Which bits of London are good?

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

Dudley wrote:

For 7 different roads?

It looked like there were actually only 5 exits - but if there are 7 roads, just have two light controlled junctions. Mental.

Kern · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:43

Does the drill sergeant from 'Full Metal Jacket' do sat nav? There's no way I'd ever survive that roundabout.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:43

That roundabout is scary... the inside bit moves counter-clockwise... that's just wrong!

And Mr Chris is wrong about London.

Greenwich + Blackheath > All other places

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

Curiosity wrote:

And Mr Chris is wrong about London.

Greenwich + Blackheath > All other places

Greenwich and Blackheath are a bit like what it's like being out in the countryside, but without the better air quality, the decent, unspoiled views, the friendly locals or the cheaper, bigger houses.

Malabelm · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:46

There's a cycle lane going round the outside now, too, with pelican crossings. Nightmare!

I've reached a new low by reading up on roundabouts

Zio · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6093

Kern wrote:

Does the drill sergeant from 'Full Metal Jacket' do sat nav? There's no way I'd ever survive that roundabout.

My satnav goes mental on the Hemel Magic Roundabout - it counts the whole thing as one massive roundabout rather than several mini-roundabouts, so if I go round the main thing anti-clockwise I have to endure it constantly shouting "recalculating!" at me every two seconds.

Technically speaking, it should be easy to navigate, as really all it is is a circular road with six independent mini-roundabouts on it. But people constantly get confused on it, so you have to deal with lots of people indicating one way, then going the other; people not indicating at all; people using the wrong lanes; people cutting you up; etc. Almost all my closest shaves since driving have been on that bloody thing, including once where I almost had a head-on collision with a police car, having only been driving about a month. That was fun!

Malc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:53

I liked London when I lived there, but I just could not afford to live in a nice part when I had kids, I had a 2 bedroom flat in Willesden Green, which I sold, and then bought a 3 bedroom house in Exeter for 1/2 the price. (double the space for half the price, you can't argue with that).

Now I have a 5 bedroomed semi, with driveway, on a cul-de-sac in a small town, which I bought last year for the same price that I sold my flat in London for in 2000.

And in Ivybridge there aren't security grills over the windows of every 3rd house becuase they have been fire damaged/broken into/whatever.

Malc

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:56

Mr Chris wrote:

Curiosity wrote:

And Mr Chris is wrong about London.

Greenwich + Blackheath > All other places

Greenwich and Blackheath are a bit like what it's like being out in the countryside, but without the better air quality, the decent, unspoiled views, the friendly locals or the cheaper, bigger houses.

Having spent the first 18 years of my life in a small village in the Midlands, I can heartily disagree with this, also!

I live close enough to where I work, I have Blackheath on my doorstep and Greenwich park five minutes walk away (both of which are larger public green spaces than I've ever seen in any village or town), there are loads of fantastic restaurants, some good bars, some old style pubs, incredible architecture, all the amenities I could ever wish for, and the views from Point Hill (and the Observatory) are as good as you could ever wish for... not to mention that the City of London is a ten minute train ride away.

For me it has everything good about the countryside and the City all in one (minus, admittedly, some air quality and the price (but try finding a comparable paying job in the middle of nowhere)).

EDIT - That said, when I get old and have kids, we'll probably move out eventually, heh

Tmuk · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:58

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

And in Ivybridge there aren't security grills over the windows of every 3rd house becuase they have been fire damaged/broken into/whatever.

We pay £1,040 a month to live next to this lot:

Grim... · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:03

Sod going around the outside of those magic roundabouts - just drive through the middle straight at the exit you want.
I went over the original one in Swindon loads and that was by far the best way of doing it.

Malc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:17

Tmuk wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

And in Ivybridge there aren't security grills over the windows of every 3rd house becuase they have been fire damaged/broken into/whatever.

We pay £1,040 a month to live next to this lot:

ouch. my mortgage is less than that a month.

Malc

kalmar · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:17

Curiosity wrote:

That roundabout is scary... the inside bit moves counter-clockwise... that's just wrong!

You mean the inside bit actually revolves like a train turntable? You Englanders are mad.

They've re-done a lot of the roundabouts near here as spirals. That's a bit confusing too until you get used to it. There was one I kept getting wrong while doing my bike training, my brain just wouldn't let me turn right on it.

Grim... · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:24

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

Tmuk wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

And in Ivybridge there aren't security grills over the windows of every 3rd house becuase they have been fire damaged/broken into/whatever.

We pay £1,040 a month to live next to this lot:

ouch. my mortgage is less than that a month.

Malc

Aren't mortgage payments less than renting, generally?

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

Grim... wrote:

Aren't mortgage payments less than renting, generally?

Not necessarily, as most buy to let mortgages are interest only, so the rent doesn't have to be as high to turn a profit.

Doctor Glyndwr · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 32619

Grim... wrote:

Aren't mortgage payments less than renting, generally?

