A review of Padraig (U.S)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Still looking for recs too: art (besides Tate etc), food, famous jungle sites, history (Anglo-Saxon/Viking era in particular), anything weird in general
 

luka

Well-known member
I'll think of some stuff when im back from work. If you go tate modern visit me at my office im next door(towards the globe)
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
history (Anglo-Saxon/Viking era in particular)

Tricky one, that. Virtually none of ancient and mediaeval London survives above ground, if that's what you mean, and of the mediaeval stuff, I think all of it is post-conquest. There's a few surviving fragments of the Roman wall, the Tower, Westminster Abbey and a few other churches here and there, but that's about it. I've not been but I think the Temple of Mithras is meant to be well worth a visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Mithraeum

If you love cool old shit then you can't possibly pass up a visit to the British Museum. Start with the Sutton Hoo treasure!

anything weird in general

Does this count as weird? Dead philosopher on display in a glass box:

Jeremy-Bentham-Chillin-in-his-Cabinet.jpg

(south cloisters of the main building, University College)

His (poorly) mummified head, complete with freaky glass eyes, used to be on display too, but after being stolen as a prank by students from a rival college, it's kept in a conservation safe in the Institute of Archaeology.

J_Bentham_Head_04.jpg

It's by no means a big secret but I think it's quite cool. If you go, be sure to check out the nearby Petrie Museum (part of the college) which has the fourth biggest Egyptology collection in the world (the BM is #2). Damn, we were good at looting back in the day.

For sheer mysteriousness, you can't beat the London Stone.
 

luka

Well-known member
I find almost all of London interesting. It's not a city which is dependent on its set-pieces. You can be far from any establishlished tourist sites and still find lots of stimulation. I think it is visually and texturally very rich. The built environment is interesting. The people are interesting. There's a kind of event density that means there's always something happening, alwAys something unfolding, so you can really just walk and be led by instinct and impulse and just immerse yourself in the place. These very distinct, sometimes quite dystopian, horrifying, locales, with quite sharply demarcated boundaries, for instance to come out of Shoreditch with its moneyed, fashion conscious youth and into Ridley Road market with the old Rastas playing dominoes, or from the advertising and media haunts of Soho into the retail inferno of Oxford st. Or the middle eastern Edgware rd running into the grotesque display of Knightsbridge, women stepping out of chauffeur driven Bentleys. Young men driving super cars up and down the road.

We have very lovely outdoor spaces like Hampstead Heath and Greenwich park, Regent's Park, Epping forest and Richmond with their populations of wild deer.

We have the British museum which sometimes feels on the verge of overcrowding, but still is just about manageable and almost without any queue to get in. The museum of London is well worth a trip also.
The National Gallery is full of treasures. You like Rothko and they are in the Tate Modern near where i work. Tate Britain I'm also very fond of and has the William Blake stuff. then there's the natural history museum, the science museum, the Victoria and Albert.... But it's possible to have too much of museums. They're exhausting.

As Tea says there's almost nothing ancient above ground bar a crumbling section of Roman wall and Cleopatras Needle, which is Egyptian. Bits of Norman architecture exist integrated into more modern buildings as in the Tower of London and various churches. It's possible to do day trips to places where you can get a better sense of that sort of thing. E.g. Winchester (we've got a thread about the place) or even Avebury, just about. My inclination would be to stay in London though unless you're feeling claustrophobic.

As with Anglo Saxon London there is very little junglist London left now Blackmarket has closed its doors. I literally can't think of anything. I would consider Hackney the heartland and it does retain something of its spirit but it's also been gentrified to within an inch of its life. The people there are disgusting and hateful. (John Eden being the exception)

Food you have be canny. The golden rule is avoid any resturaunt hyped in the media, traditional or social, n media, newspapers, magazines or Instagram. The hype is always a consequence of PR campaigns, bribes, friends in high places, nepotism and corruption. London suffers from this to an unusual degree. If you can dodge those pitfalls there's plenty of nice things to eat.

I would urge you to climb something to get a view out and over the place. Options include, St. Paul's cathedral and the shard (both expensive) the monument which is cheap, the hills (primrose, parliament, Greenwich) or the new one change shopping mall rooftop, all of which are free. It's quite a spectacular sight. Very powerful. The city of London, what we call the square mile, crackles with occult energy.
 
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luka

Well-known member
What kind of food do you like? Give us like a top ten of your favourite stuff to munch and we can try and give you some good places based on that. Is John taking you to cafe oto for craft beer, Japanese whiskey and unlistenable music?

Here's another horrible bit of old man improvisation you could attend

http://iklectikartlab.com/recording-sessions-8/
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Was that a comparison of the disappearance of Anglo-Saxon London under subsequent layers of history to the retreat of junglist culture before the onslaught of gentrification?

Ha. This place has still got it.
 

luka

Well-known member
Technically you need a permit to mudlark (even just to scan with eyes without touching) although I can't imagine the authorities pulling you up on it you never know. But yes, deep time, but also jumbled time, all times contemporaneous, not layered in strata as when you dig down into the earth
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
Is this not an opportunity for a mass Dissensus piss up? WTF is wrong with you slackers, why has no one suggested a pub yet?
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
I'm going to this on Thursday - you said weird, so here you go: https://www.thehorsehospital.com/events/strange-attractor-presents-towards-a-progressive-magic
Sold out I think but I could ask the dude who's putting it on.

Treadwells is always a good bet. This is happening on Tues which might float yer boat: https://www.treadwells-london.com/events-1/discovering-the-lost-gods-of-england
Also sold out but I have *never* not been able to get into a sold out talk there. Show up and look keen. Someone on the shop staff will be good to talk to about London historical sites.

Also on that note, Museum of London? They have an excellent collection of artefacts from all ages. I might well be taking my daughter there tomorrow if you want to hang out with an inarticulate uncivilised Id-on-legs (and his kid).
 

luka

Well-known member
Is this not an opportunity for a mass Dissensus piss up? WTF is wrong with you slackers, why has no one suggested a pub yet?

No one drinks we've all switched to hallucinogenics. Saying that does padraig drink? I know he's a serious fitness freak.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
Probably too trite or poncey for most of you lot but a visit to Gordon's wine bar near embankment, not far from trafalgar Square is definitely a very London thing worthy of an hour of your time. Dickensian vibes, good wine and cheese and just a great taste of a time well gone by.
 

pattycakes_

Can turn naughty
I would've put money on that. But for a visitor it's pretty cool and as old/quaint London as you could hope to find. Also the Palm Tree pub in Mile end is another very old school London treat that a visitor would no doubt be charmed by. Probably hated by Luka too. But I'm just trying to think from a visitors perspective who's looking for something they could only find in London. If you're still there on Sunday they have live jazz which can then be followed up by a trip to the haggerston pub's jazz jam session up on Kingsland Road which goes on til very late. Both for free to boot.
 

luka

Well-known member
The palm tree is not hated by me. It was actually invented by me and was a pivotal meeting spot for the pre-dissensus and proto-dissensus crew. I took them all there. Craner lots of times, woebot, K-Punk, etc etc early '00s.
 
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