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London

F

Freya

New Member
Again, apologies if there's already been a thread along these lines, but anyway... London!

Have you been there? What do you think? Would you live there?

Do you live there or have you lived there? Why do you live there, or not?

If you've never been there, what are your general thoughts of what London might like?

A special award will be awarded to anyone who answers in the form of a poem.
 
Oooo I might answer my own questions.

Well, I have been to The Big Smoke, about 4 times in all I think. The first time I went was when I was 11, with a school trip from school. My most vivid memory is being on the Underground and it breaking down, and me worrying quite a lot. Oh and playing frisbee in some park or other.

The most recent time was last November. Me and my friend went with the intention of getting out crimbo shopping out of the way all in one fell swoop - in reality we got quite drunk and ate lots of crap food. Aaah the fun :) We did the proper touristy bit - well... we went on the London Eye, which was the most boring experience of my life (may have been something to do with the incessant drizzle, and the hangover) and we went in the aquarium which was brilliant! Wheehee! Me and some random 4 year old kid had the time of our lives!

Generally, I disapprove of London. For me anyway, I would hate to live there. I like living somewhere where everyones accents are the same, and going to ASDA on a Thursday night means a shopping trip twice as long as it usually is because you'll have to stop every 5 mins to have a chat to someone you know. It also felt very claustrophobic to me, people rushing round everywhere, noone ever smiles at you :( The shopping isn't even all that brilliant... shops just repeat themselves over and over, there's nothing new!!

All of this, and I've been there 4 times :) I'm sure there are fantastic parts of London, but unfortunately I've never seen them.

Oh and this thread isn't an invitation to slag all of England off - you can go do that in your own thread :p Just London opinions please :)
 
I've never been to London city
Unless you count Heathrow
The airport so pretty

'Twas on the way to Bangkok
I didn't see much
But I did leave in a frock

Now what do I get?
 
Freya said:
Oooo I might answer my own questions.

Well, I have been to The Big Smoke, about 4 times in all I think. The first time I went was when I was 11, with a school trip from school. My most vivid memory is being on the Underground and it breaking down, and me worrying quite a lot. Oh and playing frisbee in some park or other.

The most recent time was last November. Me and my friend went with the intention of getting out crimbo shopping out of the way all in one fell swoop - in reality we got quite drunk and ate lots of crap food. Aaah the fun :) We did the proper touristy bit - well... we went on the London Eye, which was the most boring experience of my life (may have been something to do with the incessant drizzle, and the hangover) and we went in the aquarium which was brilliant! Wheehee! Me and some random 4 year old kid had the time of our lives!

Generally, I disapprove of London. For me anyway, I would hate to live there. I like living somewhere where everyones accents are the same, and going to ASDA on a Thursday night means a shopping trip twice as long as it usually is because you'll have to stop every 5 mins to have a chat to someone you know. It also felt very claustrophobic to me, people rushing round everywhere, noone ever smiles at you :( The shopping isn't even all that brilliant... shops just repeat themselves over and over, there's nothing new!!

All of this, and I've been there 4 times :) I'm sure there are fantastic parts of London, but unfortunately I've never seen them.

Oh and this thread isn't an invitation to slag all of England off - you can go do that in your own thread :p Just London opinions please :)
Click to expand...

Hi :)

If you have been to central London, then you have never been to "London" Where I live everybody has the same acent for a start, well... mostly :D

Anyway, the real London is much worse than central London so feel lucky! Ummm, I won't give you my opinion about London because I am sure you can guess lol What I will say is this: Everybody here seems to be under the impression that I don't like the U.K becausae I lived in London. Not at all. I don't like the U.K for many reasons and London has nothing to do with it at all. Yes, I have been to other places in the U.K and find it pretty much the same. Yes, London is worse though :)
 
Not the first to answer in verse, but I wrote this a long time ago and had it laying around.

Irene Wilde


American England

People ask me, “What’s with you and England?” This is the best answer I have.

My soul has wandered the New World,
Lost and disconnected,
Until, by chance, I stumbled onto
Churchill’s
“Green and Pleasant Land.”

Walking the South Bank
On a spring night, beneath stars
of the Northern Sky,
Past the Tate Modern,
Beneath the Southwark Bridge,

Through the patchwork of London,
Which has no right angles,
Aged and ageless,
I tread the path of poets past,
And find the place my soul calls home.
 
