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New York, 12:41 PM
Mon Nov 23
25 posts in the last 24 hours
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11:46 AM
10:33 AM
10:27 AM
They put the frisson in frisson of violence!
10:39 AM
10:51 AM
10:56 AM
10:00 AM
That said, London seems a city more supportive of the private moment than New York. What is good about New York is evident to everybody: what is good about London you have to discover for yourself.
I feel it would be an excellent place to live while writing, because it's a city that, for all its size, doesn't pose immediate distractions.
10:49 AM
11:12 AM
08:29 AM
Yes, London has crap service and none of the convenience New York has, however it really is a more global city and has some gentle civilities that are usually lost on residents. Forgive me, but the difference between my minicab driver's courtesy on the way to Heathrow yesterday and the asshole cabbie who picked me up at JFK and then yelled at me for giving him a non-cash tip has left me feeling fragile.
08:11 AM
But don't deny your true feelings. All the Jay Z YouTubes in the world can't change the forces of nature.
10:40 AM
11:27 AM
#iactuallyquiteenjoyedboroughma...
tag. I forgot to put the #desperateforalastpost tag and the #thingsicouldgiveashitabout tag. I was sad that St. Johns was closed when I went though. Oh well. New York sucks, London sucks, the only nice place left in the universe is Asheville, North Carolina and The Maldives, which I recently learned I've been pronouncing wrong for the last four years. Whoops.
05:25 AM
Yeah -- every fucking corner in NY looks like every other fucking corner. I can ID my location in London within two seconds, but New York remains a mess of 90 degree angles to me.
Booooooring!
03:23 AM
Not a WEEK, not a fricking WEEK passes without some by-numbers article in the NYT or elsewhere stating that Berlin is hip. These articles are usually written by people who don't even speak German and wouldn't know what the actually scene here is like if it bit them on the arsch. Often the jist of these articles is: "Berlin! It's just like New York with cheap rents! There are artists here! And internet startups!" as though that weren't the case in every bloody major city in the Western world.
I love this city, but it's ludicrous to say it's outstripping New York.
01:52 AM
01:25 AM
12:37 AM
I mean, what was her point? That NYC has lost its edge b/c things actually work here? B/c natives and tourists can both get the most out of the city without being rude to each other? B/c as much as you try to pretend that it's expensive you can still enjoy a very full life without having to spend an arm and leg every night like you would in London? B/c if you were to wake up at 3 am there would always be something you could do and someplace you could go b/c it's literally the CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS?! B/c our basic amenities are virtually unheard of in your most expensive new construction? Or is it b/c New Yorkers don't even have to try and they'll still always be cooler than you and that's what really pisses you off?
I know to each his own but, seriously, it's really hard to bitch about NYC when it has so much to offer to anyone and everyone. It seems that the edge that she's missing from NY is when you were risking your life each time you stepped outside your door. Who knew there were people out there that actually missed the crime. Sorry that NYC is still the coolest place to live and also the best vacation city in the world. London will never catch up so just get over it.
05:09 AM
The idea that Londoners are in any way jealous of New Yorkers is just stupid. They don't fucking care about New York unless they're coming here for the killer exchange rate before Christmas. London will never "catch up"? London was there before New York, and will be there after New York. (Probably quite literally, what with global warming.)
In conclusion: London's awesome, as are Londoners.
05:46 AM
Calm down. Both cities are pretty amazing and actually very similar. But to tar 8 million people with the same brush is a bit fucking stupid.
07:56 AM
08:39 AM
08:59 AM
As an immigrant, though (I moved to London as a child) I must disagree about Londoners making visitors feel like shit just because they're not from London/UK. London is the most cosmopolitan, welcoming place I've been to in my life. I'm sorry you've had a bad experience, but most of the Londoners I know are cool, intelligent, friendly, creative, worldly and diverse.
But what would I know. I've only lived here for 23 years.
10:03 AM
The rudeness in customer service is fairly appalling in some areas and that certainly has left a mark over the years. It starts to add up after 10 years of lengthy travel to London for both business and pleasure. I no longer consider myself a tourist but some Londoners seem to want to go out of their way to make me believe that I am. I've traveled all over Europe, even lived there for five years, and in my experience, London and Paris are seriously bitchy places. Doesn't apply to all citizens of either city but there's certainly been enough of them over the years for me to know that I'll be rolling my eyes more often than not.
