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Posts Tagged ‘east london’

Living In London – London Neighborhoods – Bethnal Green

Wednesday May 4th, 2011

This is the East End of London and you’re going to be staying in one of the most culturally diverse and interesting areas. While many Canadians moving to London choose not to live in the east End when they’re moving to London, it should be considered a good choice if you’re looking for a London rental flat that is reasonably priced and good value for money.

East London – Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green is right next door to the City which is the heart of the financial district in London. Traditionally an extremely poor area, real estate values have jumped in the last two years and it’s now becoming one of the trendier spots to hang your hat. A one bedroom rental flat in Bethnal Green can cost you up to £1000 per week and family homes start from £ 17000 per week.

Council Information: Clapham falls under the Council Borough of Tower Hamlets with annual taxes ranging from £800 – £2500.

Transport: Bethnal Green Tube Station is on the central Line of the London Underground and you can be in the West End in less than 30 minutes if you’re on a night out. Trains and buses run all the time and the transport in this area of London is excellent.

Shopping: Bethnal Green has all the big names as well as some more interesting boutique stores and the Co-Op Food Store in the Mile End which has more unusual grocery items and fresh food.

Doctors: The Blithehale Medical Centre is right in the centre of Bethnal Green and if you’re looking for an A&E, then The Royal London Hospital is a few streets away in Whitechapel.

Other Amenities: Bethnal Green, like many neighborhoods in East London, is incredibly culturally diverse. From the young, upwardly mobile city traders, to the bohemian artsy types, lots of fun types to meet. There are a number of excellent schools in the area and its becoming the choice for families as well, making it an ideal place to look when moving here. It might not look as well heeled as other parts of London, but if you’re looking to buy property as an investment, then this is seriously the place to start looking.

 


London Locations: The Sea Clocks at Greenwich’s Maritime Museum

Friday July 30th, 2010

Just over a year ago when chilling in a hostel in Pula, Croatia, a friend lent me a book:  LongitudeCool, I thought, seeing it simply as something that would help me pass the time as I laid around on the beach.  A literary dork, I don’t often read nonfiction, so I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying this story of sea clocks that I read through as quickly as I would have a novel.  If you have the slightest interest in British history, seafaring, navigation, clocks, or astronomy, I cannot recommend it enough.

To get on with it, the book chronicles John Harrison‘s journey toward solving the problem of longitude.  We take for granted the globes we’ve grown up with that are stratified by their degrees in both longitude and latitude, never really thinking about what mankind had to undergo to come up with this.  How on Earth did they figure this out way back before today’s technology?  The problem was so dire that, in 1714, the British Parliament offered a monetary prize of £20,000 (worth millions in today’s terms) to whomever could solve it.

As Harrison (a self-taught clockmaker by trade) determined that being able to accurately track time was at the crux of the matter (such that the local time of a destination could be compared with a basis such as Greenwich Mean Time), what was needed was an accurate clock.  Sounds easier to us than what the issue really was at the time.  In the 18th century, clocks didn’t exist that could keep ticking with accuracy for a long duration of time, and certainly not against conditions at sea of varying temperature, moisture, and pressure.  And so, Harrison proceeded to build his clock, refining it through 5 different versions for over 4 decades of his life, all the while running neck and neck with competing clocks and the other dominant school of thought, astronomy (which relied on the stars as a measure of position…which works great until it gets cloudy!).  It’s a fascinating story of dedication and precision and such a testament to man’s perseverance and innovation.

Harrison’s “H5,” is located in the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers‘ collection in London.  H1 through H4 of the sea clocks (technically referred to as “chronometers”) are on display and still tickin’ in the National Maritime Museum‘s Royal Observatory in Greenwich, where time begins :)


East Siiide! : Markets

Wednesday July 28th, 2010

This guest post comes to us compliments of one of our fabulous Londonistas, Jessica.

When my husband and I moved from our corporate flat to our own place just a 25 minute walk north to Hackney, I didn’t know what to expect and oddly enough my main concern was “Where am I going to go grocery shopping?” Our last place was in walking distance to a Waitrose, a Tesco and most importantly, Borough Market where we had become familiar faces on Saturday mornings to our favorite vendors. Walking back from these places without a full backpack is not an option.

One Google search later and wouldn’t you know it these are our local markets:

Broadway Market.
Open Saturdays 9am – 5pm. Lots of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, clothes and hot lunch options.
The street is lined with shops and cafes to poke in and out of as you shop. Grab lunch and take a walk through London Fields or along the canal.

London Fields Market
Open Sundays 10am – 2pm. Lots of fresh produce, meats, cheeses, pasta and more.

Columbia Road Flower Market
Open Sundays 8am – 3pm (ish). Flowers, flowers and more flowers. Oh and plants, herbs, cafes and pubs too! Go at the end of the day for great deals.
The street is lined with shops and cafes to poke in and out of as you shop.

