A Conversation for The Pavements of London

Roads

Post 1

I'm not really here

Do you know there are no roads in the City of London?


Roads

Post 2

IanG

Um... You've got me worried now because I drove through it only yesterday. What was I driving along then?


Roads

Post 3

I'm not really here

Well, the road, obviously, but there are no actual "Roads" in the city.


Roads

Post 4

IanG

Is that by title then? The street names are all great round there, but I'd never noticed that none of them were called 'xxx road'. Or is there some technical definition of a road that I'm ignorant of?


Roads

Post 5

Phil

Don't know about Roads, but there are plenty of Squares, Streets and Circus' even a Pavement...


Roads

Post 6

I'm not really here

Yes, it's by title. There are no streets called Anything Road in the Square Mile of the the City of London. Its just a little snippet of information us cabbies are full of. Like, did you know that tunnel coming out from Docklands (can't remember what its called, but its got the odd sculpture on it) cost more yard for yard than the Channel Tunnel to build?


Roads

Post 7

IanG

Do you get taught all these things at the same time as doing the knowledge (or whatever it's called)? Or do you acquire this information by osmosis? I'm intrigued!


Roads

Post 8

I'm not really here

I don't work in London, so I didn't do the "knowledge" as such, but my dad - also a cabbie - tells me these things if we have to drive into London, to help me remember the way mainly! Also to impress customers with, especially foreigners.


Roads

Post 9

IanG

So have you ever been tempted to make up an 'interesting fact' for a foreigner? (Or an indiginous customer for that matter.)


Roads

Post 10

I'm not really here

No, I hadn't thought of that one. Could be good for a laugh, some gullible people out there...


Roads

Post 11

IanG

Living in Cambridge, a similar opportunity presents itself frequently if you ever go into the historic town centre (or, if you find some tourists who've managed to get particularly lost, the less historic bits and) - hang around for any length of time looking vaguely non-threatening, and sooner or later an American tourist (and as a resident I can tell you that the tourists are even more annoying than the students!) will ask you where the university is.

Due to the bizarre way in which Cambridge University has evolved since the middle ages (i.e. not much) this question turns out not to make sense - the town and the university are all mixed in together, so if you're near the middle of town, you're already in the university, and looking for anything approximating a campus will be unproductive.

Anyway, a friend of mine would, whenever asked this question, cheerfully offer to take them there, and wander slightly south of all the bits people actually come to see (the river and Kings College chapel...), down to a rather unpreposessing road called Lensfield Road, and about half way along this point them at a particular semi-detached house. From a pedantic point of view this was correct - it was a university-owned building, and thus qualified as being "The University" just as much as, say, Trinity College. (Actually more so, for reasons I won't bore you with.) But more importantly its only distinguishing feature is that it has a university crest on a plaque, along with the text "University of Cambridge" (making it hard to deny his assertion that this was what they were looking for), and is, as far as I know, the only building with such a label on it in Cambridge. smiley - smiley

(It's relatively harmless - he didn't actually take them far out of their way. More cruel was whoever it was who directed a couple of tourists up near where I live. No tourist in their right mind would come to this totally uninspiring suburb, and it's almost an hour's walk from the pretty bits.)


Roads

Post 12

I'm not really here

That's actually really interesting, I will be wary if I ever go to Cambridge. I tend to stay away because of the menace of cyclists.
I hear the place is crawling with them.
~shudders~
it's just not natural.


Roads

Post 13

IanG

Yes - there's this tension between the cyclists, drivers and pedestrians. I fall into the latter two camps. Most of the ancient bits of town weren't really designed to accommodate anything other than pedestrians, so trying to cram cars and bikes in there too means that everyone is falling over everyone else.

The car drivers dislike the cyclists because many of them ignore the highway code and don't look to see what's coming. (That's actually being unfair on the majority of cyclists, but of course you don't notice the ones who are behaving.) The pedestrians dislike the cyclists because they cycle on the pavement. The cyclists dislike drivers and pedestrians for clogging up their roads/pavements...

(As you can probably tell, I drive and walk round Cambridge but I don't have a bike...)


Roads

Post 14

I'm not really here

What a nightmare place you live in. Maybe you should move? My town is great, everyone here has loads of money so they all have cars. Which means when I want to walk places there is always loads of room on the pavements. No pesky cyclists either.


Roads

Post 15

IanG

I don't spend a whole load of time here anyway. For most of the last 8 months I've only notionally lived here, having spent most of the rest of the time in B&Bs in and around Brentford (which is not an improvement...), on the floors of friends' houses in that area, or hotels in lots of different places. I've just spent over a week sleeping in the same house every night, and I think this is the first time that's happened since last September!

Moving is just an aspect of my occupation. So where are you recommending that I move to next?


Roads

Post 16

I'm not really here

I don't know where you could move to. What sort of stuff do you like to do? That would be a start to give me ideas.

OK, quieten down at the back, it was an innocent remark.


Roads

Post 17

IanG

Actually I'm thinking of moving to London again. When it comes to crowded roads and pavements this is not exactly an improvement on Cambridge of course! However I like going to theatres and concerts, and there are few places with as much of that kind of thing on your doorstep as London. (Although Cambridge doesn't do too badly...)

I seem to spend so much of my time going into and out of London on the train (a lot of my friends are based there, and a fair amount of my work) that it probably would be simpler just to move there.


Roads

Post 18

I'm not really here

Then I have no idea whereabouts you should pick to live. One of my brothers likes Walthamstow, but that might be because it's cheap, rather than a nice place to live.


Roads

Post 19

IanG

Well most of the people I know are west or south west of centre. I'd be most likely to pick Hammersmith, for various reasons: I lived there before and really like it; if you choose the right bit you get to be within walking distance of 4 tube stations on 5 different lines enabling you to get the majority of central stations without changing; it's within walking distance of Holland Park (my favourite London park); it's within walking distance of the Albert Hall (just, if you live at the right end); one of the places I end up working at regularly is in Hammersmith; it has a pub that serves some of the best Thai food I've ever had.

Problem is it's expensive... Last time I lived there I shared a flat with a friend. He said he would be interested in getting a flat there again. So much so that he just bought himself a flat down there! Sadly a 1 bedroom studio flat, so sharing with him is no longer looking like an option. smiley - sadface


Roads

Post 20

I'm not really here

Bummer for you about that. smiley - sadface
I've got a council house so I have to live where I'm put. Luckily I love my house. smiley - smiley


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