London Wish List

Your mother always told you to share. So, with her voice (your mother's, not mine) nagging at me, I realised it would probably be a nice idea to share my wish list of 'London things to do'. May the list act as inspiration, save you the cumbersome task of scouring the Web for quirky stuff to impress boys/girls with, and maybe make you realise you've got one up on me as you've already done most of these things.

The list is focused on London, as this is the city I grew up and live in. It's easy to become complacent about the area in which you live; we go to the same bars, the same pubs, do the same things. And if there's one thing I learnt in 2012, it was that London is f*ckin' awesome, with loads of things going on to tickle whatever fancy you may have.

So! Here's both my wish list and a few useful links to sites that have up-to-date listings on what's going on in London Town. I'll be striking out the ones I eventually manage to make my way to. No need to thank me. I know, I'm awesome. Just leave a comment below if you manage to make it to any of these and let me know how they were, or add your own wishlist/suggestions. 

Useful Links

• Londonist (Twitter | Facebook | Google+)
• Spoonfed (Twitter | Facebook)
• The Nudge (Twitter | Facebook) 
• Southbank Centre (Twitter | Facebook)
• Doing Something (100 'must do' dates for London. Which sounds cheesy, but there's some good things to do without the pain of a blind date) 
• Time Out London (Twitter)
• Out in LDN A Twitter List of accounts tweeting about stuff going on in London. 
• Buzzfeed A list of 18 "incredible" places that you wouldn't believe are in London. Well, beyond Zone 3, but still technically "London". 

Book Stuff

• Lambeth Palace Library One of England's oldest public libraries. 'Nuff said. 
• Hay-on-Wye This one's outside of London, near Wales, and apparently is a town "renowned for its books and bookshops".

Cinemas

• Rooftop Film Club Watch a much-loved film with the London skyline as a backdrop. Or, in winter, in a location that isn't a high-street cinema chain.
• Edible Cinema Does what it says on the tin: watch a film, experience the tastes of what you're watching.
• Future Cinema Immersive, live cinema experience of popular films with music, actors, etc
• Secret Cinema Buy a ticket to watch an unknown film at an unknown location... 
• Electric Cinema Less an event, more an independent cinema
• Cigarette Burns Cinema A cinema dedicated to pulling out obscure films out of the bag and showing them
• Nomad Cinema Pop-up cinema, normally outdoors
• The Lexi Cinema Similar to Electric Cinema, this is not so much an event as a cinema run by volunteers with 100% your ticket and popcorn money going to Lynedoch Village in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Because, you know, charity's good.
• Roxy Bar and Screen A bar with a screen showing films. Simple.
• Bad Film Club Another 'does what it says on the tin'. Watch the films you love to hate with an audience that heckles and throws popcorn at the screen.
• The Aubin Cinema A posh cinema showing current and artie/indie films.
• Silent Cinema Don a pair of wireless headphones and head out to locations that have no right showing a film.
• Backyard Cinema An 'intimate' venue, apparently in an attic...

Coffee Houses/Bars/Pubs/Restaurants

• The Bridge Coffee House A 'quirky' coffee house in Shoreditch. Of course.
• Roxy Bar and Screen A bar with a screen showing films. Simple.
• Pub Art School Do art. Drink. Do better art from drinking.
• Vegetarian London restaurant reviews. Londonist review restaurants from a veggie's perspective. Because veggies are people too. 
• Draughts A fantastic boardgame cafe in Haggerston. For just £5, you can spend all day getting your head around how to setup and play complex games like Arkham Horror or just dive into the more simple ones. Whichever your poison, their selection is huge and their staff knowledgeable. Very knowledgeable.  
• Drink, Shop & Do A design shop and cafe bar that put on some quirky-sounding events. Lego Robot building over cocktails? Don't mind if I do. 

Museums

• Horniman Museum and Gardens A free 'wait, you mean I can touch this stuff?' museum, mainly with collections of "anthropology and musical instruments, as well as an acclaimed aquarium and natural history collection."
• Science Museum Lates Admit it, you loved the Science Museum as a kid. Now you can legitimately enjoy it as a grown-up. With drink. On the last Wednesday of every month.
• Charles Dickens Museum And by "museum", I mean "house". Take the proverbial peek-through-the-curtains into Charles Dickens' museum. I mean house.
• Denis Severs' House And by "house", I mean "house". I think. I don't fully understand what this is. Something about exploring ten rooms by candlelight, each of a different ambiance, which is somewhat akin to stepping into a 18th century painting.
• Evening opening of John Soane Museum And by "museum"... anyway. This one I've been to in daylight and enjoyed. John Soane was an architect who turned his house into a museum. They do a candlelight session the first Tuesday of every month. 
• Design Museum A museum near Tower Bridge that showcases design is all its forms and glory. You have to pay to get in. According to the woman who ran after me after I obliviously wandered in.
• Freud Museum A museum dedicated to your mum. I mean my mum. I mean Freud. 

Religious Buildings

• BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir A massive temple in north London, aka Neasden Temple. 

Theatre

• Open Air Theatre Watch theatre in Regents' Park
• Old Vic Tunnels So this one isn't just theatre, but lots of different events that take place in a maze of unused railway vaults under Waterloo station. 
• Wilton's Music Hall The oldest surviving music hall IN THE WORLD. That's right. In the world. And it's right on our doorstep fellow Londoners. A charity that always needs support and funding, and seems to put on brilliant shows. And if you needed more convincing, some of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was filmed there. So you'll be following in the footsteps of Robert Downey Jr. What more could you want.