red_bus wrote:
Good news for you. If you need any hints/tips/advice if you are gong to visit London - drop me a line.  I will even buy you a pint (or two, or three...) if you are passing through

Thanks!  I have actually been to London before, although it was thirty years ago.  I am taking my wife as it will be our 20th anniversary celebration.  She loves these historical fiction novels set in England/Scotland/Ireland.  Anyway, we're taking this arranged tour all the way up to Scotland and back, about ten days in all.  It should be fun.

Sure, I'll take all the tips and tricks you want to offer.  We have one day by ourselves before the tour starts.  I think the tour will cover the bigger attractions, except the eye(the huge ferris wheel thing).  Is that worth it, in your opinion?  

Rakeesh sah Tarna wrote:on a clear day you can see brixton
nah looks great from pics + vids but did not think anyone living in london has been on it

True - looks better from the ground and at night when lit up.

There are loads of open top bus tours, which of course I think are super-tacky...  but friends of mine who have been say that they are great for packing in all the main sights in a few hours.  

Alternatively, my neighbour recently took her parents on this:

http://www.londonducktours.co.uk/default.asp

And they had a blast!  Highly recommended.  Even tempted myself  

simonmwh wrote:However if anybody does fancy meeting up for the Acaeum UK monthly meeting in some pub somewhere I would be up for it.  Central London would be best...I'm working near Saville Row at the moment.  All and any invites for a beer will be accepted.

Sounds good.  We did have a UK event about a year ago, where we had a rep from Ireland and also grodog attended as he was in town.  Soho isn't far away from Saville Row and has a clutch of decent bars (I really like the French House, although it is always packed). Of course there is always the Ritz, it is at the end of the road...  

red_bus wrote:Tour of Parliament?

http://www.parliament.uk/about/visiting ... pening.cfm

Or, in 2009 (if you will be here in the Summer), Buckingham Palace is going to run tours of the Queen's private gardens. Personally I think that we should seize them by force and open them up to the public for free. But as the song goes, you can't always get what you want ...  

These are excellent suggestions!  Unfortunately, our free day is June 4th, which is a Friday(I think) and foreign visitors can only tour Parliament during the 'Summer Opening" which usually starts in late July until late September.  Bummer.

I check on the Queens Gardens Tour here:

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/defau ... cle&ID=645

The good news is that they'll be doing tours while we are there!  The bad news is (if I am reading the web-site correctly) that they are only doing groups and not individuals.    Bookings will be taken from 1 November 2008, telephone (+44) (0)20 7766 7333.  Could someone in London verify that information or find out how I can join a group?

Of course, I am now open to other suggestions.   Do we need to move this to another thread?

lawrenson wrote:Hi

yes, the "Ferris Wheel" - the Londone Eye - is DEFINITELY worth it. If I knew that I would stay in my current job, which is not far from it, for a year, then I would buy an annual season ticket - I thought it was THAT good!

Can you point to a web link for the tour youre going on, then maybe we can give you some tips?

Usual London stuff is good - Tower of London possible the best of them.

Cheers,
Malc

We are taking a tour with Trafalgar Tours called "Amazing Britian."  Here's a link to the actual tour.

http://www.ctitravel.com/Amazing_Britain.cfm

As you can see, we have our first day of the tour to explore London.  BUT, we are arriving a day early just so we have two days in London to explore.  We fly out June 3rd, arrive in London on June 4th and the "Tour" starts on June 5th.  I hope that makes sense.

Good news today they dropped interest rates down to 3% in the UK!!!!  Was at 5.5-5.75% 6 mnths ago!  If it gets passed onto me I will have an extra £400 a month from the mortgage!!!!  

Hi

swearing.

The whole point of this is to stimulate the economy - to make people less likely to save, but to spend their money instead.

Cheers,
Malcolm

I realise that this is a massive over simplification, but aren't this countries financial woes mainly cause by 'bad' borrowing/lending? Whilst I understand that the economy is stimulated by the movement of money, it seems to me that the interest rate cut is a very artificial way to stimulate this growth, and surely one that is not sustainable. This is a huge risk for the country's economy - I would imagine that if this attempt to prop up the economy fails then the 'credit crunch' may well become a 'crash'.

The point about it being a labour Get out of Jail card is probably quite accurate. IMO Labour will probably get one more term but then it'll be a change - traditionally political parties pick up the pieces of the last lot, but then that's politics for you - the people who vote generally have quite short memories, but I guess that's human nature!

(Another rant but I still feel aggreived that I am being penalised for ensuring that my family live within our means and attempt to save for a 'rainy day'. Lets face it, if we did a straw poll concerning the values your parents tried to instill in you, I reckon that 'save for a rainy day' would probably outvote 'no son, knock yourself out, piss it all up against a wall and worry about it when your bankrupt' speech   )

johnhuck wrote:I'm not normally this gloomy.  But I am extremely worried about how bad things might get next year.

I am normally that gloomy.  I had a so-so week, but I realized on Friday that

(1) 2009 will not bring about a post-apocalyptic Gamma World
(2) 2009 will not bring about the heat-death of the universe

If neither of those two events occur, we will all slog through 2008 into 2009 and beyond.

And, yes, if the US dollar gets stronger against the UK and AU currencies, I will do my best to bring RPG collectibles back to their rightful place in the US.