molly.com
Sunday 13 November 2005
Wake Up London!
I’M HERE IN LONDON after a long flight. It’s 10:14 a.m. and I can’t get into my room until 1:30. None of my friends are awake, or if they are, they’re not online. No pubs are open. I paid a fortune for wifi and a warm corner where I could get some coffee.
You know, it’s been one shitty stretch. As happy as I am to be here, this is no warm welcome. And the coffee sucks. I shoulda ordered tea.
Filed under: travel, food and drink
Posted by: Molly | 3:04 am |
November 13th, 2005 at 3:26 am
well, I am on the other side of the world, but otherwise, I’d be there in a flash
November 13th, 2005 at 3:36 am
Hi Molly,
I’m not a big fan of London at the best of times, but it’d have to be one of the worst places in the world in which to be miserable. Sending you some sunshine, a cold beer and a hug from Bondi xx
November 13th, 2005 at 3:43 am
Find the nearest Centra (or whatever little tiny convenience/grocery store) and look at the candy section. No, really, look at it.
Buy some Smarties (not the sugar bombs they are here), an Aero bar (just for the experience) and some Kinder Eggs. Eats the Smarties while you put together the toy from the kinder egg. Or, if it’s too early for candy, get some sparkling water and an egg sandwich and see just how disgusting you can make your burps smell (ok, that may be too far, but it is funny).
Then, smile, grab a copy of the International Herald Tribune and watch London wake up.
Of course, this works just as well in Dublin, which is where I did it (actually better, because Dubliners sleep in on Sundays).
November 13th, 2005 at 3:44 am
It’s rememberence day - if you can’t get into your room, go and check out what’s going on. It’ll be crowded, but the ceremony at the cenotaph should be worth checking out if you don’t mind the cold.
November 13th, 2005 at 3:45 am
London is awful, and today bloody cold! Being Sunday with most stuff shut doesn’t help either - I would suggest staying in a warm place until you get the chance or heading over to Covent Garden which seems to be the only place with any life on a Sunday morning.
November 13th, 2005 at 4:14 am
Bad news about your trip to london, but as someone already said, today is Remembrance Sunday, so please have a little patience.
After all, if it wasn’t for those brave soldiers, would be have the freedom to complain about the bad weather and even worse coffee?
Hope your trip gets better for you!
November 13th, 2005 at 4:46 am
Glad you made it!
Yes, Sunday morning London is shitty. Coffee is generally bad in the UK, but I imagine you probably worked that out in the past!
I’d say just hang on a little longer and then go find a pub to have a nice Sunday lunch in…
November 13th, 2005 at 7:52 am
Ugh…Sundays in the UK…everything crawls!
I got up late myself!
November 13th, 2005 at 8:13 am
Actually from later this month there should be more pubs open earlier in the day due to changes in the licensing laws.
And yeah, Wifi is expensive here, which is a real shame. Would have loved to come to meet you at the geek dinner but I have other stuff on right now
November 13th, 2005 at 8:35 am
The spousal unit had a 3 hour layover in at Gatwick this morning, on his way to Bordeaux. I imagine he’s just finished going through customs in France, and can’t wait to get to the hotel. Including another 3 hour layover in Dallas, he’s been on the road almost 24 hours.
Not fun at all, but at least he won’t have the check-in time problem.
November 13th, 2005 at 8:38 am
Hi,
Coffee in London sucks if you go to any of the commercialised large chains such as Starbucks, Cafe Nero, Costa Coffee or others. They all make watered down rubbish. However, if you can find a branch of Segofredo near where you are their Cafe Lungo is brilliant. Strong, robust and full of flavour. If you have time whilst you’re in London, visit Borough Market, under London Bridge (on the south side) and visit the large coffee stall they have there. They have about 15 variety of freshly ground coffee beans and filter it for you on the spot. Good stuff!
Public Wifi charges in London are a laugh. Some private, non-chain coffee stores give you free wifi time if you buy coffee from them. There are a few in Soho, Central London.
Don’t freeze! Especially on a sleepy, everything shut London Sunday!
Enjoy you stay.
