Monday, December 14, 2009

London Calling...

Well, I'm less than a week away from arriving in jolly old England (though I imagine at this wintry time of year it's perhaps not quite-so-jolly weatherwise - thank goodness for Xmas cheer!). My better half, a Kiwi girl, is currently working in London so I'm like a navigationally-challenged bird, and heading north for (your) winter.

I have about 3 days in London before we head to Germany for Xmas, and then Egypt for 15 days over the New Years period. I spent a similar period of time in London last year, and wandered the city seeing a few 'touristy' sights (Tower Bridge, The Globe, St Paul's, Westminster, Kensington, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square etc etc), so I'm looking forward to my second (if all too short) visit.

I understand that the better half has booked us tickets to a show for one night (and she's dropped hints it may be Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, which I mentioned in passing a few weeks ago) - so it looks like I might get something of a British crime fix while on vacation. Of course I'll have to slip a couple of (slim-sized) books into the backpack for airport reading as well.

Any hints/recommendations of things to fill a couple of days with, given I'll have a couple of workday daytimes to fill while the better half finishes up her working year (on the Mon and Tues)? Should I visit some 'fictional crime' hotspots (e.g. Baker St etc), or take a break from crime for the holidays? Are there writers' hangouts I should pop into?

Thoughts and comments welcome.

6 comments:

  1. You could take the Mad Frankie Fraser Gangland Tour http://www.madfrankiefraser.co.uk/frankiefraser.htm
    for some real crime hotspots.
    Or you could go to one of Daunt's lovely looking bookshops. Have a great time.

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  2. Do you think the question you posted on the BTZ would have been incomplete without a link to this blog? Try having a bit more class in future. Anyone who wants to read your blog can click on your signature, anything beyond that is overkill.

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  3. What days are you here? I might be in Paris but drop us a line...

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  4. ah, I seem to have annoyed my old BTZ friend anonymous again. Apologies - i put the specific link up in that post as I intend to put a few posts up here in the next day or so, so this one would fall way down and not necessarily be seen by anyone just clicking on the generic blog signature. I also had a bit more information here (so I thought putting a link up, rather than a complete cut and paste, might be a better choice)...

    I'm sorry if you feel a specific link is overkill - though to be fair you can ignore it, and don't have to click on it. I would certainly hope you don't feel 'forced' to click on the link in any way. Considering the wide variety of things that are discussed, linked, and mentioned on those boards, I would humbly hope that a link in amongst a messageboard post wasn't such a big deal. It seems it may be for you however, so I will take that into consideration in future.

    Have a wonderful Xmas anonymous, whoever you are :-)

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  5. enjoy Craig - will you see snow? - it sounds likely in Germany - Egypt sounds interesting too

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  6. Enjoy London!
    I am not sure you will see any snow, however. We have mostly seen rain and fog in Denmark lately, and the chances of snow over Christmas are small. It would be nice, though, much prettier and healthier than all that wet weather.

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