buses
by yasmin_renzo
although i envy london's underground because defitinely is the best metro in the world - okay, i'm over reacting, but u must agree it is bloody good - it's good going around in london by bus. it's also a nice way to see places and know the city. depending on the time the trafic is quite good and you can always fall more in love with the city :-)
Enjoy a show or two in the...
by SOzolinsh
Enjoy a show or two in the theatre district near Gloucester Square. We took in Verdi's Tosca as well as Les Miserables when we were there. London also has terrific food and drink from around the world, including excellent Middle Eastern cuisine. Make sure to party at the Hippodrome! When I was there with a school group in 1996, MTV Europe was shooting video of everyone on the dance floor.
Diana Memorial Fountain
by Toyin
This is the closest overview of the monument that was built within the park. It is very ideal especially in Summer. People could be seen sitting around the monument or dipping their legs in the clean running water. Some tourist just walk around and enjoy the scenery, and what more, when you are tired or you want something to drink, you can walk to the club below to relax with your partner or family.
How to get an enlarged righ hippocampus
by sourbugger
A study of the pyschological make-up (I'm not wearing make -up, you calling me a puff ?) of taxi drivers in London has become one of the 'core studies' that A-level students in the United Kingdom now have to study.
Apparantly the amount of 'knowledge' that has to be acquired in order to become a licensed Black Taxi cab driver leads to several inbalances in the brain. This is something that we have known for a long time - the ability of any cab driver to bring any subject around to the issue of immigration and a complete inability to cross over to the south side of the Thames after about 8 PM at night.
On the other hand, you have to admire the amount of imformation that a cabby has to store in his head on the layout of London - there can't be room for much else when you consider that they must know the 320 main routes, through central London. That is some 25,000 streets within a six mile radius of Charing Cross along with the major arterial routes through the rest of London.
He or she must also know 'points of interest' along those routes including streets, squares, clubs, hospitals, hotels, theatres, government and public buildings, railway stations, police stations, courts, diplomatic buildings, important places of worship, cemeteries, crematoria, parks and open spaces, sports and leisure centres, places of learning, restaurants and historic buildings.
You can get some idea of what that involves by looking at the website : www.taxiknowledge.co.uk and taking the on-line test.
The 'average' candidate makes 12 attempts and 34 months to pass - no wonder they want a tip !
Red Phone Boxes
by grandmaR
Even with the advent of cell phones, the red phone boxes are still familiar sight on London streets. I walked down the street a bit in order to get this one into the picture.
I did not realize that originally, the designer Giles Gilbert Scott intended the phone boxes to be silver with a greeny-blue interior. Maybe they were red to go with the red post boxes (since the post office also administered the phone system in those days.)
There are main two types. This one is the smaller K6 ‘Jubilee Kiosk’ made of cast iron starting 1936 (with raised crown & irregular windows) were sited in the whole country.
The larger (taller and heavier) K2s that remain (with cut-out crown & regular windows) are now listed 'buildings'. These first ones dating from 1926 were introduced in Metropolitan Boroughs.
The K2 was to replace the K1 which were made of pre-cast reinforced concrete with a pyramidal roof topped with a ball. The only London survival of the K3 is apparently by the Parrot House in London Zoo, and not many of K7 or K8 survive either. No mention is made in the website of K4 or K5.