quasi-NZC: "Hiya" and London Trip Shout for suggestions

[parrant@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hello all,

Lurker intro: my name is Shawn Sarazin. I was formerly a member of this fine
list, back in the days of tape trees and Thor Iverson and Matt Hill... am I
dating myself? I've been lurking a bit in the last couple weeks and have 
delighted
in seeing names like "Jeremy Mixer" and "Buckeye" in my Inbox. Reminds me a
bit of the old days.  It's nice to be back.

quasi-Zep related shout for suggestions: I'm heading to the UK (London, Wales)
next week, and will be there for about a week. I've never been there before,
and I'll have to rely largely on public transportation, but I'm wondering if
there are any places I want to put on a list of places to try to get to when
I am over there. I'm looking for suggestions for record/CD shops in particular.
I'm not sure what things are like over there; am I only going to find mainstream
stores and material like we generally are stuck with here in the states?  Or,
am I able to find some stuff there that I am unable to get here, unless I am
at an independent store?  I'd love to have a few newer CDs or such in my luggage
when I return to the states to add to my collection.

Also, if anyone has suggestions on "must see" things that I should get to, or
pubs or anything, I'd welcome suggestions.  Having never been there, I have
no idea what part of town I'm going to be in, other than that it is near the
ExCeL Expo Centre.

Replies off-list are preferred... I debated on even asking this but I figured
there's a few world travelers who might have a suggestion of something to see
or do or go to.

Thanks!

Shawn
- --
Shawn Sarazin
parrant@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx