London Ninja

Question: How much does London cost?
Answer: A shitload. And by shitload, I mean a large semi truck full of fecal matter.

I have come to the conclusion that the prices in London are not warranted and do not make economical sense. The prices are focused on a few areas (like New York):

1. Rental / property prices
Property prices generally will reflect more or less economic trends that are dictated by Supply and Demand. London is one of the top 4 cities in the world outside of New York, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo. There is a lot of demand to live here. Fair enough. All of the cities listed are expensive to live in. I don’t like it, but I get it.

2. Food
This I do and do not get. The cost of goods in London is NOT significantly more than California. You can go to a Tesco (Tesco is a Safeway-like supermarket for you bloody Americans) and for the most part find prices similar to what you find the States. But when you go sit down at a restaurant, you will find that everything is double what you pay in the USA. WTF. I see it as more price-fixing or that rent/taxes for businesses are so high that they have to raise prices this high to pay for costs.

For example, a block of my favorite kind of cheese: Gruyere cheese was maybe 2GBP, translating to $4…no sales tax. Last night I purchased some Emmental cheese, which Agenda introduced me to on a booze cruise on a sailboat in New York a couple of weeks ago, for like 1.5GBP. So cost of goods is not necesarily higher than that in the States but take a look at some of my restaurant reviews and you will see that prices for eating out is double. WTF. Some kind of a status thing, which I’m not into. I like my food gourmet and I like my food cheap, damn it.

What you see people do at work a lot is get their food for takeaway, because you actually get charged more for eating at the restaurant. My collegues told me that it’s actually a tax thing, that the restaurant gets taxed more VAT if you eat in…lame. At work, I have two options:

A. Get a takeaway sandwich / baguette for ~3GBP($6 dollars) and eat it outside or in the lunchroom or at my desk.
B. Go out for lunch and sit down for ~$7.50 GBP($15 dollars) for pasta, pizza, or mince pie.

Um…I will choose A unless there is a reason for B, which is only if the Queen is eating at the same restaurant and I get to be knighted and be hereforth referred to as “Sir”.

3. Pubs
I will comment on this more later because I have been able to drink on the company tab this week without seeing the tab. I think the general rate is ~$3-$4 GBP per pint. ($6-$8 USD). On the surface it sounds a bit high, but keep in mind that you do not tip in the UK when you go to the bar and the bartender literally lifts a finger to pour beer into your glass. I can understand tipping a bartender that makes a mean mojito with TLC(he must harvests his own mint leaves), but I’ve never understood tipping the bartender a dollar for a $3 pint of Bud Light that took the same amount of effort as pouring water or flushing the toilet. Maybe if they ferment the yeast in front of me.

More on pubs in London in a separate post.

4. Shopping
Department store items and clothes in London are pretty much all about double the price of what it costs in the US. Not much to say here other than: Save your money and shop in the USA, unless you really want to wear that shirt that says “FCUK”. You should really wear “FUCKED BY FCUK” if you do pay those prices…better yet, “DUMBARSE”.

Go to New York and shop at Steve and Barry’s. That’s my kind of store, where they sell Starbury basketball shoes for $14.99. Yeah, that’s right…$14.99. I would have picked some up for UK if I had any room in my luggage. Shoes take up more room than anything, if you were not aware, and you should if possible avoid packing shoes when you’re travelling.

If you are more of a bargain hunter, go to Ross in the USA or any outlet store like it. They are particularly good for dress shirts, ties, and belts.

On a side note, I went into a Top Shop, a popular UK brand, on Oxford street yesterday and checked out their men’s section. This must have been the most gay/metro shopping experience I’ve ever had. Not that there is anything wrong with that, having lived in San Francisco for 5 years. But this was beyond SF….every dude in there was dressed to the tee….. latest styling shirts, snakeskin shoes, you name it. I’m in there in my t-shirt, Gap jeans, and GBX shoes that I’ve been wearing everyday since I left the US a couple of weeks ago(I even played basketball with Agenda with them). I asked about a pair of brilliant shoes and they were 45 GBP. Um…is there a Ross around?

Are there cheap places to do shopping in the UK?
Portabello Market, which is right next to my hotel, has some decent deals and foreign peddlers selling stuff on a street market, including clothes, electronics, and produce. It’s not cheap but it’s cheaper. The other thing you should do is buy online on sites like Amazon UK. There will be more but I have not yet found anything.

Conclusion
So all in all, things cost a lot but there may be ways around it. I’m going to find all of them in my time in the UK. God Save the Queen.