Metropol

i enjoyed a long weekend down in the smoke and one thing really stuck me - it's really quite dead. ok, carnaby street, oxford street and regent street were busier - but not ever-so. certainly not jam packed. many of the side streets off the beaten track are littered with 'to let' signs or have shops which are bizarrely closed at weekends.

but even walking around these major shopping streets one couldn't help but notice that whilst there were a fair few people out and and about, many of the shops were devoid of customers.

now, did i just catch london on a bad day or has the recession really hit this hard?

my local market town is dead at weekends - indeed - i haven't been there during the day since christmas to actually buy anything.... (well apart from the odd takeaway or meal or pub)

I was there a couple of tuesdays back... seemed its usual bustly self to me. Tube full to bursting, pubs standing room only, museums full of people dodging tourists taking photos of dinosaur bones, and a good quarter of an hour wait for the London Eye.

I like London.