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 :\

[VinegarDrinker]

Not a Westfield Crapford fan MrsDeVere ?

[idococktailshedoesbeer]

I lived in zone two and two years was enough for me. I love lots of things about London but so many things ground me down.

Feel your pain re: transport - I remember going out in central and trying to get home on the night bus (the number 10) and watching one after the other go past as they were full. Hideous.

I'm back up north now. It's not perfect but I love the friendly people, cheap cabs, all my friends close by, house with a drive etc.

[Muser]

Westfield Stratford is, I will concede, probably worse than Oxford St. And all of them on a weekend are pretty hellish. This is why we have Internet shopping!

[motherinferior]

I live in saaf Lunnon. Zone 3. Unglam. Cheap. (By London standards, obviously.) Love it. I mean sometimes I get fed up and all but it's where I come from, now.

[Floggingmolly]

The buses take two hours to get to where you live??? Are you sure you live in London?

[VinegarDrinker]

I pass through Stratford for my commute so if I have to go there (most recently for maternity jeans) I can do it first thing or last thing. Still not exactly fun but I don't really 'get' shopping for recreation tbh.

[Tertius]

Agree with stay local.

[AmberSocks]

have to quote Ala Partridge whenever i hear London mentioned

"Go to London! I guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated. Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway."

[Lighthousekeeping]

I'm sat I a cafe in Camden eating banana and Nutella loaf drinking proper tea with a strainer and everything oh, and there's a pile of mags next to me and the wifi is free. I live in zone 4 and was here in 20 minutes. What's not to love? I agree. You need to move.

[JeanBodel]

As an additional note, it is often said it takes at least two years to settle into a new location. Give it time.

[AmberSocks]

banana and nutella loaf?yum.

[flippinada]

Fascinating thread. I may have to change my username to blackbogeys.

[Lulabellarama]

YABU
I'm a Londoner born and bred and moved away last year because we couldn't afford to buy a house. I miss it horribly at the moment.
London has infinite potential, in the types of people you can meet, the type of job you can get or the type of weekend you can have.
I'd move back if I could afford to buy a house near some good schools. I don't think I'll ever have the chance though, which makes me sad.

[Lovecat]

I'm in zone 4, in what is officially Essex (although still Greater London) and can be in the West End in 25 mins by tube &/or main line. Like Mrs DeV if I go 10 mins in the other direction I hit the countryside. Night bus runs to the end of my road and gets me home from TCR in an hour (mind you I only tend to get it if I've been out clubbing til 4am so the roads are more deserted). That or I drive in and don't drink. It isn't compulsory.

If you want cheap alcohol go to a Wetherspoons or find a happy hour.

Oxford St has its charms but there is much better and nicer shopping to be had in the side roads/smaller 'hidden' areas. One of the things I love about Zone 1 London is cutting up a back street to get away from the crowds and finding a whole other 'village' sitting behind a high street.

I'm originally from the North West and although I miss the sea, I love London. Been here 27 years now and I find if you make eye contact most cashiers are happy to smile. People are busier, and move faster, but that suits me, tbh, even when I lived on Merseyside I'd get p-d off with people who dithered along the road! :o re. black bogies - I used to houseshare with a girl from the Highlands who thought she'd caught some hideous disease the first time she blew her nose in London... :)

[VinegarDrinker]

Depends what part of the East Coast. Skeggy?

[freerangeeggs]

This is my fourth year living in zone 6. It is a bit of a pain - we pay a lot of money to live in a commuter area, when we don't actually commute (we both work locally).

However, I LOVE London. I had barely been outside my home town in Scotland when we moved here and I was absolutely dumbfounded by the sheer amazingness of everything. The scale of it all was intimidating. I would like to go into the city centre a lot more often, but it's not a hideous journey so we do go from time to time and it's nice to have that option. We've also got gorgeous, massive parks with deer five minutes' walk from our house, and in the summer we take lovely long walks up the river...

I do wonder if we'll ever leave. We might, because it would be so much cheaper to live back up north, but I genuinely think it would be a wrench to go. I'd cry. And I don't even live in London really!

[SaigonSaigon]

I bloody love London but you've got to embrace it, warts and all. About to leave zone 2 for the countryside and I'll miss the place; the convenience of great shops open all the time, good transport, amazing things to do & see (often for free). But I am looking forward to having a house rather than a tiny flat. There's always a compromise in life. See the good!

[FairPhyllis]

YANBU especially if you are from Newcastle. If there is a centre of all goodness in the universe, it is Newcastle.

The main problem with London is that it is full of Londoners.

[MammaMedusa]

schoolrunner2000 - I am setting you a challenge. Be nice first to the next five cashiers you deal with. Something simple like "cold day, isn't it?". Please report back. I place my bet that at least four of them will be actively friendly back.

[WhatTheWaterGaveMe]

waving the flag for zone 3

[verytellytubby]

Been travelling on the tube all my life and never had a black bogey. It's a myth (in my opinion).

I live in zone 3 North London and I love it. Night bus stops at the end of my road.