There are so many aspects to London, its kind of like when people generalise about the WHOLE of America. I was born and bred in North London and lived there until I was 19. I still have a house there, and visit and house sit it every other weekend.

I could NEVER live there again, but it definately beats the bitter, unfriendly, ignorant rabble around here in the West Midlands where I live now.

Most people think of London as either the West End and central London, the hostile environment, cold faces, rude people in a rush, a melange of old classic architechture mixed in with tall office blocks, no where to park. Others might think of cockney-esque accents, dodgey market stalls down the East End, but there is so much more. My neighborhood in North London are very friendly and make this "Supposedly impoverished communal" neighborhood I live in in the West Midlands seem like some kind of warzone! The neighbors in the London place regularly look after the gardens of my place, and keep an eye on mail and out for shifty looking characters.

It is definately true that the pace of life In London is faster, and it's really not for me, I would much prefer to live in the country nowadays and get away from people. I prefer the friendlier demeanor of smaller villages/market towns. I've also found people who have only ever lived in London in their lives and probably always will- these people- like the one that recognised me in a bank in Woodgreen this weekend gone, can't imagine any kind of life outside London - this banker on the weekend felt SO sorry for me because I lived "Up north" as he put it. I've found that attitude common, by people who can't imagine living outside London.

As for the UK in general, I've been trying to desperately move to the USA for almost 4 years now. It makes sense- considering my pro-individualist values- and being a lowly paid engineer over here, but best not go there in this post.....
 
I went there, for the first time ever, about 8 months ago. I did all the tourist stuff - the london eye, the big ben, the changing of the guards, all that.

And I loved it! Brilliant city!

Cheers
 
Marquis Rex said:
It is definately true that the pace of life In London is faster, and it's really not for me, I would much prefer to live in the country nowadays and get away from people. I prefer the friendlier demeanor of smaller villages/market towns.

As for the UK in general, I've been trying to desperately move to the USA for almost 4 years now. It makes sense- considering my pro-individualist values- and being a lowly paid engineer over here, but best not go there in this post.....
Click to expand...

Mr. Rex, if you truly prefer the villages and market towns of England, than seriously reconsider your move to the US. And don't buy the John Wayne myth of America embracing the rugged individualist either. Read Miller's "Tropic of Capricorn" and if it doesn't make you think twice, then read it again. Only MHO, of course.

Irene Wilde
 
I don't know you at all Irene, and I can see you don't know me at all, but pleased to "meet" you and am looking forward to getting to know you better on this forum. I also want to apologise in advance for hi-jacking the thread – I request everyones indulgence as I feel I have to respond- else moderators- just delete my post!
I don't buy the "John Wayne" deal at all. I've lived in both Canada and America. I did an assignment in Michigan for over 2 years and the lifestyle suited me better. I also lived in Canada for over a year. For some reason I often get this reaction when I mention the allure the US has for me, It is often considered "half baked" or I get the glib comment "the grass is always greener". This does insult me (although I know you didn't mean it as such- I'm talking generally)- because it writes me off as not having thought about it. If I were to say I was considering Australia or some place diverse- such as Jordan or Saudia Arabia, I'm sure it would be considered "diverse" and cool and alternative or something and I'd get a pat on the back. The fact I showed a preference of Market towns or villages of England was only relative to London and big cities. In fact I prefer open spaces, without neighbours poking their noses into my business and my life. Places where I can keep my fleet off the road too. To get a place like that here, you have to have about £600,000- which is impossible for me. In the USA however there is ample space

