And how is your move coming on to the UK anyway, IamJen? What inspired your move here? Are you here to stay? :boobies: more news, more news!?...

VA..see the link to the article a couple of posts up. Those are the people I was thinking of. I thought I remembered you saying you were looking at Bournemouth. I don't know where the folks in the article are exactly, but East Sussex is down there in the "corner", yes? :)

:stinkeye: East Sussex, hmmmm, a bit distant from where I wanna be.
........I saw briefly before the link Starlass posted, I just didn't take in much detail.
I don't think I'd wanna live quite that far east, but anyway who knows what I may do, to include suggestions like yours which you just made....(its a thought, even if a bit of a wildcard, sooo, being open minded is the key as far as that may extend).

Bournemouth is south central coast (my ideal situation would be/ will be thereabouts, yes!....or whatever like southampton instead or Poole which is next door to Bournemouth).

Aylesbury - it sucks. And I mean really sucks.

When I move out I am leaving the countryside.

I'm from Aylesbury too :D Yeah, it does suck...but we have two health shops within thirty seconds of eachother in town, and Tescos sells soya butter :wayne:

My problem is the fact that we're surrounded by countryside makes hayfever hell.

And the cinema costs too much.

And the cinema costs too much.

At least there IS a cinema. When IS and I were researching Abingdon, I kept coming up blank when searching for movie theatres. I thought, how is it possible..a town of 30,000+, with a small uni even, and NO movie house? Surely, that cannot be. But, it is. Fortunately, Oxford (just a mere hop, skip and a jump away) is popularted with a variety of establishments waiting to satisfy my cinematic desires. :)

Perhaps it's my destiny to restore the magic of movies to this town. Heh.

More "new to the UK" randomness....

Do y'all have any good recommendations re: mobile plans/phones?

<<hates shopping

More "new to the UK" randomness....

Do y'all have any good recommendations re: mobile plans/phones?

<<hates shopping

There's really no such thing as the perfect mobile plan/phone combination. It all depends on how you use it and what features are important to you. One tip is to seriously think about how many minutes you'll use and whom you will be calling and what times of the day as well as how many texts you will send. Of course if having MP3s on your phone or mobile computing is important you'll have to figure that in is as well.

MrsFalafel was a mystery shopper for several companies in the past and she's always been very pleased with Carphone Warehouse as a way to compare plans and mobline companies. Write down your expected usage and features and pay one a visit and talk to them. Get a couple of quotes and then think about them for a few days and then make a decision.

Oh and don't forget about coverage. I was a very happy Orange customer until I moved to N Wales and had to go outside or climb the town walls to make a call. That forced me to switch to O2 :lol:

You don't get charged for recieveing calls in the UK!

I have had an orange pay as you go for years, and its done well. I went onto a contract phone with 3 and the signal was really bad. I changed that phone to T mobile and its not great but does the job. When I travel on a crowded tube train and we get out of the tunnel, it seems like I'm always the las to get a signal.

Maybe start up with a pay as you go and move to contract if you feel you need it. Depends how much you will use it!!!

IAmJen - I've been to Abington and found out about the sad lack of cinemas...*sighs* But Oxford is great - beautiful place and loads of shops.

I'm on Orange and I've never had a problem with it, except I don't recieve a signal when I go to Ireland, which I do quite often. But to be honest, I visit relatives there and I normally find myself glad that they can't get hold of me :lol:

I recently moved from vodafone to T-mobile and my service and reception is actully better...odd!
But yes, Oxford is beautiful...and I really love Abingdon.

Can I have a question, too? :)

Do you have good B12 supplements over there? (500 or 1000 micrograms, preferrably sublingual)

I only really know about my own multi-vit but I've done a search and you can get Life Plan's B12 tablets which contains 1000µg.
I've not seen them in the shops, but
[URL="http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/"]www.goodnessdirect.[/URL sells them. They state they're vegan.

Also check http://www.lifeplan.co.uk/
although on the product's site it doesn't confirm that the product is vegan.

oh bugger. I'm not with it..sorry (have done my back grrr) if I was sensible I could have confirmed they're vegan as on the pic the UK vegan soc symbol is clearly visible.

plus, I screwed up that link.
http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/

I'm a fan of Orange too, i've never had any problems with them, and have never used anyone else. But then i never really call anyone from my phone, i just use it to text everyday. So i'm not sure if you'd get a better deal with someone else if you plan on calling people quite a lot.

I'm living in eastern Canada at the moment, but I just found out yesterday that I'll be moving to the London area--Bromley specifically--in two months! So much to do, but I'm excited. I'll be moving in with my boyfriend and I'll be free from school finally.

Does anybody have any info about the place? Anybody live there and have words of wisdom to impart? I've found the UK to be much more vegetarian friendly than Canada, but if there are specifically any really good places to go or things to see I'd like to know :)

I'm living in eastern Canada at the moment, but I just found out yesterday that I'll be moving to the London area--Bromley specifically--in two months! So much to do, but I'm excited. I'll be moving in with my boyfriend and I'll be free from school finally.

