To be sick of London?

[schoolrunner2000]

I know the old phrase..."to be tired of London is to be tired of life" and I'm not tired of life in the slightest, I'm just so annoyed at lots of petty things about London that never bothered me when I lived up North (up until last year).

• I'm sick of the really rude and aggressive London drivers...what gives them the right to tailgate and cut you up and refuse to signal and generally drive like they want to cause an accident?! I have to actively avoid an accident at least twice every single fricking day in my way to work and back. That's 10 hours a week of being scared for my life...it's like I'm in the bloody army to avoid some of those cars
  
• I'm sick of not being able to stay out after 12am as that's when the Tube closes and it's nearly impossible to get home otherwise.
  
• The High Street is about 6 miles away and it's rubbish...Oxford St and the other big shopping centres are a nightmare to get through the crush.
  
• I get so excited when I hear another old Uni friend is moving to London, only to find that "London" means anywhere within a 40-mile radius and actually it was quicker and cheaper to visit them on the train up North than it is to see any of them now.
  
• Cashiers are really actively unfriendly at times and noone has time for a greeting, let alone a chat.
  
• £10 for a double vodka and coke!! £4 for a pint!!!
  
• Every single bar and pub I've been in Central London has been so full there's no room to stand inside, let alone get a seat, let alone hear your friend talk.
  

There's others...I'm just not seeing the glamour I thought I would see when I moved here. Thank God for London-born DP or I would have retreated long ago. I feel really disloyal now :\

[morrisminordancer]

ThreeWheelsGood - it's a great place for kids to live! I don't know why everyone assumes families desert the city centre, there are loads of schools here and most are full/oversubscribed, plus all the family activities in the museums and galleries are always heaving.

We've always been used to apartment living, so I'm not bothered by lack of outside space - it's nicer to go to parks imo. We just have the one DC and won't have any more - it makes life much more manageable.

[Fakebook]

This is going to be TMI, but why when you blow your nose after a Tube journey is it black, and is that something to be worried about? :\ (I'm being serious!)

Hahahahaha. I've experienced this strange phenomenon in every busy city I've ever visited in the world. I bet you'd get it in a busy city up north too. You can't blame London for black snot.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

The Picadilly Line is the worst for black bogies, according to my very scientific experiment.

[Bunbaker]

YANBU. I "escaped" London to live in Yorkshire over 30 years ago. I like to visit, but would never live there again.

[Fakebook]

Hazel.

[AmberLeaf]

YABU and generalising.

Zone 5 just about counts as London.

I think all the miserable feckers in London are 'out of towners' who don't want to be there! simple solution to that!

[badtime]

I think YABU.

I moved to zone 5 quite recently, and I like it. I think a lot of it depends on your attitude. Some people have said that you have all the bad points of London, and none of the good; where I live I feel I have a pretty good balance of the good points of London, and the good points of 'outside London':

• very green - I can see where London stops from my back window (Epping Forest).
  
• 25-30 minutes into central London, and the train runs later than the tube!
  
• loads of places to go out within easy reach.
  
• transport is pretty good - no worse than when I lived in an awkward part of zone 2.
  
• people smile and talk to you and say good morning!
  
  To be fair, where I live is still sort of Essex rather than London, despite its London post code, and it is a little bit less convenient than if I lived on the tube.

[DialsMavis]

I love all the 'move to zone 1 or 2' comments. I live in zone 3 and our rent is already fucking eye watering! Surely only a very select group of people can afford to buy or rent privately further in? I know my bit of the burbs is quite expensive but surely going anymore central is even more ££££? We live where we do as its where DP works and it's where our friends live and because of schools, but it fairly dull!

[MechanicalTheatre]

You don't live in London. Zone 5 may TECHNICALLY be London, but you're not actually in London. You are sick of suburbia, not London.

