Sick of London,

boogieman

Snap said:

If I could afford it, I'd have a second home in somewhere like Holland Park, or St John's Wood, somewhere like that. But I don't cos I'm not an oligarch or similar. Even in these places, you aren't far from a dump though.

Vanessa Feltz lives in St Johns Wood. I can't think of a better reason to avoid the place. 

Drew_TNBD

Bidley said:

Guitar_Slinger said:

Imagine going back home from "that London" to see your mates, who ask what you've been up to, then get jealous because they've done fuck all.     

A young person fending for themselves in London and being responsible for their own life develops confidence and independence.  You can't get from living with your mum, whether it's in Royston Vasey or another big city and IMHO that could be perceived as arrogant, but could also be jealousy. There are also a lot of twats in London too.

Oh look, here comes another one to reinforce my point

He does have a point. I know plenty of 30+ year olds who are non-Londoners who still live at home with the folks.... why do they need to do that if outside of London is so much cheaper and easier to get a good lifestyle??

Bidley

I don't know any 30+ year olds who live at home with their parents. I don't know why it was even brought up (other than to disparage me).

Drew_TNBD

I'm not well off. We've got a garden, and a front patio. I don't know where some of you lot get your ideas. London is perfectly liveable for the average person - provided you're sensible.

I know a few youngsters - 23/24 .. and they're on decent enough wages. But they never have any money because they're obsessed with going out and getting pissed and coked up.... and they're from the Midlands!!

TheBlueWolf

I'm rather sold on Texas. It has the South By Southwest festivals and a great music scene, so it's not *only* because Mrs TheBlueWolf lives there lol

I know, London has all that too but if I don't move I'm worried about turning into certain friends who just wouldn't consider leaving. That's no bad thing but I've got plans

Axe_meister

I've lived in many places now London for the past 14 years.
The two best places I've lived. Devon and Munich.

fields5069

holnrew

I held up a train on the jubilee line once because I didn't realise my head was sticking out the door. It was embarrassing especially because the driver kept announcing it and I had no idea it was me.

antifash

holnrew said:

I held up a train on the jubilee line once because I didn't realise my head was sticking out the door. It was embarrassing especially because the driver kept announcing it and I had no idea it was me.

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM?

Snap

mellowsun said:

Snap said:

However, I would only want to live there if I was a multimillionaire. To live well in London, you need real money. 

Only if you want to live in the posh parts, but then you are surrounded by braying wankers.

Move a bit further out and you can still be at the South Bank in about 40 minutes, but live on an average (for London) salary.

I'm sure you are right mate. Thing is, in a lot of London, you are only ever a short throw from a shithole. I look at what you can buy in some nice areas, and you get naff all in terms of square footage and privacy compared to what you can get outside of London. Having said that, here in Sheffield, if you want to live in the nice part of the city (south west), property is very expensive too. Same goes for the better bits of any city really.

Round here, a two up two down terrace, with 3rd bedroom in the attic, small rear yard/garden, no off road parking, went for 325k recently. It was on market for 280. If you want to live in these parts, the property is steep and almost always goes to sealed bids. Not quite London mad, but certainly steep compared to other parts of the city.

marantz1300

London is the dogs bollocks
its great getting away from it
but even better to come home

jellyroll

 About 15 years ago, I moved from Manchester to central London.  

The "posh" Manchester suburb - was a bubble. Streets of nice houses, all privately owned, no public space in the vicinity, I drove everywhere. Everyone drove everywhere. There was nowhere to walk to. There was little interaction with neighbours. It was quiet and pretty and safe and nice.

In central London, I'm privileged to live in a nice place BUT there is lots of social housing here too. Lots of public space. I don't have a car. My wife's car has done 20,000 miles in 10 years. We hear ambulance and police sirens going past our house every night. We feel trains going through the West coast mainline tunnel underneath our house on the way to Euston. BUT, I feel alive, I feel connected. Our house is small but because we are "on top of" our neighbours, we know many of them and several have become friends who we holiday with, etc.

Of course, people aren't too chipper on the tube...but the system moves millions of people around efficiently and though there aren't too many smiles, people ARE pretty courteous..... go and experience 100,000 queuing patiently for the Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf every evening if you don't believe me. 

Downsides?  Pollution worries me. Lots of surveys coming out now saying that air pollution exceeds various safety levels so I worry for my kids. Traffic - my kids almost never cycle because I'm too worried about their safety. Having said that, they walk to and from school (1 mile each way across Primrose Hill park) and we have long walks at the weekend too with the dog (typically in Hampstead Heath or Regents Park) so they're certainly not couch kids. 

London is certainly not ideal for everyone. As has been said, money is a big factor and I can imagine that if one lives in a less nice area  than I'm lucky enough to enjoy then you end up with all the negatives and fewer of the positives.

But London does have a magic to it. It also rains less than Manchester. 

scrumhalf

I've lived in London all of my life. I've travelled a lot and visited many, many cities and cannot say there is one I would prefer to live in.

I'm in suburban north London, I have the Dollis Valley Green walk on my doorstep. Cherry Tree, Queens and Highgate Wood are minutes away and Hampstead Heath not much further. The Hertfordshire countryside isn't that far away. I can get into town in less than half an hour on a good day.

It's changed hugely from when I was a kid, and I don't like the way that the architecture has changed the skyline, nor the way that local high streets have changed, but that's typical of many cities.