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A-Z
If using TripAdvisor.com for hotels remember that reports by American reviewers are either too prissy (imagine Princess Leia from Star Wars, or any girl from the same Valley) or too gushing (have seen Amelie and Mary Poppins at least fifty times). If Brits complain about the food then it really IS bad. If Americans complain about the cooking assume there is under 3Lbs of meat per person per meal - and so on.

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Dirty weekends: A dirty weekend is a weekend overnighter trip organised around having sex. It has nothing to do with off-road cycling, time is spent in the saddle, but to much better effect. It gains its qualifier from the time when most hotels wouldn't allow unmarried couples to stay. Hence the popular hotel guide 'Mr and Mrs Smith' from the false registry entry couples used.

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Terrorism: London is a safe city - in the 4 years preceding the July 7 bombings fewer people were killed by terrorism than by falling elephants (3 people were felled by the beasts in 2 years!). However no capital city in the developed world is entirely safe. British anti-terrorist police are pretty good and our intelligence is excellent - once a danger is exposed the loose ends get tied very efficiently, though if you're Brazilian don't run for the tube.

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Food & Drink
A final groan: English social life revolves around alcohol to a degree we've not seen anywhere east of Poland. It's difficult if you take alcohol in moderation. The average Brit likes to get drunk, and then roar up and down the street in an aggressive manner, before vomiting and going for a curry. This is not new and was the chief complaint of 18th century visitors like de Sassure - his descriptions of London life ring true even today. Dostoievsky remarked on the Londoners' rowdy consumption of alcohol and a leading Moscow journalist told us: "In Moscow we have a problem with alcohol, it is true, but in London you have a bigger problem with drunkenness."

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Nightlife
Prince Albert Formosa Avenue W9 - within projectile vomiting distance of Warwick Avenue tube this classy pub with a cool interior and starry/beautiful people clientele is the place to drink if you're exploring Little Venice. On a crisp November night when there's mist rubbing itself against the lamp posts it's a great place to be. Has a large restaurant - we've not eaten there but a friend who lives nearby swears by it. Look our also for the 'Enigma' bar in the basement of Turing's old house.