I went for the first time in about 91 and loved it , you could park up nearby have a little dance and absorb the culture . I was a fresh faced child then , in 2000 it was still pretty free . In 2018 maybe because I'm too old but I wouldn't take my kids there on a Sunday afternoon it's a bit too intense .
Carnival is a museum piece now, and West London is a cultural graveyard. It's not immigrants who have sucked the life out of the place, it's gentrification. Go to Notting Hill any weekend when the carnival isn't on, and you will see no one on the streets because all the houses are owned by ****s like David Cameron who **** off to Oxfordshire at the weekend. Portobello Road is entirely populated by ****y white rastas living off trust funds, carrying didgeroos they shipped back from Oz while on their gap years. When the area was full of West Indians, Irish, and punks living in squats, it had some ****ing life to it. Dead now.
I would rather live in Notting hill again than Forrest Gate. There are some very cool bars and restaurants still , plus Hyde Park is walking distance. It is way safer too and has fantastic architecture.
Will be visiting 'The Angel' next year on my way home from Paris. Might also pop into the Coal Hole on The Strand.
How about the Imperial War Museum ? They have a mock up of a German village and a toy British rifle complete with bayonet that the kids can plunge into the evil Kraut Nazi dummies. Hours of fun mate.
Not too keen on museums; most of the exhibits depict 'history' from the side of the victors! My other pet hate/dislike about large cities is the preponderance of supposed 'Irish' rub-a-dubs. F****n' hate them; apart from the one right next door to my Koln doss-house which is always crawling with gullible young burdz!
I don't think the Germans are allowed to display Nazi memorabilia since that embarrassing moment in their history. In Poland you can be jailed for mentioning Polish death camps . They are a bit sensitive about the Whole gassing thing, of course the British are proud of their war history we usually win . Nelson column is nice.
Yes indeed; I would however, despite my love of Bavaria and wider Germany as a holiday destination, describe the mid to late 1930's and the 1940's in National Socialist Germany as slightly more than embarrassing. If however your understatement is to save my feelings I thank you. Only been to Krakow for an intended three night visit with relations and friends however this somehow got extended to a sixteen night stay; cannae remember a f****n' thing! My discourse with the locals did not, I believe, touch on their country's war crimes during WW2. Bill Nelson or Nelson Mandella?
Meant to be the largest street festival in Europe so the authorities will always allow it to continue no matter how many violent incidents there are. You will always get some twat saying statistically it is no more violent than the FA Cup Final in terms of crimes per participant. Various attempts have been made over the years to curtail the violence with suggestions as far-fetched as having it inside a specific area (The Scrubs) or venue (Wembley Stadium) instead of out in the streets. Been going on for around 60-odd years and is ingrained as being "part of our culture" by those West Indians still living in the area and by the wider "community" who like being able to descend on West London every year. Gentrification of the area started well over 30 years ago, much the same as other total sh.itholes like Hoxton. The real money moved further up towards Notting Hill Gate but it has gradually drifted further north and past the Westway. I was priced out of the area 25 years ago, too rich for this local. As if to make my point for me a happy-go-lucky young TV chef used to slide down a spiral staircase, hop onto his skateboard or Raleigh Chopper and buy his veggies from smiling costermongers up and down The Lane. The embodiment of all that is wrong with my former manor. A fake cockney cook with a scooter and VW camper van pretending that they he is a local. C.U.N.T. that he is.
To put all this in perspective, it’s important to remember that the W in West London always stood for ****er
So do you confirm or deny my point then? Basically, a W in the postcode has always been indicative of a relatively high ****er quotient. In NW postcodes, the W is somewhat redeemed by the N. Don't even get me started on SW.
Point proven. But there's different types of ****ers: well-off ****ers, trendy ****ers, edgy ****ers, sad ****ers, pikey ****ers, etc. When I lived there it was well-off and trendy ones that I encountered mostly in the bars on Portobello Road and Ladbroke Grove.
Trust me, they have proliferated wildly since you left. But you are right; we're all ****ers really, of one sort or another.
Can't help where you are born I suppose. No matter where I live I always refer to Ladbroke Grove as home (hence my moniker on Not606) even though I hardly ever get back there, can't afford to live there and despise the sort of entitled ponces who reside there now. It all went down hill when the army surplus shop in Portobello Road closed and an ethnic-ish bead & button shop replaced it. That and all the w.anky art galleries that popped up around the late 80's. The loathsome historian David Starkey proposed a time when only rich people were allowed to live in central London and all the hoi polloi had to live outside and only venture in to service the needs of the wealthy. At the time he got pelters but it doesn't seem so foolish now, it's what is happening by degree anyway.
