Cellar Exchange Visit!
 

Yeah, okay, it's not real.

Not yet anyway!

Anyone who can scrape up the fare is welcome here!
The dollar is pretty damned strong. If you're not coming immediately, just start saving.

And I am a wonderful guide, I promise.
I have books and everything.

Well, for London and Bucks anyway.
Seriously, I know London from my childhood, the Tube network from my adulthood and the tourist network from my unemployment.

Why aren't you here?
Come here! Now!

hmmm. seriously?
I am planning a stay, and would welcome any/all tips.

I want to come!

I'm excited to go roving. see new things and meet new people. we can get up a crew.

Yup, Dana can give you the poop on the academic side, and Sundae the tawdry side. :lol: :p:

I was all set to head to the northern hemisphere over the Christmas/New Year period and then that tree falling on my house has meant that I'll have to postpone my plans. :(

always good to strike a balance!

ahem while you're over here you could take in Scotland as well ...

Careful warch, we have a quite active contingent across the pond, they'll run you ragged.:D

Yes! Edinburgh for sure and I'd love to visit some islands. My style is slow touring, off season, and I don't mind a chill... I'm up for out of the way places and wonderful landscapes.

Tree fell on your house? did I miss that? Sorry.:(

That's nice of you. Thanks. :)

I was up there yesterday looking at the extent of the damage. The tree issue is not so bad-the tiles on the roof have been fixed and the hole in the ceiling can be fixed too and it is forcing me to do something about the insulation (see cross thread to missing cellarites :D). I will need to get an arborist out to do some serious lopping as there are many dead branches on very tall trees relatively close to the house.

Now I'm just venting as it is all fixable, but what was worse and I find much more difficult to accept is the mess that the house was left in. The tenant basically did a runner, leaving the key in the letterbox. Yesterday we filled a skip with the stuff left behind (bags and bags of rubbish, 3 televisions, a couch and armchairs with no cushions-WTF?, a teenage child's entire wardrobe including underwear-WTF again?, new expensive sunglasses, shoes in perfectly good nic, silverware, old children's toys, half opened packets of food, a mattress etc...etc..). Clarification here: the stuff that is in good order will be donated to charity.

The carpet was absolutely putrid-i.e. cream carpet turned black; I don't think it had been vacuumed in the whole 18 months that she'd been there. The curtains in the backroom had obviously been flapping out the backdoor when it was raining and had dirty water marks in the bottom half. The fireplace hadn't been cleaned out and I think she'd been burning plastic in there as plastic wrappers on the surrounding bricks. Luckily, it's not my responsibility, but there was also a $3000 unpaid electricity bill and who knows how many other unpaid bills.

We'll be getting another skip and putting the rest of the rubbish in there early in the week. I am used to mess (I grew up in a very messy house), but this is/was the kind of stuff that you see on tabloid "news" programs (i.e. Today Tonight). It's also where I am very, very grateful that I have landlord's insurance and that it's my holidays so that I have time to actually deal with it without having to delegate to my folks/friends. I'll be up there again today cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. The carpets, curtains, walls have to wait until the insurance assessors come in.

Oh boy. Tenants... I have a number of friends who keep rental properties and wow do they have stories. Sadly, sounds par for the course.

I feel yer Pain , I have had to Shovel out a couple of Houses ( Literally ) !!

Nasty !! How can folks Live like that ??????

They don't. They live until gets like that, then leave.

So true. Many people have bad tenant stories...

As a result of the way the carpets look, I now have a born-again attitude to vacuuming and will now be warning people about the reprecussions of not vacuuming.

No-one tends to tell their good tenant stories though. My folks have a place which they've rented to the same people for about 18 years and about 90% of the time everyone is happy.

Of course, there was the time (now sounding like a scene from Fiddler on the Roof) when I dropped over to the rental house to visit and took a sizeable chunk of the gatepost while backing out. That was embarrassing-not only did I have to tell and show the tenant my handiwork. I then had to ring my folks and tell them. The responses were as follows:

Casi: (very embarrassed-I'm really sorry. I've taken a chunk out of the gatepost)..

Tenant: I told your father not to put that gatepost there.

Later on the phone.
Father: Oh, you can't drive either.

Oh Casi I missed that completely - SO sorry.

Warch, I honestly mean about being a tour guide.
I'd just need dates to plan ahead (approximate ones for saving really - as you know I'm on a budget and public transport here is reliable but not cheap).

But if you want suggestions just give us some more details in this thread.
I can certainly recommend for London - as can Cyclefrance (he still around?) and Limey. I probably have the most recent info, but any of us can point you to relevant websites to get the most up-to-date details.

I can give you ideas for the South East and Midlands if you let me know your hopes and expectations. No point me telling you that it's imperative you go to St Albans for the Roman ruins if you'd rather see Elstree Studios (original Star Wars filmset - demolished but a site of pilgrimage!)

You have to visit London of course.
Sez me, daughter of Londoners on both sides and having lived there myself.
Even if I can't meet you I couldn't recommend London Walks highly enough. Go for the headline walks though - which mention places/ people/ themes you recognise ie Jack the Ripper, Ghost Walks etc. I've been on the others and although they interested me they migh be too obscure for someone passing through.

Go to the famous one-off departments stores if you like shopping. Head for the food halls. Fortnum and Mason, Harrods, Selfridges. You can kill an hour there.

Take in at least one park. Find at least one bus route through the centre of London (again, am happy to advise!) Go on a bus tour if you can afford it, but for 1/10th of the price just get on a normal bus and WATCH out the window. London is crammed with sights which aren't actually important.

Go on the London Eye. Or just go across Waterloo Bridge - Wordsworth never got the chance and believe me the views are better than Westminster Bridge. The Houses of Parliament one way, St Pauls the other.

Ack - the 'rents have just come home and I have to vacate the computer! More later!

Thanks SG. That's lovely of you.

Today we pulled up the carpet (initially because the guy who came to give a quote for new carpet said that given that the source of the black marks was unknown, his people would not take it up-OH & S and all that). Anyway, we had all the carpet out of the house in the space of an hour and the floorboards have great potential for being polished. :) Then, we spent the next the rest of the morning pulling up staples and the batons. Still loads more to do, but it's on its way and the house is starting feel like it did 18 months ago-i.e. a pleasant place to be. :)

So generous SG!
There is so much to possibly do that I am a bit overwhelmed with it just yet. I'm doing research on my end and as I get a bit closer to travel time I'll have more specific questions that I'd appreciate advice and perspective. I am all for hopping on buses and watching.
For sure on the list are trips to visit Warwickshire (ancestral poking around) and Leicester (to check out the university there).


And Walks... yes!