It's not everyday you get to drive along the North Circular and see something other than a tesco or ikea. Well from now on at the A1 / North Circular junction you can see a Banksy! Nice...also just before that check out the synagogue that looks like a rolls royce (will get a photo up soon!)

don't forget to fill in our survey www.theothersidemag.co.uk/survey 

Vintage Events: 

All winklepickered up with nowhere to go? Let The Other Side take you out and about in vintage London… 

• Hula Boogie

 

Organised by DJ Miss Aloha with help from the Reverend Boogie, the Hula Boogie brings you a wide selection of music from the 1930s to the 1950s. In the tropical surroundings of a kitsch Kennigton bar you can improve your vintage moves with an early evening jive class and perfect your look with a last minute purchase from that month’s chosen vintage vendor. The night is held every third Sunday, and in December it’s the Hula Boogie Christmas party with live acts, burlesque, Voodoo Betty’s Boutique and free mince pies. 7pm-1am at the South London Pacific Tiki Bar, Kennington Road. Nearest tube: Kennington.  http://www.myspace.com/hulaboogie  

• Welikeswaps.com

 

These guys sure like to swap. Whether it be clothes, shoes, books or CDs, you can join them and exchange your vintage items for someone else’s…or offload your old rubbish on some other idiot, depending on how you like to look at it. At the ‘Swap Til’ You Drop’ Christmas Party, Lady Luck Rules OK will be on hand to help you beat the squeeze and save the planet by turning your old jewellery into something new. Check out the website to buy tickets to the swap and get general swapping info. Swap Til You Drop Xmas Special on Thursday 11^th December 7 til late @ Superette Studio and Shop, London E1. Nearest tube: Liverpool Street. www.welikeswaps.com and www.ladyluckrulesok.com  

• Shake, Rattle and Bowl

On the first Saturday of every month the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes host a night of retro music and cinema presented by Dolly Rocker (of Buttoned Down Disco fame). The 50's and 60's Rock n Roll, Soul, Motown, Freakbeat and Ska are just the thing to snap your fingers to in the Americana atmosphere, but if you get sick of the dance floor you can always try some bowling or karaoke, or take some time out in the diner. Drinks are well priced too. The Lanes are located in the basement of the Tavistock Hotel, WC1H. Nearest tube: Russell Square or Euston. www.shakerattleandbowl.com 

• The Lady Luck Club

 

Lounge lizards, pimps, hoes, teddyboys and mods are all welcome at this open-minded night, but whatever you do don’t arrive in sportswear. Expect an eclectic mix of Roots, Blues and Rockabilly from 1940’s-1960s vinyls, with live bands and burlesque performances to spice things up after midnight. Well-known London vintage DJ El Nino is host to three floors of good times until 5am on the first Saturday of every month at Platinum Bar, 23-25 Paul St, EC2A. Nearest tube: Old St. or Liverpool St. Also look out for info on the Lady Luck New Year’s Eve Ball with performances from Cookie and the Cutters and America’s Little Victor. www.ladyluckclub.co.uk 

• The Last Days of Decadence

 

This new Shoreditch bar’s art deco interior and late license all point towards it putting on some great vintage nights. It aims to take hedonism to new levels, which should come as a breath of fresh air in these times of economic doom. The venue’s listings, created by the team behind Be Events, show a mix of old and new, but vintage lovers should look out for the return of Fitzrovia Radio who were there last month performing and recording retro radio plays in their customary cut-glass pronunciation. The Last Days of Decadence is at 145 Shoreditch High St, E1. See www.thelastdaysofdecadence.com for more info and listings. See also www.fitzroviaradio.com Nearest tube: Old Street. 

• Frock Me Vintage Fairs

 

If too many vintage nights are taking the plus out of your plus fours why not try a more civilised daytime pursuit like the Frock Me fair, held on a few Sundays of the year in the Chelsea Town Hall from 11-5.30pm. Not only can you peruse the stalls of top vintage dealers from around the country, you can also take some time out and a step back in time at the “pre-war” tea room. Décor, crockery and gramophone are all old enough to be your granny’s. The next events are on 14^th December and 15^th February. Nearest tube: Sloane Square. www.frockmevintagefashion.com  

• Café Provencal

 
A much-loved South London stalwart, this large and colourful restaurant also boasts an amazing soundtrack of retro tunes. Sit back with a portion of their famous garlic chips or hang out at the bar and listen to a fantastic selection of vintage Rock ‘n’ Roll, Reggae, Roots, and Rhythm and Blues, compiled by the co-owner Adam Shipley. If you ask really nicely, he might even give you a C.D. to take home. Find out more at www.cafeprov.co.uk 2-6 Half Moon Lane, SE24. Train: Herne Hill.

Vintage Fashion in London should be easy! There's millions of great shops and markets and loads to choose from! But, if you haven't been vintage shopping before, you'll feel like an idiot in a dress that looks like a curtain. So, I took a little jaunt around London's best vintage emporiums so you don't have to!

Bang Bang - 21 Goodge street.

This shop is fantastic. A perfect little shop with everything from high street, to designer and vintage cast offs. The impossibly pretty staff are friendly and helpful, but the shop itself is a bot of pot luck. If you rummage about, you can pick up some real bargains. Or, if you want to spend a bit more, you might just come out with a Dior piece at 1/3 of the price. Bargain.

Best buy for under £20: Dresses for as little as £15.

Top Vintage Tip: Most things you buy are "sold as seen" make sure you check for moth holes and loose seams. If you won't bother getting things fixed or altered, don't buy it. They'll never see the light of day.

Wow Retro - 179 Drury Lane

Seemingly better for guys than it is for girls. (You just have to buy a cool suit jacket and shirt and then you're set. Very unfair). You'll really have to dig in those elbows if you want to find a bargain. It's hard to find good stuff in here without trawling through every single rail. Although to be honest, most of the good stuff is out on display already - sometimes it's not worth the effort to hunt, although you might be lucky.

Best buy for under £20: Polka dot dresses perfect for Summer - £15. (Don't laugh, I'm optimistic)

Top Vintage Tip: Get things dry cleaned before you wear them. Unless you like the smell of old moth balls.

Twinkled - Unit 1.5 Kingly Court.

One of the best vintage shops in London, if you can get past the 'Carnaby Street' feel. It's like Kingly Court raises one perfectly tweezed eyebrow at vintage in a "we know it's cool, but we're not happy about it kind of way". Fun. The best buys in here are usually their furniture and home stuff. Dresses tend to be overpriced, but you can pick up some great accessories.

Best buy: Jane Shilton Handbag - £27. (Not within my £20 budget I know, but it's so pretty I don't care.)

Top Vintage Tip: Don't limit yourself to fashion. There's always great 60s tableware and other home stuff that's often better value.

Absolute Vintage / Blondie - 15 Hanbury Street/ Commercial Street.

This place is fantastic. Really brilliant. If you want to shop vintage, and you want it easy, go here. You'll come out with a whole bunch of stuff. Their sister shop, Blondie is on Commercial Street and is a bit swankier. Think vintage Dior sunglasses and floppy hats. Shame I can't carry off the floppy hat look - I really really want one. Blondie arrange everything in colour which can be a blessing if you don't mind staring at a whole load of bright pink.

Best Buy: Tea dresses in Blondie if you can afford them, otherwise pick up a handbag in Absolute Vintage for as cheap as £6. Bargain.

Top Vintage Tip: Don't dress head to toe in vintage. Unless you're a fashion/art student, it looks silly. Expensive habit to keep up as well.

VintageHart - White Hart Lane in the White Hart Pub, Crystal Palace.

VintageHart is a great little find. It's in a pub for a start! Hurrah! But the shop has original clothes and some great bargains. Dawn and Annette are lovely and really helpful so you'll find exactly what you're looking for. Come here for one off pieces for a special event. Their winter coats are fantastic and i you might even pick up some cuff links for the other half - you can leave him propping up the bar next door.

Top buy: Petticoats for £18 or their jewellery is pretty well priced too. Cuff links are £10.

Top Vintage Tip: Still confused? Buy a belt, or a handbag. It won't break the bank, but you'll still have that "no one else has got this" feeling.

Beehive - Creek Road, Greenwich

A new shop in Greenwich that's a bit like a shop. (It's in the same spot Flying Duck Emporiums was) but this place is fun as it has a cafe and a record shop in it as well! It's not much good for fashion, but if you want to spend some money on home stuff (£70 for a bright pink retro phone) then you'll do well here. Prices are aimed at tourists so it's not cheap, but it's fun for a poke about if you're in the area.

Best buy: Wish I'd spent £12 on one of their big floppy hats. Dammit. might go back later today and get it.

