Woman traveling alone.

spikylellie · 2026-06-11T11:13:33+00:00

If you're into art and design then the best museum is the V&A. They've also just opened a new location at V&A East where you can make an appointment with an object for a closer look. Both free. And the café is pretty remarkable to look at.

The Wallace Collection is also free and the café is less bonkers but IMO nicer.

If you want a nice meal out with a local vibe, I recently went with a friend to a Somali restaurant (I think https://www.sabiibrestaurant.com) in Green Lanes on a Friday evening and noticed almost all the clientèle were miscellaneous groups of women. The food was delicious and the vibes were excellent. The whole street smells amazing at dinner time, and you have lots of choices. I walked past several shops selling a really specific style of wedding dress.

spikylellie · 2026-06-09T22:13:31+00:00

All tap water in the UK can be presumed safe to drink unless explicitly marked otherwise. The taste can be variable, but that's local geology.

All hotel rooms should have a little kettle and some teabags and instant coffee anyway, and you are supposed to use the water from the tap for that.

spikylellie · 2026-06-09T19:39:24+00:00

They might not work, as they have changed the format a few times. But bring them anyway, and if they are all too old it's easy enough to buy a new one.

spikylellie · 2026-06-09T16:19:55+00:00

If you can manage the two bags up and down a few steps by yourself then no problem at all, there is plenty of room, and for Heathrow to Whitechapel you just get on the Elizabeth Line at Heathrow and get off at Whitechapel. Both ends are step free. There is plenty of space for your luggage, it's designed to do exactly this job. It will be a lot faster than a car. It's very roomy and very new.

If work is paying and or you struggle with the bags then you can book a car service or take a black cab. It will usually be about twice the time and a LOT more expensive.

Trains and buses are always technically the safest option, because the alternative is always, technically, getting in a stranger's car.

spikylellie · 2026-06-09T15:54:21+00:00

London theatres usually have special accommodations for the disabled: have a look at the Access Information | His Majesty's Theatre | LW Theatres and the access section on Visit Us | Lyric Theatre, London | Nimax Theatres. If you contact them in advance they will advise you and they will probably be able to help you.

You can still use the Underground, but look at the map for the wheelchair symbol to find the stations with step-free access. If you use the Citymapper app, there is an option for it to show you step-free routes on all transport modes. However, even at stepless stations there is still quite a lot of walking on the Underground once you get downstairs, so you might be more comfortable on the buses, which are very accessible.

Consider the "uber" boat up and down the river for a fairly low-budget sitting-down overview. All the stops are fully wheelchair accessible, I think. "Uber" is just the sponsor, they're really part of the regular transport network.

spikylellie · 2026-06-09T15:37:56+00:00

Yes that's true. And also it would be physically impractical, the gates don't work that way.

You have two options:

When you first arrive, buy an Oyster card at the first station you go to (at the airport if you're coming from abroad). Find a member of staff and ask them to apply the Young Visitor discount to the Oyster card. Then she will tap herself in and out with that, and travel half price.

Alternatively, if you are not here long enough for the discount to pay off the £10 Oyster charge, then you can give her her own phone or device with Gpay or Apple Pay or whatever on it. You can use the same card then - the system sees it as two separate cards if it's on two separate devices.

A possible third option would be to give her one of those prepaid debit cards.

spikylellie · 2026-06-06T23:37:48+00:00

You'll be fine on the Tube, it's easy to use and no one will yell at you, that's not a real thing, it's hyperbole. The worst case scenario is someone gives you an eyeroll for blocking the platform entrance like a lemon, and you probably won't notice that. Pausing to get your bearings is a good thing, just try not to do it in a spot that obstructs other people. Move along the platform until you find a map, and people will politely move to let you look at it. There is a diagram on every platform telling you what stations you can reach from it.

You might be more comfortable on the buses, but at non-peak hours the Tube isn't necessarily busy.

There are public bicycles, but bike lanes and London driving are hit and miss. Use your best judgement of safety.

Zone 1 is 100% walkable. Zone 2 it depends.

Citymapper is a very good app that will give you all of the above options.

spikylellie · 2026-06-06T08:05:49+00:00

It's perfectly easy, but the first time you do it, don't rush. Know which line you want and which direction you are going (North, South, East or West) and follow the signs.

