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!

One of the reasons why I moved out of London, where ive lived since i was born, was precisely because we had to avoid the central/busy bits to make it tolerable to live there. The 'central' bits are London to me. The Theatre, the hustle and bustle, the medieval castle in the middle of the city... I never went in because it was such a pain, especially with kids. We were paying a massive premium to live near London, but not in it, and not getting the benefit of living in what is the most wonderful city. Obvs if you have a shedload of money and can live centrally it's a different thing from living on the outskirts and having to spend an hour to travel about 5 miles when if you stand on the wrong place on the train platform, people look at you as if you are a piece of chewing gum on the bottom of their shoe

That is Greenleave. The sky is really blue though. I hope you enjoy your concert

raised exactly! bettter to live out of London on a fast trainline and get a decent house that to travel an hour from a farout dull suburb while being squashed on the tube. Unless again you do have sheloads and can afford a big house in a nice suburb AND not have to travel in daily, i.e. if you aer SAHM or a part time worker/work from home.

That's a little disingenuous Limited...there are always people saying that they love London because they need culture, museums, restaurants etc...thereby implying nowhere else has them.

'than to', not that

I've never seen people saying you can't find culture, museums, restaurants etc outside London witsender. That would be silly, wouldn't it?

If you can point to the people who have said that I will consider it and if I agree with you I will happily point to them and laugh along with you. But people saying they like their city is not the same as implying it is superior to any or all other places.

I'm not being disingenuous btw. I'm being very clear. Perhaps you can explain what you think disingenuous means.

These are all photos I took within 5 minutes of leaving my London house. Fucking concrete jungle shithole.

Here are 3 more.

Exactly! As I said, I am 43. I have spent precisely a year and 2 months living outside London in my whole life, although I have lived all over London. I spent my 20's in bars in central London and getting the night bus home. I loved the place, and still do. Ironically, the thing I missed most about London when I had children was the city. I must have been into London proper about 5 times with them since they were born. I love cities. Whats the point in living in London if you want to live in a village? I want the big smoke. My compromise is now living in the 'little smoke' ! I get to get the bus from my home into another city with a medieval castle, theatres, bars, restaurants and art galleries in 20 minutes. In the 2 months since I moved away, I've seen 3 plays in London. because I can just get the fast train right into the heart of the place. It doesn't take much longer than the 40 minutes I spent sitting on the Picadilly line! ( and we are mortgage free

And 3 more.

That's a little disingenuous Limited...there are always people saying that they love London because they need culture, museums, restaurants etc...thereby implying nowhere else has them.

Nope. Not a bit.

Just that London has more - in number, in diversity - than most places. And for people who like those things, London provides greater depth and diversity than elsewhere in Britain.

Why do people find that threatening?

is it Herne Hill/Tulse Hill area, Miss?

I don't think limited was being disingenuous witsender.

When Londoners say they love the restaurants, culture, etc it's the same as when someone in, say, Yorkshire says they love the green fields.

They are not implying that you can't get green fields anywhere else - the fields are lovely and green in Cornwall, too! They are just saying they love where they love for its green fields.

LovePG Close, it's Peckham Rye park

I think it also depends where you live in London - in a nice house in a leafy suburb or one of the "green" bits. Or a grim council flat on a poor estate. Lots of people do actually live in a concrete jungle in London. I was a Londoner all my life but was glad to leave and just enjoy the occasional visits so much more .

Love Peckham Rye park, MissHoolie. Especially the Japanese garden.

London scares me, not ashamed to admit it I stand out like a country bumpkin we are going to the Royal Albert hall soon I am already panicking about where to eat afterwards with the children, how to get around etc.

I bet you don't Blueberry. The fantastic thing for you is that I live reasonably near the Royal Albert Hall and for a small fee, or nothing except your lavish thanks, will give you and your children all the help I can give .

Seriously, you won't need it because it's a very nice and safe bit of London packed with places to eat and go like Hyde Park and the Natural History Museum for starters.

But if you want help, start another thread with your itinerary

That's lovely MissHoolie

I am scared of the crowds, getting lost whilst in charge of my 2 boys

Thank you limitedperiodonly I will!

thanks, Miss, I must visit! it does look country-like in places (I like the view through the arch).

I couldn't live in London, hate the place but each to their own.

DW has a few London friends from university and some of them get quite freaked out by coming to ours as we are very isolated, right out in the country (perfect for us). Our nearest town with any amenities (and about 2000 people) is half an hour away, nearest neighbour about a mile. Our London friends could never live where we do, they'd hate it.

Miss Hoolie, that's our local park too!

It's what suits you I suppose. I would go insane living cheek by jowl with all that noise and bustle, but lots of people thrive on it.
I'd prefer a house by a wild bit of coastline and couldn't care less about going to the theatre. I accept my idyll is other people's dull hell.

I wouldn't choose to live in London as I'm a Northerner through and through but I love to visit and can see the appeal. There's so much going on there, it's such a vibrant city, and my experiences of it are that despite its size the people who live there are the same as anywhere else and perfectly friendly.

If I was absolutely minted and could afford the same sort of lifestyle as I can up here I'd consider it. I could have a much more substantial career in the city than up North.