To wonder how people cope living in London?!

[WinterIsHereJon]

I'm visiting for the weekend. It's hot, sweaty, incredibly busy. We had the misfortune of travelling on the tube during rush hour earlier, people pushed and pushed onto an already full train, to the point where I became rather intimately acquainted with a chap behind me. Despite the complete lack of room people were still attempting to read newspapers! I think I'd snap if that was part of my daily routine, I don't know how people do it!

I don't live in London, 45 minutes on the train outside London in fact but I feel the same about the country - unless you are a farmer why would you live there?! I am a real townie. I was born and part-bred in London and my family on my dad's side were all central Londoners so maybe it's in the blood. If I won a substantial amount on the lottery or something I would much prefer an apartment in central London over some rural retreat any day of the week.

The country is very pretty to look at whilst you are going through it in the car but to actually live there, no.

I suppose it takes all sorts

I feel the same about the country - unless you are a farmer why would you live there?

That really made me snort.

So, to you, the country should be a kind of internment place for farmers?

There are other rural jobs, for a start, you know

My kids have been raised in the " country" , a fantastic environment. A wonderful village school, miles of unspoilt landscape, most people don;t lock their cars or even front doors when they go out. We had deer and pheasant wandering though the garden, kids could play in the woods, pick blackberries, breathe fresh air. it was idyllic.

And only a 20 minute drive to the centre of the capital city.

I'm on the 52 bus. It's not crowded. Three old boys - strangers to each other 5 mins ago, 2 white, one black, just struck up a convo about avant garde jazz. That's why I love it here.

ruthboros- that type of activity goes on in many cities.
I was on a bus yesterday, three adult men dressed as cardinals but wearing high heeled shoes, one dressed as a pirate, and a woman wearing a bikini with a parrot in a cage.

just you don't use your car you walk to guides, school, work even. So you see countryside in the flesh every day.

I lived in London zone 2 for 29 years and loved it! Then moved out to just outside the M25. I do sort of miss it, but it's great for the kids to have a nice big garden and go to a nice village school.

I also love the fact that I bought a huge 5 bedroomed semi with a garden 5 minutes walk from the railway station for £200K.

Born and bred in zone 3 and couldn't imagine living any where else. I've spent the last two years on a career break and im now back at work in London. God it feels good!

I moved here almost 11years ago from Newcastle and swore I would go back. I'm now here with a fiancé, son and a job of 8years.
I don't particularly like London... But can't imagine moving back up north now as my life is here. There are nice things like big parks etc but I can have that up north too, plus a beach a 10min drive away which I don't down here

I love living near the sea. A 10 minute drive, miles of unspoilt coastline, seals poking up at pretty little harbours. I live 18 minutes from the heart of the capital.

Some folk go on about all of the green space in London, which I find strange. We quite often take our family to various parks at the weekend and they are so overcrowded with Londoners trying to get away from the rat race that it is not a particularly relaxing experience. Those of them which have little play areas for the kids are usually packed and the kids have no chance of getting on the swings etc and some of them have cafes charging huge amounts for a coffee and a week's wage for a sandwich.

I don't get the feeling that people are slagging off London alley. More that they don't want to live in a city - any city. I left London many years ago and now live in a rural area.

I just don't feel the need for the buzz or vibrancy London provides on a day to day basis. I will be in London next week and expect to enjoy it. I will also be glad to get home to my rural backwater

I spent the first 21 years of my life living next to Vauxhall tube ( our roof terrace had great views over Battersea power station ) fantastic place to grow up I must say. Moved to Clapham for a while but couldn't afford the million pound for a house so now live in zone 4 ( although this house cost 650K ) have the beauty of both worlds now, less busy & noisy here but only 15 minutes into central London by train ) I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the country.

Pearlymum, I take it you aren't talking about the UK capital! Are you in Sydney?

Ruthboros, I love that story

I was lucky enough to live a 5 minute walk from work for the first five years in London. The flat was grotty, rented and shared, but damn it was convenient. When we bought, it was several zones out East, and I coped with the Tube by getting to work around 7am. At that time, over 20 years ago, Tubes at that hour were empty. I left promptly at 5pm, beating some of the rush. I now live Zone 3 West, and worked in the City for 18 years. I cycled a lot (starting out I was about the only cyclist on the road, at 6-6.45am; by 2010 there were pelotons at that hour).

