London update...

With everyone closing early, boarding their windows, staying indoors and waiting for the 16,000 cops to hit the streets last night it's no wonder that Notting Hill was a sleepy little bit of London last night...  We decided to return our pre-purchased movie tickets and just stay in...no need to risk it when you don't have to... after all it was just Horrible Bosses.

I do hope that this has scared someone enough to cancel the Notting Hill Carnival that's due to hit the streets the end of the month.  We live right in the thick of it and WE HATE IT.  We are escaping that weekend, but will come back to the clean up/half naked drunk people on our streets part... not cool... Go away NH Carnival GO AWAY.

Tomorrow's post will be all about our Paris weekend getaway. We were total pigs!

London Riots: Kensington and Chelsea Borough

My building released this moments ago...

Statement on recent disturbances

 The Council this morning (9 August) forcefully condemned the outbreaks of violent disorder that took place in Kensington and Chelsea overnight.

 Though not on the scale experienced by Croydon, Ealing and elsewhere, a series of incidents took place in the north and south of the borough that damaged property and alarmed law abiding citizens.

"The behaviour seen last night is utterly intolerable," said Council Leader, Sir Merrick Cockell.

 "I, like many others, look forward to a day in the not too distant future when the courts send a clear message to these thugs and thieves that the streets belong to us, not them.

"Our job now is to clear up the mess and get the borough back to normality and we are hard at work on that already."

The Leader also paid tribute to local police, who bravely confronted the gangs.

"For obvious reasons, local police were under strength last night," said Sir Merrick.

"That’s plainly not ideal when you find yourself up against a uninhibited 70 strong gang. We salute our police for their courage."

Information about disturbances last night (Monday 8 August 2011)

The Metropolitan Police have released the following details of confirmed incidents:

·       a group of young people caused damage to the windows and frontage of several shops near Sloane Square as well as some looting.

·       there were a number of incidents in and around the Portobello Road area including:

o   young people smashed a police car on Portobello Road and an officer also later sustained injuries in a subsequent attack

o   a taxi was attacked and a mobile phone was stolen but the taxi and passengers escaped

o   a small number of shops were smashed and looted

o   a bystander outside a local restaurant was attacked while trying to move a scooter and sustained serious injuries

o   20 young people entered the Ledbury restaurant in the late evening and stole watches and various items from customers

o   damage to two cars.

Local advice

Over the last few days public disorder and criminal damage to residential and business premises ensued in many parts of London, including Kensington and Chelsea.  The Council is aware of the impact this is having on the business community and is working closely with the Metropolitan Police Service who are making every effort to combat further criminal activity across London.

You may notice an increase in the number of police officers in your area and this should not be cause for alarm.  You may also wish to take the following precautionary measures:

·       Please stay indoors as much as possible this evening and be cautious and alert

·       Specific advice for the business community can be found here: http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/businessandenterprise.aspx

·       Anyone with information about last night’s events should contact the police, either through Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or on 101, or in an emergency on 999. If you feel unsafe at any time or see any further activity please ring 101 or 999.

·       Operation Withern is investigating the disorder and violence in parts of London over the last few days. An incident room has been set up. Anyone with information should call the major investigation team on 020 8345 4142.

·       You may also wish to consider subscribing to the official police messaging system ‘Neighbourhood Link’. To subscribe to this service please visit: http://www.neighbourhoodlink.met.police.uk/

·       A source for developments across London is the Met Police’s regular updates which can be found here: http://content.met.police.uk/News/Disorder-updates-and-advice/1260269372559/1257246741786

·       If you would like to help with cleaning up damage from the riots locally or around London all details can be found at http://www.riotcleanup.com/

Riots in Notting Hill

Mike just sent me this article... a bit too close to home... this place is roughly a mile or less from our flat. 

My colleague Haroon Siddique sends this amazing story about a hold-up at a Michelin-starred restaurant. He writes:

Staff at the Michelin-starred restaurant the Ledbury, in Notting Hill, north-west London, leapt to the defence of diners when it was targeted by a gang last night.

One of those eating at the restaurant when it came under attack was Louise Yang, who blogs under the name Naked Sushi and posted an account of the heroic intervention by staff.

A restaurant spokesman said the Ledbury would be releasing a statement shortly but confirmed the basic details of the incident. Yang wrote:

Around the fourth dish of the tasting course, there were loud bangs outside. The restaurant staff [were] yelling at us to get away from the windows. Before I knew it, the front door, a solid piece of glass, shattered and people came crashing in with hoodies, masks, and random weapons.

The looters were yelling at us to get down and throwing stuff all over the place. I got down and started taking off my wedding and engagement ring to hide somewhere, but unfortunately wasn't fast enough. One looter came up and demanded my phone. I didn't have it with me since it was in my purse and it was out of arm reach. I also didn't want to lead him to my passport, so I said I didn't have one.

He told me to take off my rings and grabbed my hand, trying to yank them off. His friend tried to help too, but the rings wouldn't come off and I just yelled at him that I'd take them off myself. In hindsight, now that I know that gun control is so fierce in England and he only had a bat, I should have held on to my rings better and maybe slugged him in the face.

The kitchen staff at the Ledbury went beyond their call of duty by rushing up from the kitchen with rolling pins, fry baskets, and other dangerous kitchen tools and scared off the looters. Then they provided well-needed glasses of alcohol including champagne and whisky.

Yang said that word then came that the looters were coming back a second time at which point the staff ushered the diners into the bathrooms and told them to lock the doors. A few minutes later, they led them into the wine cellar and told us to lock ourselves in there. She concluded:

Guy who took my ring, I hope you put it to good use and don't just dump it in the street. Also, I hope you get a case of flaming diarrhoea for the rest of your life. Ledbury staff, thanks for keeping things under control and giving me some petit fours to munch on.

 

 

London Burns

You have probably heard by now that parts of London have been burning due to riots...
We are on day 4 now and hopefully it will all end soon.
Mike and I are fine, the riots are pretty far from us at this point. We live on the west side and the majority of the riots have been taking place on the north and the east side...for now...

Here is a video showing some of the fires and helicopters that I found on the Londonist:
http://londonist.com/2011/08/video-burning-skies-over-tottenham.php