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2008/11/24 21:16:55
Subject: Soliciting advice from UK'ers .... or There and Back Again.
I suppose I like site-seeing, and I do appreciate old-school architecture and what not. I don't particularly mind wandering about aimlessly and exploring. Especially since I'm going out of country, I try to keep my options wide open.
Hmm, I don't know England that well, only ever having been to London. The Citadel miniatures museum looks cool though, I really wished I could have hit that while I was in England, and I was really ticked that I didn't; I mean England is like 2000 feet across. How could fate be so cruel?
It's better to simply be an idiot, as no one can call you on it here. -H.B.M.C.
Cap'n Gordino's instant grammar guide:
"This is TOO expensive." "I'm going TO the store, TO get some stuff."
"That is THEIR stuff." "THEY'RE crappy converters."
"I put it over THERE." "I'll go to the store THEN."
"He knows better THAN that." "This is NEW." "Most players KNEW that."
England is pretty big, what areas are you going to?
In London a good route is:
Start London eye (early to avoid queues, but make sure not raining) walk accross to Big Ben and Westminster Palace, accross road to Westminster Abbey, walk up to trafalgar square, passing Downing Street and the Horse Guards on the way, turn left and walk along the Mall to Buckingham Palace.
Shuold take about 4 hours if go slowly and enjoy the sights.
British Museum is great
Picadilly Circus, just because its in all the movies
In the City:
Climb up the monument
Tower Of London (Tower Bridge is a few hundred meters away)
Get an all day transport pass so you can use buses and underground. Divide things into 2- the city and westminster/west end: they are completely different areas and sights and when you split them up the things in each area are very close but it takes ages if you are going from one end to another.
Also if you go to The Oxford StGW you may just catch a glimpse of Kilkrazy...
2025: Games Played:8/Models Bought:162/Sold:169/Painted:129
2024: Games Played:8/Models Bought:393/Sold:519/Painted: 207
2023: Games Played:0/Models Bought:287/Sold:0/Painted: 203
2020-2022: Games Played:42/Models Bought:1271/Sold:631/Painted:442
2016-19: Games Played:369/Models Bought:772/Sold:378/ Painted:268
2012-15: Games Played:412/Models Bought: 1163/Sold:730/Painted:436
The Town Hall and Peace Gardens are worth a visit.
From here starts the Sheffield Walk Of Fame, honouring many famous Sheffildians (???) such as Gordon Banks (Soccer Star) and Sean Bean (Actor).
I refuse to enter a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
@ Gonads: Sadly, I doubt I'll make it to London this time around (staying with a friend in Sheffield). I suspect I'll have to try to make it over there at some point in the not so distant future.
@ Kilkrazy: Ooo! Those museums look neat. Thanks for the links!
@ BlackSpike: I'll be in Sheffield for the better part of a week. My friend goes to the U of Sheffield, so I'm gonna be wandering about by myself for most afternoons. I was considering a day trip to Nottingham...so I could visit GWHQ, though I'm kind of trying to avoid it, if only for the fact that there's so much other stuff to see in England that obviously can't be see in the US. It does seem like a Mecca for us Warham-ers, though.
Yeah, a week isn't that long to fit in everything ... but how are you going to explain to your fellow gamers that you were only 45miles from GWHQ and didn't visit!
There is a lot to do round Sheffield though.
I would not recommend the Peak District in Winter.
I refuse to enter a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
You sir, have just made the bold and brilliant choice to spend your allotted vacation time in Yorkshire, county of the gods. Congratulations!
Sheffield, 'the steel city', is a city where steel used to be made. Not so much now.
Apart from steel, the main exports of Sheffield are Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys.
Locals are friendly and will greet you in one of a few ways; 'A'yup', 'Now then' or 'How do?'. If someone says any of the above to you, smile and say a different one of the three. It's the local way.
Beer is cheap and plentiful, and make sure to try the local dish, Yorkshire puddings. Yum!
Wrap up warm, Yorkshire is 'bracing' to say the least this time of year, not that the locals notice!
Sport is popular, and city boasts two incredibly mediocre football teams, Sheffield Wednesday, and United. Don't bother going to see either play, they're crap. No, really, awful. You're only a short trip away from Elland Road in Leeds, where you can see the mighty whites of Leeds United play if you want to see some quality. At games many of the natives like to get drunk, take their shirts off and sing 'We're Yorkshire, we're barmy, we're off our f***ing heads!', which is rip-roaring fun.