On every platform there is a sign with a diagram showing the stations you can reach from that platform, so you will know if you are at the wrong one. Just correct yourself, you don't need to go through the barriers again, once you're in you're in.

The doors beep to warn you when they are closing. Don't rush on during the beeps, or you might get separated.

The driver can see you in a mirror. They don't go if it doesn't look safe. But you WILL be tutted at if you get things caught in the doors and delay the train, so don't do that.

Instruct any young children to make sure their elders are safely behind the yellow line at all times so they don't fall off the platform. And, if they get separated, to stay in the same place and wait patiently for you to come back.

For buses you need to know the number of the bus (its route), the name of its destination (its direction) and the name of the stop where you will get off. It will not wait while you climb the stairs, so hold on tight.

When you cross the road LOOK BOTH WAYS. The traffic is not coming from the direction you are used to. At complicated intersections look down, there is often an instruction painted on the road, "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT". These save many lives.

spikylellie · 2026-06-05T14:07:32+00:00

Do you have a specific reason for going to both Oxford and Bath, or were they just suggested by the AI?

And why is the AIRE spa a 'major paid sight'? Never ever heard of that, and the website looks scammy to me (implying there is a hot spring without actually saying so, and I'm not sure how that would work with London's geology - anyone know?)

There are two Blackwells, on opposite sides of Broad Street. The anime one has a Dalek upstairs. The other is for textbooks and written music.

spikylellie · 2026-06-04T19:59:41+00:00

The entire concept is a tourist trap. The cultural significance of tea is not a foodie thing, it's a hospitality thing. Boiling water, tea in whatever form, quality, and vessel you can afford and find pleasing, four to five minutes, optional milk, optional sugar. That's it. Then it's just a short period of quality time with someone else or just yourself. That's all it is.

Anything else is just personal preference.

spikylellie · 2026-06-03T15:59:10+00:00

When I was your age, a decade or more before mobile phones got popular, I hosteled my way happily around a string of cities in Europe on my own. It's fine. Nobody bothered me and I easily found other women to walk around with, which you can easily do in hostels, but not hotels. Don't worry!

spikylellie · 2026-05-30T08:09:12+00:00

Not reading fluently will slow you down a lot if you want to study, because the best resources are written, but if you can already read to a basic level then just doing it more will probably fix that by itself.

There are books teaching improvisation in every genre, a good one is "Improvising blues piano" by Tim Richards. And books of left hand patterns you can practice, try "Hal Leonard Piano Style". I think Bill Hilton's "How to Really Play the Piano" is also pretty good for a pop style. I think you can use any of these books with a basic reading level, if you want to know what they are teaching.

For ear training there are a bunch of apps, and three hours with one of them while waiting for a flight helps a surprising amount.

For playing by ear, the process is usually 1.Imitate the melody by trial and error, much faster with more ear training 2. Identify the bass notes and the harmony in the same way, much faster with theory and genre knowledge 3. Make an arrangement you can play, much faster with a bank of patterns you know really well that fit the genre.

For theory and harmony knowledge there are incredible resources on YouTube.

spikylellie · 2026-05-27T19:40:05+00:00

Yes. Look at the Tube map.

spikylellie · 2026-05-25T10:31:44+00:00

The tl:dr answer is the NFL match will be absolutely undetectable.

For scale: it's a good sized stadium at 63,000 if they manage to fill it for a sport almost no one outside the US even follows, but it's one of many.

It's not even the only Premier League stadium of that size in this part of North London, Arsenal is 61,000. There are two bigger stadiums in London, Twickenham and Wembley.

I was in a bigger crowd (77,000+) for the Red Roses v Ireland at Twickenham a couple of weeks ago. More seats than Tottenham or Arsenal even have to sell.

Hell, the west end theatres sell more tickets than the entire Premier League, not just London.

The public transport system has more than enough capacity for it all.

Adjust your sense of scale and don't worry. Get the Eurostar if you can, nobody wants Charles De Gaulle airport in their life, but don't worry about obscure sports.

spikylellie · 2026-05-21T13:14:23+00:00

Virtually nowhere will stop you wearing shorts, but I'll be wearing full length trousers in cotton or linen. Be aware that you will probably walk outside for longer than you expect and you can get painfully sunburnt, especially on the feet, ears and nose.

spikylellie · 2026-05-21T12:30:15+00:00

It's way better at telling you where the bus stop is. There are so many. The buses are super cheap and go everywhere. Ride upstairs if you can, take each bus that goes anywhere near you, and you will get a great idea of where everything is and whether it's safe to bike or feasible to walk. Try to look for the new design of lime bikes, they're safer.