I DON'T buy this "fabled" John Wayne myth you talk of. In fact I usually vacation to the US almost every year. Last vacation I covered 10,000 miles in the period between Thanksgiving and New Years Day and it was incredible I think I must have touched the majority of US states on-the-road. Right, most of the things I'm about to say are generalisations- it's OK to generalise as long as you know it's a generalisation.
I find the people friendly, and accomodating and warm. It's nice to be able to go into a bar, by myself, and strike conversations with strangers and no one thinks it's weird. It's much harder to meet people over here in the UK (in the south at least). It's true that its more friendly up north or in remote villages though. I find Australians lack of "British reserve" nice too.
I've found there's alot less jealousy/bitterness of success there. I remember driving around in a development Jaguar S type just after it was launched -around the South West of the USA and all I got was compliments at gas stations and the like, over here I would have been lucky to be let out at junctions.
There isn't a national obsession with football/soccer-and even basket ball isn't rammed down your throat EVERYWHERE-which is good for me- but perhaps not for alot here.
I find the music much more varied out there, you can be into rap ( if you must!) and dance but you can also be into classic rock ad retro stuff like Led Zep- its all catered for on the radios, and there are a wide variety of night clubs too ( in the Seattle area I was hanging out in anyway). Over here, I find the stuff played on the radio much less varied and "narrow". It's nice that services are open late in the USA and I can get something to eat whenever I chose. I can buy as many cars as I want, I can live away from other people with less interference then here, I can listen to "cheesy" music without being labelled cheesy and mocked.
There is MUCH more of as pressure to conform in England I find, you have to wear the right clothes, and listen to the right music, if it's not Coldplay or Stereophonics- hopefully at least you turn toward rap, dance and house. And you know what? I'm not cool, and I couldn't give a crap about hanging about with the "right people" and listening to the right music and driving the "right car". Ever notice how many cars are new over here- despite that fact that most people have to go into debt to have to afford them. Now compare that to somewhere like Oregon, or Northern California, say. So , Im freer to buy what I chose WHEN I chose, listen to what I want and meet new people more easily, and be able to live with less interference from neighbours, I'm not mocked for not being obsessive about football/soccer- YES I'd call that pro-individualist. Ok, so I haven't read the book you recommend (yet), but I've seen from my EXPERIENCE.

As for the career and money aspect, I know it's not "cool" to say this, but over here Mechnics and train drivers get paid the same if not more then I do, and I'm a professional engineer with a degree and Masters. I would be getting 2-3 times as much over there. It's the union driven professions that are driven up over here- that makes life better here for less educated people and life better in the USA for people like me. Anyway, its not about to happen, I've been trying to get to the USA for over 4 years now mais sans success….
 
Freya said:
Again, apologies if there's already been a thread along these lines, but anyway... London!

Have you been there? What do you think? Would you live there?

Do you live there or have you lived there? Why do you live there, or not?

If you've never been there, what are your general thoughts of what London might like?

A special award will be awarded to anyone who answers in the form of a poem.
Click to expand...
London is about 20 mins away from me in the train :p I think London is quite a busy place, I don't want to live right in London! Never lived there but I do go there sometimes as it is close to me. I don't live there because I live with my parents and they wanted to live here :p Its nice if you go to the right areas in London. Its very busy and alot of tramps, scary tramps!
 
SillyWabbit said:
Hi :)

If you have been to central London, then you have never been to "London" Where I live everybody has the same acent for a start, well... mostly :D

Anyway, the real London is much worse than central London so feel lucky! Ummm, I won't give you my opinion about London because I am sure you can guess lol What I will say is this: Everybody here seems to be under the impression that I don't like the U.K becausae I lived in London. Not at all. I don't like the U.K for many reasons and London has nothing to do with it at all. Yes, I have been to other places in the U.K and find it pretty much the same. Yes, London is worse though :)
Click to expand...
I can make London a good place for you ;)
 
Martin said:
I went there, for the first time ever, about 8 months ago. I did all the tourist stuff - the london eye, the big ben, the changing of the guards, all that.

And I loved it! Brilliant city!

Cheers
Click to expand...

Martin, you are not paying attention :)

you have NOT been to London. Central London is totally different to the rest of it. It's a few miles of nice in an ocean of crap. Central London has: Cafes, museums, nice restaurants and so on. Rest of London does not, well, it has restaurants if you count the Indian/chinese take away and pizza hut.

Trust me on this. If you come to London, ill show you the real London.
 
I think I prefer 'my' London, Wabbit - every city has its shady area's, London's no different.

Cheers
 
RainbowGurl said:
Is Madame two swards in central london? Or whatever its called lol.
Click to expand...

Yes Madame Two Swords. She's my favourite. Always swinging those blades round with gay abandon. :D

It's Tussauds I think. I find it a bit sinister in there. All those waxy faces and beady eyes. Too much like a family reunion.
 
I'm coming up to London tomorrow to research the rise of conscientious objection and the changing public opinion of "conchies" in the inter-war period at the IWM Archives. I personally would hate to live in London, but it's nice to visit once in a while!
 
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