Anyway, I'll leave you with the nice folks at Sheffield Hallam University to show you round. Yorkshire! Yorkshire! Yorkshire!
Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone's got one and they all stink.
You will be 32 miles as the crow flies from Sheffield to Nottingham.
Go to GW World.
I did and Jervis gave me and 3 Americans a tour of the studio.
2025: Games Played:8/Models Bought:162/Sold:169/Painted:129
2024: Games Played:8/Models Bought:393/Sold:519/Painted: 207
2023: Games Played:0/Models Bought:287/Sold:0/Painted: 203
2020-2022: Games Played:42/Models Bought:1271/Sold:631/Painted:442
2016-19: Games Played:369/Models Bought:772/Sold:378/ Painted:268
2012-15: Games Played:412/Models Bought: 1163/Sold:730/Painted:436
If you get the opportunity, go up to Leeds for the day (its about 30 miles away) and visit the Royal Armouries museum.
Its free to go in and has one of the world's best collections of arms and armour - well worth a visit.
As for Sheffield, I'm sure at some point you will go and get drunk (its traditional ). INSIST that your friend takes you to the Devonshire Cat. If he refuses, beat him round the head until he submits. The best real ale in the city, a huge collection of bottled belgian beers. You don't need to do a pub crawl - just start at one end of the bar and work your way to the other end (you won't make it, no-one can - but its fun trying!!)
While you sleep, they'll be waiting...
Have you thought about the Axis of Evil pension scheme?
Chimera_Calvin wrote:If you get the opportunity, go up to Leeds for the day (its about 30 miles away) and visit the Royal Armouries museum.
Its free to go in and has one of the world's best collections of arms and armour - well worth a visit.
As for Sheffield, I'm sure at some point you will go and get drunk (its traditional ). INSIST that your friend takes you to the Devonshire Cat. If he refuses, beat him round the head until he submits. The best real ale in the city, a huge collection of bottled belgian beers. You don't need to do a pub crawl - just start at one end of the bar and work your way to the other end (you won't make it, no-one can - but its fun trying!!)
The Royal Armouries museum sounds wickedly cool. I'll have to check it out. (Can't say no to a building full of swords and medieval armor, can I?)
I'll keep the Devonshire Cat in mind. I know my friend and I will be hitting up the pubs at least a couple of times during my visit, and if she isn't familiar with the place yet, I suspect she'll be happy to find out about it. That girl can drink like a fish. I'll see how far I can make it down the bar :p
What the hell is the deal with a Yorkshire Pudding? If it's the same thing I got served, it's like a big, air filled non-pastry. Why call it a pudding?
HFJor wrote: What're good eats around those parts?
Depends on how much you want to spend. If you want top quality and don't mind dropping the cash I can highly recommend Antibo's. Best Italian food in the city but it'll cost you.
If you want good value, Estikutum is the best place. All you can eat Indian, Chinese and Thai FTW. Its a little hard to find (tell your friend its not far from Don Valley Stadium and she may know the area), but they've got a website and the local taxi firms should know where it is.
Have fun!!
While you sleep, they'll be waiting...
Have you thought about the Axis of Evil pension scheme?
If I may be so bold, can I ask what was the oddest thing you noticed or saw ? Also, if you saw any/much, I am interested in your opinion of Britsh adverts compared to American ones.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2008/12/09 08:39:15
Subject: Soliciting advice from UK'ers .... or There and Back Again.
The royal armouries is ace isn't it? I get proper vertigo on those bridges between rooms though. I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to Yorkshire, county of kings.
Opinions are like arseholes. Everyone's got one and they all stink.
2008/12/09 14:34:37
Subject: Re:Soliciting advice from UK'ers .... or There and Back Again.
If I may be so bold, can I ask what was the oddest thing you noticed or saw ? Also, if you saw any/much, I am interested in your opinion of Britsh adverts compared to American ones.
I'm not gonna lie. The whole "country full of English-accented people" thing threw me off for a bit. I suppose it didn't quite sink in that everyone would have an accent until I got there.
Also, I found the traffic patterns on the roads really odd too, and not just in the "oh noes, they're driving on the left side" thing. It just seemed like streets were poorly demarcated, but I suppose that's merely a difference in standard practices (US typically uses double solid yellow lines to separate traffic directions...seemed like the British road system used single white dashed lines which simply separate out lanes in one direction here).
