London

[User452734838]

I was in London earlier this week and it was manic. Everyone rushing around, tubes packed, people rushing down escalators when the tubes are 2 mins apart. Road noise, Sirens everywhere, People getting trains home at 7.30pm to commute an hour, people stood up on this train. As someone who only visits now and again on business it left me shattered and I was only there a day!

Is this just something you get used to in London? Is late working the norm? Travelling for what seems like hours either way to do a job?

It did feel alive though! Is this part of the attraction or is it a case of being born there and knowing nothing else?

I was glad to get back up North where the pace of life is so much less frenetic. We do have to put up with the awful weather though! It was definitely warmer in London 😂

An hr is not a ‘commute’ lol! You get used to doing 2hr commutes, minimum. Not ‘normal’ but becomes really usual.

Also, I have tons of friends in the Midlands and up North who have horrifically long journeys to / from work because of the limited job opportunities.

I work in London. Travelling around I actually love and embrace the busyness of it. Everyone knows everyone is in a rush. You can walk quickly and purposely without people thinking you are rude. There is no ambiguity about it.

People are kind though, if you need them. I travelled on the tube with a blind man today. He got many offers of help from other passengers and was assisted at both ends by a TfL station staff, who were excellent.

I live in semi rural Central Scotland. Leave home at 7.30 and get back at 6pm. I drive as public transport here is rubbish. The tube is packed but efficient.

I think the real issue is the mix of locals (always rushing to get to meetings / home) and tourists (quite rightly) just taking it all in. I used to work in the City, and there is definitely a "City pace" of walking because there are no tourists / shoppers there. Now I work in the West End and its so slow! Sometimes I think I'm in Wales!

I have never been to Wales

Reluctant - that's mostly what I use, along with Victoria line. I'm not criticising it, I just think it's so horrible on the Tube that it feels like forever to get anywhere.

Also I did find the weekends worse, when I was still using it a lot - best friend lives South, I'm North - because of all the crowding and faffing.

I don't know what the actual mileage is, maybe I should still see it as a wonder, but I feel like 1 minute on the Tube feels like about 20 mins in real time.

I also hate the Tube and the fact that I can't bus it to work any more really bugs me, at least there's more air on the bus.

I can be in London in 45mins-1 hour depending on the trains. I love the buzz of energy and feel really excited when I get off the train. However, I feel exhausted on the way home! DH has to commute every day and he does find it draining but wouldn't work anywhere else.

I have always found people friendly and helpful, esp with helping others with pushchairs and suitcases etc on the underground. Some of the tube drivers are hilarious too. The atmosphere during 2012 was incredible and the team members (all volunteers) were amazing. Yes, you can def get weirdos and rude people but you can get those anywhere.

The only thing that makes me sad is the feeling that London is just turning into a rich man's playground - a lot of Arabs and Russians. I have nothing against Arabs and Russians - but I feel that there are so many luxury developments being built for millionaires only and it's changing the feel of London. Normal people just can't afford to live there.

I live in semi rural Central Scotland. Leave home at 7.30 and get back at 6pm. I drive as public transport here is rubbish. The tube is packed but efficient.

I read that about three times before I decided that you WEREN'T saying that your commute is rural Scotland -> London

It's polution hell, too many people all squished up and so blinkin noisy. Trucks, vans, buses, taxies, constant traffic din, road works, bikes and people, people everywhere - all rushing at breakneck pace. And I wouldn't go on the underground for any amount of money - it a total noise sensory over load for me and I have no idea how people can bear it.

Never "An hr is not a ‘commute’ lol! You get used to doing 2hr commutes, minimum. Not ‘normal’ but becomes really usual."

this is what I mean when I say everyone's different - I've done worse commutes than my hour but I now just hate it so much, in my 20s I didn't really notice it and sometimes I'd be asleep. Now I can't even read on a Tube, never mind sleep. I also find the noise of the Tube trains unbearable even with music and noise cancelling headphones.

Do they still have that shocking screeeeeeeeeeech at Bank Station or did they find a way to get rid of that?

The only annoying thing about London is Londoners who have never lived anywhere else in the UK and have bizarre ideas about what life is like in "The North" or "The Midlands".

Rosa I agree with you that it’s MUCH worse at weekends! Also the tubes always seem to be way less frequent - 5 minute wait grrr ! At rush hour everyone knows the drill and we just get our heads down and get on with it...

We've seen pictures ArgyMargy.

I love London because:

• it’s vibrant and full of interesting people doing interesting things
• there is very little cliqueyness at the school gate or elsewhere, there are too many people to care about cliques, you will find a like minded friend nearby
• there is so much to do
• each neighbourhood is its own individual community
• there are so many job opportunities you can’t be stuck in an unhappy job as you have choice
• you can get anything you want day or night
• people aren’t judgemental the way they were in the small town I grew up in. It’s live or let live
• the state schools are some of the best in the country
• the weather is better than most of the UK.

I commute daily on the Tube but it’s 30 mins door to door and the District Line which is airy.

London, the great Puritan whore, is one of humankind's great achievements. It's not designed for Mumsnetters though.

“ how much more productive the South is (people being quicker, more frenetic, and working longer hours) which usually does generate more wealth.”

What I can’t understand is people who move out of London to escape the chaos but move somewhere the total opposite and then complain they’re bored? Why not move to another big city where they have gasp wine bars that open till 5am, museums and theatre and galleries and hundreds of restaurants and ooh , progressive Deliveroo!

I love my city. It is vibrant but not claustrophobic and it’s easy to travel from A to B. Not stressful to live in. But has a character and a buzz. There is no need to go from London to a rural Cornish village where everything amenities are miles away and there is nothing to do, in order to de-stress from the “buzz”.

I’ve lived in and worked in London. People rush on the tube because it’s stifling and claustrophobic particular in summer and they just want to get out of there. It’s well over capacity so feels very stressful unless very late or early. Plus you travel for ages and never get anywhere, especially in the car.

If I travel for an hour from here I’m almost in the Lake District. Do that in London and you’d still be in, er, London.

I lived in London for a year in my mid 20s. After one year of commuting and dashing about everywhere I was completely knackered and very disillusioned with life.

I've always been glad I left. London was not for me. I still like to go back once a year and go to a gallery or museum and go shopping, but I'm always reminded why I left when I'm there. One day a year in London is enough for me.

There are not many actual Londoners anymore though, especially in central London. A lot are just passing through for a few years.

I lived and worked in East London (zone 2/3), and basically never went into central. No need to, no desire to. Most people from elsewhere who judge London are judging it on one tiny part.

I love visiting London, I don't think I could live there and make the rush part of daily life, but I love being a part of it for a day.

Now I live too far to visit when I feel like it and I do miss it.

Personally think if you haven't lived in a world city (London, New York, Paris Berlin) in your twenties you have missed out. The deadness of a Saturday afternoon in a village I found unutterably depressing as a teen.

Used the buggy on tubes and trains every time someone would help.

Moved out after 7 years but wouldn't have missed living there for anything.

Interesting reading these posts. Don't get me wrong I love it when I visit at weekends but I think the difference is I'm staying centrally and walking a lot not getting the rush hour bakerloo line to Paddington!

I don't think I was saying an hour commute in total, I guess from the office in the city to your home in Oxford door to door would be closer to 2 hours. That seems unusual to me that people would travel for 3/4 hours a day.

I love London so much. I don't do a daily commute there but I'm there most weeks. I just love love the rush when I get off the train and start walking super fast everywhere. I hate going home to my slow pace!

I love London but not for more than a short visit these days!