Does anybody have any info about the place? Anybody live there and have words of wisdom to impart? I've found the UK to be much more vegetarian friendly than Canada, but if there are specifically any really good places to go or things to see I'd like to know :)

ive never been to bromley ( kent) but youre not that far fro mcntral london ,and there is SOOO much to eat there, about 15 vegan chinese palces, you cant go wrong :)

^ Yep, there's loads of veggie resturants in London. My favourite (the name slips my mind though) is on Tottenham Court Road, behind a gig venue called the Astoria. Next time I go there I'll try and remember the name :lol:

Also, there's a japanese resturant chain called Wagamamas, and there's several of them in London, and while they aren't a vegan resturant, they have several vegan dishes and are very good about telling you whats vegetarian/vegan, if there's a certain product in a dish, etc, so I go there a lot.

As for general places to go...I could go on forever :lol:

I'd say the UK is a lot more veggie friendly, I have so much trouble eating out when I've gone to the USA (never been to Canada though), and I can't wait to get home and have a decent veggie meal :lol:

I'm living in eastern Canada at the moment, but I just found out yesterday that I'll be moving to the London area--Bromley specifically--in two months! So much to do, but I'm excited. I'll be moving in with my boyfriend and I'll be free from school finally.

Does anybody have any info about the place? Anybody live there and have words of wisdom to impart? I've found the UK to be much more vegetarian friendly than Canada, but if there are specifically any really good places to go or things to see I'd like to know :)

Bromley (council area) is quite big - do you know where in Bromley you'll be moving to?
I've only been through Bromley but my b.f lives in Lewisham and he goes there quite a lot - says it is a nice area generally speaking.

Thanks for the info, guys :) My boyfriend informs me that it'd be best to be close to the center. We haven't gotten a place yet, but there appears to be a fair bit available in the area.

Schoska: good to know it's a nice area! I've never been there, and I'd hate to end up anywhere seedy or unsafe.

Hi Astarte, how long you here for?

For my interest/curiousity too I ask: Does any one have or know of a list of areas known or considered to be
"seedy or unsafe" in and around London per chance, either from own experience or from reputable hearsay??

The only area I've ever had trouble in in London is Brixton. I go there to see bands quite a lot, and a friend got mugged, I almost had my bag stolen in the tube station but jumped on a train before he managed it :lol: I generally don't feel safe going there alone or with just one friend, and most people I know who've been there feel the same way. It's not exactly murder capital of the world, but I regularly visit a lot of other places in London and am happy to do so alone if need be, but it'd have to be something pretty important that would get me to go to Brixton alone :lol:

Astarte: I too would advise you to be nearer the centre. I've had a word with the b.f and he said that it can be a little time consuming otherwise if you wish to go into the centre of London. However, while there are a lot of stations in Bromley I'd be aiming to be near Bromley South or Bromley North. The bus connections are good(and cheaper) if you don't mind a longer journey, and that can get you on the DLR easily.
You can see maps with the trains and bus routes at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/


Astarte and VA, as for seedy areas.. Bromley is ok, sadly like most places in London (or any big city) you do need to be careful sometimes. It is generally nice though apparently (and from what I've seen).

I personally think Kings Cross was the worst place to live - 2 guys got shot dead outside my dorm, and on one occasion when I was searching for the bus at 2am in Camden (they had a very wierd one way system) I was actually escorted to the bus stop by a prostitute because she was so concerned about me being on my own. :sick:

But in the daytime both Camden and Kings X are great :)

The only area I've ever had trouble in in London is Brixton. I go there to see bands quite a lot, and a friend got mugged, I almost had my bag stolen in the tube station but jumped on a train before he managed it :lol: I generally don't feel safe going there alone or with just one friend, and most people I know who've been there feel the same way. It's not exactly murder capital of the world, but I regularly visit a lot of other places in London and am happy to do so alone if need be, but it'd have to be something pretty important that would get me to go to Brixton alone :lol:

hehe I live 10 mins from Brixton - it sure is special!!! It can be a bit grim at night and I've had racial abuse hurled at me on occasions.
To be honest though, no where in London is 100% ok.. I live in Streatham which used to be a very safe, well-off area. But over the past 10 years it has become really grim in parts and I've had my wallet, and phone snatched twice here alone.
But, I've also had the same happen in Camden and up near Oxford Circus.

lol..I don't mean to paint London in a bad light, it is a great city, but we could do with some serious changes in policing. For example, in Brixton and Streatham, they'll have drug squads out and head after people for an ounce of dope, but fail miserably to deal with muggings, attacks, rapes etc.

There was an attempted abduction in the kiddies park just off my road (the victim was a teen - not that its any better) and it was brushed off by local police as 'just one of those things'. :stinkeye:

But, I still love it here. :hamster: :nana: :sunny: You certainly can't beat London for gigs!!!

Yep, no where in London is perfect, but some places are definately better than others, even in overall mood - such as Camden and Covent Garden, they're places I can easily relax in, whereas others you just want to do what you need to then go.

oo yea I love Camden and CG. Its a joy to just wander round - although I always get tempted to buy loads of stuff. :)