London Calling

We were just back from a short drive weekend to London. Set off early yesterday just before 4 am. The drive was easy using auto cruise control all the way and took less than 3 hours to reach Calais. By the time we reached London, altogether it took just 6 hours.

The kids are now on mid team break so took this opportunity to go away for the weekend.

There was a lot of roadwork going on the streets in London. Apparently the recent severe cold spell had caused a lot of problems with the water pipes resulting in burst pipes. Definitely not a nice sight at all when it seems that every street appears to be dug and roads get congested. Don’t really want to mention it again how the whole infrastructure here has been neglected and that a large part of the city seems to be in dire strait.

One of the worst route to enter London is from the Southeast. Literally one has to drive along small road through congested residential areas to enter Central London. This goes to individuals as well as businesses whose trucks also ply through the same road. Whereas in Europe such a city would have a proper purpose built dual lane or even a motorway going straight from outside to the centre of the city.

During this recession time, there are actually a lot of goods that you can buy at real bargain. The winter sales seem to run forever and discounts are offered at ridiculous level. So this is actually a great time for bargain hunters – one of the plus sides of the current recession. Shops though are definitely quieter.

One shop that is really roaring in business is the AberCrombie & Fitch at Burlington Gardens. The shop was packed when we went there and the queues to the till took easily half an hour to an hour! But frankly this is probably the most ridiculous shop that we ever came across. The shop is literally full of young shop assistants; the blokes seem to be equipped with masculine arms, and mostly not doing anything at all and just standing and smiling. A really strange shop.
Back to the real world, it’s good to savor the Malaysian food again at the Bonda restaurant. Had a chat with the cook Ayub and he was saying business has been pretty good and at times hardy any seats left for customers.