Random musings and general banter.

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I ordered a Hydro5 razor set from IW which has arrived quickly and is excellent. The shaver has a gel bar on the top edge and all you do is wet your face and shave away. You can push the bar back if you want a wet shave with cream but I don't think I'll bother in future. There is also a battery (included) operated trimmer for beards and sideburns. And a bathroom bag was thrown in for free with 4 blades.

Now I don't know how the price I paid compares but it seemed reasonable to me and as I've said before IW CS is reliable.

No hype was needed to sell me this, no fantasy stories or outrageous claims.

A good product at a fair price is all I ask for. IW presenters take note.
 
Duke of Cheese said:
Independent shops - that’s the key. We went to Belper in Derbyshire a month or two back. My partner loves crocheting and unusual type wools. A wonderful wool shop there, selling at great prices, she said. Lots of quirky and non-chain type shops in the town. Not the relentless Greggs, mobile phone repairs shops, and charity shop after shop you find locally here. Talking of Charles Dickens connections - back to Ideal World - the Ebenezer Scrooge of shopping television.
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Interesting because in Rochester there was a combined craft and book shop with a cafe at the back which I took advantage of. Decent coffee. I must visit again sometime soon.
 
galesgal57 said:
Now he's saying the bags wouldn't look out of place in a 6* hotel in Dubai! If it had a designer label on it, it would fetch £1200 pounds! He surely doesn't believe it. If he does, her seriously needs help.
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Some reasonably priced products could indeed pass for more expensive equivalents if a designer label was slapped on them.

Not, however, the products IW sell ;)
 
Muttley said:
Yes, things change and not always for the better. Yes, Oxford Street used to be special, now its full of those American Candy stores. Westminster Council are often cracking down on them but there's always plenty there. I rarely go, if I do its for specific things in John Lewis, I don't spend the morning browsing in all the shops. I love coffee shops but agree there are too many chain ones. However there are a few old style Italian coffee shops in Soho.

Theatreland is still vibrant, I go regularly. Plenty of atmosphere when you come out but those bl**dy pedicabs get on my nerves, they're unregulated, uninsured, rip people off, and play music loudly🤬.

The M&S flagship branch at Marble Arch is still there, they haven't started redeveloping it yet.

I try to focus on the positive things London offers like the free large museums and art galleries. When I'm skint a Sunday morning stroll round the V&A or National Gallery is lovely, but I have to avoid spending too much in their cafe! Some of them open late on a Friday evening which is nice.
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Ha, yes, ditto. The café at the National Gallery was nice and view over the square, but the prices for coffee and cake, etc., were exorbitant!

When I worked in Westminster, we would sometimes go for lunch at a tourist spot, stall or take-away and would often say (in our suit/tie) "we're not tourists, we work/live here" and *sometimes* the owner would give us a discount!

If not already, just had an idea for a Londoner's card, for discounts for locals.

Some London boroughs like mine have a Council card which gives free 30min parking in some shopping areas and discounts in participating shops/services.

A City-centre Westminster Council or Mayor-run scheme to encourage Londoners into town, with discounts for non-tourists, with so much home working, wouldn't be a bad idea???
 
Muttley said:
I don't buy huge amounts online but Amazon is often the first place I'll look because there's no way of getting what I want in a shop. I'd much rather shop in person.

I went to Rochester in Kent last year. Delightful main street, nice tea rooms, independent shops (I did spend money in them). There were a lot of charity shops but the window displays were smart and just looked like independent shops.

It trades off its Charles Dickens connection. I went to the Tiny Tim tea room and got a massive pot of tea and 2 shortbread biscuits for £2.50😁
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A few nice places like that in Kent.
Rye is nice, olde worlde, teashops and bookstores. Deal, Winchelsea, even Dover, Folkestone is not too bad, still a lively town/shopping centre for larger towns. Broadstairs (also Dickens), trendy Margate reinvigorated. And Whitstable (pearl!)!!!

Further afield, St.Leonard's Hastings, Bexhill still have character.

I suppose we're talking about larger towns still having character and not just chains and charity or empty shop fronts. I went to Exeter once and could have been in any Chain High Street, or Croydon!

In SW London, Teddington has character and still independent shops, books, art, eateries, and Richmond. Even Slough has variety!
 
PhaedrusR said:
A few nice places like that in Kent.
Rye is nice, olde worlde, teashops and bookstores. Deal, Winchelsea, even Dover, Folkestone is not too bad, still a lively town/shopping centre for larger towns. Broadstairs (also Dickens), trendy Margate reinvigorated. And Whitstable (pearl!)!!!

Further afield, St.Leonard's Hastings, Bexhill still have character.

I suppose we're talking about larger towns still having character and not just chains and charity or empty shop fronts. I went to Exeter once and could have been in any Chain High Street, or Croydon!

