self-drawn illustration of website author, binh nguyen

Binh Nguyen

software engineer • frontend

@rbtnguyen

Look at This Wee Van I Saw in Notting Hill

wee van i saw in the notting hill neighborhood of london

For better or worse, I feel like my blog post titles are becoming more and more similar to the banners in Arrested Development (“Look at banner, Michael!”). Terse but descriptive, perhaps to a fault, and certainly not cryptic. Anyway, speaking of Arrested Development, I was in London last week and much like the Wee Britain from the show, I saw a wee little van myself while walking through Notting Hill. As someone who (correctly) thinks cars these days are too big and should not only be smaller but exclusively very small, this was a delightful curio. I don’t fancy myself a skilled photographer, but I really like how this photograph came out. I thought I’d share it, alongside a few other random observations from this past London visit:

  • There really is nothing like a proper British pub 1, 2
  • I am still very bad at responding to the very British greeting of “You alright?”
  • Londoners have vapes for hands [citation needed]
  • I love when a big river cuts through a big city
  • ABBA Voyage is quite an experience and I’m still processing it

I think this was my sixth time in London and it remains one of my favorite cities to visit. I had a few better and technically more POSH™ meals during my trip (e.g. St. John and of course Dishoom) but because this dish is so photogenic and quintessentially British and because I love a proper thick English chip so much, I'll leave you with a photo of the Fish & Chips I had from Hoxton Fish House in Shoreditch.

a plate of fish and chips from hoxton fish house in shoreditch