Still miss London

[anotherbitofcake]

Well I do like where we've moved to and I know in my head we've made the right decision but my heart misses London still. Moved out from a lovely part of London 6 months ago to a naice small town. I love some things about it - people smile and say hello, know neighbours, feels safe, countryside on doorstep, space, not busy busy busy rush rush rush, able to live in a house with a garden, got to know some great new friends - so lots and lots to feel happy about, which I do. But...I miss that buzz. So weird as I'm a country girl so would have thought 6 years in the big smoke would have been enough. Such a stupid moan sorry! Am being totally ungrateful here. Just miss my city that's all. Anyone else?

I could have written your post. Moving out we've got exactly what I hoped for lovely area, great schools and neighbours. But but but, I miss London so much. It's so damn quiet here and everyone knows our business. I can imagine the kids hightailing it out of here the second they turn 18.

I grew up in rural Somerset so thought I knew what I was letting myself in for but ten years in London has changed me. The schools there were actually really good an ironically accessing green space was easier as well. Hard to know why we did it really.

Are you me? Could've written that post. Have no advice, because I still miss it - especially at the moment because I've just had my second DC and keep comparing all the stuff I could with DD as a newborn ( when we were still in London), compared to what I can do with him.

I think if you love London, leaving it will always be a wrench. There's nowhere else quite like it.

This is helpful to read as I was going to offer to swap our central London flat and cramped space for your green views and clean air until the three of you said the same thing! I do know we're lucky to be where we are and I just love the people we can see etc .

I'm moving away this weekend :-(

Try and remember the downsides though- travelling anywhere feels tiring and I wish we didn't have to breathe so much exhaust fumes or have no cupboards. And long for something like a utility room - dreamy sigh- or even stairs!

Me, too.

I'm in Zone 4 and I have a utility room. I do miss being in Zone 1 though :(

Wish I was back in zone 4.

I moved back to London (zone 2) a year ago after too long away. I was born & bred in zone1 and love it. Even with kids, London is home.

I'd need to win the fucking lottery.

Six months is early days. I think it takes at least two years.

I still miss London. At first, going back was really painful. Two years on I see the advantages of our leaving more.

Two years?

And that's why I stay in this hideously overpriced, polluted, traffic logged behemoth of a city where I can afford a corner of a shoebox.

Because there is simply nowhere like it in the UK. I love it here. Cue gratuitous fawning quote:

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

— Samuel Johnson

It is gradual though. First year is hard. At six months I was in bits.

I feel for you. I am in zone 4 and Z I miss zone 1. Zone 4 is the farthest I will ever go.

Stainless, Everything is within walking distance in London? What?! I don't think that's true at all unless you only mean Central London. I felt very public transport dependent in London. Even with transport it would often take an hour to get places and friends were fairly spread out! I now live in another city where things really are much more walkable,good job too as the transport really is rubbish compared to London....

Gah! We are moving from zone 4 to zone 5 and I am already lamenting no longer having a proper london postcode!

I've been living here for a few years, and I think I liked it better as a place to visit: I used to live an hour's train journey away and it was nice just to come down for a day. Living here ... Meh. If you are not wealthy you can't afford to actually do London justice IMO, so may as well live somewhere else.

Grew up in zone six, live in zone 3, quickly being priced out. I will miss it too when we're gone

I left London 8 yrs ago but go back most years to see friends. This year was the first time that I didn't feel an ache of longing to be back.
That said, I could never have the home or life that I have now had I stayed. It is very easy to be nostalgic and sentimental about London but the crowds and commuting in rush hour used to drive me nuts.
Still a fabulous FABULOUS place to spend your 20s, though.

Me too.
3 years and I still miss it. I've made lovely friends and we live in a nice town half an hours train journey away but its just not London. I guess if we lived there I'd be stressing about the schools at this stage.

Schools are better in London though aren't they? Or do you mean actually getting a place?

Where have you all moved to? Not sure where we should go

We moved from London to Somerset nearly a year ago and totally love it. I was in London for 15 years before that, but now I hate it when I have to go for work! I do miss my friends, but we've had a brilliant stream of weekend visitors who have all loved coming to stay in the sticks. And whoever said that the schools in London are better.... Hahahaha! My former nearest primary had an intake of 120 each year and was pretty horrid, but now it is an outstanding primary with an intake of only 20!

I left London after being there for years. Not by choice but through circumstances. Miss it so much and am so happy when I go back there. But... The last few years I did feel worn down by it, the commuting, the expense etched. And now it's got so outrageously expensive and is becoming more corporate by the day. A lot of what was great about London is slowly getting squeezed out, which makes me very sad. Glad I had some great years there but worry what it will be like in ten years time...