London
History and
Facts
LONDON:
About 8 million people
3,700 pubs (bars)
2,900 shops
230 clubs
159 theatres
8,500 restaurants
13 professional football teams
London City
London is the biggest city in Europe. It has a population of about 8 million people. Census is being conducted on 29th April, 2001 and the current figure will come soon.
There are two parts of London, London and the Greater London. The council tax is paid for both London and the Greater London. Everybody working or owing a property in London must pay council tax. An average council tax for each house in London is about £700 (about Ksh. 80,000) a year. London is run by councils well known as boroughs. Every borough has got a mayor. All other mayors fall under the Mayor of Greater London. The richest borough of London is City of London. In the city of London, there is the richest area called One Square Mile where there are more than 6,000 banks within one square mile. Nowhere else in the world has such number of banks within a small area. They are banks from all parts of the world. This is also where we have Bank of England and the London Stock Exchange. Most of the people working within this area have common dressing code - black suits. The Queen of England needs permission from the Mayor of City of London to enter the City of London.
London Administration
There are no PCs, DCs, DOs or Chiefs in UK, the councils or boroughs does all the administration. Some examples of how the system runs itself:
Council by laws:
*If you throw rubbish or any waste on the street you are liable to be taken to court and be charged a minimum of £20 (about Ksh.2,200).
*If you make loud noise to your neighbours you can be taken to court and be charged a minimum of £50 (about Ksh.5,500) and the environmental officer to take away the musical equipments or any other equipment. (If you have a function, loud noise is allowed up to 11.00 p.m. Before the occasion you must inform your neighbours about it through written notice.
*You are not suppose to hoot after 11.00 p.m. If you hoot, you can be taken to court and can be fined a minimum of £50 (about Ksh.5,500).
*Parking fine in London is £30.00 (about Ksh.3,300) and if you do not pay within 14 days it will double to £60 (about Ksh.6,600).
In 1666 there was a big fire in London which burnt three-quarters of London. By that time they were using Timber to build, and the houses were touching each other. The fire started at about 3.00 a.m. from a bakery shop. It caught people by surprise when they were asleep. When most of the people were informed that there was fire, they disputed that London cannot burn. That is why the fire almost destroyed everything. From that fire the constructions by-laws were changed and you cannot build the way you want in London. It was also recommended that in construction they should use bricks. London was reconstructed again. You cannot demolish a building marked as a cultural building in London. You can alter inside but not outside. That is why most of the London buildings look old from out but well done inside.
London matatus are called Tubes or Underground trains. They travel underground some going as 600 feet below the surface of the earth. Some underground cross under the big River Thames. The underground trains are run by electrical power and they uses so much power that the underground generates power for itself. Underground operates as from 5.00 a.m. and closes at about 1.00 a.m. London has got 13 different underground lines of which they are joined to each other to make communication from point A to point Z easy.
Buses
Another means of transport are the London Buses. We have three types of buses: London buses which operates only during the day, Tourists Buses which gives a tour of the London City and Night Buses which operates throughout the night. It costs about KShs. 80.00 from stage to another.
London Underground also operates boats in Thames River to help communications. It is also a big tourist attraction as most of the boats have been converted into floating hotels and houses.
Originally River Thames was a small river but it was dug and reconstructed to the sea so that small ship and boats can move freely.
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