How to enjoy Regent's Canal

Built on the first half of the 19th Century, in the Victorian glory, it flows through from the Grand Union Canal to the river Thames. 13 locks level its water along a 13 km long line.
It was designed for water transport what led to the construction of several warehouses on their sides. It was not made for Outdoor activities!

Along with the revitalization of the Docklands and East London, this canal has become a hub for leisure and urban life. Indeed, one can practice cycling, strolling, jogging or canoeing. A lovely place to enjoy landscapes, take beautiful photographs and even dare to cross through the locks (not very recommendable). The whole Canal feels like a real breach in the concrete jungle. It has a Victorian decadent charm, with many other canals ending up in it and many bridges crossing it upon, specially around Victoria Park.

In the summer the flora of the canal becomes greener, and around one finds lots of plants and trees. The fauna is varied, Swans, other birds, and I guess fish, but I don't have the pleasure. I always find people sitting by fishing but I don't want to know what they do with their catches. There are active efforts for natural conservation and I think they have done a great job. Also there are cultural activities such as the floating market in Mile End.
Among its attractions I recommend the Ragged School museum, slightly before Johnson's lock, which shows a Victorian east End school. It opens Wednesdays and Thrusdays from 10am to 5pm, and between 2pm and 5pm on the first Sunday of each month. After that, you can visit Mile End ecology Park, which is very well taken care of and a perfect pace to relax and meditate.

The human fauna is bio-diverse too. One finds around mostly William Borroughs-inspired hypsters and self-allegedly artists. Also a trendier sub-species of hypster is found, you'll recognize him by his Rayban's if it is a bright day. You can also find young professionals, healthy educated joggers, South Asian wannabe-mafiosos, Muslim and non-muslim couples and several drunks, especially at the junction with Mile End Road. But the most sedentary population are the members of the boating community. You find these lazing on a weekday afternoon on the deck of their boats, playing guitar, smoking rolling fags and dreaming on a better world?

Some helpful tips:
-If you want to enjoy the Canal for outdoor activities, avoid peak time at around 6pm where everybody uses it.
-Avoid using the Canal on Saturdays after 12, specially around broadway Market in Hackney.
-Remember, there is no fence that prevents you from falling to the water, in which case you should seek medical advice.
-There are no well established lanes, and people do not know whether they should walk on the right or left side. This leads to annoyed faces and stress, which is the opposite of what we came to the Canal for.
-When the canal goes under bridges, which are usually arched, there is a narrow space to walk through, and if you are relatively tall you need to crouch a bit
-The best time to use Regent's canal is early in the morning. There is usually a very charming and fresh morning fog.
-Some unconsciously antisocial cyclists love to play Mark Cavendish in the Canal, regardless the amount of people using it. If you consider too violent to push them towards the water, please kindly remind them of how dangerously fast they ride.
-Perfect for bohemian night adventures. But do it with nothing valuable on your pockets, and a pepper spray if you are a dame.

Enjoy

Diet on a Budget

We all have tried different kinds of diet plans, and more than once we have experienced the difficulties of choosing the right foods and planning their ingestion. I am not here today to talk about what to eat. Actually that is a mystery to me. In the end, the point of the diet should be to eat healthy and most important of all, to plan what and when you eat. If you do not plan your meals you will be eating things you don't need at the times you should not be eating them and you will be wasting money.

There is a misunderstanding that if you eat well you spend more, but this is absolutely wrong, just because if you follow a diet, you will control what you eat and therefore what you spend. And you will save more money than improvising and getting hungry in the middle of Oxford Street. This post is about how to save money with your diet by doing your weekly shooping in Iceland, Poundland, the cooperative, Lidl and street food-stalls.

I am currently following a basic diet that consist of 6 mini-meals per day and includes lots of protein, low-fat (but nothing radical, I like to enjoy life), and moderate carbs (last time I tried not to get carbs I was fainting in the evenings). I allow myself one day of indulgement, on which I go out with my girlfriend to eat something 'tasty'.

Especially if you are a student, and you are living impoverished, you will find this tips very useful and relieving. I have calculated how much this diet costs me a week and the calculator shows £30. It must be said that I am buying non-organic products and this diet is not the most environmentally responsible. You will be buying food that travels by plane all over the world, and perhaps supports unethical business practices. But it is cheap.

A saving tip is that you can somehow replace expensive protein shakes for home made ones. A simple recipe is half pint of milk, one whole egg, three egg-whites and a banana (Courtesy of my friend Luis). You blend that and you get a delicious shake full of proteins and potasium.

So let's go shopping.

Street markets

In the UK you find street markets. In East London there are several street markets such as Whitechapel and Crisp Street, where you find Stalls run by Asians who sell fruits and veggies very cheap. Some people I know are very apprehensive to these stalls and think that they sell rubbish. That is because they have never bought from them.

I visit their stalls to buy tomatos, onions, carrots, potatoes, which I use to make a soup for my lunches. You usually get bags full of veggies for £1. The same applies to fruits; you get a lot of fruits such as bananas, oranges and apples for £1.

Lidl.

This German food chain does not shine for its sophisticated brand. Everybody I know hates the company but everybody craves its presence in their neighbourhood. I am lucky enough to live 5 minutes away from one. I must say that its brand is not cool, the service is slow and the products do not look brilliant, but it helps me out with some choices, such as olive oil and dairy products. Here is a list of things you can find for your diet:

Cottage cheese 200g 46p

Quick oats. 500G 39p

Milk, 4 pints £1

Eggs 15 for £1.25

Wholewheat bred 1 loaf 47p

Smoked salmon 200g £2.37

Olive oil 700ml £2.25

Poundland

Well, this is not Waitrose if you know what I mean. I used to be suspicious about this chain until a friend of mine introduced me the endless land of the 'one pound worth' stuff. You can actually find very interesting things for £1. Use your imagination and you may embarrass the interior designer of the average Waitrose customer. They also sell food for £1:

Tuna flakes. 2 cans (170g each) for £1

Oxo beef stock for your soups 9 cubes £1

Iceland

Another luxury brand, but they sell more than frozen products!!! Yet here we will be buying only frozen ones. Mind that some of the products such as the chicken breasts may contain some chemicals that we do not really want.

Milk, 2pints for £1

Chicken breasts, 1.2kg for £5

White fish, 900g for £4

Broccoli, 900g £1

Wholeleaf Spinach, 900g £1

The Co-operative

Another brand I dislike. The good thing is that they have specialised foodstuffs at a good price (but normal groceries are too expensive).

Brown rice 1kg £1.69

wholewheat pasta 500g 90p

raw beans and lentils 500g £1.09

Butcher's

 Especially Halal butcher's offer good quality meat for cheap prices. Non-muslim people are usually dubious about these places, but I strongly recommend them (and I'm not muslim)

Chiken breast fillets 1kg £4.99

Beef Mince 1kg £4.99

To be honest, I wish I could do this shopping in Waitrose, and also have a cool interior designer. Meanwile, one has to think how to get more for less.

Good luck with your diet and personal development!