Vintage shopping is meant to be fun. It's all about having a nose about and trying things on a looking like an idiot. Wearing silly hats and being stupid. Sometimes you have to pay a bit more for what you want, but that's a good thing. As long as you make sure you've got something that's good quality, you'll wear it forever and ever.

21st century penny dreadful One Eye Grey is offering free downloads of twelve terrifying tales for Christmas.

Go to www.fandmpublications.co.uk and click on the rat.

There is a new free story to download every day starting the 12th of December and ending on Christmas Eve. It works like an advent calendar, except that behind these doors are a dozen disturbing downloads which include:

Warnings about what pies you eat this festive season; who (or should that be what?) you cop off with at the office party; the dangers of staring into the wrong crib; why you should beware of geese (at least those from Southwark); a warning about wanting a pony for Christmas and reasons for not wandering off into the woods to gather your own holly.

The stories have been selected from the dozens published over the past few years in One Eye Grey plus one taster for 2009.

For more details please contact chris@fandmpublications.co.uk

Poppy and her friends are looking for new boys to play with. Fictional London blog Poppycockney has been a man free zone for long enough and we're after some fresh male blood. That sounded quite scary didn't it? Sorry about that. We're after new male writers.

What do we need from you? Well we're only looking for boys at the moment. You'll need to love London and be up for finding out the newest and most exciting places and events. You'll also need to be able to devote time to your character and let them grow and interact with the other Poppycockney faces.

It would be great if you have a blog already. Just send us a link to that and anything else you think we should know. If you've got some experience under your belt but you're not blogging right now, write us a post for Poppycockney and we'll take it from there.

We'd love to pay you in jewels and gold, but we can't do that right now. Instead you'll get exposure, lots of free drinks, see some cool events and parties, and occasionally your editor will make you cake. That sounds rather nice, doesn't it?

Got any other questions? Just drop us an email! sianmeades@googlemail.com?

Our concern for this so called Credit Crunch stretches about as far as it did when we were told they would stop making Wispa bars or when we informed that there would be a spin off of Inspector Morse, (did anyone ever watch ‘Lewis’?)

So we’ve taken time out of our day and worked out how to make the most of a bad situation, how to turn your fixed rate nightmare into an Olympic gold. We’re no Martin Lewis but we are young, futile and full of ideas.

 

Let’s start big. Your Home.

Whether you are renting or a home owner here’s a few straight from the Blue Peter hall of fame to get your juices tingling. First up house swap. Find a mate who is a little bored of their apartment and switch for a bit. Get a taste of life in another part of town and before you know it you’ll be begging for your comfy bed back

 

▪ Go to the supermarket last thing on a Sunday afternoon. The shelves will be so empty you'll think that Hurricane Gustav's on his way, but significant savings are to be made on the heavily reduced products that do remain. Also, the challenge of combining random ingredients like extra-mature cheddar, taramasolata and a grapefruit will make you feel like a contestant on Ready Steady Cook.

 

▪ Instead of buying DVDs or going to the cinema, go on www.internetarchive.org and download literally hundreds of out-of-copyright films for free - totally legally. As well as some real gems like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari', 'The House on Haunted Hill' and 'Metropolis,' there are enough unintentionally hilarious curios like 'Invasion of the Bee Girls,' 'Teenagers from Outer Space' and 'No, No, Nanette' to make sure you need never go to Blockbuster again.

 

▪ Stop going to the pub and embrace Parisian café culture right here in London by drinking outdoors. Non-named brands of beers, wines and spirits can be had at a fraction of the cost in Newsagents and corner shops, and street furniture like bins and post boxes make for ideal surfaces to rest your drink on. Add to this the non-existent smoking ban and the fascinating conversations you will inevitably have with other revellers (once I was offered a significant discount on Italian marble flooring by a complete stranger while drinking next to a bin), and you'll ask yourself why you never did it before.

 

▪ Instead of buying an expensive, big fuck-off newspaper at the weekend, just collect the free ones that are handed to you throughout the week, don't read them and tie them together with twine. Then on a Sunday morning, make yourself a lovely cuppa and sit back to read about Kelly Osbourne and Rhys Ifans' latest exploits, as well as previews of rubbish gigs that you've just missed. You will save money, but will feel your brain and soul melting within you.

 

▪ If you're an animal lover, be creative about getting a pet. Dogs and cats are time-consuming and expensive, whereas rats are low-maintenance and extremely intelligent. Encourage them by leaving half-open bags of rubbish just outside your house, and in no time you'll be overrun with the loveable disease-ridden little bastards.

