is london safe?

[CZroe]

nope, i made it! i decided to take my chances and so far it has been awesome. so much history, and the weather has been gorgeous to boot!

except that they apparently don't give you washrags (eh, "flannels") in hotels. hope they don't mind that i used a small towel as a rag.

Interesting. Even within the US, I've confused a few people by calling a washrag a "rag." They ask for clarity, I explain "washrag," and invariably they correct me by calling it a "washcloth."

I guess it's really only technically a "rag" if it was torn or repurposed from another cloth, but we often used torn/repurposed rags for cleaning dishes and toilets and floors and stuff in our household.

 

[zinfamous]

nope, i made it! i decided to take my chances and so far it has been awesome. so much history, and the weather has been gorgeous to boot!

except that they apparently don't give you washrags (eh, "flannels") in hotels. hope they don't mind that i used a small towel as a rag.

OP, are you lying again?

 

[brianmanahan]

Interesting. Even within the US, I've confused a few people by calling a washrag a "rag" before.

weird, i've called it a rag or washrag all my life. never this fancy-sounding "washcloth". i thought that was the british word. but it turns out they don't even use the things!

now the whole black death thing makes sense. no washrags.

 

[brianmanahan]

OP, are you lying again?

nope, it really is me, walking my legs off all over the city. these legs don't lie. they are beat.

'tis a great place, this london. i feel myself becoming more dignified every day. and poorer, because it's ridiculously expensive here. but worth it.

now if you'll excuse me, i simply must go try the fish and chips just up the street.

 

[Drako]

nope, it really is me, walking my legs off all over the city. these legs don't lie. they are beat.

'tis a great place, this london. i feel myself becoming more dignified every day. and poorer, because it's ridiculously expensive here. but worth it.

now if you'll excuse me, i simply must go try the fish and chips just up the street.

Have you had any of their shitty expensive food yet?

 

[zinfamous]

nope, it really is me, walking my legs off all over the city. these legs don't lie. they are beat.

'tis a great place, this london. i feel myself becoming more dignified every day. and poorer, because it's ridiculously expensive here. but worth it.

now if you'll excuse me, i simply must go try the fish and chips just up the street.

You're not really in London, OP.

 

[IronWing]

You're not really in London, OP.

How come every time you come around, my London Bridge want to go down?

 

[BurnItDwn]

The good neighborhoods are safe.
The bad neighborhoods are dangerous.

I know this because London is a City, and all cities are set up like that.

 

[brianmanahan]

Have you had any of their shitty expensive food yet?

i just paid 13 pounds for fish and chips, does that count? :awe:

it was good though, definitely some of the best fish i've had before. granted, i hardly ever eat fish. BUT THOSE CHIPS, MMM.

my favorite is still the ice cream with freakin honeycomb crushed up in. just vanilla ice cream, with honeycombs in it. seems weird, but it's SO GOOD.

 

[brianmanahan]

How come every time you come around, my London Bridge want to go down?

wrong fergie

they have the royal one here

 

[DigDog]

nah, the bad areas are not dangerous, they are just rough. which means, you are more likely to get heat if you live there (law of the jungle, people trying to be the boss of the street n' all that crap) rather than if you are a tourist. pickpockets are rare (but not inexistent, more likely to run into them around westminster + touristy areas) and there's plenty of police.

i mean, i would not recommend it as a holiday place. it's not that great to visit, it's quite expensive, clubbing / pubs can rape your wallet. the public transport is confusing and packed 90% of the time, it rains quite a lot, there's pigeon shit everywhere, and you'll meet more polish people than brits.

(breath)

the food is shit. the pubs are mostly inferior to what you find elsewhere in europe, and there's basically 3 places to see, camden market (which is really cool, granted), madame tussauds (the wax statue place), and the trocadero (which is basically a shopping center).

most londoners, when they want to sightsee, they go to the mall - im not joking.

sure they got downing street and big ben, but come on, EVERY city in the world has something old to see, and many are far nicer. even Edinburgh is nicer, the architecture is everywhere, not just in the central part, and people actually live there. Central london is all offices, or very expensive shops which all sell the same stuff.

if you live in the US, you'll laugh at what we try to pass for skyscrapers here. the architecture of London is dull and grey, more so with the constant rainy weather. And to make it all worse, there's the scum.

