To be fed up of mnetters behaving as if everywhere outside London is the third world

[continuallychargingmyphone]

Ok an exaggeration but only a slight one

I live up north. We have a John Lewis here and everything.

But equally, people who live outside London continually go on about 'that London' and how it's 'so snooty' and 'so expensive' and everyone is 'so dour' not like our lovely friendly village where you can buy cakes made by old Mrs Brown.

I live in neither, but, at the end of the day, why do you even give a shit what someone thinks about where you live?

Finchley is a bit north for some on MN, and High Barnet the end of the line for some. They would start getting withdrawal symptoms if they went as far as Potters Bar!

Though the UK does sometimes seem like two countries- London and the rest of the UK. Try finding an evening bus outside London that runs more than once every half hour, or at all, for example. Or a local train built less than 30 years ago.

everyone in mumsnet either lives in london or 30 miles from nearest shop or in a slummy estate where all the schools are rated ofsted poor or failing

they are struggling on 12-20k a year or feel poor/ skint on 60k or they earn over 100k

also they either can't afford heating on even when it is -5C and need 6 jumpers, or they find any room hotter than 14C stifling and sleep with windows wide open in middle of winter

all their children are either SEN or super bright G&T

no one lives in a fairly nice area 3 miles from town centre with average children going to an average school and being average or maybe good at maths but less than average with spelling and earns 30-45K a year and are doing ok nothing fancy but quite comfortable and their DH has good and occasional bad moments but their marriage is fine and so are their kids and they quite like MIL who they see with kids every few weeks

And don't forget that apparently outside London is a whites only zone, couldn't possibly be any diversity!

Where I live we have buses until 11pm. Oh the luxury! But transport is pretty poor. It takes almost an hour to travel 3.5 miles on the bus across the city. Every time there is a storm, one of the train stations gets flooded and the entire line is closed for a couple of days.

Every time there is a crash on the A road into the city it gets closed for several hours effectively blocking the only route in by road!

I do live in a poor area (but in a little bubble in that area but that’s another story) It is pretty deprived. BUT unlike London, I feel safe walking around in this area and people are pretty friendly. Where I used to live in London I was near a really rough huge estate that I did not ever walk through.

London does seem like a different world to me, when I've been. With good and bad though. Some things are evidently a lot better than where I live, some things are worse. Fortunately, to some degree we can all pick where we want to live.

I’ve left London for other parts of the UK several times and always been drawn back. It is different here, and I’ve found it difficult to live elsewhere. It’s just a matter of how you want to live your life and what’s important to you. I don’t think that outside London is bad or boring - just calmer and less full-on. For example, Edinburgh, where I lived for almost four years, is a gorgeous city but it isn’t, culturally or in terms of diversity of lifestyle, a capital city in the way London is. And of course, calmer and less full-on is exactly why some people leave London and are glad or are glad they don’t live here in the first place!

no one lives in a fairly nice area 3 miles from town centre with average children going to an average school and being average or maybe good at maths but less than average with spelling and earns 30-45K a year and are doing ok nothing fancy but quite comfortable and their DH has good and occasional bad moments but their marriage is fine and so are their kids and they quite like MIL
I do I do! This is me. Except DS is good at English, not maths and I loved my dear MIL.

TeacupDrama, possibly because the middle ground people that you describe don't need the support, or feel the need to contribute to an online family support forum.

I'm in the slummy area, two children with SN, but both now working, one in management. I'm currently poor and disabled. But with a lot of life experience, so throw my two-pennies worth in.

OP it was much worse when I joined, around 2011.

It's the attitude towards people on low pay/min wage, of not having to do a decent job and we should somehow be pitied, that does my head in.

And the "There's only one way of life to ensure happiness" lot.

I live in Wales and love it. I also love London. My life is here so won't move but love visiting London. My husband has been seriously ill and we have had to cancel a trip to London before Christmas and I am gutted.
Am hoping he will improve for a visit in February half term!

Sorry OP, I don’t understand. How can you be in the north if you’re using the internet..?

I’m bored of people asking if they are unreasonable to consider a trip to London and looking for tips on navigating the hell that is the London Transport system. Also the suggestions of fear of crime, specifically being stabbed. I’m more concerned about walking into old Mrs. Browns shop to buy a cake and everyone turning to look at me cos I’m not from round ‘ere. (joke)

TeacupDrama you have almost described my life here.
no one lives in a fairly nice area 3 miles from town centre with average children going to an average school and being average or maybe good at maths but less than average with spelling and earns 30-45K a year and are doing ok nothing fancy but quite comfortable and their DH has good and occasional bad moments but their marriage is fine and so are their kids and they quite like MIL who they see wuith kids every few weeks

We do live approx 3 miles from the centre, my children go to an estyn rated 'good' school. They are still young, so unsure of their full accademic abilities yet . The money part is the only bit thats wrong for us, maybe when i return to work we'll earn that between us and be ok. Oh and i also love my MIL she's great.

I love where i live, it suits us perfectly. Oh and its social housing, just incase anyone wants to judge.

TBF living outside the confines of London does have its disadvantages.

I mean, dealing with the marauding bands of zombies while trying to get to BarterTown can get a little tiresome.

I live in a reasonably nice area, in the North 🤯 standard house, 1 dp, 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 car. Walk the school run! Live 1 mile from the nearest shopping centre, 8 miles from the nearest city centre. Household income approximately 35k, mil visits every Saturday. Kids only young so not sure of academic strengths and weaknesses yet 😂

checkingforballoons😂

I love London, it is the most amazing place. Don't live there though.
Too expensive for me to start with and I enjoy living somewhere fairly rural. There are still affordable places to live nearish London - but I wouldn't want to live in the ones I know (where I am from originally as it happens)
I like being a northern exile.

@checkingforballoons 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Born and raised in London, I love it! However I'm looking forward to moving somewhere that's a bit cheaper. I have never felt fearful walking around.

I went to university in London, it was the only 3 years of my life I lived in a city.

The place is a crap hole.

Though the UK does sometimes seem like two countries





continually - what are you doing on MN? Why aren't you outside feeding the ferrets?

There's a third category: people who used to live in London, moved out years ago, but still need to post about how awful and expensive it is in order to persuade ourselves we don't miss the night buses and Ethiopian street food stalls

It is also true that in order to make this post I have had to hand write it and then walk three miles uphill in the snow to have it telegraphed to The Internet by the village postmistress.