the south and it'd be fun as hell, although perhaps not in the middle of summer. I just don't dare go until things really settle down over there, and I fully expect to wait until we're approaching middle age, which will give me time to develop a proper beer-gut (camoflage).
    Social groups are thoroughly segregated by race and ideology. There is no overt conflict. It's not a coincidence that the Charlottesville mess was created almost entirely by outsiders.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
    Just got back from a trip to Texas. Whoever designed the road and highway system there needs to be driven through each town center while people shout "shame."
    The highways in southern Texas make you slow down to 30 MPH through half a dozen small towns. I've never been ticketed but I swear they exist just to be speed traps.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Lewkowski View Post
    The highways in southern Texas make you slow down to 30 MPH through half a dozen small towns. I've never been ticketed but I swear they exist just to be speed traps.
    I was in a suburb. And it looks like the highway system hasn't kept pace with population growth.

    Good thing about Georgia: the speed limit is 55 even on rural highways.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  13. #13
    They are very much built as speed traps. AAA even routes around the more notorious ones.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  14. #14
    By the way, which states, cities and regions on the South would you guys recommend? We like walking around in nice cities and towns, meeting people and eating tasty local food. Since we're talking about the states we may be persuaded to drive.
    "One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Aimless View Post
    By the way, which states, cities and regions on the South would you guys recommend? We like walking around in nice cities and towns, meeting people and eating tasty local food. Since we're talking about the states we may be persuaded to drive.
    There are a lot of quite liberal cities in the south (Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, and just about all college towns). It's the land in between that might be a problem.
    Hope is the denial of reality

  16. #16
    Stay the hell away from Jacksonville. Otherwise the larger cities in Florida are good, and if you want that true tourist feel driving all the way down to Mile 0 in Key West shouldn't give you any issues at all. Cities around here seem to understand that tourism trumps politics. If you end up in Orlando I highly recommend Hash House A Go Go. If you end up around the Tampa Bay area I suggest TacoSon, but not TacoBus.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  17. #17
    I thought you visited New Yorkistan a while ago? That's south relative to where you are, right? Glad you had a good time in London, cute photo!

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