In SW London, Teddington has character and still independent shops, books, art, eateries, and Richmond. Even Slough has variety!
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Exeter is a sh*t hole - I live here and it has changed beyond belief 😢
 
Samki said:
Exeter is a sh*t hole - I live here and it has changed beyond belief 😢
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Oi, that's the sh*t hole I live in too, and I won't hear anyone else say anything bad about it…

…but I will :p

Tbh, the town center is increasingly soulless (unless you want takeaway food). Even Gandy Street and the "indie" shops that down the hill towards the river aren't are varied and diverse as when I was a kid I'd go shop to shop with my sister down there around xmas trying to find something for a few quid to give our mum, and it was like some kind of magical unpredictable paradise - wouldn't know what we'd find next.

I know every generation says its, but I feel lucky to have grown up when I did. The days of the old indoor market (getting grossed out as a kid by the offal and cow tongues and stuff the butchers sold just inside the door), and up past Debenhams - too posh for me - the long row of outdoor market stalls selling everything you could need - socks, buckets, batteries, army surplus, genuine® watches - at cut-down prices.

And people weren't glued to phones or always in a hurry, so everything was just… more real. People stopped to talk, people would meet up just to go browsing, and up on those stalls there'd be laughter from old biddies negotiating the price of a 3-pack of bloomers with some poor fresh-faced kid whose Dad had left in charge of the stall while he slacked off to go for a pint…

🥹

Don't get any of that now. Everyone's in a hurry, shopping isn't a day out, the stalls are gone, shops are all homogenised and bland and identikit… The town centre being soulless is arguably just a reflection of us as a society.
 
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Duke of Cheese said:
Richmond, Hampstead, Highgate, Chiswick, Camden Lock.. Took my partner to see Highgate last year. Went into Waterlow Park - wonderful. Saw Karl Marx and the rest of his brothers. Nice cafes, small shops, pubs…etc. Where I spent lots of happy childhood days. Still doesn’t disappoint.
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I'd like to visit the last resting place of George Michael in Highgate, still find it hard to believe that he has gone.
 
He is in the West side of Highgate Cemetery. The side of the cemetery that is usually closed to the public. Quite a few well known names rest there.

My dad cut the padlock to the West side gates when I was about 10 and got us in there illegally. Most frightening place I have roamed around in fading light and just the two of us alive there.
 
Herring said:
Oi, that's the sh*t hole I live in too, and I won't hear anyone else say anything bad about it…

…but I will :p

Tbh, the town center is increasingly soulless (unless you want takeaway food). Even Gandy Street and the "indie" shops that down the hill towards the river aren't are varied and diverse as when I was a kid I'd go shop to shop with my sister down there around xmas trying to find something for a few quid to give our mum, and it was like some kind of magical unpredictable paradise - wouldn't know what we'd find next.

I know every generation says its, but I feel lucky to have grown up when I did. The days of the old indoor market (getting grossed out as a kid by the offal and cow tongues and stuff the butchers sold just inside the door), and up past Debenhams - too posh for me - the long row of outdoor market stalls selling everything you could need - socks, buckets, batteries, army surplus, genuine® watches - at cut-down prices.

And people weren't glued to phones or always in a hurry, so everything was just… more real. People stopped to talk, people would meet up just to go browsing, and up on those stalls there'd be laughter from old biddies negotiating the price of a 3-pack of bloomers with some poor fresh-faced kid whose Dad had left in charge of the stall while he slacked off to go for a pint…

🥹

Don't get any of that now. Everyone's in a hurry, shopping isn't a day out, the stalls are gone, shops are all homogenised and bland and identikit… The town centre being soulless is arguably just a reflection of us as a society.
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Totally agree with all you said - I remember the indoor market with the offal and cows tongues, the haberdashery stall etc. the high street used to be lovely, but not anymore. Such a shame
 
PhaedrusR said:
A few nice places like that in Kent.
Rye is nice, olde worlde, teashops and bookstores. Deal, Winchelsea, even Dover, Folkestone is not too bad, still a lively town/shopping centre for larger towns. Broadstairs (also Dickens), trendy Margate reinvigorated. And Whitstable (pearl!)!!!

Further afield, St.Leonard's Hastings, Bexhill still have character.

I suppose we're talking about larger towns still having character and not just chains and charity or empty shop fronts. I went to Exeter once and could have been in any Chain High Street, or Croydon!

In SW London, Teddington has character and still independent shops, books, art, eateries, and Richmond. Even Slough has variety!
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've been to a couple of those places but not recently, I like the old town in Hastings. I know Richmond well but not Teddington. I'll have to check them out.
 
The surreal nature of Dirty Peter's presentation makes it worth a quick look - not only is nonsense, not only is it gibberish, not only is it clap-trap.........peppered with garbage like "go to the phones", "ave a buy", "ok, alright".

Genev wouldn't even excite Muriel, despite her claiming it's exceptionally busy.
Thought she'd have her hubby - sticky tape expert Peter Van Avabuy on to demonstrate
 
Nice to see a recycling angle with the fashion parade this evening. Though calling it a leatherette skirt is a big ask..

IMG_0755.jpeg
 

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