November 13th, 2005 at 8:51 am
Now, if only I’d checked my blogroll earlier. Molly, you oughta know, web folks and techies in general get up late on a Sunday. (Or is that every day?) I’m looking forward to the workshop this week. and I hope your trip brightens up from now on. BTW, where did you have your coffee? I have generally found Caffe Nero to be consistently good. Costa Coffee and others less so.
November 13th, 2005 at 9:17 am
Hello. I’d have come & kept you company if I’d read this earlier. Never mind, hope you’ve settled in now.
Still, no-one else has issued a proper warm welcome so I will.
Welcome to London. :O)
I *did* think Disney Store would send someone to meet you…
(p.s. You’ve got to have the salt&pepper squid starter at http://www.soba.co.uk/ while you’re here.)
November 13th, 2005 at 10:09 am
I’d come down from Scotland, if I weren’t ill, too young to travel on my own, and had the money to come.
November 13th, 2005 at 11:14 am
Ian: Costa Coffee/Cafe Nero - good by U.S. standards, but Molly’s an American - the standard for coffee it higher there.
And…too true about web folks getting up late (cos they’ve usually been up all night fiddling, err, with code and such!)
Molly: Have you had the appropriate welcome yet? (6:15 pm now)…I hope so!
November 13th, 2005 at 11:15 am
Ian: My last post was wrong…’good by U.K. standards’ was what I meant to say….Costa and Nero have a way to go to impress some Americans (from what I can tell).
November 13th, 2005 at 11:25 am
While I haven’t yet had a proper welcome, I did finally get settled into my room and am about to go eat something. Then have a long sleep. I’m in a much better mood now.
And yes, we’re very spoiled with coffee, we ‘mericans. But when it comes to great tea, the English take the cake. (ouch, mixed metaphor). However, don’t EVEN get me started on the ice issue . . .
November 13th, 2005 at 11:41 am
I’m familiar with coffee in the USA. One of the reasons why I mention Caffe Nero is that they make their coffee quite strong… Shame Monmouth Street Coffee isn’t open on a Sunday. London’s OK in my view - you just have to work a bit harder to seek out the best though.
November 13th, 2005 at 11:55 am
Ian: Best coffee I’ve had in the UK so far was in a cafe in Bath (not the tub, the city). I suppose it just depends what type of coffee one would normally prefer…I’m more of a neat, black, very strong, type of coffee person myself - preferring strong flavours mostly.
Molly: (I remember from Flickr/prev. posts about the ‘ice’ thing…you were very disappointed weren’t you?)
It’s not one of our (UK) things we do well. Tea or cake - we’re not too bad. hope the rest of your stay is a great one.
November 13th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
Shame london is two hundred miles or so away otherwise I’d have offered to make you a cup of tea myself.
Enjoy your trip in London!
November 13th, 2005 at 1:36 pm
I believe it is one of your former presidents, Abe Lincoln who is famous for the quote “If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; If this is tea, please bring me some coffee.” Obviously, this was during a sojourn in the UK.
November 13th, 2005 at 3:19 pm
Molly, I did warn you… Sundays is a little slow, even by British standards. Huddle in a queue, I think that’s why we like queues so much…?
November 13th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
I’ve never even been to England, but I know better than to ask for coffee there.
I live within an hour of Seattle, so I guess I am a bit spoiled. We’ve got Tully’s, Starbucks, and dozens of privately-owned coffee shops and espresso stands.
November 13th, 2005 at 10:19 pm
Molly,
Glad to find your site. You are rambunctious and some 9 years ago helped lift me out of a deep depression by way of your generous comments on the old MSN BB’s.( As I recall you were trying to rally the afflicted in a writing project.) Have several of your books, thank you. Sorry to hear of your distressed entry into London.
Was reading your archives (Aug 22 2003) and came across the following:
Nobody loves me
everybody hates me
think I’ll go eat worms
Third and fourth lines should read:
sitting in a garden
eating worms.
Covent Garden?
Warmth and kindness your way everyday!
November 14th, 2005 at 1:23 am
(Apologies in advance if this shows up more than once - it didn’t seem to work the first time so I’m trying again.)
