Covent Garden, Oxford Cirrus, Bethnal Green

Covent Garden is a tourist precinct during the summer. Only a few (brave) buskers remain during the winter months. (The cold weather probably helps them get into character particularly if they are pretending to be “statues” as the ones shown below.)



Covent Garden is also known for it’s money grabbing hustlers. One thing good about looking as though you may not speak English if that you can actually pretend that you cannot speak English. All you need to do is:

1) Have a blank/lost look on your face – (how I usually look anyway – har har har.)
2) Perfect the phrase, “No speak English,” (preferably in a pseudo-Asian sounding accent).
The end result is having a hustler give you an extremely disappointed look and saying in a rather deflated tone, “Oh…… Never mind…..” (Just make sure they don’t catch you gabbering away fluently in English on your way back.)

Oxford Cirrus is the Londoner’s departmental chain store heaven. (Ie: not my cup of tea.)

Bethnal Green evokes one of two responses:

“Eek. That’s not a very nice area.”
Or:
“Oh, that’s a trendy place.”
Aside from my “police-knocking-at-my-front-door-on-day-five-of-living-in-london” incident, I like to think that it’s something like Brunswick St in Melbourne (but grungier). It is famous for it’s beigel store (opened 24/7). It is so popular that Londoners living in the south-west will drive all the way to Bethnal Green to purchase a 85p smoked salmon and cream cheese beigel. (Fletch, I ate your beigel – it was delicious…..

There I also spied the “Space Invader”. (I “heart” this Parisian graffiti artist.)
http://www.space-invaders.com/