The retail therapy project II - successful conclusion
I am crap at shopping, remember? Quite terrible. So I attempt to cure myself of this hideous affliction each year through my annual retail therapy project. Last year I forced myself to spend £100 on a birthday present of your choice. Very nice the light bricks were too, but I went back to my miserly ways again soon after. This year I stuck up an Amazon wishlist containing £200 of London-based stuff and asked you not to buy me anything off it. And you were brilliant at that - not one item arrived in my mailbox. Thanks for that. Anyway, the deal was that I would go out and buy £100 of the remaining stuff on the wishlist after it had been up for a fortnight. So I did, just in time for my birthday tomorrow.
I spent all Saturday afternoon traipsing round the West End, hunting down books and CDs and DVDs at best value prices. I could have got most of the books cheaper on Amazon, but I didn't want to have to wait three weeks for the postman to fail to shove an oversized package through my letterbox, so I decided against. I managed to find most of the CDs and DVDs rather cheaper in real life anyway, hurrah. By the end of Saturday afternoon I was walking the streets carrying eight different plastic bags - I looked like a real shopper for once. And I'd managed to spend £105, on eleven items I actually wanted. Success. Course, it'll take me months to read/view/listen to them all, which may not be good for my retail therapy long term, but never mind.
Here's a (clickable) list of what I bought myself...
Books (non fiction)
• UndergroundLondon (Stephen Smith, £13.99 at Waterstones - I got £4 off): Subtitled 'Travels beneath the city streets', this looks wonderful. So new that it's not officially published until this Thursday. Chapters on lost rivers, Roman remains, plague victims, cold war bunkers and, yes, abandoned tube stations. I think I'm going to love it.
• Walking Notorious London (Andrew Duncan, £8.99 at Waterstones - I got £2 off): Nine walks around the capital, concentrating on death, crime, villainy, scandals, prostitution and spying. Yes, and the Kray brothers.
• Eccentric London (Benedict le Vay, £12.95 at Stanfords): Thanks to Woozie for suggesting this. I started reading it on the tube home, and it's full of bizarre fascinating snippety historical bits. Already hugely recommended.
• Leadville (Edward Platt, £6.99 at Waterstones - I got £1 off): Thanks to Vaughan for suggesting this. Leadville is a chronicle of suburban life beside the A40 Western Avenue, the bit between White City and Hanger Lane. Wonder if I could write a similar book about life beside the A11 Mile End Road?
Books (fiction)
• Bleeding London (Geoff Nicholson, £6.99 at Blackwells): Thanks to Inspector Sands for suggesting this. Three characters linked by an obsession with the London A-Z. Apparently includes 'weird sex, arbitrary violence and obscure threats', but I've only read the encouraging blurb on the back cover so far.
• White CityBlue (Tim Lott, £7.99 at Foyles): Thanks to dave for suggesting this. One of those about-growing-up books, based in West London, and winner of the 1999 Whitbread First Novel award. Looks a good read, even if I'm five years late.
CDs
• London 0,Hull 4 (Housemartins, £10 at Fopp): Ah, they don't make albums with 16 tracks any more, and not tracks as good as these either. Proper 80s northern, with soul. However, having lived in both cities, I'd like to declare that the score should be London 4, Hull 0.
• London,England (Corduroy, £7.99 at Selectadisc - £1 cheaper than Amazon): 90s coffee-table acid jazz, very laid back, very understated, very well done. Title track's the best, but you get 39 other gems for your money. And Selectadisc, wow, there isn't a record shop like it.
DVDs
• 28 Days Later (£10 at Fopp - £5 cheaper than Amazon): I've sort of been meaning to buy this for a while, but I don't generally buy DVDs. Cured myself of that at the weekend. Hide from the nutters in zombie-infested East London - much like real life really.
• An American Werewolf in London (£12.99 at Tower - £2 cheaper than Amazon): Another horror classic, but this one has Jenny Agutter and a quick lycanthropic rampage through Piccadilly Circus tube station. Maybe I shall wait for the next full moon before watching it.
• Tube Tales (£5.99 at the Virgin Megastore): Bargain rack movie funded by Sky TV. A collection of nine underground-related stories featuring top British talent (dave - Ray Winstone's in one of them). I suspect I shall enjoy this more than the critics did.
The retail therapy project II - successful conclusion