12:13 AM
Look, I think New York is great, but I think it has too many lazy parents (FFS 7 year olds in strollers?) and too many selfish people owning dogs who can't be happy living alone in those small NY apartments (FFS, I'm so sick of dog's barking and the smell of their piss in the morning).
In general, big cities suck.
01:16 AM
Ex...cuse me?
Brooklyn: Stand up.
11/22/09
The subways don't just stop running at midnight(ish): they stop wherever the hell they are in the system, and kick you out, and you're in Islington and need to get back to Hoxton, and you're fucked.
It's New Years day, about 3pm, and you've crawled out of bed to find something to cure your hangover, but every fucking restaurant/cafe/coffee shop/market is closed, so you have to drag yourself to the McDonald's (of course) in Liverpool St. station because it's the only open establishment within five miles, except that apparently the clubs are apparently still open, because there are drunk chicks being dragged shoeless out of them, and other drunk chicks waiting in line to get in them, at 3:00PM.
The tube isn't air conditioned.
Nothing else is air conditioned, either; you can't get A/C in your apartment no matter what. And every summer it goes up to 90 degrees (sorry - 35), and everyone is stunned, like it's the first time it's _ever_ happened, but IT HAPPENS EVERY FUCKING SUMMER! GET A/C YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!! The only thing surprising about the heat in London is that the English are still surprised by it.
Compare: seamlessweb.com vs. deliverance.co.uk.
So finally you're so pissed that you decide to move back to New York, so you need to buy packing boxes, except where do you go? Nobody sells packing boxes. There's no FedEx store, no moving companies you can buy them from, no Kinko's, no Home Depot. I asked my coworker what she did when she needed packing boxes; she said "we just nick 'em from the back of Tesco's."
But they have very nice shaving cream, and bacon sandwiches. So there's that.
05:35 AM
You can definitely buy packing boxes (I say, looking at my packing boxes). Post-Tube, you take an unlicensed minicab like everybody else! A/C, meh, deal for the two weeks of heat. It's not worth the price of installation.
But the drunks, good point. Shaun of the Dead every single night.
07:03 AM
New Year's Day is a public holiday here. I'm sure it's equally difficult to find certain things on July 4th and so on in New York.
Foster complains that our bars/clubs close early, and you're complaining that they close late. How can we win?
You can buy a/c units, no problem. We just don't bother, for the most part, because it's not hot enough for long enough to justify the expense. Newer buildings often have a/c built in, especially offices.
And packing boxes? Seriously? You're moaning that you have to identify a new brand/shop at which to buy boxes because you can't see your favourite American shop? Try the Post Office, for one, and I could name a hundred more, no doubt.
The only thing I'll agree with you on is the lack of a/c on the Tube. Absolute killer for 6 months of the year...
07:44 AM
11/22/09
11/22/09
All we ended up doing was taking the tube between the two airports, stopping for Noodles somewhere on the banks of the Thames, and grabbed a bottle of water. Somehow, when we got on the Athens flight, I noticed with only those three things purchased, we blew the equivalency of $110 US.
Oh, and guess how much they wanted to ride the Millennium Eye, the fancypants ferris wheel? Ohhh, only twenty five pounds, which is FIFTY FUCKING BUCKS .. PER PERSON... for ONE "Go" as they say.
Sorry, but I can spend a week in NYC and have awesome-ass international cuisine and ride the subway all over the whole city and barely notice the cost.
London. With their tube stop names like Blopfathom Upon Claxbury and Titsfuckerham Circus .. Fuck that place :p
12:02 AM
01:28 AM
@heywhat: You're not joking. These people have been trying to get a piece of me for years. I took out a few international copyrights when naming my loins, so they had to switch it up. Cheap bastards.
05:30 AM
07:08 AM
And if you're going to stop in the expensive areas for food, you're going to get screwed over. I doubt you eat round Times Square all that often...
And to get from Heathrow to Gatwick (via central London), that's a journey of Tube AND train, so it costs more. The two airports are way out of town.
09:26 AM
[www.londoneye.com]
..unless you want to wait two hours.
..and tell me where the cheap food is in London? Hell, even in Times Square you can at least get fucking Sbarro for $3.