Tired of London, Tired of Life - A website about things to do in London

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For more regular updates, visit Tom's Britain, a new website about things to do in Britain.


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31 October 2008

Visit London's most famous cemetary

There are many large cemetaries in London, but the most famous one has to be Highgate Cemetary.


It's most famous for the tomb of Karl Marx, but also of Douglas Adams, George Eliot, Michael Faraday, Sidney Nolan and even Crufts founder Charles Cruft.

The East Cemetery is open from 10.00am on weekdays and 11.00am weekends. It closes at 5pm from 1st April - 31st October and 4pm from 1st November - 31st March.

Admission is £3.00, and the nearest Tube station is Archway (Northern Line) and then either walk up Highgate Hill to Waterlow Park (around 10 minutes) or catch a 271, 210or 143 bus to Waterlow Park, then the Park for five minutes, and exit the Park onto Swain's Lane. The lower park exit is adjacent to the Cemetery gates.

^Picture from flickr courtesy of Anosmia^

30 October 2008

Hire a canal boat for the day

It's a little way out of London, but Lee Valley Boats at Broxbourne (25 mins from Liverpool Street) you can hire a canal boat for the day for £125 (between up to eight people).



Canal Boats are easy to operate, and there is always something different to see, from tunnels to industrial heritage, wildlife and other boats. Once you get out as far as Broxbourne, it can also feel positively rural at times, with fields and nature close up, and always the chance to sneak back inside the cabin for a cup of tea or a bite to eat.


The day boats carry 8-12 people and there are also longer breaks available if you have a bit more time (and money).

For more information, give them a call on 01992 462085, or check out the website.

29 October 2008

Experience 90 years of the RAF - for Free!

The RAF Museum at Colindale (near Hendon) in North London, is one of the best museums of flight in the World


The Museum is on the site of the original London Aerodrome, and has five buildings contain containing around 130 different aircraft, alongside artefacts, aviation memorabilia, art and photographs from the earliest balloon flights to state-of-the-art modern aircraft, and most of all, it's absolutely free!

The museum is open daily from 10am - 6pm, but the Grahame White Factory, which only makes up a very small part of the museum closes at noon.

The museum is a ten minute walk from Colindale Tube (half an hour from Kings Cross on the Northern Line). For more information click here.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/index.cfm

28 October 2008

Visit the largest Hindu Temple outside India


One of the benefits of living in one of the most multicultural cities in the world is that we have a rich array of cultural sites to visit. One of the most interesting of which is the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, listed in the Guiness Book of Records 2000 as the "Biggest Hindu Temple outside India", the Temple, in Neasden, was built by His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, and is made of 2,828 tonnes of Bulgarian limestone and 2,000 tonnes of Italian marble, at a cost of £12 million.



The website makes it clear that "everyone is welcome to visit the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. Individuals and families do not need to book their visit. On arrival, please enquire at the reception desk if a guide is available.", and has an excellent page on how to get there.

The Temple's Website is at http://www.mandir.org/

It's situated at 105-119 Brentfield Rd, North London, NW10 8LD (Nearest Tube Neasden), click here for a map.

^Picture by Colin Gregory Palmer^


23 October 2008

Inspiration

The author began this blog in October 2008 because he thought he was beginning to get bored of living in London.


Having lived here since May 2006, and had a great couple of years, it just felt a little like he was doing the same thing day after day.

However, we all know that there are, in reality, an almost infinite number of things to see and do. An almost unlimited selection of experiences and events stretched out before us. The only problem is we can never really find inspiration when we need it, only when we're not really looking.

That's why Tired of London, Tired of Life began. As a place for the author to document those moments of inspiration so he could draw on them later on, and come back to ideas at a later date when looking for something to do.

It's all part of a plan to get the most out of the greatest city on earth, and you can play too, by joining in, or doing them yourself.