Treasure London’s Blog
Results of the ballot for London Marathon places in 2009 have been announced… and I have a place to run!
There’s still the opportunity <a href=”http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/”>to run for charities in 2009, or sign up for 2010!</a>
Good luck to all runners!
Ronald
Never agree to meet someone “outside Burger King in Liverpool Street Station” - as there are at least 2, and it’s not too easy to figure out where the other one is. 30 minutes later and we’re sorted!
In front of Thornton’s is a much safer option.
I don’t know Liverpool Street well enough to know a good meeting place but I have some favourites at other stations:
Waterloo - Under the big clock!
St Pancras International - Upstairs by ‘The Kiss’ statue
King’s Cross - benches in front of WHSmith
Victoria - difficult to find someone inside, better outside in front of Marks & Spencer’s
Paddington - in the posh cafe that’s up the stairs
Euston - in the sit down area somewhere near Harry Ramsden’s
Charing Cross - Just in front of the main station entrance (or middle of Trafalgar Square for the tube)
Marylebone - small enough that it doesn’t matter! somewhere near AMT
Cheers,
Ronald
Treasure London hosted it’s first Stag vs Hen Treasure Hunt on a Saturday morning not long ago.
It was awesomely competitive - both teams had an absolute desire to win. The two teams were running round the course for almost 2 hours closely tracking each other, probably the quickest race we’ve ever run.
Finishing at The Old Star pub for lunch, the girls arrived 5 minutes ahead of the boys, winning the spoils! After a short (much-needed) rest, both teams went onwards their separate ways to continue their weekend of celebrations.
All the best to Emily and Aaron for their wedding!
Cheers,
Ronald
ronald@treasurelondon.com
Three of us left Islington at 6.45am on a recent morning - and arrived in Brighton at around 4pm with a sense of acheivement and mild aches.
Who knew it was so easy to get to the sea under your own power? It reminded me that Britain is such a small island after all!
And for our next trick - the British 10k around Buckingham Palace. Treasure London are turning into sports geeks!
It’s certainly useful to be able to run faster than the more-spirited teams (in case of emergency!)
Did anybody else just feel an Earthquake? Just a slight shaking here in North London for a matter of seconds… my housemate stood next to me didn’t even notice.
According to technorati, it was felt (and stronger) as far away as Sheffield. That must be a massive quake by UK standards, wonder where the epicentre was and what scale it was? Guess the news will tell us in the morning, meanwhile I’m going to read some blogs.
Answer: Lincoln! Magnitude 4.7
I’m back from Glasgow (on Virgin’s West Coast… not so highly recommended although did get us home 15 mins early). Glasgow is my family’s home and I forget how beautiful I find it.
I visited family - a house with a lochside view (and access) and a hill range visible from the other side. They live about as close to the centre of Glasgow as I do to the centre of London. Your money in Glasgow goes almost twice as far as it does in London.
I feel a bit wrong actually… like not even Parliament Hill will cheer me up today! Google’s quote of the day was apt:
Find me some cool things about London, stat!
Lucky Voice karaoke is highly recommended. In a small private room, you and your friends can karaoke along to such 80s classics as… The Ballad of Barry and Freda?
Enjoy,
Ronald
Poor man. He’s probably still suffering from stress after his neighbour’s houses were destroyed by tornado in December 2006.
Since I wrote the last post about cycling it’s become clear to me how many people I speak to who say:
“Wow, cycling in London. I would LOVE to do that but it’s too scary.”
There must be many thousands of people thinking the same thing. In fact, I remember thinking exactly the same thing for over 12 months before I plucked up the courage and got a bike. And after a week or so I realised how safe it actually is. I’d appreciate it if you would comment and let me know what you think about cycling in London.
I recently read that the only way to significantly improve cycling safety is to increase the number of cyclists on the roads. So if I can convince some of you to dust of your bikes then I’m making things safer for me… always looking out for number one!
Let me know your cycling situation -
Thanks,
Ronald
I have been cycling regularly in London for about 6 months. I’ve been through a number of stages…
1. FEAR. At first I was terrified of the idea of cycling in London… stories of occasional deaths and injuries plagued me.
However - deaths per km travelled is actually slightly less on a bike than it is on the pavement (admittedly I travel a bit further per journey on a bike, but this seems the fairest comparison). Did you know: not wearing a helmet potentially makes you safer on the roads!
2. NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES. Not being confident on the road leads to some wobbles. Lack of confidence prevents you from daring anything too dangerous, though.
3. RELATING NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES. Every day I would come home with a new story “Today a guy turned right into my path! and I almost died!” A set of practical rules form in your head: Don’t go anywhere near a bendy bus. Don’t cycle to the left of a large vehicle near a junction. Keep to the centre of the lane when turning right. Avoid confrontation with black cab drivers.
4. INCREASING CONFIDENCE. Suddenly crossing 3 lanes of traffic becomes a reasonable proposition - look behind you and indicate before each lane, it’s like you’re a real road user!
5. IMPROVED KNOWLEDGE OF LONDON. I know good cycle routes right across London. Islington to Hounslow? No problem!
Suddenly I’ve reached Level 6 though:
6. OVER-CONFIDENCE LEADING TO A LOT OF GETTING LOST. I’ve got to the stage where I don’t really check a map, I just assume I’m going the right way. Today I had to travel from Archway to Hampstead and back again. Easy route, just follow the road, 4 miles A to B and 4 miles back to A. This is what actually happened:
Oops.