[Pandemoniaa]

Problem is you don't live in London, do you? I always reckon that places like Zone 5 are the worst of all alternatives. In theory you are in London. In practice you are in Nowheresville. Which is why it can make a lot more sense to live somewhere that doesn't pretend to be London but does have its own identity and the sort of transport links that get you to central London more quickly than from Zone 5.

[valiumredhead]

Zone 5 isn't really London

Wrt to agressive drivers, I would MUCH rather drive in London than out in the country!

If you move out you will realise that the midnight tube is fantastic as elsewhere transport is SHITE and you will have to drive yourself everywhere.

I moved out 6 years ago and although I would never move back as we have a house now and not a flat, I still miss how easy it is to get around London and how you can decide on doing something and you can be sure that somewhere in London you can do whatever it is you are thinking about. Life is very limited to a certain extent outside of London.

There is SO much to do in London that is free for kids.

[rottentomatoes]

"This is going to be TMI, but why when you blow your nose after a Tube journey is it black"

Really? Black bogeys don't happen any more do they?

[rottentomatoes]

Pandemonnia


Agree with your post. OP doesn't actually live in London.

[MechanicalTheatre]

rotten, sure does. Black snot and worst of all black eye snot. Surprised my wee isn't black.

[Muser]

Depends where you are in zone 1/2/3 DialMavis. Live somewhere posh in Islington/Clapham/Kensington then it will cost a bomb. Live in Walthamstow/Lambeth/Lewisham than it is usually more reasonable. For London and the SE at least. We would have spent more money buying in Kent and had to pay astronomical transport costs on top.

Although having said that I believe the Stow is currently The New Big Thing so your mileage may vary!

[Owllady]

oh i like it but I do love the way people look confused when you smile at them
yes I am going to kidnap you and eat you, poor soul

[EuroShaggleton]

Vinegar black snot is not a London thing, its a tube thing, which is why you don't get it cycling. I have 2 routes to work - one overground, one underground. Only the latter gives me black snot. As someone said upthread, it's brake dust, apparently.

I grew up in zones 5/6 (we moved a few times) and it is not really London. However, as a teenager, I still managed to get home after midnight (on the delightful nightbuses).

[showtunesgirl]

YABU. I have lived in London for 16 years and counting and I love it here.

Yes, bits of it are expensive but it doesn't have to be. Half the fun is ferreting out cheap things to do and there's no way I'm sick of this place yet.

[Southeastdweller]

YANBU generally but I would certainly think of moving somewhere closer to centre of the city. Where you live sounds even worse than where I do (a crap hole in the south east - still coming to terms with it after living in Hackney and Brixton).

London living is at it's best if:

You have a nice commute to work
You have a good amount of disposable income
Area where you live is nice enough to hang out in locally so you don't have to feel almost obliged to go to town for something to do
You have friends and family in your neighbourhood

The people are nicer up north but we all know that anyway . Nowt much you can about that really.

[Pigsmummy]

Why do you drive to work when the public transport system is fantastic? When staying out late use a private hire cab company like Addison Lee? I loved and lived in London for many years.

[Pigsmummy]

Have you looked at overground trains to get about?

[Wishihadabs]

YANBu to hate living in zone 5. I am a Londoner born and bred. I have always said I will live in zone 1/2 or be able to walk to the sea. :)

[Snoopingforsoup]

Ahhhhhh, someone speaking my language.
I'm sick of living here too. No chance of escape right now either!
Horrible place to live really...it lost its shine for me about 5 years ago and I'm in a leafy suburb!

[sandyballs]

Where on earth do you live. I can't think of anywhere in zone 5 that would be 6 miles from a high street! I'm in zone 6 and I love it, less than hour door to door into central london to work, easy to get home after a night out, even in the early hours. Train to a different station and cheap cab. Very near lovely countryside and only 40 minute drive to the coast. Best of all worlds.

[Lueji]

Going shopping on Oxford St is for tourists.
Or if you work around the corner.