 

▪ Pretend to be ill. You'll find that friends, partners and housemates will be extra-nice, and maybe even buy you things and cook you stuff, as long as you don’t take the piss. All you have to do is lie there on the sofa or in bed, half-close your eyes when someone's looking at you and stop wearing deodorant. You won't have to leave the house for a few days, thereby saving money on transport and socialising, and you can catch up on reading or watching Jeremy Kyle.

 

▪ Get some extra pocket money by taking part in clinical drugs trials. Sure, there were those guys a couple of years ago whose fingers started falling off and their heads swole up till they looked like the mascots of Second Division football teams, but cash is cash and who are you to be so fucking picky? At the very least you might get some free paracetamol out of it.

 

▪ Libraries are great. Despite the modern tendency to rebrand them as 'Knowledge Shacks' or 'Mind Marts,' some of them actually still have books in them. They are usually warm, quiet and full of the elderly so you can sleep in them for a good few hours before anyone notices, making them ideal places to go and nurse a hangover after a heavy night on the bins. Best of all, they're free, and even if you're only flicking through the Dorling Kindersly Book of Pirates, it still feels like you're doing valuable research.

 

 

And that's it. I don't want my name to appear on it if used  - just a thank you would be fine.

 

Ta-Ra!

 

From the editor - thank you

Poppycockney is an original brand new blog for London that combines fact with fiction to form your second favourite website. Founded in August 2008 by Sian Meades, London blogger and journalist for Londonist, Qype and the Hospital Club, Poppycockney takes real life London and mixes it with a fresh new tale. The characters and their often scandalous adventures are fictional, but the events, place, people and products they talk about are real.

London is full of stories, and the characters of Poppycockney will show you the ins and outs of your favourite city, as well as the exciting events that you should be attending. The site features a weekly round up of all the action, and the characters interact with readers and each other. Readers can also cast their vote in online polls to decide the fate of their favourite character, and can even win the chance to write their own character for Poppycockney.

Some of London's best bloggers are involved with Poppycockney, including Londonist's Food and Drink editor Chris Osburn, and former Dollymix editor Cate Sevilla. Combining the addictive aspect of a soap opera with the need-to-know information about every aspect of London, Poppycockney's diverse characters cater for everyone, entertaining and informing all at once.

Read more now at www.poppycockney.com.

Have you ever wanted to get answers to all those really important everyday dilemmas? How do you get round those awkward social moments when the floor swallowing machine is yet to be created? Who do you turn to when you’re not sure how much longer you can carry on in your job that relies entirely upon the subject you made up as a degree on your CV? Well panic no more! Just ask me….

 

 

Q. My flatmate has recently taken up the electric guitar and has just purchased a new amp. As my room is above his and my 6am-start-joyous job means I don’t get the luxury of an all day lie in; how can I politely tell him to keep it down if he starts to play AC/DC at 4am?

 

A. I would suggest earplugs, they are the solution to many of the World’s problems and are commonly used in house situations when someone (usually a completely tone deaf insomniac) decides to express their endearing creativity through music.

 

Check out more agony aunt q & a's or got a question then just click here 

Big thanks to Mr Tim for this one. Looks like Europe next summer for the Other Side. In fact we'll be there at the end of August, near Utrecht to be precise and you could join us with travel and festival tickets to see babyshambles, mystery jets and more up for grabs in our competition www.theothersidemag.co.uk/the_alternative_festival 

Another year another call of the mud! Fuelled by extra strong cider we listen to our favourite tunes trying our best to relive a trip into work in the morning on the tube in a field! Yes that's right, music festivals.

The UK has gone crazy for music festivals with pretty much every enterprising farmer turning their field/meadow into a vehicle for every young and old person to live their hedonistic dreams in a field...........covered by mud! Being an old hand at these festival things-yes I lived through 'that Glastonbury' and still went back last year, I drank a can of Tennants for breakfast at T in the Park yar de yar bla blar I knew the my festival future didn't have to clean me out of all of my hard earned mullar.

After spending the same on a very messy Glastonbury last year as a month long trip around Eastern Europe I had to think my festival choice through very hard. Sometimes my brain tends to work pretty slowly but mega expensive British festivals and expensive beer didn't add up. Wait a minute Eastern Europe has cheap beer, it is hotter than this country, the people are, by in large, friendlier AND it has music festivals.........The idea for going to Heineken Opener was born.

