Due in May - London meetup!!

[notsolilKel]

Hiya!

Ok we need suggestions for date and location. Perhaps a weekend would work best for us all, since some of us won't be on leave with weekdays free till May, and by then some of us will be lolling in just-given-birth bliss with new baby...

Location: somewhere near Waterloo station? Or how about Richmond Green?

Just ideas...

Hi girls looking forward to seeing you all tom. Is anyone coming fro East London. My nearest DLR is Devons Rd. Whats the nearest tube for the place we are going to - not lived in London village for long and still need lots of help finding my around so any help gratefully recieved.

oh bummer guys, I'm really sorry to miss it! Have to stay at home though and wait for a VERY important Argos delivery (new BBQ). DH will kill me if I am not here to get it!!

I would so dearly love to see you all though, and the new one/s in particular!!

JW both JL and I are coming from the east end. Nearest tube is waterloo so you may be best off going to canary wharf then jubilee. I'm up by cambridge heath station so can take the 26 bus all the way there!

Are there carparks in London? We're thinking of driving down for the day tomorrow as it's a whopping £76 on the train (should have booked in advance but had no idea what SOH Jr would be up to). So, we could park outside of BIL's flat which is in the Old Street area and use my whelk card to get to Waterloo or somebody can suggest a better way if there is one. Any ideas? We're not very keen on driving around London but if somebody can give me a location we can use the route planner to get there (in theory). What's that big motorway that goes round London? What's the betting we'll sit on that all day?

If you park in old street, you can walk/get dropped off at Liverpool street and take teh 26 bus all the way to waterloo! The bus actually turns left at the beginning of Old street, so depending where your BIL lives you may be very close to the route!

If you are taking that bus, let me know and I can meet you at old street/hoxton/liverpool st and we can go together

BIL lives on Radnor St which is about 2mins from Old Street tube. I've only been once and have walked from there to the Barbican tube and up to St Pauls. I have no idea of distances but looking at a map I need to walk down City Rd to get to Liverpool St, does that sound right? Cheapside and Shoreditch are on the map, that means they're real places doesn't it?

Can clam cards or whatever they're called be used on buses as well as the tube?

And do I have to dress normally?

thats right ! not such a yokel after me thinks....

you have a choice - you can get on the tube at old street and go two stops on the northern line down to bank and get the 26 from there if you don't fancy the walk... otherwise if you walk east along old street until you hit shoreditch high street, the 26 stops at the very beginning of hackney road, just after where columbia road meets it (think thats less of a walk than to liverpool street). Let me know if you'd like me to meet you at the hackney road stop - will be passing through around 12.15.

by the way, has anyone been organised enough to book a table yet?

yup, your card is valid on the bus too.

what is normal - most of the hackney lot wear sum very rum gear!

I think JL booked a table for us.

The walking down Old St to Shoreditch (small pause to sing 'Oranges and Lemons') sounds like the best idea. I need to talk to DH when he gets home about times. Not sure if we should leave super early to get down there or after 9 to avoid the madness. What's it like trying to get into that side of London on a Monday morning?

I own mainly homemade/hippy/lentil-weavery type clothes. And in the heat I will wear a big straw hat and something vaguely tent like.

good work JL.

love the idea of the hat! might even be inspired enough to unroll my panama.

if you are driving in i would go after rush hour unless its boiling in which case sitting in the car in any kind of traffic is nasty - it depends how long the journey is as you don't want to miss lunch after all that!

It'll take a couple of hours at least to get down there with a wee stop off at Stansted services for a gingerbread pig.

Right, so I'll be the one in my big straw hat with shells on it, DH will be escorting me in an Indiana Jones stylee head piece and we'll look like some kind of street entertainment. Nasty young girl whispered about me being in 'fancy dress' when we were in London a couple of weeks ago and lots of people stared at me. You're all going to hide when you see me crashing into the place, dressed like a nutcase and mildly panicked and sweaty because despite very precise instructions I still managed to end up lost.

So if we leave here at 8.00am ish we'll be on a long straight road to London come rush hour, can have a cuppa tea at BIL's and then aim for wandering down Old St looking for the number 26 bus. That sounds easy doesn't it?

There are two car parks on Great Eastern Street, off Old Street. One is a drive in, leave your keys type place as it gets very packed. There is also a multi-story. I believe both are outside the c-charge zone. You'd get the buses that Befnal mentioned from Shoreditch High Street.

Also one on Pear Tree Street off Goswell Road at the "Barbican" end of Old Stret near your brother, and one on the corner of Old Street and Goswell Road. You'd get the number 4 bus from Goswell Road to Waterloo if you're going to park that end. It's quite a walk down to the 26 if your bro lives at the Barbican/ Clerkenwell Road end of Old Street. HTH!

Am I some sort of muppet? What time is the booking for? I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere...

I think we said 1 o'clock!

Goswell Road's not far at all from BIL, through a park thing with weird modern art benches and a place with some graffitti and past a church. Might be easier than walking all the way down Old St. Oh it's good to have options.

Are there things to wander round in Waterloo? Fancy seeing some things or doing something before driving all the way back.

I feel a bit of a sad old sap bringing my DH with me. Can't get there otherwise and he's worried I'll go into labour in the middle of London.

The AA route planner says we have to pay a congestion charge. I know we didn't a couple of weeks ago when the ILs drove us to Old Street. Is there a route we should be taking? I'm sure we went Bethnal, Hackney, Old St and there were no charges. What am I missing?

Definitely driving via bethnal and into old street and then up city road there is no congestion charge - where your BIL lives is right on the edge though and a wrong turning can take you straight into it (city road south of old street and clerkenwell road west of old street are both charged).

you can walk over waterloo bridge and see the river or go across to embankment - there are a couple of bar/boats on the river that are nice. from there you can wander down to whitehall/westminster and look at the houses of parliament...

I dont think you will-pretty sure its outside the zone just..

Dont worry about clothes SOH-Im leaving here early in the morn when it will be cold still and then it will probably end up sweltering and I will arrive melting under the weight of my many layers..

See you all tomorrow!

TYG-Will probably end up calling you for directions as will inevitably get lost around Waterloo, so apologies in advance...

Hi all,

really sorry not going to be able to make it today. Hope you all have a fab time and hopefully I will be able to make the next one.