It'll just get worse
If you go out of London King’s Cross, St Pancras or even Liverpool Street, you could well end up in Hertfordshire. We think it’s one of the most overlooked counties.
Admittedly, parts of it, especially nearer to London, are pretty awful, but go about half an hour and you will find places often voted the best to live in the country.
We’ve mentioned St Albans before. There’s Hatfield and Knebworth.
But what about Hertford?
Or Hitchin?
Or Ware?
If you did a website about chocolate recipes and someone criticised you for not including methods for cooking steak, you might be peeved.
During this year, we have tried to provide information for people visiting London. It’s where we are and what we know and maybe it has helped a couple of people.
But we have had a few comments along the lines of “the UK is not just London”. First of all, we have said just that before. This is not a travel guide to the UK. And we have included some places you might want to visit within an easy ride from London. Besides, other people do sites for those far better than we ever could.
But in the next few weeks, here are some more places not too far away you could visit. Many are enough for half a day, so you could try two adjacent places easily.
There’s a long period from just before Xmas to normality in the middle of January. However, it’s not as bad as it used to be. Time was that shops were closed or open but empty, and there was no food to be had, even basics, until some weeks into January.
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve is always a time for celebration, especially in big cities, for some at least.
London people used to go to Trafalgar Square or down onto the Embankment, to get drunk and loud and abusive and to fight and attack each other. There was a lot of injury and stealing and it was not nice. (In truth, it was more a tourist thing)
Getting home was a pain, often needing a long walk as there were no tubes.
But it’s all changed. We avoided it then and we do now, but we understand that, if you’re a visitor, you will want to see the fun. And if you’re in central London, getting home will be fine.
The big event is the firework display over the Thames.
The best viewpoint is across the river on the north bank. Be aware that there are over 100,000 people attending and you need to buy a ticket. Last year they were £20 and were gone very quickly. Without a ticket, you will not see the show. Stay home or go to a bar or something, and watch on the tv in warmth and comfort and have fun.