Remind me what I loved about London

[lamii]

;) This is a friendly wink to the thread 'remind me what I hate about UK'.
I miss London and I do not remember the mess, the dirt and the overcrowd...I am seriously amnesic!
I start with Pret-a-Manger! So convenient.

The South Bank.

Free entrance to world class museums and galleries

The parks

This?

There's something new and interesting to do/see every day if you want.

Food from all over the world on your doorstep.

Broadly, it's safe to wander around on your own.

Quasi free & constang immediate access to arts and culture

Parks

Reasonnably priced, safe, local & seasonal wholefood.

Daily banter

Sunday papers

It depends where you are as well. I missed different things about London when I lived in Italy than Canada. I always miss Pret though...

I miss everyone's driving. People here can't drive.

I'm in Stockholm, Sweden.

'Quasi free & constang immediate access to arts and culture'-->>what I miss the most.

Open-minded and interested people.

I miss the people! I found our london area one of the most welcoming places I have lived in - met so many interesting people many of whom became proper friends even though we only lived there a short 2 years.

I feel guilty for that (and this more uk than London) but...I miss Primark !

The view from Waterloo Bridge, in both directions: St Paul's one way, Parliament the other. I used to commute over it and never tired of that view.

This makes me homesick! I left London for the West of Ireland 11 yrs ago.
I miss the Sunday walks along the Southbank, popping into the Tate Modern then a few drinks somewhere. Borough market on a friday afternoon. The ease of getting to where you want to go.

Graceymac Tate Modern is such a treat...I miss it too!

I lived in London for 11 years, came back 'home' over 10 years ago. I still miss the multi-culturalism of the place. I go back now and again and love sitting on a bus surrounded by people from all over the world. I worked in Westminster and miss the views around there, especially walking over Westminster Bridge. I really miss the Turkish deli and supermarket on the walk back to my flat from work.

I don't miss the commuting, the dirt, and the cost of living.

I'm currently on holiday in London. It's been nice to see "life", go to museums, see the sights etc but it's grey, poncy, there is no where that children can be free and all the coffee tastes like dish water. I'm feeling claustrophobic and over it already. I'm here for another 3 weeks I'm going to go mad! Next time I'll come for just three weeks. I was born and grew up here and after escaping the first time I came back and lived here as an adult for 7 years, I think it's not my thing.

tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/new-routemaster

Boris?

Bundao where do you live now?

Rural Brazil, not everyone's cup of tea, actually probably no ones but I'm homesick

@Bundao Wow, you are pretty isolated BUT that sounds very interesting! How long will you stay there? It's great that you get to come back to London to enjoy museums and chaos!

@bundao
Have you been to Kew Gardens? I think you might like it- warm glasshouses, children can run about, very beautiful even in grey weather. Definitely plenty of Brazilian plants there too to remind you of home- at the time of the Olympics they all had little Brazilian flags in so I remember!

I love Kew, especially the tree walkway. I'm not really missing the warmth, it's just the isolation I miss. I'm clearly anti social! It is great to give the kids a taste of culture and chaos though and London is great fun. It's nice to still have that piece of the pie, so lucky for me my parents are opposite to me and love their central London life, so we can come and share in that sometimes .

Bundao London is a city so if your thinking wide open spaces then it does curtail children's freedom to roam. Agree with pp go to the greener parts of London Kew, Richmond Park etc etc . Take advantage of London's rail connections and go further afield. Lots of coastal or rural places within a 2hr rail journey of London or smaller cities such as Norwich, Winchester, Canterbury. Flights to Europe are incredibly cheap at the moment take yourselves off to the continent Don't limit yourself to just London. I live in London but over a month holidaying in a fast paced city like London would drive me crazy as well

We're sticking with London this time, our trip is more about seeing people we miss. I have a couple of trips out of town planned, but no where too far, only eastanglia and the midlands. For me to get close to what I have I would need to get way out, possibly Scotland, but it's nice to have a change. I'm not really looking for it, just missing it and realising that I made the right choice to leave. Before I got here I was full of things I missed about London and thought I would feel like the OP, but after getting that out of my system I think it was a case of rose tinted goggles and memory loss :)

The Thames Clippers - i commute to work on them - amazing

Access to a huge range of decent jobs to apply for.

I moved out of London, not happy in my current job but there's nothing to even apply for here.

bundao
yes it's almost impossible to let kids run free . you can't let them out of your sight for a moment.

our family home is in London but we are in Hong Kong for a while DS has a freedom here he's never had before.
it's a challenge to get him to use that freedom responsibly. i never let him out of my vision on London. here he's quite able to get himself home safely although he's still too young. moving back home qill be another challenge

but i echo everyone else in that London has a huge amount on offer for all age groups.
tickets for the transport museum in Covent garden are valid for a year. it's a great place and we spent lots of time there .