I only saw a bit of television there. And only really saw/paid attention to one advertisement that involved a lot of singing about a buffet of sorts that really went on for far too long. I'm not sure if that's terribly indicative of most British adverts, but it was a lot longer (probably close to a minute, 1.5 minutes) than most American commercials (I think it's rare for adverts here to be longer than 15-30 secs). Also, I was kind of surprised by the number of plus-size actresses that they featured. You rarely see bigger people in commercials. Especially food commercials.
Incidentally there really isn't such a thing as an "English" accent per se, their is a fairly broad difference in regional accents in what are, really, quite small areas.
Were you impressed by the variety of swear words we use ? The septics i know who come over always seem quite bowled over that we don't just use the word s%^t the whole time like the Americans I've met do. Except when it actually comes to said act, then you seem to be very coy indeed !
The roads are indeed generally divided by white dashed lines, these are called ( for some reason) "politics", which is the source of no end of dull political "jokes". What did you make of roundabouts ? Don't think you have them stateside do you ?
Funnily enough a friend who has just come back from the states said something similar to do with actresses : he said he never saw any normal, let alone fat people in the ads at all, despite the prevalence of them on the actual streets of the country itself.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2008/12/09 15:20:25
Subject: Re:Soliciting advice from UK'ers .... or There and Back Again.
If I may be so bold, can I ask what was the oddest thing you noticed or saw ? Also, if you saw any/much, I am interested in your opinion of Britsh adverts compared to American ones.
I'm not gonna lie. The whole "country full of English-accented people" thing threw me off for a bit. I suppose it didn't quite sink in that everyone would have an accent until I got there.
Also, I found the traffic patterns on the roads really odd too, and not just in the "oh noes, they're driving on the left side" thing. It just seemed like streets were poorly demarcated, but I suppose that's merely a difference in standard practices (US typically uses double solid yellow lines to separate traffic directions...seemed like the British road system used single white dashed lines which simply separate out lanes in one direction here).
I only saw a bit of television there. And only really saw/paid attention to one advertisement that involved a lot of singing about a buffet of sorts that really went on for far too long. I'm not sure if that's terribly indicative of most British adverts, but it was a lot longer (probably close to a minute, 1.5 minutes) than most American commercials (I think it's rare for adverts here to be longer than 15-30 secs). Also, I was kind of surprised by the number of plus-size actresses that they featured. You rarely see bigger people in commercials. Especially food commercials.
Sounds like the Iceland advert. Now you too have been exposed to Kerry 'Car Crash' Katona! Magnificent Norks on her, shame about the rest!
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Sounds like the Iceland advert. Now you too have been exposed to Kerry 'Car Crash' Katona! Magnificent Norks on her, shame about the rest!
That was the one. Kerry Katona was the brunette in that advert?
reds8n wrote:Incidentally there really isn't such a thing as an "English" accent per se, their is a fairly broad difference in regional accents in what are, really, quite small areas.
And that's just in England, let's ignore parts of Scotland
Were you impressed by the variety of swear words we use ? The septics i know who come over always seem quite bowled over that we don't just use the word s%^t the whole time like the Americans I've met do. Except when it actually comes to said act, then you seem to be very coy indeed !
The roads are indeed generally divided by white dashed lines, these are called ( for some reason) "politics", which is the source of no end of dull political "jokes". What did you make of roundabouts ? Don't think you have them stateside do you ?
Funnily enough a friend who has just come back from the states said something similar to do with actresses : he said he never saw any normal, let alone fat people in the ads at all, despite the prevalence of them on the actual streets of the country itself.
Yeah, I know there isn't an "English"-accent, I suppose I was mostly trying to encompass all of the accents to a generic description. Much like how there's a great variety of "American" accents.
You know, I don't think I actually got around to hearing any swearing over there. We Americans are certainly an unimaginative lot when it comes to swearing.
Didn't see too many roundabouts, but they seem more or less the same as over here. Namely, try to get around them as fast as you can and hopefully you can propel yourself out of it in generally the correct direction
). INSIST that your friend takes you to the Devonshire Cat. If he refuses, beat him round the head until he submits. The best real ale in the city, a huge collection of bottled belgian beers. You don't need to do a pub crawl - just start at one end of the bar and work your way to the other end (you won't make it, no-one can - but its fun trying!!)
Cool.