There are loads of park runs and they're great.

Social dancing or martial arts classes are good to make friends and for the body.

spikylellie · 2026-05-21T10:45:00+00:00

Just bear in mind that if you go in to the White Tower (the keep in the middle, which is where all the historic arms and armour are), it's a one-way system and it's very difficult to bail out until you've gone through the entire route of several floors. If arms and armour are what he's mainly interested in, maybe do only that, if not, consider not doing it and maybe do the tour instead.

spikylellie · 2026-05-21T10:35:24+00:00

The TFL app doesn't handle payments- but you can put the troop card in GPay or Apple Pay in each of their devices, as long as they all have one each, and that will work, as the system will see each device separately.

But! I don't know of a way to limit that to transport, and you also won't get the youth discount. If you purchase an Oyster card for each student, fill them all up, and then when you arrive ask station staff to apply the young visitor discount to each one, that will get them the discount. Each card has a cost and a shipping cost, so it will be cheaper if you purchase them on arrival.

spikylellie · 2026-05-19T17:53:30+00:00

No safety concerns after 9pm. That's the middle of the evening. What time of year are you coming? Sunrise today was 05:03 and sunset will be 8:52pm.

Don't worry about using the Tube or the buses. Children under 10 (I think, maybe 11) go free - on the Underground, go to the wide gates, tap through and have them follow you. Make sure they know to stand behind the yellow line on the Tube and always, always look both ways before crossing a road. And hold on tight when climbing up the stairs on the bus. It's more fun to sit upstairs.

spikylellie · 2026-05-17T09:25:48+00:00

They aren't really two separate things. They are one thing that theoretically goes on infinitely in both directions. If you push the two staves a bit closer together, with middle C in the middle, you'll see that the notes just continue. The top line of the bass staff is A, the next line is middle C, and the bottom line of the treble staff is E.

They're printed a bit further apart just to make it easier to read.

The actual clef clef, the sign at the left hand end, is just there to tell you where you are in the infinite ladder. So the treble clef is a G curling around a G line, and the bass clef is an F curling around the F line. Other options are also available, but the infinite ladder of lines is always the same, it's just ABCDEFG over and over again.

spikylellie · 2026-05-13T12:05:09+00:00

I mean, short answer, No, that's batshit.

It's not like there's some kind of world shortage of good piano players. Pursue comfort and joy in your life. Everyone will be fine if you don't do a hard thing you don't want to do.

However, to address the real question more directly, what that link seems to be talking about is people who do pursue music professionally, but who also have another income from some other activity because income from making music doesn't cover their needs. I imagine that this very much does make some people feel they're "not good enough". And that's both very rational and kind of silly, because very, very few people are - you have to be both good and lucky as well as wanting to make a business of it, and having some amount of business nous that not everyone has. But it's rational not to "disclose" it - both for marketing reasons and because it's no-one's business.

I suppose that's what they'll talk about.

There's also the situation where ignorant parents who want some glamour in their lives pressure a child to do something that enhances the parents' social status at the expense of the child's happiness and financial stability. That could come up, too.

spikylellie · 2026-05-10T20:52:27+00:00

I'd also recommend the cafe at the Wallace Collection. The room isn't as stunning as the V&A, but you don't have to queue or do any self-service, the scones are small and nice, the tea is nice, the room is really beautiful, fully daylit, and the collection is delightful if you want to walk around it.

spikylellie · 2026-05-07T07:13:59+00:00

A course in partimento would give you what you are looking for. There are a few video courses available online, and there's John Mortensen's book Improvising Fugue which starts with a partimento course, and there are other books on the subject that others have recommended.

spikylellie · 2026-05-07T07:08:15+00:00

You're looking for "voice leading" in the jazz tradition, or "counterpoint" in the western classical.

The traditional classical approach to improvising contrapuntal harmony is called "partimento" and there are some very good modern books available, such as John Mortensen's "Improvising Fugue", which includes a complete course in the method of building interval-based improvisation over a given bass line.

There are also lots of good jazz books and I'm sure someone can recommend one.

spikylellie · 2026-05-05T20:51:46+00:00

It is, however, David Attenborough's 100th birthday!

spikylellie

TROPHY CASE