This is a work in progress. Attempting to map the availability of Cadbury's Twirls in Central London, with notes on the storage conditions and pricing.
Sweet Express
Bank Station, Cornhill
London EC3V 3LA
TWIRL AVAILABILITY: Excellent TWIRL STORAGE: On shelf TWIRL PRICE: 70p ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Above average price, but not surprising considering the lack of competition in this station. Anyone wanting to buy a Twirl in Bank Station has no choice other than to buy one from here and this guy is abusing his monopoly.
TWIRL AVAILABILITY: Not available TWIRL STORAGE: N/A TWIRL PRICE: N/A ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: An odd little kiosk, which serves both platforms on the Waterloo & City line at Bank. Despite two openings (one on each platform), they still don't have any Twirls. This is the only place I have visted which has failed to sell Twirls twice at the same time.
Grab-A-Bite
Bank Station, Cornhill
London EC3V 3LA
TWIRL AVAILABILITY: Not available TWIRL STORAGE: N/A TWIRL PRICE: N/A ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The second Grab-A-Bite I've visted recently, and neither sell Twirls. I can only assume this is a company wide policy and will be writing to Head Office to complain.
West 9 Food & Wine 81 Gipsy Hill London, SE19 1QL.
TWIRL AVAILABILITY: Excellent TWIRL STORAGE: On shelf TWIRL PRICE: 55p ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Despite being located firmly in SE19, the owners of this shop, in a somewhat surreal move, have decided to name it after the postcode area W9. I imagine this is like when you see those nail bars in Dalston called "Hollywood Hair & Nails". They're trying to associate themselves with somewhere glamourous, like Hollywood or Harrow Road. And it is a pretty glamourous area. One time I saw a couple outside the Prince Of Wales pub on Harrow Road. They shouted at each other, then she slapped him, then he slapped her, then they snogged and then they went and got pizza.
Also, "West 9 Food & Wine" rhymes, which is always a sign that you're dealing with somewhere classy.
Grab-A-Bite Putney Bridge Underground Station, Station Approach, London, SW6 3UH
TWIRL AVAILABILITY: Not available TWIRL STORAGE: N/A TWIRL PRICE: N/A ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Unfortunately, I was unable to "grab a bite" whilst at Putney Bridge station. I waited a very long time for that woman to move, but she was there for ages. She was getting a coffee and the guy was a bit slow.
Last week, I was lucky enough to be able to speak at the second Ignite London event. I say "lucky enough", although what I mean is I emailed them and asked if I could speak there and they said "OK".
The rules at Ignite are very simple but very strict:
The idea is simple: presenters are required to stick to a rigid format of 20 slides, each of which changes automatically after 15 seconds, ensuring that each presentation is exactly 5 minutes long.
They add "the format forces presenters to think long and hard about every slide", although possibly I missed that bit when I first signed up.
There were a few bits where I got flustered and said things which didn't make sense (I got left and right confused at one point). The bit about Adam Smith was garbled gibberish, as was the Twirls In Unexpected Places bit. I wasn't expecting people to whoop and cheer at pictures of maps and graphs. It put me off.
Apart from that, it was enormous fun and I recommend you take the time to watch all of the other videos too (I particularly recommend this look at British sea forts, and this analysis of the role Daves have played in history).
