Putney Battersea Waterloo: London 4K
Hello everyone. We're here in Richmond. It's 5 P.M. Rush hour time. On the 19th of April, 2023. Richmond is a town, a very nice town, outside London, southwest of London by about 12 kilometers from the central London.
It's one of those places everyone wants to live in. As you can see, it's very green. And it's right next to the River Thames. Richmond has the lowest crime rate in London. And it's pretty quiet compared to everywhere else.
As you get into London, you see it get much busier, but at this time it's rush hour and it's still quiet around here. Richmond has two large parks. One is a private park called Kew Gardens. People pay to go into that garden every year. 'Cause it's beautiful there.
And then there's a large park called Richmond Park, which is about a quarter the size of the entire central London. And it was once a hunting ground for a previous king. That there is an electric car.
Haven't seen one of that color before, but it's quite cool. I think top speed is 50 miles per hour. And it can go 40 miles an hour, 40 miles range.
40 miles is about 60 kilometer range. In UK, we have this supermarket there called Waitrose. It's a grocery store selling food. And they generally locate themselves in the wealthier towns.
And this is one of the small towns around Richmond. I think this place is called Sheen. We'll be passing by a few other towns. Next will be Putney. Then we'll pass by Battersea. And into central London.
Today's not cold at all. It's about 16 degrees Celsius. You don't need a coat to walk around outside today. The roads are busy at this time at 5 P.M., but normally it gets busier already by 4 P.M.
And today is one of the busiest days of the week. We're heading into summertime now in UK. More cyclists, more motorcyclists. Motorbikes, let's say. 'Cause they don't really cycle, do they? (laughs).
Now's the best time of year to own a bike. In the UK, it's quite easy for us to get a bike. These 125cc bikes, we just need a day of learning and testing for the CBT. And then you can ride one of these things.
They're not cheap now. In the last few years, they've become much more expensive. And a good, new, small scooter will cost you about 3,000 pounds. Then you have insurance. Everyone must have insurance.
Insurance for, typically, would be 600, 700, 800 pounds a year, depending on your experience, how long you've been riding, your age. Then there's road tax. Everything is taxed here. Road tax here, unfortunately, is about 20 pounds, I believe, a year, on top of my head. And then maintenance. Every 4,000 miles, we have to get this service.
You do it yourself, but typically, it'll cost you 80 pounds to get it serviced and for most riders, they do it once a year or less, but you should do it once a year. And then there's the fuel cost. These small scooters, they're very efficient. So they do like 150 miles to the gallon.
A gallon is 4.6 liters, and each liter is five pounds, so you can work that out for yourself. In a week, I probably spend about 10 pounds of fuel, even though I travel like 300 miles, probably, a week. We're approaching now Putney.
Putney's famous boat race, the annual boat race between Cambridge and Oxford. It's a traditional boat race on the River Thames. It starts from here on Putney. Even half a mile away, the engine sounds louder than mine. Putney is also one of the more wealthy areas, wealthy towns of London. On average, a house in UK costs about 300,000 pounds, but here on average, they're about 900,000, three times more.
Everyone wants to be near central London, but they don't want the traffic, the congestion of central London. So these kind of places outside, very close and easy to get to London, but they have more open spaces and it's more pleasant to live around here. That is the River Thames on the left. The train passing us overhead. In the distance you can see the tall buildings, that's Battersea.
But before we get there, we'll pass a place called Vauxhall. That may say Chelsea cars, but we're not too far from Chelsea, although this is not Chelsea. Chelsea's on the north side of the river, but we're still on the south side right now. Some new flats there being constructed. Making use of new, cheaper materials. In UK, they have cameras everywhere now.
So you do something wrong, like driving a wrong Lane, you'll get fined. They will send you, they will send you a penalty notice by mail. From here, I can go in. This area, Battersea, has many new developments, places to live, new flats. Most people can't afford them, because the average price is way higher than the average person can afford.
Average salary here is about 30,000 pounds a year. After tax, people bring home maybe 2,000 pounds a month. And with that, repayments for mortgages for these flats will be probably 2,000 pounds a month anyway. So once you pay off the interest and repayment for your mortgage, you have nothing left, nothing for food. This is Battersea Another town very close to the River Thames.
Just past that bridge there where the red bus is now is Battersea Dogs Home. This is a 160 year old, 160 year old organization. who house stray dogs, dogs without families, running in the streets. And they've been doing this for 160 years now. The lucky ones, they find new homes.
The ones who do not find new homes, unfortunately, they put down. On the left there is Battersea Power Station, a nine billion pound shopping complex. Talking about Battersea Dogs Home, Gordon, Gordon Ramsay, the TV chef was born here. I don't mean he was born in the dogs home, or conceived there, but some of you may think so.
So many new apartment blocks and offices around here. The government gave someone to print money. Roger Moore, the previous James Bond, he was born in Battersea too. Not everyone's most favorite James Bond, but he was okay. Ahead of us is Vauxhall. There's loads of tall skyscraping buildings.
That is a 20 mile an hour zone. See over there, the London Eye and the River Thames. And this is Vauxhall. Roundabout. Nothing to say about Vauxhall except this ugly roundabout here.
The world's most ugly roundabout. Looks like they found some money to redevelop it. That ugly big green building there on the left is next to the River Thames, and it's the home of MI6, British Secret Police. You can tell it's not normal judging by the large metal entrances, highly secure gates. If you watch the James Bond movies, that building appears in one or two films. Directly ahead of us is London Eye.
And there is Westminster Palace and Westminster itself. Big Ben. It's a nice place to walk, this area. Drinking boat. Living here, not so sure.
But if you want to go somewhere in the summertime, visit a new location, London is one of the best places to go to. There's a lot to do here. We're approaching now Waterloo. On the left is a large hospital, St George and Guy's Hospital. The blue tunnel looking thing is Waterloo Station.
Well, part of it anyway. That round building there is the IMAX Cinema. And there is Waterloo Station.
We're gonna go across Waterloo Bridge. It's one of the most scenic Bridges in London, including Westminster Bridge. You get some great views of Westminster and also views across London towards St Paul's Cathedral, the city. Every year we have fireworks displayed on Guy Fawkes Night on 5th November and it's also the best place to watch the fireworks too.
Well, we've got a bus blocking our view but the best view is to the side, left and right. So you can see, on the right there is, you can see St Paul's Cathedral now. And on the left there you should see Westminster, London Eye.
Yeah, it's a good place to come for a walk. Ahead of us is Covent Garden. Well, Aldwych actually, but it leads straight into Covent Garden.
And this is a good time to end our video. So I hope you enjoyed watching this episode and it'd be great if you can join us again. Please click like and subscribe for future videos. Thanks very much. Safe journey to you all.
2023-04-28 02:29