I’ve been following along here for a few months, but this is the first time I’ve had something to say. I’m an absolute website novice and recently created my own site mostly just to learn how to do it from scratch (without Front Page, Dreamweaver, or some other crutch). Most of your technical stuff flies right over my head, and the only thing we have in common so far is that we’re the same age. Anyway, I was distressed to see so many derogatory comments on London, as my husband and I spent eight solid months in Europe in 1997 and London was my favorite city (Stockholm the most beautiful to look at, but London my favorite to spend time in). I do admit that most of our time there was in the spring, and it wasn’t such a bucket of fun at the end of November.
We were told (in 1997) never to order just coffee because we would get instant coffee. If we wanted real coffee we were to order “cafetiere” coffee (their term for the French press). This worked very well, but if you’re willing to take on a “when in Rome…” spirit you can never go wrong with tea in England. Even the most improbable, dumpy looking little place in a middle of nowhere backwater town would produce a perfect pot of tea for us, like magic. Anyway, sorry you had a bad morning.
November 14th, 2005 at 1:30 am
Molly,
Drop by in Lisbon and, among other things, I’ll show you Coffee!
November 14th, 2005 at 4:35 am
Welcome to London!
November 14th, 2005 at 4:46 am
Hope you’ve found some good coffee to warm you up (chilly this morning too). Nero’s is indeed nice, though you’re sure to find some decent independant cafes around.
If you find yourself at a loose end you may want to check out the often truly strange world of the Turner Prize exhibition at the Tate Britain.
November 14th, 2005 at 5:42 am
Stop whining and mail you messenger/google talk ID to the task force list. I am online and we can meet for snacks later?
November 14th, 2005 at 7:45 am
why don’t you pop in and see disney while you are there!!!!
November 14th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
hey my name is molly too!!
November 16th, 2005 at 2:22 pm
I hope us BBC folk were a bit more welcoming, Molly! It was great to have you, thanks for coming to speak today (and yesterday).
November 17th, 2005 at 3:56 am
I’m gutted that I couldn’t make it to the Workshop.Will you be back in the UK soon? please say yes.
November 17th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
hi, my name is also molly. I loved your pics of half moon cay. They have inspired me to look for a vacation there (and to save up enough for it). Sorry you don’t like London, I’d rather be there than Nashville.
November 17th, 2005 at 1:44 pm
Hi Molly, just a quick thanks for today - really did deliver what I was after (although looking at the prospectus some of the stuff I’d have really liked to have been shown appears to been skipped). Apologies for missing the soiree but I was due elsewhere!
Again, thanks for pitching it just right for a designer needing to “get” CSS enough to be excited about the possibilities and the opportunity to make the a Better Place.
November 18th, 2005 at 2:29 am
Next time you turn in London up tell me in advance what time/day and I’ll make sure there is a warm welcome, or at least someone to talk to.
November 18th, 2005 at 6:05 am
Molly hi.
Well I know you’ve cheered up from the Sunday arrival. The workshop yesterday was great. Both yourself and Andy did a great job and it was great to meet you.
Hope to see you next Thursday.
Cheers.
November 21st, 2005 at 3:17 pm
Shame about London.
Next time head north for a warm welcome in Manchester, the city which led the way in the develoment of the computer and much else.
Bring an umbrella.
December 4th, 2005 at 10:16 am
Yes, London the most crying city of the world.
December 18th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Tell and for you what city the best and why?
February 23rd, 2006 at 2:35 am
Wales is da most awesome country in da world!!!!:D
but England sucks. . .
May 28th, 2006 at 3:54 am
I once read a quote about having to be dead to be bored in London, which is quite true from my experience. It might be grey but it’s so packed with culture and history that few places in the world compare. Lonely Planet has a new book, which rates cities and there’s only five or so places in the world their editors would rather be. And yes, bad coffee unless your happy with the chains like Starbucks - but if you know where to look it’s out there. Try Flat White in Soho for a start.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:48 am
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April 8th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
dont choose sunday for next trip
July 21st, 2007 at 2:11 am
the coffee is sucks in london?I will notice this, i will order something else if I go to London.thanks Molly.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
thanx
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
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March 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am
thanks
May 28th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
thanks for your sharing