Tom Daley's My London

Evening Standard

From first dates at the Tate Modern to implementing an hour of mandatory knitting a day, #TomDaley shares his favourite #London tips and tricks.

Transcript

00:00Randomly, this is going to sound probably very vain actually, but I collect mirrors.

00:03First flat in London was when I moved from Plymouth, my hometown, to London and I was

00:09in Stratford right by the pool because I had no idea where I wanted to live in London.

00:13But then I moved to Borough and around Borough Market is where I've been ever since.

00:18One thing that I like to do is I think maybe starting somewhere like a flat iron square.

00:24That was like something that I used to, where I used to go quite often because I lived really

00:28close to it. So a flat iron square, which is like a food truck-y, like bar-y type thing,

00:33maybe get a little snack and then walk down the river, go into the Tate Modern for a little bit,

00:39have a little look around some of the art and then walk down the river towards the London Eye.

00:42And I feel like that's a really nice little walk. And also it gives you the option to like

00:47cut it off at various points as well. If you're like, oh, I have to go now.

00:52When you're walking between places. Shops in London that I rely on. Loop in,

01:00it's not really North London, Central North London is a great yarn store. Borough Market

01:05is amazing to go through for some food. So those are probably, in terms of like ones that I think

01:12would be strong enough to recommend, I would say those are my go-tos.

01:16Where would I most like to be buried in London? Oh, tough one. I almost don't know if I'd like to

01:25just be thrown in the Thames and have a little float down the river and have a look at everything

01:30one last time. I don't know. But the thought of being buried underground scares me a little bit,

01:34to be honest. I would buy Buckingham Palace and bring all of my friends and family and we would all live

01:40there and it would be like the most fun, weird commune you've ever been to. I think that's what

01:47I would do. That's assuming I could kick out all the Royal. But yeah, unless they give us a little

01:52wing, I don't know. Best thing a London cabbie has ever said to me was when I was on my way back

01:59from the Paris Olympics when we got off the train at the King's Cross or St Pancras, got in a black cow

02:08outside, got to the end of the walk back home and the cabbie said to me, congratulations on an amazing

02:17career. You've really inspired me and my kids. It's on me today. Which is so sweet. I was like,

02:25what a, such a cute thing to say. And yeah, and I was already emotional because I'd just

02:30announced retirement in the, in the train station. I was crying and then I was sobbing in the back seat

02:35on the way. He was like, you're right mate. And I was like, I'm okay. I'm just, you know, it's just

02:39been, it's been a day. And yeah, it made my day. London secret. I mean, it's very, very niche. But

02:47when you get off the train at Stratford station, if you want to get to the Olympic Park the quickest,

02:54you have to go out through the mall and pass the M and S in through the car park on the lower level

03:00and then up the escalators, the first one you see on the left. And that is the fastest way to get to

03:05the Olympic Park and undercover from Rome. If I was mayor of London for the day, I would have a

03:12mandatory hour of knitting. Everybody has to stop work and have a little, I was trying to think of a

03:19siesta pun, like a nitesta. And when you're walking in the streets, not to be on your phone. Random,

03:26I know, but it's, I feel like that would be a fun one off day, not forever, just one day. What makes

03:32someone a Londoner in my eyes is being able to get from A to B on the tube without having to look where

03:37you're going. I collect, randomly, this is going to sound probably very, very naturally, but I collect

03:44mirrors. So randomly, we started a mirror wall in our apartment in London, which has now moved,

03:51but we, people always said to us, like, what can we get you for Christmas? What can we get you for

03:56your birthday? Like, we have no idea what you're so hard to buy for. I was like, well, I've got this

04:01mirror wall where I'm collecting all kinds of random mini mirrors. So if you see a mirror at a

04:06thrift shop or a market that looks really random and weird, if it's a bit beaten up, if it's a random

04:10colour, grab it, we'll have that. So I randomly collect really weird and wonderful different

04:17sized mirrors from all over the world. And we have just like a wall filled with really random

04:22mirrors, which it actually looks cool now, it's filling up. Apps I can't live without in London,

04:26although I was saying it makes you a Londoner to not have to look at the map, like Tube Map or

04:30City Mapper or something like that, being able to, like, get from A to B sometimes the fastest is,

04:35is essential. Other apps in London, I think it's also really important to have a variety of taxi apps

04:43to be able to see what's, what's going on when, where and why, how, what's, what's going good and

04:49what's not at any particular time. As someone that came from Plymouth and first moved, I had no idea

04:53what I was doing, where I was going. It all looked like spaghetti to me. The first one that springs to

04:58mind was Kate Moss, because I always think, get the London look. So, Kate Moss.

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