To wonder why people live in London

[AtSea1979]

On the news just now, discussing the North/south divide. I live in the north. London seems a big scarey place where bad things happen often and I wonder why people want to live there.
But do people down south wonder why we live up north too with our poor health and education?

I liked London but my lungs didn't.

Whys does anyone live anywhere? Because they like it generally. I am in the South Midlands so a bit worried where I fit into all this though.

London is as scary as any city you don't know.

I don't live there but don't find it scary. I think of it as many different towns all connected (which is essentially what it is, really) as the various areas can be so vastly different.

And I am sure the countryside feels the same.

London has everything you might ever need (apart from countryside). If you need countryside, don't live in London. Otherwise, it has more and better everything.

Nothing scary has ever happened to me in London. I never know what that means either.

I work there live outside. It's great. It's got everything. But it's not for everyone. For me I can't imagine working anywhere else. (In fairness probably can't due to specialism unless it's Dublin New York or the Caymans). It's also where my family are from so if anywhere is my home town it's London.

Has anyone mentioned black bogies yet?

sparks. You are lost love.

As ever Exit.

I am very happy that those who love the countryside can be in it and look after it, and equally glad that city people can have their rushy, busy, city fix and not have to deal with all that cold, dark, wet business.

Richmond Park or Hampstead Heath are as much countryside as I need, generally (though I do like the seaside). My mum keeps trying to get me to move to the Channel Islands. Erm, no, it is boring as fuck and you have to talk to the same people all the time and be trapped in some tiny area where every fucker knows you and wants to talk to you. I positively love not having to talk to people unless I choose to.

I'm making a list of all the scarey things I've seen in London
So far:
The state of people leaving clubs in Vauxhall at 8am on a Sunday morning
The amount of terrible plastic surgery faces around Bond Street
The length of the queues at lunchtime outside burrito places when they first opened in about 2010

That's all I can think of. Anyone else want to add to it?

Ummm, being nose to armpit with someone on the rush hour tube is a fright for the senses, spare?

Oh for fuck's sake, not this again

Because I was born and raised here, because my family and friends are here, and because I like it, actually.

I don't go round questioning why people want to live in hull or whatever, why do others feel the need to do this?!

There are some seriously unkind responses on this thread. The OP is asking about something she doesn't understand, there's no need to pick on her spelling and insult her. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see why someone from a small town up north is intimidated by the idea of 8.6 million people crammed into too small an area, squashed into a metal tube far below the surface of the street, with constant news reports about overcrowding and stabbings and terrorism threats and gang fights etc.

So OP why don't you tell us why you live in the North? I mean there are only five houses, a bunch of sheep, a lot of flooding and no jobs.. right?
Ridiculous, you say?

obviously lovelier than the bloody countryside, what on earth is the point of it

Indole, you are a woman after my own heart.

sparechange

Queues outside Westfield when it first opened

Confusion of literally everyone at Earl's Court tube not knowing what platform to be on

Waitrose in Clapham on a Saturday morning "yaaaaaah??!"

Have you ever been out in Shoreditch on a Friday night, sparechange? The quantity of ludicrous facial hair is bloody terrifying.

No one wants to live in Hull.

The only properly scary thing about London is the house prices. It pains me that I'll never be able to afford to live there again.

London (and the surrounding bits) has about 1/6 of the country's population, so of couse, it's going to have 1/6 of the bad things in the country happening there, plus adjustments simply for being a city, a capital city at that, plus having a fair share of journos who rarely set foot outside the M25, unless they have a West country holiday home.

People live there because they were born there and have family and a support network there and in some cases, because that's where and only where their line of work is.

Alis, it isn't scarey though.

What about tha crowds in Waterloo and paddington on a festival weekend. All those dozy teens with rucksacks bigger and heavier than then, trying to run through the concourse for a train.
I'm always worried they'll topple backwards and be stuck there like a tortoise

Oh the battle of primark on Oxford St way back was scary, saw it on the news and DD1 had gone down to it (on the tube) aged about 13...

I don't personally give a shit if OP finds London scary, I do however find it insulting she's questioning 'why anyone would want to live there'.

Must dash though as there are a crowd of youths with knives trying to kick my door in.

Aw, Bab. Come back home.

I genuinely can't think of anything scary about London. I really can't. I find the north and particularly rural/small town areas much scarier.