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W E E K O N W H E E L S |
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This is the "Week on Wheels" free weekly London skating email newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your email inbox each week.
From: Week on Wheels <wow /at/ lfns.co.uk>
Subject: [wow] Week on Walls Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:56:16 +0000 ==THIS WEEK== On FRIDAY, Lead Marshal Richard will be taking us on a tour of the Walls of Old London. Aldgate, Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, Moorgate ... London Wall. Ever noticed a theme in the naming of central London roads? Old London was a walled city, with seven major gates. Today the locations of six gates are commemorated in the placement and naming of six major London roads. The seventh, poor old Cripplegate, doesn't get much respect. It's remembered with a mere back-alley just a few metres long, in the wrong place, and without even a proper signpost. But that don't fool us... On Friday we will visit all seven -gate streets, and the *true* site of the Cripplegate. Thrown in at no extra are Barbican, London Wall (street) and Tower of London, plus a few lesser known gems: Castle Baynard street, once site of Castle Baynard, the western counterpart to the Tower of London and a setting for Shakespeare's Richard III (now a rather cool tunnel). We'll also scoot through Paternoster square and the arches of Wren's Temple Bar, only surviving gate of the old city of London, featured in the writings of one Charles Dickens, and now pleasantly devoid of the decapitated heads which once adorned it. And keep your eyes open for the scattered surviving fragments of the old wall itself! All this, and a sprint home along the smooth surfaces of Embankment and Victoria. How could you possibly miss out? Fact fans can find out more about the history stuff from Richard's carefully selected Wiki references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Wall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Bar,_London http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baynard%27s_Castle Richard has highlighted the gates and other points of interest on this week's route map, which you can find at http://www.lfns.co.uk/rt.php/20081114. (At the time of writing not all the labels were working but we hope to have this fixed later in the week.) Please note that the second half of this route involves a steep downhill section with a tight left-hander at the bottom (it also has some uphills!). You must be able to stop, turn, and control your speed on an incline to participate safely. As ever, you skate at your own risk. SUNDAY: The Sound of Music. No, it's not another costume skate just "a few of my favorite things", pulled together to make a fun skate round the West End, Bloomsbury and Mayfair, by this weeks LM Alan. Half time at Coram's Fields. http://www.lfns.co.uk/rt.php/20081116 ==LAST WEEK== FRIDAY saw the one of the rare Friday-Night-One-Way-Skates (FNOWS) from Hyde Park Corner to Victoria station, via Chelsea, Battersea, and Westminster. Despite our best attempts to speed up the skate the rain caught up with us just before the end; so we did not make it home, we did not pass Go, and we did not collect our money. Still, if you call your skate Galloping Gertie it is naturally drawn towards wetness, as an independent witness remarked. Fun was had, bearings are squeaky. SUNDAY - Right. Let's review the scoreboard: Autumn weather: 2 Spring Stroll: 0 That about sums it up. In related news the Marshals Executive Committee has unanimously voted to block Richard from leading the Spring Stroll again until it's actually spring. NORTHERN spring! ==A LOCAL SKATE FOR LOCAL PEOPLE== Last Saturday saw a special extra skate for those of us who love living in London so much that the idea of skating for over an hour in pouring rain whilst dressed in silly costumes was just too good to miss. Yes, it was the Lord Mayor's Show, described by the BBC as the largest unrehearsed procession in Europe. Twenty five skaters decided to take the 'unrehearsed' bit very seriously indeed by practising a 'dance' routine that proved to work significantly better on dry flat roads at a slow walking pace than it did on wet hills at a brisk trot. The piles of horse manure, which also presumably put the Lord Mayor's Show in contention for other European records, were just an added bonus. Strangely, despite the rain, the poo, the bright yellow clothing and the total chaos that Louise's careful choreography degenerated into almost from the start, a hugely good time was had by all. The enthusiastic applause of the audience (who seemed even wetter than us) suggested that some other people were enjoying it too. Those meanies at the BBC cut us out in favour of a long interview with the Head Boy of somewhere or other in the float ahead of us. He'd won an essay prize and seven million viewers now know just how proud he is of that. I think they would have rather watched CJ's impressive breakdancing - or was it just a fall? We know but we're not telling. Anyone who wants the tiniest glimpse of the idiocy should check out BBC iPlayer around 25 minutes in. But don't blink or you'll miss it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fh4xq/The_Lord_Mayors_Show_20 08 ==SANTASKATE! GET YOUR TICKETS WHILE THEY'RE HOT== The rain on Sunday meant one less skate for you to buy your SantaSkate tickets at. We told you last week, so we won't tell you again. They're a Good Thing. Buy them now. ==YET MORE IDEAS FOR SPENDING YOUR XMAS BUDGET== With Christmas approaching [Sort of: there's still over a month to go - Ed] there's still time to buy one of the our new and rather splendid range of T-Shirts, sweatshirts and other apparel. Most people will probably buy them simply because they look fab - and we're not just saying that, they really really do!! After all, Caoimhin designed them, and many of you know what a fabulous designer he is. You might also like to know that all the proceeds go to fund the LFNS and Sunday Stroll. The shirts are made to order and supplied from the USA, and we've found it takes about two weeks from placing the order to receiving the shirt. The value range of cotton shirts cost around £15 ex. postage, and performance micro fibre fabric ones that wick away sweat faster than the speed of love, well they cost just a little more. So waste not a minute, and be among the first to wear one. More info at http://www.lfns.co.uk/tshirts.php ==MEANWHILE, AN IDEA THAT DOESN'T COST ANYTHING== Free movies online! The LFNS and Sunday Stroll helmet cam crew has been busy lately, resulting in three new videos being posted on our web site. Click the link below to visit the skate's page on our site, and then chose one of the two links in the "Movie" section on the right hand side of the screen to see the video: * Roggie's recent excursion "Up the Arsenal" - http://www.lfns.co.uk/rt.php/20081024 * Halloween Skate - http://www.lfns.co.uk/rt.php/20081031 * Battersea Sunday Stroll (2nd Nov) - http://www.lfns.co.uk/rt.php/20081102 ==RITALOUT== Some of us hadn't recovered from Halloween before we got all hyper about the Lord Mayor's Show and SantaSkate is practically on us and then we have to buy all our Xmas pressies (lots of LFNS T shirts) and then it's Christmas and we're all so excited we think we're going to have to lie down in a darkened room till we see you on Friday. As ever, we welcome your comments, criticism and suggestions, but send them using the feedback form on our site - don't reply by email as it won't work. To unsubscribe, use the link in the mail footer - right at the bottom after the copyright notice. http://www.lfns.co.uk/feedback.php#contactus Small print: Material in this email is protected by copyright; it may be reproduced unchanged in full provided that credit is given. All trademarks are acknowledged. Please remember that the skate is marshalled by volunteers and you skate at your own risk. -- Sent from the London Friday Night Skate - http://www.lfns.co.uk/ Check out any time - see http://www.lfns.co.uk/unsubscribe.php?list=wow |
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