[crimp]

In the 5 years i spent in that London, the only stranger who spoke to me on public transport threatened to kill me.

And those bromptons are a fecking nightmare. Always some suited punter on bus or tube carrying their fold up bike and obliviously taking painful dints out of everyone else's shins. If you want to cycle to work, buy a real bike, and ride to work properly
 

[Falling Down]

She only started talking to you because the guy in 50's specs on her other side was boring her to tears about his Brompton

  

[Durbs]

Where in London have you landed?

[SA Chris]

And those bromptons are a fecking nightmare. Always some suited punter on bus or tube carrying their fold up bike and obliviously taking painful dints out of everyone else's shins. If you want to cycle to work, buy a real bike, and ride to work properly

That's telling you Falling Down.

[galpinos]

And those bromptons are a fecking nightmare. Always some suited punter on bus or tube carrying their fold up bike and obliviously taking painful dints out of everyone else's shins. If you want to cycle to work, buy a real bike, and ride to work properly

That's telling you Falling Down.

Ha Ha! First the football, now you're not allowed your Brompton! Not a good weekend.....

(I'm still smiling at "suited punter")

[crimp]

That wasn't a dig at falling down.

Just a general London transport observation on the cult of the brompton.

I've got a chipped shin bone thanks to some careless, folding bike wielding, suit on the northern line. 

[SA Chris]

At least you know how to back pedal.

[crimp]

I wasn't cross-bar the shin dent.

(Are we starting on bike puns today)

[Monolith]

Just spent a weekend staying with a friend who lives pretty much next door to The Castle. I think I counted more people doing yoga at one point than people climbing which made me chortle. I can certifiably say that if I did move to London, I would give up climbing completely since three sessions = one Maserati.

[SA Chris]

I wasn't cross-bar the shin dent.

(Are we starting on bike puns today)

No, you just did a major back-pdeal there.

[SA Chris]

Just spent a weekend staying with a friend who lives pretty much next door to The Castle. I think I counted more people doing yoga at one point than people climbing which made me chortle.

I think Lund was one of them.

[crimp]

I wasn't cross-bar the shin dent.

(Are we starting on bike puns today)

No, you just did a major back-pdeal there.

nothing to back pedal from. It was a wry general observation, rooted in personal experience of living in central London. People were misconstruing my remark as being targeted at falling down. They weren't.

That's called clarifying, not back peddaling. Back pedalling would be to renounce or retract, or distance myself, from what i said. Which i haven't.

[Muenchener]

I think I counted more people doing yoga at one point than people climbing which made me chortle.

My local bouldering wall tends to have a particular corner full of people doing stretches, core exercises etc. Personally I prefer to do these in the privacy of my own home, but if others like to do them in a more social setting that's their choice I suppose.

Except when they choose to do them right underneath the spot on the steep circuit wall where I expect to be falling off. At one point recently I got so fed up with politely asking people to move that I decided to just land on the f*ckers instead, but sadly they realised their peril and got out of the way just before my forearms gave out.

[SA Chris]

nothing to back pedal from. It was a wry general observation, rooted in personal experience of living in central London. People were misconstruing my remark as being targeted at falling down. They weren't.

That's called clarifying, not back peddaling. Back pedalling would be to renounce or retract, or distance myself, from what i said. Which i haven't.

Whatever. It was meant as a joke, and a feeble pun. You and slackers would get on great.

[Wipey Why]

Where in London have you landed?

I'm starting early June and will be crashing with some mates in Peckham until I get myself sorted.

[crimp]

nothing to back pedal from. It was a wry general observation, rooted in personal experience of living in central London. People were misconstruing my remark as being targeted at falling down. They weren't.

That's called clarifying, not back peddaling. Back pedalling would be to renounce or retract, or distance myself, from what i said. Which i haven't.

Whatever. It was meant as a joke, and a feeble pun. You and slackers would get on great.

We do. Slackers is a decent fella. So I'll take that as a compliment.

[Lund]

Just spent a weekend staying with a friend who lives pretty much next door to The Castle. I think I counted more people doing yoga at one point than people climbing which made me chortle.

I think Lund was one of them.

I'm good with this shit now.  It's even got to the point where I can't climb unless there's a bird putting her ankle behind her ear next to my belayer.


(Obviously this is a joke.  Tie-on?  Having a laugh mate.)

[Wipey Why]

It's even got to the point where I can't climb unless there's a bird putting her ankle behind her ear next to my belayer.

Interesting 

[Monolith]

Nibile, you would love London walls ; )

I'm all for stretching, yoga, pilates etc but I can't see the need to pay a small fortune to practice it less the expertise of an instructor to further your practice. London walls are good fun - one of the few places on earth where you'll see a wolf vest and pencil moustache worn without a hint of irony.

[JohnM]

I think it's worth noting Tom that if you actually live here you'd buy a 6 month pass.  I pay 180 for a 6 month pass to the Biscuit Factory which works out less than 4 pounds a session.  It's really good for training and opens at 6am with free coffee for pre work sessions.  Also, people doing yoga are kept out of sight up on a mezzanine!

[tomtom]

Speaking of £££ when I went to "the Spot" in Boulder - it was $17... the other gym in town was $18....
Recon we might have it cheap here in the UK...

[Falling Down]

I was bouldering at the Westway a couple of months back and counted three of us climbing and over ten stretching and doing yoga by the mats. 

Adge - Last week I cycled my Brompton after work to Sloane Square, had two gin and tonics then went to see Charles Moore talk about his biography of Thatcher and chatted to Fraser Nelson at the bar.   

[crimp]

Adge - Last week I cycled my Brompton after work to Sloane Square, had two gin and tonics then went to see Charles Moore talk about his biography of Thatcher and chatted to Fraser Nelson at the bar.   

living the dream there bud, living the dream.

[Nibile]

Nibile, you would love London walls ; )

You shall have no other wall before me.

image by Nibile, on Flickr

[i.munro]

Useful stuff for taking the pain out of being a climber in London (in my experience)

1) Flexitime
 - getting a train at 4:50  on a nice evening to sandstone = very pleasant.
- try the same thing at 5:10 & it's an Hour wedged against a door in 60 deg heat (not a good start to a sesh).
Also during the day you have a good choice of ok-ish walls (evenings they're basically unusable IMO unless you have a LOT of very scary mates)

2) Mates/family who work at Eurostar.
I used to be able to get affordable tickets this way. Leave work at 5.0 (provided somebody can take your crash pad to St Pancras for you ) & finish the evening with a beer in Fontainebleau. Magic.

If you can't get  1) I suggest developing as scary a persona as you can. Demented ravings & strong body odour may help to get you some space in both situations. If you can't manage 2) then I can only suggest unlimited earnings (y'know Tory MP or major drug dealer territory. It doesn't help that Sterling is basically worthless in France now )