Not over the last five years. The rapid increases in mortgage payments in line with house prices haven't been tracked by rent rates. Before I bought the humdrum 3 bed ex-council terrace where I live now, I rented a late Edwardian four-bed double-garage house with close to twice the square footage. The rent was only £40 a month more than the mortagage I pay now.

Tmuk · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:35

I wouldn't want to get tied into anything financial with flat my flatmates anyway. We're moving at the end of August, so fingers crossed we'll find somewhere a bit less third-world.

Malc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:41

Grim... wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

Tmuk wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

And in Ivybridge there aren't security grills over the windows of every 3rd house becuase they have been fire damaged/broken into/whatever.

We pay £1,040 a month to live next to this lot:

ouch. my mortgage is less than that a month.

Malc

Aren't mortgage payments less than renting, generally?

possibly, but that also doesn't look like a 5 bedroom semi detatched house in a nice quiet cul-de-sac.

Malc

Grim... · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:46

I can't see the picture because it's on Facebook.
The rent on our old flat was £1,300 a month

Tmuk · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:47

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

possibly, but that also doesn't look like a 5 bedroom semi detatched house in a nice quiet cul-de-sac.

Bloody cheek.

EDIT: Yeah sorry Grim..., haven't got anywhere else to host it. Basically a terrace above a load of shops with all of the neighbouring flats boarded up.

Malc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:49

Tmuk wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

possibly, but that also doesn't look like a 5 bedroom semi detatched house in a nice quiet cul-de-sac.

Bloody cheek.

I thought the whole point of you posting that was to show how bad it could be?

Malc

Malc · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:50

Tmuk wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

possibly, but that also doesn't look like a 5 bedroom semi detatched house in a nice quiet cul-de-sac.

EDIT: Yeah sorry Grim..., haven't got anywhere else to host it. Basically a terrace above a load of shops with all of the neighbouring flats boarded up.

upload it here?

Malc

Tmuk · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:53

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

Tmuk wrote:

Spinglo Sponglo! wrote:

possibly, but that also doesn't look like a 5 bedroom semi detatched house in a nice quiet cul-de-sac.

Bloody cheek.

I thought the whole point of you posting that was to show how bad it could be?

Malc

Only joking

Pod · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2568

Zio wrote:

Personally I wouldn't live in London, purely from an expense point of view. You'd be better to live somewhere like Watford or Hemel and train in to London whenever you want to see the pretty-but-smelly sights.

Also, I have no love for Hemel at all, but then I've lived here all my life and seen it deteriorate, blah blah, remember when this was all fields, blah blah...

Seriously though, there's nothing here to do really, other than a very run down lesiure centre with bowling/cinema/ice skating etc - but it's a shithole. Only 1 half decent pub (though we do also have a Wetherspoons if you're poor/desperate). No decent restaurants. Piss-poor town centre. Lots of chavs. Permanent pikey campsite on the outskirts. But St. Albans is only 7 miles away, and that place has more pubs than actual people. Berkhamsted is just down the road, and they have the utterly wonderful and amazing Rex cinema. Whipsnade Zoo is about a 10 minute drive away and there's lots of lovely scenery outside of the town. Also, excellent transport links as we've got access to the M1, M10 and M25, plus a mainline train station that can get you into Euston in 30 mins.

Watford itself is alright and I'd never rule out living there - though avoid South Oxhey/Carpender's Park like the proverbial plague.

Excellent advice. Thankyou! Thankyou to the other people who said "stuff" as well. xx . Anyway, what's wrong with South Oxhey and Carpender's Park? Also: I'll be working in Kings Langely (That no apostrophe bit is driving me mad). I have like 2 weeks to sort this... I need to get a move on.

Grim... · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 16:50

Pod wrote:

I'll be working in Kings Langely

Kings Langely.

Pod · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2568

Grim... wrote:

Pod wrote:

I'll be working in Kings Langely

Kings Langely.

I don't get it? Kings Langely.

edit: Heh, usually people put the correct spelling in the correction

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

I wsa wondering about that too - not sure if it was a Giles Coren homage, or something.

Grim... · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 16:58

Er, yeah, that's the one.

Zio · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6093

Pod wrote:

Excellent advice. Thankyou! Thankyou to the other people who said "stuff" as well. xx . Anyway, what's wrong with South Oxhey and Carpender's Park? Also: I'll be working in Kings Langely (That no apostrophe bit is driving me mad). I have like 2 weeks to sort this... I need to get a move on.

South Oxhey/Carpender's Park is essentially the same area I believe. Anyway, it's a really rough place, quite high crime rate and so on, I gather. One of my best friends used to live there and another friend is a rozzer in Watford and they both have the consensus that it's a place to avoid.

Kings Langley is right between Hemel and Watford, you'll be working just down the road from where I live (more or less the Nash Mills area). Which is pretty scary really, I just don't know if it's scarier for me or for you. But if you were to look for a place in Hemel, you'd have no trouble getting to work and back, regardless of whereabouts in Hemel you chose. Watford's a big place, so ease of travel to and from there depends on which part you choose to live in. I don't know what property prices are like in Abbots Langley, but that would also be a fairly good place to look I'd imagine.