Back Yard / Up Market
Back Yard Market is open Saturday 11am – 6pm and Sunday 10am – 5pm
Up Market is open Sunday 10am – 5pm

You name it, they sell it. There are food stalls inside and out, a beer garden, vintage warehouse, art galleries, produce, music and that doesn’t even include the shops along the street!

Spitalfields Market
Thu: Antiques & vintage 10am – 4pm
Fri: Fashion & art 10am – 4pm
Sun: Busiest day – all shops & all stalls 9am – 5pm

You name it, they sell it. Sometimes there is music or an outdoor beer garden happening.

Hoxton Street Market
Open Monday through Saturday 7:30am – 6pm. Go on Saturday, it has the most stalls open.

You name it, they sell it and it is good and cheap!

Check out the individual website for events happening in and around the markets. Up Market and Spitalfields Market specifically have various free events happening all the time. Enjoy!


Canary Wharf & Greenwich, London

Tuesday July 13th, 2010

This guest post comes to us compliments of one of our fabulous Wendy McCooey, who chronicles her life as an American expat in London at her blog, The McCooey’s of London (where this post originally appeared June 30th, 2010).
***
After a tasty brunch with friends, we headed out to explore and ended up in Canary Wharf and Greenwich.  We had not done a lick of research, so we had no clue what to expect.  We show up and at first think hmmm Canary Wharf is a bit, well…not worth the trip… It’s a financial district (YAWN!).  We keep walking and then we see a nice riverbank area and cool buildings, TALL buildings, and then we turned another corner and it was glorious, yet another riverside area with cute restaurants/pubs, even a floating church for those who like to take their lord to the water.  Mike actually went from “Let’s get out of here” tooooo “Now this is my kind of place, ‘corporate and sterile,’ everything looks brand new.”  As for what I thought, it was nice, everything looked brand new, nothing like London; it reminded me of the area near the river in Chicago, and, well, I HEART CHI-TOWN.

Then we were off to check the time in Greenwich

The name Greenwich comes from the Saxon term for ‘green village’. There is evidence of Bronze Age barrows in Greenwich Park as well as a Roman villa or temple.

In the Domesday Book, the manor of Greenwich is recorded as held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, and a royal palace or hunting lodge has existed here since before 1300. From the 15th century, the town became the site of the royal palace of Placentia, the birthplace of many Tudor monarchs including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

Now off to the Royal Observatory

Come and stand on the world-famous Greenwich Meridian Line, which represents the Prime Meridian of the World – Longitude 0º. Every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from the Greenwich Meridan. The line itself divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the Earth, just as the Equator divides the northern and southern hemispheres.

The Center of Time

During the evenings, the position of the Meridian Line is often marked by a green laser in the sky.  Since the late 19th century, the Prime Meridian at Greenwich has served as the reference line for Greenwich Mean Time. It can now claim to be the centre of world time, and was the official starting point for the new Millennium.

Is Greenwich worth a visit? I say Yes! It’s a great way to spend a few hours.  As always, there is a market (Greenwich Market) full of your typical market stuff, pubs, cute boutiques, a pier, and the Royal Observatory, which is wrapped in green space to have a picnic after you check the time and even the University of Greenwich.

Cheers,

WMMc


London Laughs: International Humor

Thursday April 22nd, 2010

While I rarely indulge email forwards, this is one that I received that really made me giggle.  I wish I could credit its clever author (I suspect it was a Brit), but as it came to me through a chain of email forwards, I will have to post it anonymously and just give the disclaimer that I am not the author.  Hopefully it causes no offense—I figure since it makes fun of everyone (or, as the British would say, it’s “taking the piss”), we can all take it in good spirit.  What fun is life, after all, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, especially during times of international uncertainty when we should unite?

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist  threats and have raised their security level from “Miffed”  to “Peeved.”  Soon, though, security levels may be raised  yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.”  The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out.  Terrorists have been re-categorized  from “Tiresome” to a “Bloody Nuisance.”  The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

The Scots raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.”  They don’t have any other levels.  This is the reason they have been used on the front line in the British army for  the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.”  The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.”  The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability.

It’s not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert.   Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout loudly and excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.”  Two more levels remain:  “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.”  The Germans also increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.”  They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and  ”Lose.”

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy.  These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes, on all of their allies, just in case.

And in the southern  hemisphere…New Zealand  has also raised  its security levels—from “baaa” to “BAAAA!”  Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the air force being a squadron of  spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister’s bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is “S**t, I  hope Australia will come and rescue  us.”

Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries”  to “She’ll be right, mate.”  Three more escalation levels remain: “Crikey!’, “I think we’ll need to cancel the barbie this weekend,” and “The barbie is cancelled.”  So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Hopefully that gave you a bit of a laugh at the international community you’ll be living near and among when you relocate to London.  When that time comes, there’s no need for you to raise your personal alert level—London Relocation Ltd. will be here for you to find a high-quality, conveniently located London flat where you can feel safe and without stress.


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