london

royal academy?
burlington arcade?

piccadilly is best when you're in the mood for ridiculously-out-of-your-rage window-shopping imo - staring at the art in the cork street galleries thinking about whether you'd buy it, checking out the gorgeous classic men's toiletries in geo f trumper, fondling all the books in hatchard's, etc.

the bridge over the pond in st james' park is one of the better bridges.

if you like chinese pork buns you should get one from kowloon in gerrard street, chinatown.

Yes, that bridge - the views from either side are unbelievably gorgeous.

oh also! you can blag your way into the London Library by saying you're thinking of signing up and would like to take a look around - it's amazing in there, seriously.

when i was about 17 i had a fantasy of living in a little serviced flat above Jermyn Street, owning a spaniel called Rupert, and spending my days in the London Library researching/writing whatever novels would enable me to live that particular fabulous lifestyle.

Shall I assume, as a newcomer to London, that the weather is like this all the time, all year round?

yes, do that, that's a very sensible idea.

i'll probably be making a rare central trek and heading to piccadilly circus tomorrow for the greatest thrill of all, a bank visit. anyone got any recommendations for places to visit around there?

If you're into art go to the Royal Academy, as well as the Haunch of Venison, the commercial gallery right behind it, which usually has some good stuff on. Ditto the Hauser & Wirth gallery which is right next to St James's Piccadilly.

The bridge over St James's Park lake is gorgeous obviously but walking west and north from there, across Green Park and Hyde Park and down the Serpentine, would be fantastic in this weather.

^ this - we did v. similar to that when we were down over the Easter weekend when it was scorching hot, and it was glorious.

(the walk, not the galleries, though I'm sure they're great too)

very london ca. 1985 these photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billzpickz/sets/72157627077129642/with/6188537517/

i'm putting on a reading group for which it seems the best meeting time and place will be 6pm on saturday somewhere in south london - anyone got any suggestions for a location reasonably suitable for quiet discussion that'll hold 15-20 people?

[oh also, i took that st james' park bridge visit recommended upthread, and v nice it was. i also visited some of the myriad bookshops of charing cross road - some nice things to be seen, but tbh i think i probably have unreasonable dreams about what a second hand bookshop could be.]

hey, i lost my book somewhere in london in the past couple of days. bump this thread if you spot it.
cheers!

xp The Horse Bar at Waterloo has an upstairs room that if it's not booked could be ideal - you'd be on your own up there so it would certainly be quiet. The main bar can be pretty quiet on a Saturday but I wouldn't guarantee it.

Are there any travel agencies that do good, relatively inexpensive tours of London? I have fifteen Russian teachers coming over next week and they've asked if i can suggest an excursion programme for them for the weekend.

Yeah that room upstairs at the Horse will be pretty good, there are sofas that can moved round as well if I remember correctly.

does anyone know of a newsagent in the Westminster/Victoria area that stocks or might stock the New York Review of Books?

Errr, where's the best place to get a replacement stylus? (Specificaly one for a Shure m44g). The only place I can think of is West-end DJ, but looking at their website they seem a bit pricey, and I don't know of any other "DJ stores" here. Thanks.

I think these guys have a store in London
http://www.decks.co.uk/

There's Superfi on Mornington Crescent, they don't have much of a stock. All these places are much of a muchness in my experience.

Centrally I only know of West-End DJ. Juno.co.uk have good stock of equipment these days and for some stuff I think you can pick up. They're in Camden as far as I know.

erm wtf is going on in TCR? a man has taken people hostage in starbucks? is everyone who's round there ok?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mobileweb/2012/04/27/tottenham-court-road-evacuated-bomb-threat_n_1458437.html

@hullstephen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqxEDpvLsws

yeah all of TCR is closed!

It was claimed on Twitter that he had failed a training course and wanted his money back.

A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment as the situation was unfolding but a source said it was not a terrorist and was not considered a “serious” incident.

“It appears at this stage that the man either has mental health problems or has a personal grievance against a company,” the source said.

good news for wasabi and sainsbury's though as the only foot outlet not cordoned off now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17869815
Throwing computers out of a window.

feeling him on that

the cordoned area gets wider and wider! our building is now blocked off. great.

hope you've got your sandwiches ken, stay safe man

How fucking far can one person throw a computer from a 5th floor window?

i just ate a sainsbury's curry so at least i'll die with a full stomach.. pressure sure it's just a precaution though police seem quite relaxed down this bit

i just ate a sainsbury's curry so at least i'll die with a full stomach

^ you fool, you're probably too bloated now to crawl through the air-con ducts and take him out

i can fart into the air con and gas him out though

well, i'm gonna have to walk past TCR this afternoon, so if anyone wants me to pick up anything from Sainsbury's...

How about picking up several smashed PCs?

(really they shouldn't drink on duty, but it's a stressful job)

Sorry guys I'm just excited to be here, got a little carried away

nb we don't tip our hostages in london, save your cash

pretty sure this level of police cordon is ott for some dude with a couple of cans of camping gas. it's all the way up to euston road now

and if i had taken lunch half an hour later i would have had a half day off. damn

any sign of boris in a bomb suit yet?

sky are reporting he just threw some files from the window. soon he'll be on to the paper clips.

that's our boris

Hostage-taker now arrested by police, so I guess that's that then.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17869815
Throwing computers out of a window.

― ILX uh-huh-uh uh-huh uh-huh BEEP BOOP BOOP BEEP (snoball), Friday, April 27, 2012 1:14 PM (2 hours ago)

did he want to make something real

Ha!

I think I can hear Yaz, actually.

can't believe I survived that ordeal. i think i might try and get myself on BBC news and maybe write an autobiography

Ordeal? Sainsbury's curry isn't absolutely pukka, but it's not that bad.

My eyewitness report indicates tottenham c road is still closed, with a pile of assorted rubbish on the street. However, I am in Sainsbury's RIGHT NOW.