Funny how things go. There I was, primed to make a commitment to property, and in the course of a few hours at Heathrow waiting for Louise to be unfucked by immigration, I decided to head off in a completely different direction: to the land of typhoons, earthquakes and cockroaches the size of your fist.

This time, I lasted a whole 18 months in Camden which is probably some kind of record. And a great time it was too. It was a time of lots of gigs and amazing life changes for me and having something I never thought I’d have again.

So, I’m off to Taipei for at least 4 months, although I could well be back on business or even tour managing again. I will continue to work of course, my awesome team doing their amazing stuff too.

Exciting times!

Louise pulled out of her “flu-like symptoms” well enough to start complaining about hunger. Well, after CL’s theraputic soup noodle at lunch. She demanded fish and chips, so we got the bus (did I mention I messed up the tubes to Borough Market yesterday?) to Baker Street and strolled past Marylebone to the Seashell for some great fish and chips[13]. Amusingly, my friend CL who is unafraid of stinky tofu was defeated by the mushy peas. Wuss. We also got to witness another great British institution which wasn’t on the list: a fight![14] OK, it was handbags but still. A short fat old guy took on a 6′ fit bloke and unsurprisingly got lightly chopped to the ground in one punch and that was that.

So, a day I thought would be a rest day, took in two more London things. Now, what for tomorrow…?

Tourist Stuff in London

Anyone who knows me appreciates I’ve been in a bit of a whirlwind in the last couple of weeks. I went from going to Taiwan to cover some metal, to suddenly acquiring a new girlfriend (who was formerly in said band) and who turned up in a planned way on my doorstep last night intending to stay a month.

As I was trundling towards T3 on the Picadilly line the night before last, I started sketching out things we could do in London. Before long I had more that 50 things I regarded as essential, many of which I hadn’t done before. So there’s the list I came up with. We’ve already knocked off Covent Garden, the National Gallery and Chinatown.

Museums

• Tate modern – great building, meh exhibitions
• Tate Britain – good exhibitions
• Hayward – free at the moment I believe
• Victoria and Albert – will miss the next big Friday late, but still good to visit
• National gallery – lovely art, great buildings, great commentary
• National portrait gallery – hopefully something photography that won’t piss me off
• British library – anything worth seeing for non-members?
• Royal Academy – anything free and decent? Worth it if we’re near Fortnum and Mason
• British Museum – cool stiff we stole
• Photographers gallery – 50/50 chance of pissing me off
• Canary wharf (museum) – can double up with Greenwich

Historic Buildings

• Hampton Court Palace – she likes Henry VIII
• St Pauls – great building, great view from the top
• St Martin in the Fields – nice café in the crypt
• Westminster Abbey – never done it. Would be nice
• Buck House – actually neither of us care about this

Theatre Stuff

• Avenue Q – yeah yeah. it’s cheap and funny
• Globe Theatre – bit of culture
• ICA – I’m a member and they show cool films
• IMAX – not especially London, but I want to see Harry Potter

Shopping!

• Forbidden Planet – laugh at the nerds
• Japan Centre – good books, good food
• Hamleys – just because
• Harrods – same
• Carnaby St – not what it was, but Austin Powers

Markets

• Camden Market
• Spitalfields
• Brick lane
• Portobello road
• Covent garden
• Chinatown
• Borough Market
• Marylebone high street
• Greenwich

Other Random Stuff

• London zoo
• Smithfield
• Tourist bus
• River bus/tour
• Primrose hill – view London, nice pubs in the village
• Tower of London/London bridge – at least look at the outside
• Cinema Wednesdays – I got her an Orange SIM. Would be rude not to

Food!

• Pie and mash eels
• City fullers- PIE!
• Teachi – good, cheap dim sum
• Leongs – Taiwanese food in case she gets desperate for home cooking
• Crown and goose – my local. Foamy ale
• Somers Town coffee house – nice pub in an odd place
• Fish and chips
• Brick lane curry
• Drummond street curry – mmmm…dosa

Other Towns

• Brighton – English seaside
• Bath – My old home town
• Windsor – The Castle!