Heineken Opener  

The lovely people of Gdansk  throw a massive music festival every year in an old dis-used military air field in early July. Now I'm not sure how dis-used this place was with enough Polish friendly military to think the cold war is not a thing of the past any more! Actually I would say that was probably the only negative point of the festival, not that relaxed-regular checks at the gate-no smuggling past the gestapho style army staff. Watching my friend having to 'hide' his non regulation camera to get past the guards. When I say non regulation camera-that is anything that has above 3.2 megapixels etched on the camera. He had to go to the back of the queue with his high quality 5 megapixel camera. That had shades of the old cold war Poland all over it-controlling the media-even controlling people's personal photos! At least no guns were used, to my knowledge anyway! I couldn't get over the charge tent and watching the girls do their hair straightening-that is when I knew there wouldn't be the half coherent festival lasses that you can smell before you can see!! :) This was definately a different kind of festival!

Life's a beach

The weather being up in North Poland was beautiful, every morning I awoke in my own night sweat about 9am after a hard night of drinking. The festival didn't even open until 3pm so it was either beer, Polish vodka or a wonder down to the local newsagents on the way to the beach. The selection of the food on the campsite was pretty poor with some wild and wonderful things available like gerkins from our own little supermarket. The pizza was like cardboard with tomato paste and the burgers made MacDonalds burger look like a Gourmet Burger Kitchen burger! We'd head down to the beach every day about 11ish after using the showers or using some of the well accessible and clean facilities. There was no Glastonbury hovering over mounds of shit going on! There was also a more than ample supply of toilet roll-that stuff is normally like gold dust! The beach was great complete with a purpose built marque for more drinking by the beach. We made a lot of friends down at the beach. I even got offered some lovely home made Gerkins in juice with Polish vodka-not bad for 11's! I get the feeling that the Pole's were more interested in my inflatable dinosaur, but who cares Dino is always a great man to watch in action!

I love you guys.......you're crazy!

The music was fantastic with the Editors doing a fanstic set, all the Poles knew their songs better than I did. Embarassingly I actually enjoyed the Jay Z set-again the atmosphere made it. The funky house bunker was so much fun. Chemical brothers did quite a slow set and I was a little disappointed being a massive electronica fan but when it finally got going it was fantastic-the atmosphere was great and the light show and visuals were superb!

3 zlotys: I'm not paying that, I'm English you know!

The food once you were inside the 'fortress' was pretty damn good. You tend to forget how cheap it still is when they say 3 vouchers you spit blood but that is actally less than 2 quid for a massive meal! 3 vouchers was like the universal price-it could get you a beer, a meal, a tattoo. My friend got a dragon tattoo so to compete I got a Dino tattoo! Yeah you're right we were pretty daft on this holiday! The Poles were so friendly, the music was great.  

 

It was a well oiled festival machine and I would recomend to anyone who wants to try out a festival with better weather, less messed up Biritsh people (we were the only messed up Brits I bumped into) and more importantly cheap alcohol!

 

 Why don't you just try a bit of culture..............................

[best read aloud]

Everyone has read Shakespeare at some stage in their lives and had a teacher explain the subtext and underlying meanings of the subtext besieged against the rampant love stories intertwining with the comedy, the twists and the deaths. What? Yeah…sorry, my point is that if you read Shakespeare you may learn a thing or two from the characters. I know it’s a script, but perhaps it’s the fact that people were able to say things in that manner way back when. At the beginning of A Midsummer Nights Dream we are treated to Theseus talking to Hippolyta;

“I woo’d thee with my sword,

And won thy love doing thee injuries;

But I will wed thee in another key,

With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.”

It got me thinking. Imagine a white van driver pulling up alongside a lady at some traficlights and exclaiming “Oh speak again, bright angel, for though art as glorious to this night as a winged messenger of heaven.” It won’t happen, ever I mean unless the white van drivers evolve or something…anyway off the point again. I’ve had to read a heck of a lot of Shakespeare this week to find these petit quotes and I found my favourite in ACT II SCENE II of Romeo and Juliet as Romeo cries “O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?”Juliet replies something along the lines of “What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? And just when you think he’s gonna say “a quickie” he gives it the “The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.” What a bloody smooth operator, she’s gonna melt, she’ll be like butter in his hands for the rest of time…or at least until she foolishly kills herself. So my little point is that being romantic and smooth will get you anywhere just look at Romeo, Lionel Richie or Chef!

[exeunt.]