Reading with "London A-Z" close at hand

[frualeydis]

I'm right in the middle of the Clash-biography Return of the last gang in town by Marcus Gray and it's f***ing awesome! (sorry for the rude language, must be the book, or the reminiscence of my younger days in the anarchist movement). Apart from a story of the Clash and it's members it is also a detailed account of the music scene in London in the mid-seventies and onwards. And then you really want the A-Z close so you can keep track of all the places mentioned. It is interesting also how places change over time, then Maida Hill (quite central) was a run down area filled with squatters, in the earlier 80s for example the Isle of Dogs where filled with squatters and later in the 90s they had moved to other areas. And now I have no connections with that world anymore so I have no idea where the alternative scene is happening. I was amused by a travel programme on swedish TV which portrayed Brixton as a nice picturesque place to go shopping, which it definitely wasn't in the early 90s when I used to go there to visit friends.
Anyway, for me London is much more punk rock and the poll tax riots in 1988 than queen Elizabeth I.
And I miss London desperately, there are so many places we didn't have the time to go to (including spending more than 4 hours at the V&A) last time. The canal museum, lots of churches and lots of places belonging to rock history. But we did stand one late night on Blackfriar's bridge reciting the lyrics from the song with the same name by The men they couldn't hang

I want to go back. Travelling is pretty cheap but hotels aren't. Damn!