To think I’ve missed out on an exciting life by never living in London?

[uuuuup]

Just that really. I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve lived in a large city and loved it and it makes me wonder how much I would have loved London. I’m all settled now with a child elsewhere. I feel I’ve missed out on so much?

may be but only if you have plenty of money

I love visiting London but I couldn't live there. I don't feel like I miss out...

This was my experience of Edinburgh when I lived there in my 20s. I couldn't get out fast enough.

I think your impression of London and mine of Edinburgh are probably related to the stage of life (and salary) we were in, rather than the cities themselves.

I live in London and not a single thing you wrote holds true for me. It's the friendliest place I've ever lived and I would not live anywhere else.

"Manchester is better, imo."

Better for people who don't mind the cold and rain. I've been to Manchester several times but cannot name a national landmark there. Can you refresh my memory?

And I mean culture, diversity, experiences, the shows, the life and buzz

Yes, you have missed out in that living there gives you the opportunities to experience all that frequently. But for some of those things you need a hefty amount of disposable income, and we all know how expensive housing is there. A friend who's also a former Londoner said London is a playground for the rich. That's an exaggeration, but to survive and thrive there, you need to be financially in a good position. It's one of the reasons I left - always single and having an average income, I could never afford to do as much as I wanted, let alone buy property. So for a better quality of life I moved to another big city up north. My life is better, but oh my days I often wish I had those fabulous London-y experiences a 20 minute tube journey away - a talk at the BFI Southbank, seeing my favourite actor in a play at the National, a picnic on Primrose Hill, an exhibition at the V&A - but you can't have everything. But another decision were the crowds, which were increasingly anger and anxiety-inducing.

DS has a uni friend who is from Manchester. She much prefers the London life.

Odd.

I've always known my neighbours in the different parts of London I've lived in since childhood.

I even ended up knowing some of the neighbours of my older siblings who I visited a few times a month. This is in both North and South London.

The councils starting with Westminster have got better at closing them down. As they started spreading out of central London.

You still see some that have randomly just been closed down with stock and shelving in them but generally if you wait a couple of months they go completely.

When I was renting in London, I didn't know (m)any of my neighbours but after I bought my flat, I slowly got to know people and now I know lots of neighbours and various people working in local businesses etc. This is inner London (zone 1/2 border).

Londoners are generally nice, friendly, helpful people. But they're not going to stop in the street and speak to you if they don't already know you - with 8 million people, it would take forever to get anywhere!

I know all my neighbours (zone 3 Victorian terraced street) and bump into lots of school and nursery parents in the local high street.

I absolutely hate being talked to in the streets beyond my immediate area though- the anonymity of big cities is one of the things I love about them!

Love a bit of people-watching too!

I love living in London, things are there when we want them, but we don't use them anything like enough.

London was my least favourite place to live out of three Capital cities and another English city (which we moved to asap once I realised I disliked London) but I can see why others like it. If I was super rich and lived in Zone one I might have felt differently.

Life is full of things that can be missed out on, such as having a partner or a child, travelling, learning to swim...etc. Better to focus on what you have done and not on what you haven't done.

I feel the same about Cornwall and the Lake District.

I loved living in Jersey City, NJ after living in London W4 for a couple of years. JC was warmer, friendly and people acknowledged recognising each other, 15 minutes from midtown Manhattan. I have lived in London and its suburbs a few times in my life, and never managed to create a community there.Friends have so I could possibly latch on, but I am not sure I want to bother.