Kings Langley is also junction 20 of the M25 (it's where I get on to go to work in the morning), so you might want to consider that in finding somewhere to live too, though that part does get pretty snarled up at peak times.

Zio · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6093

Also, Kings Langley is easily accessible from the A41, but again, it's a shit round there in the mornings due to people like me using it to get onto the M25.

Pod · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 2568

I don't drive ;(

Malabelm · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 13:53

Zio wrote:

Also, Kings Langley is easily accessible from the A41, but again, it's a shit round there in the mornings due to people like me using it to get onto the M25.

Man, that A41 is one long road. I live about half a mile from it, and I'm up north.

Also, the M25 is rubbish. My TomTom speed camera warning was going off every 30 seconds on that road.

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49232

nynfortoo wrote:

Zio wrote:

Also, Kings Langley is easily accessible from the A41, but again, it's a shit round there in the mornings due to people like me using it to get onto the M25.

Man, that A41 is one long road. I live about half a mile from it, and I'm up north.

Also, the M25 is rubbish. My TomTom speed camera warning was going off every 30 seconds on that road.

They're never on though. Ever.

Zio · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6093

Yeah, the area around Heathrow has speed cameras every few metres it seems. I know I've blatted through one or two at 85+ in the past, having totally forgotten about them, and haven't actually been caught yet. That said, I don't think it's something I'd make a habit of, just in case.

Malabelm · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 14:34

Craster wrote:

nynfortoo wrote:

Also, the M25 is rubbish. My TomTom speed camera warning was going off every 30 seconds on that road.

They're never on though. Ever.

I couldn't be sure, and I sure as hell wasn't going to risk it. You could easily rack up enough points to get a ban on several licenses on that road

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

nynfortoo wrote:

Craster wrote:

nynfortoo wrote:

Also, the M25 is rubbish. My TomTom speed camera warning was going off every 30 seconds on that road.

They're never on though. Ever.

I couldn't be sure, and I sure as hell wasn't going to risk it. You could easily rack up enough points to get a ban on several licenses on that road

Indeed. I've always thought that it's a bit tight if you get done mroe than once for the same continuing offence of speeding along a stretch of road. If you're going to say that each time you go past the point in space occupied by a speed camera on the M25 that that's a seperate offence, then logically so is your passing through every other infinite point in space between them. Therefore if you get caught by two cameras you should get infinity points on your licence.

Sir Taxalot · **Joined:** 5th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 4668

Rumour has it that those cameras are only active when the variable speed limit is in force. Don't know if this is true or not.

It looks like (practically) every gantry has a housing for a camera, but many may be empty. I'm not sure about marks on the road though.

Anecdotally, I've never got a ticket from driving on the M25 and neither has anyone I know, and I know some people that regularly blast round there - quickly. I'm always a bit cautious myself though, I don't want points and a fine.

Anyway, on topic. I've lived on the edge of London (Kingston and Sutton) for most all of my life. I fucking hate London, it's shit. Never been all stabbed-up though.

Malabelm · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 14:53

Well, when I was on it last weekend, most of the road was down to 40mph because of 'queues'. The cameras may have been activated; who knows.

Funny though, the queues went when the speed-limit was lifted, though that might be a Chicken:Egg situation.

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49232

nynfortoo wrote:

Funny though, the queues went when the speed-limit was lifted.

Seems to always be the case on the M25.

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

Laast time I drove down there I was going round the bottom bit of the M25 where the speed limit is the normal 70, and almost everyone was doing 60 - and those who were overtaking were barely doing a hair over 70. At all. For miles and miles and miles. It was like the twilight zone.

Malabelm · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 15:04

Mr Chris wrote:

It was like the twilight zone.

I accidentally forgot to turn off and ended up on the M6 Toll Road on the way back, and that was surreal. I saw one car for the entire length.

Then I got to the toll booth and dropped all my change on the floor. I am a winner.

Zio · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 6093

There are a lot of unmarked police cars on the M25. My journey to and from work involves driving 3 junctions on the M40 and 4 junctions on the M25. A lot of people rocket down the M40 at 90+, but everyone slows down on the M25. I was driving home the other night on the M25 when the red Citroen that had been following me for a while suddenly started flashing blue lights behind it's front grille and sounding it's siren. I almost shat myself, until it overtook me and rocketed past.

MrChris · **Joined:** 1st Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 30498

Zio wrote:

There are a lot of unmarked police cars on the M25. My journey to and from work involves driving 3 junctions on the M40 and 4 junctions on the M25. A lot of people rocket down the M40 at 90+, but everyone slows down on the M25. I was driving home the other night on the M25 when the red Citroen that had been following me for a while suddenly started flashing blue lights behind it's front grille and sounding it's siren. I almost shat myself, until it overtook me and rocketed past.

Hmm - I've never, ever seen a police car on the M25 in all my years. Maybe they (understandably) don't like the South bit.

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