Isn't it great when you come across a new concept, a new idea, a new brand of clothing or footwear, a new food, a new restaurant, a new person, a new activity, a new feature on your latest car, a new function in the latest technology, a new anything that you fall in love with?

 

Tony and Carmella were so enthusiastic they were happy to pay 40 bucks for a small piece of uncooked fish flown from the other side of the world at their new-found restaurant. Isn't enthusiasm itself wonderful?

 

My latest is refrigerated oranges.

 

At breakfast at some B & B in Lytham, they served a fruit platter at breakfast. The orange segments had obviously come straight from the fridge. Not a fruit I really got enthusiastic about previously but straight out the fridge, they are wonderful. I'll have 4 or 5 a week nowadays.

 

What's your latest new-found enthusiasm?

Walking in the woods near Drum Castle last week, took this photo: -

 

 

Isn't it beautiful how the bough broke to create a literal clitoral image?

What's it called when someone has both a cock and a fud? That's what that tree is. That's what true photography is about.

What's it called when someone has both a cock and a fud? That's what that tree is. That's what true photography is about.

 

Haha. I never saw the cock. I was getting a semi at the big giant fud to consider diving in to. But the wife was with me.

Haha. I never saw the cock. I was getting a semi at the big giant fud to consider diving in to. But the wife was with me.

 

Tree-fucking. One of nature's most beautiful sights.

Talking of new found enthusiasms, I may be binning one of mine.

 

The wife's birthday is next month so we always spend some time in London, one of our fav cities on the planet.

 

We will never bin our London trips in November but we may need to revisit our accommodation strategy.

 

Last year was the Savoy and 2015 was the Dorchester. China Tang and the Savoy Grill were outstanding culinary experiences but you don't have to stay there to eat there. Next month we are staying at the Ritz. But deliberately not dining there. This time I want to judge the accommodation on its own merits and not be taken in by the quality of the meal served from within its environs. I suspect the money they charge for their rooms isn't actually worth it so if you have any recommendations for decent hotels in London, I'm all ears.

St. Pancras hotel is supposed to be brilliant  not sure about prices though. Pricey is my guess.

London's a shitehole.

London's a shitehole.

 

Seconded

London's a shitehole.

 

Incorrect.

If you're tired of London, you're tired of life.

 

Some old dude said that.

Ah, Samuel Johnson, the well known arsehole.

Aye, I don't particularly like London either. I value my lungs. I just find it a badly laid out, unsustainable, mess and I don't get the hype. In fact, I think the hype is the hype. I'd knock most of it down, as it obviously does have some excellent parts.

I doubt you’re being serious but I’m certain that there will be a “London’s a shitehole” attitude within many in the NE.

 

This is worthy of examination.

 

As someone who was born in Foresterhill of NE stock going back as far as memory allows, with not one ancestor coming from south of the Dee and probably every one of us being within a 40 or 50 mile boundary and therefore a 20 or 25 mile radius (but no record of cousins or worse marrying so confidently NOT interbred) with not even a solitary Fifer or weegie in sight, feel I’m qualified to observe be the differences between characteristics of the NE and elsewhere. Living 15 years overseas and a further 10 years away from Abz in other Scottish places made these differences an area of interest for me.

 

Aberdeen’s a shitehole and the inept coonsil who ran down our declining city centre isn’t saved by the unique nature of our people. The NE is so sick and so thick, it returned Conservative in a number of constituencies. Not even Kirkcaldy or Dundee or even weegieland were that stupid.

 

 

Ah.......but London....

Ah.......but London....

 

Best customer service in UK, as experienced in best hotels and restaurants.

 

Best for arts and entertainment.

 

Best for shopping.

 

All served by an incredibly efficient transport system.

 

It’s got everything. Aberdeen doesn’t even have one excellent restaurant!

I'm not defending Aberdeen but I can guarantee that Eastern European customer service is just as pleasant and efficient in Aberdeen as it is in London.

 

Arts and entertainment? are you only comparing it to other shiteholes in the UK

 

Shopping is for girls.

 

Most expensive transport system in the world?

 

Everybody likes a different city for a different reason so fair enough.

 

Full of pretentious arseholes at one end and thick minker arseholes at the other as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Worst of all they seem to equate being ridiculously expensive with quality, a sad error.

The reason why customer service is better in London is the amount of competition. You’ve got to be good to survive. Increased choice also provides wider price ranges. Camden Lock and Brixton market offer a massive diversity for every taste and the quality is as good as food can be and not expensive.

 

Arts and entertainment. London has it all. Probably the biggest choices on the planet. Even football spectating has more choices.

 

Shopping isn’t just for girls. Men wear stuff too.

 

Pretentious people as a genre died out years ago. There are the inherited wealth arseholes you come across very occasionally in the expensive places but the biggest “class” for disgust are the moneyed Arabs who treat the service staff like shit and stare at our women’s tits. Minkers are everywhere but the majority of people in every city are neither minkers nor pretentious. You don’t know the place.

Well, it's been a while since I've been, I'll give you that.

 

However I've paid at the gate at Upton Park and White Hart Lane.

I've been a guest of the BBC at Television Center and their Westminster studios.

I've squatted in the East End.

 

So I've seen a fair bit of the place, I avoid it like the plague.

 

The closest I've been for a long time was a couple of weeks ago when I had the misfortune of frequenting Luton Airport for a few hours.

I wouldn't go as far as blaming the city of London for anything as obnoxious as Luton Airport but it did give me a wee reminder of the superior  attitude of the South East resident which I can well do without.

Luton is a shithole, I'll grant you that. I stayed there for 3 nights last month, my first time there for years. But the pub around the corner from the Premier Inn city centre was awesome, down-to-earth folk, working folk, non-working folk, father and son getting a good drink in, ethnics of all sorts, a good pool table - the pub team captain took me ages (5 frames over two nights) to eventually beat, a barmaid I would've shagged, tattooed criminal-looking types, tattooed non-criminal-looking types, folk having a joint in the beer garden and a fucking great atmosphere and vibe. They all knew each other but they were friendly to a stranger who didn't walk in expecting it to be a shithole and who was free from preconceptions. Attitude, it's everything.

 

You will find shite in every place if that's what your looking for/expecting.

I agree

 

But in some places it's floating in front of you.

One man’s floater is another man’s cocktail.

 

Kirkcaldy. Lochgelly. Cowdenbeath. Now these places float and not with nice imbibements. Closer to home, Brechin appears to have zero redeeming aspects. But London, I love the place.

I dinna mind Brechin.

 

Not that I would want to stay there mind you but at least the bloke in the butcher's a Dons fan

Spent my formative years growing up in Glenrothes...fantastic in the 70s but an absolute toilet for the best part of 30 years. Kirkcaldy is utopia by comparison. I get what you are saying about Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly though.....

rocket’s daughter just won...

 

https://www.mrc.ac.uk/news/browse/2017-max-perutz-science-writing-award-shortlist-announced/

 

Not quite the best day of my life - I was there on 11.5.1983 - but so proud.

Congratulation to her, you must be vewwy pwoud!