The Tube can be horrible in summer, but some lines are worse than others. There are usually several different ways to commute, so you can adjust. Everything is on the doorstep, although I freely confess that I visited more tourist sights living outside London than I do living here. Travelling around can be time consuming and frustrating.

I lived in the country as a teenager for three months once, in a little village (where the shops were mostly antique shops, a high priced butcher and a feeble Spa) with one bus a day to the nearest town. Never ever again!

I love London. Moved here grudgingly, chippily, wanted to stay in the North but no jobs at the time, and within a couple of years I was in love with the place. It's crowded and housing is dreadfully expensive, but when I showed my first baby the view from our nearest hill and told him this would be his town, I felt amazing. Harsh place if you've no family here and no money though. Though that's probably true of anywhere.

bigtilly there is more than one capital city in the UK.

Lived on the outskirts for 20 years, can't stand the place. The tube is full of miserable people, same as the trains. No one makes eye contact let alone strike up a conversation. Central london is full of people in a rush to be somewhere and don't care who they bump into in the process. Bars are overpriced and full of pompous pricks who are more concerned with image rather than having a good time.
I was at a leaving do a couple of weeks ago, single gin and tonic was £6.20!
If I could convince my wife to move I would be living at least 50 miles away.

Tube is for tourists (and anyone else who wants to enjoy being up close and personal with someone else's armpit), bus and bike are for locals :-)

I'm always baffled when tourists choose to use the tube during rush hour - WTF do they expect?! I also don't understand how people can think it's difficult to navigate - if you can read signs, you can get around in London! It's a fuckload easier than rural areas where you have to memorise specific tree configurations.

There are so many little tube hacks you use when you're a Londoner though. If you really need to travel by tube in rush hour, you figure out the best station/carriage to board (as a rule, hoards of people will get off at the large mainline stations - Waterloo, Victoria, Kings Cross, London Bridge, Liverpool Street, etc) so walking/busing to one of those stops gives you a much higher chance of getting a seat or space to stand comfortably. If you can't get to one of those stations, then figure out which carriage is nearest to the exit at one of those stations, because that will be the carriage that empties out the most.

I fucking love London. This weekend we walked from DPs Zone 1 flat across Tower Bridge, along the Tower of London, hopped on a Thames Clipper to Embankment, up to Chinatown for some bubble tea, shopped for sunglasses in Covent Garden and walked back along the river, through Borough Market, picked up some nibbles and flowers and popped in for a BBQ with Iraqi refugee friends. Just a typical Saturday.

I live in Zone 2 and adore my 30 min walk from home to the nearest quiet tube through a beautiful park with a river, stunning architecture, farm animals and a paddling pool. Whenever I'm feeling unmotivated, a quick walk round the block from my office inspires me - so many world-altering, history-making, life-changing things are being decided, invented, cured, designed and governed in the iconic buildings all around me. I love being part of that.

Why indeed do tourists use the tube during rush hour? Please don't. It makes no sense.

Our DD has an amazing life here in London. We live close to 2 beautiful huge parks, one of which is a couple of hundred yards from our house. We walk most places, or do well timed bus and train hops to fun places and she hardly ever has to go in the car. Her nursery has a big garden and we live a 2 minute walk from most of her friends. The primary school she will go to is across the road from our house and there is every possibly extra-curricular activity she could ever wish for at her fingertips.

I grew up in the 'countryside' and spent half my life being ferried around in the car.

I yearn to go back to London, I miss it so much. Some of the posts here have brought tears to my eyes with longing. The transport, the ease with which one can walk to pretty well anywhere, the noise, the crush, the smell, the people .........

I don't find London anonymous. In my neighbourhood I know many of my neighbours and the people who work in the market and shops by name or to nod to.

I find this accusation about London odd too. I just visited my dad in his village, and we never saw a neighbour or passerby, let alone spoke to any.
This is at least partly because you have to drive everywhere. Out of the house into the car and to wherever we were going – back to the driveway, into the house.

At home in Zone 2, I know most people on my street, on a spectrum from 'nod and wave hello' to 'have dinner/drinks with them and we have each other's keys'.

I can walk round the corner to cafes, dry-cleaners, shops, restaurants, hairdressers etc. I know many of the people who both work in and frequent these places, some to nod to and some to chat to.

I've always found London very friendly. I sometimes wonder though if you get back what you give in; maybe London-haters come expecting to find it unfriendly and so give off hostile vibes themselves.