As soon as you step out of westminster (the center of town) you'll run into rat-eaten stalls of the cheapest stuff that can be manufactured in china, sold by people who come from all the worst parts of the world.

I would say, just about every city in europe is better than London to visit - Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Rome, Barcellona, Madrid, Lisbona ...

If anything, try going to Manchester, it has most of the issues that plague London, but at least the nightlife is decent AND you can afford it. Or Dublin. Or Edinburgh.

Before you think England .. remember this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

 

[Skeeedunt]

A rag is something you wash a car with.

OP, post a picture of yourself in a scenic location with a recent newspaper so we know you're safe.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just be careful on the bridges, because they're falling down.

 

[StinkyPinky]

weird, i've called it a rag or washrag all my life. never this fancy-sounding "washcloth". i thought that was the british word. but it turns out they don't even use the things!

now the whole black death thing makes sense. no washrags.

I think they do have them, just not the hotels since they tend to get stolen.

 

[StinkyPinky]

A rag is something you wash a car with.

OP, post a picture of yourself in a scenic location with a recent newspaper so we know you're safe.

You do know it's not really him? He was kidnapped five days ago, this is just a terrorist using his account.

 

[Capt Caveman]

nope, it really is me, walking my legs off all over the city. these legs don't lie. they are beat.

'tis a great place, this london. i feel myself becoming more dignified every day. and poorer, because it's ridiculously expensive here. but worth it.

now if you'll excuse me, i simply must go try the fish and chips just up the street.

Glad you're having a good time. Should post pics! Especially the food, love food porn.

 

[purbeast0]

now the OP is going to realize how much time he has wasted the past decade saving all of his money instead of going on awesome vacations, like the one he's having right now, multiple times a year.

 

[gorcorps]

...

except that they apparently don't give you washrags (eh, "flannels") in hotels. hope they don't mind that i used a small towel as a rag.

sounds like a terrorist plot to me

I'd watch my back if I were you

 

[SSSnail]

OP, on second thought, take the train to Paris and have some escargots.

 

[Ichinisan]

weird, i've called it a rag or washrag all my life. never this fancy-sounding "washcloth". i thought that was the british word. but it turns out they don't even use the things!

now the whole black death thing makes sense. no washrags.

I guess that makes me British because I almost never use them. Antibacterial soap and occasional exfoliation with a pumice stone thing.

 

[gorcorps]

OP, on second thought, take the train to Paris and have some escargots.

This brings up something I've discussed with friends. When you're traveling abroad and eating new things, how can you tell if you don't like something or they just made it poorly? Unless you're traveling with a local or something that can tell you comparatively how well prepared that dish was, I really wouldn't know. We've all had sub-par dishes from restaurants before, and I wonder how many foods I think I don't like just because the first time I had it was made poorly.

I've certainly come around on sea food over the years after having some good stuff. Cheap sea food is gross.

 

[CZroe]

I guess that makes me British because I almost never use them. Antibacterial soap and occasional exfoliation with a pumice stone thing.

Do you use that on dishes? Nope! You reuse one of those smelly microbe-riddled sponges.

Shame.

 

[tcsenter]

There used to be a lot of hoodlums in certain parts of London that were not 'supposed' to be the 'bad' areas, about 15 years ago. Don't know if they did anything about it since then. Elizabeth Taylor moved back to the USA in the late 90s or early 2000s citing that she couldn't walk down the street or go to a shop without security any time of the day, or leave the car parked on the street, due to a plague of nasty little juvenile delinquents, and eventually stopped going out altogether because her security guards were getting into confrontations every time they stepped out. Getting mugged in London is really not considered or treated as a serious crime. It's treated more like that is your penance or price of being one of the "haves". The juvenile system there was a revolving door joke, hoodlums could rack up 20 or 30 arrests, a dozen convictions, before getting anything more than weekend stint in detention and probation.

 

[brianmanahan]

I guess that makes me British because I almost never use them. Antibacterial soap and occasional exfoliation with a pumice stone thing.

i don't know how one would wash the, "nether regions", without a rag/washcloth/flannel

i just can't comprehend

 

[zinfamous]

i don't know how one would wash the, "nether regions", without a rag/washcloth/flannel

i just can't comprehend

hands?

Why keep a convenient bacteria farm hanging around your cleaning basin, getting more and more bacteria-y with that moist, warm environment; much less re-introduced to the bacteria-loving nether regions of your body on a regular basis?

Sounds gross.