Hello, welcome to London!

Hoping this is okay with mods but I wanted to ask this because I realised despite how terrible of an area Deptford is, I have a lot of sentimental value to it and the high street they have there. Not much but there’s a bit of character and it’s never boring. So I’m throwing the question to everyone here, are there terrible areas in London you’ll defend to the death?

That's it, that's the post. I loved it. So many cool things you found and circled with your pen. It's just not the same browsing online.

I think we all want another term for Lord Sadiq 🙏🏽 if there's anyone else after the 4th, (that isnt a Tory or Reform nutter) then I say fair game and lets see who's good enough.

That is if Sadiq even wants to run again.

another person was holding a ‘beep for truth sign’

Wonder if you can pay with your oyster card.

Wanted to show some appreciation for City Lit and all the other places where you can take a course in something niche or random or just plain useful with world class instructors for pretty cheap. I just moved back from somewhere where that wasn’t really possible and I will never take it for granted again. It’s so easy to learn things here or indulge a curiosity. Literally dozens of free or low-cost talks most days as well. It’s one of the best things about London.

Just wanted to express my gratitude to those passengers who were on the train into Waterloo via Staines this morning and who helped me when I decided to take a seat on the floor by fainting just before Vauxhall.

It was incredibly heart warming to see that people were offering to help me and jumped into action. I'll likely never see you again, and I can't really recall your faces, but wanted to say thanks.

I'm fine by the way. Got myself some water and some Lucozade Sport and I'm now in the office. I hope you all have a great day.

Not an original observation, but I thought it was cool to be there for both.

As winter approaches I’ve really wanted to go out for walks in the evening but I live in a pretty built up area and there are no real lit up walking spaces at night. There are mostly residential areas, but I don’t want to stroll in those, I’m looking for quieter spaces.

I live on the outskirts and would prefer not having to come into central London for this.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for well lit up parks or places after dark?

But according to Sir Mark Rowley there is nothing institutionally wrong with the Met..

More people in that gaff? Hmmm, makes sense they want to use it for big events like boxing more though.

The most exciting thing to happen in Harrow... well ever really.

A year ago, u/No_Button_9112 posted on here about the loneliness epidemic, impacting at least 700k Londoners, if not more, who are all isolated.

I'm not technically a Londoner, as I live in the Home Counties, but I do travel in by train on a weekly basis. On train and underground carriages, I've noticed how most people seem to be absorbed by their screens or pages, like everyone's in their own private bubble, with little to no small talk ever made. It can feel lonely and awkward, if this is the norm, trying to start a conversation.

For those who are isolated and / or do want to talk to others on public transport, do you have any thoughts on how can we re-connect?

You’ll often hear about shoplifting in London, but there’s another part of the problem that gets less attention: what happens to stolen goods afterwards. 

The Met has heard from independent retailers who say they’re being undercut by businesses selling suspected stolen goods cheaply. Our intelligence also suggests some prolific shoplifters are stealing specific products to order because they know there is a market for them. 

If there’s somewhere to sell stolen goods, there’s an incentive to steal them. So we are targeting both sides: the people stealing and the businesses suspected of buying and reselling what they steal.

Over the past two weeks, officers visited around 400 shops suspected of buying and reselling stolen goods. That resulted in 42 arrests, 11 closure notices and tens of thousands of pounds worth of suspected stolen goods being seized.

In Hounslow, officers seized 300 suspected stolen phones and £15,000 in cash from one shop. In Brixton, dozens of suspected stolen phones were recovered and more than £5,000 in cash were seized from another.  

We’re also working with retailers and Trading Standards to identify businesses suspected of handling stolen goods, including using forensic marking to help trace recovered products back to the shops they were stolen from.

Making it harder to sell stolen goods is an important part of making it less attractive to steal them.

Read the press release here: https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-seizes-tens-of-thousands-of-pounds-worth-of-stolen-goods-in-retail-crime-crackdown-514137

This is not a post about "look what a decent person I am who cares", but truly a concern about our culture and where we're heading.

I understand that we all should pay a bus fare and nobody is entitled for a free ride etc etc. BUT my mood was entirely ruined when a bus driver didn't take a 70+ yo man in today who asked him for a ride for couple of stops and, apparently, forgot his free pass.

I didn't have a chance to go and press my card against the reader as the driver just said "No!", let him out and moved.

Do bus drivers get any directions on who to help out and take in such situations and who to ignore? Is it entirely on their own discretion or there're some rules? I often see very kind drivers who take people in without much explanation needed but some are just nasty.

If it was a young person who could walk 2-3 stops, I understand, it'd a different situation, but this older man was wearing a thick scarf and kept his mouth closed - obviously, a bit struggling and, possibly, cold!

Also, can't we just, sometimes, leave the rules and capitalism's restrictions aside and simply help and push the culture of kindness and care over greed and strict corporate handbook?

I come from a culture where older people are treated very, very kindly, we give them a sit, we never say rude things to them and we never argue with them and we are just patient with elderly back home. Here, I'm just culturally lost, sometimes. I'm not saying that my culture is better, I know that older people can exploit it and go too far, but I think, we can definitely give them a bigger discount.

I just wanted to share it here. Maybe, if you see the situation like this, just push your own card against the reader and let the older or very young person take that free ride, get that free coffee or bread or whatever they couldn't pay for that day. Let's push kindness against handbook rules which are, sometimes, totally unnecessary.

Sorry for an emotional post. My heart still aches and I feel very helpless, isolated and cold after seeing anything like this day to day.

Hello!
I'm working on a film project for a BAFTA-winning company, which is all about making short portraits about dog owners in London.
The idea is to celebrate what their dog means to them and how these relationships can be very meaningful and important!
If you're interested in hearing more please drop me a message or comment below.