Fuck London

[polystyle]

Dame Vera Lynn !

Check the end quote from Michelle Hanson at the Guardian
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/world/europe/21britain.html?hpw

 

[Sick Boy]

If the cost of living and quality of life weren't complete shit in London, I would be there already. I'm giving it a few more years until at least employment gets better, or I have some sort of transferable skill that won't make my aimless life also an impoverished one.

If you think you like big cities, but you don't like being miserable and annoyed, then you don't really like big cities. There is a positive correlation between your level of brooding cynicism and how good that city is. The country is a good place to be happy, not cities. Dogs are happier in the country too.

 

[IdleRich]

I moved to London in 2000 having grown up in the country and I still love it - but I can't say that I always will. I understand why people say it's a mixture of large pleasures and large frustrations and if those things move out of whack in the wrong direction then it will be time to head. On the other hand, I don't really feel that I know London properly yet even after ten years which has to be a good thing, there's always another park or something to discover*. I can't imagine living in any other city in the UK, if I moved out of London it would be to the countryside or to another country I guess - and somehow I can't really see myself doing the latter. Then again, I'll see what I think of NY in November....

"Would you really rather live in Coventry?"

Exactly.

*eg I never knew about this thing before today

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=1&q=mandir+temple+london&aq=f&oq=&start=0

 

[mms]

yeah same here.

although living by the sea is pretty tasty.

i went for a caravan holiday in Southwold last weekend and swam in the sea both days. Best hangover cure in the world. so yeah, living by the sea is good... but not really as good as london.

one of the reasons i went there cos i grew up in cornwall, there were quite a few ok jungle nights etc there when i was at uni but too much of it waas bukem.

 

[alex]

i can get everything i want in the midlands and all with added advantages of things like hills, countryside, the ability to breathe fresh air, see the stars.

rather be down her & watching tramp's fish through bin's than go up north (and back in time) to wierdly shaped forehead's, frech crop's, ibred twats & persistant racism.

 

[luka]

its true. people think league of gentlemen is supposed to be some over the top groteque comedy but really its an astonishingly accurate picture of the uk outside of london.

 

[matt b]

I miss the self-absorption and small mindedness many Londoners display.

 

[Benny Bunter]

its true. people think league of gentlemen is supposed to be some over the top groteque comedy but really its an astonishingly accurate picture of the uk outside of london.

lol! I'm from Cumbria but I took flight from there as soon as I could. Not gonna defend it and I have actually came across inbreeding, racism and general backwards-ness, its true. Newcastle's cool though...

Do occasionally get a bit annoyed at the unbelievable ignorance of a lot of londoners though. I mean basic geographical questions. Fucking get out of London once in a while will ya!

I've not spent much time in London but I visited some friends in Dalston last summer and I really liked it. It reminded me a bit of the area of Newcastle that I live, on a much bigger scale though obviously! Had an amazing Turkish meal there, a great fry up in a greasy spoon and a night out in Shoreditch where we had a bit of a laugh at some of the twats. It was a good weekend, I might even go back one day, lol...

 

[run_time]

London is a battle, the sheer hassle of getting from A to B can be so very taxing...but if you are prepared to 'work it', it has a lot to offer. I've caught countless free gigs in London, stuff that I'd be waiting forever to catch in more provincial corners...and if you add the stuff you're prepared to pay for, the list becomes endless. You've just got to develop something of a thick skin which is also probably why this place comes across as so hostile at times...

 

[viktorvaughn]

I think the secret of being happy in London is finding your little area, get to know it really well, get your mates to live round there too is poss, don't go to far a field cos its stressy, avoid centre wherever poss, have a decent commute to work, shop in the little shops near you, go to all the amazing stuff that is on, keep a keen eye on all websites etc for free stuff and then you kind of have the experience of living somewhere a bit smaller but with the resources of a huge city. Basically be dead parochial!

 

[luka]

good advice viktor.

 

[audiofelch]

I've been here 10 years but since taking a job with a 5 minute cycling commute have all but forgotten what it's like having to brave the centre, which is a bit of a luxury i guess. In fact i barely leave SE15/SE5 anymore, it's a strange, near-village life, interspersed with the odd trip to obscure parts of north and east london to investigate/get lost in some new alien area; I've yet to exhaust it in that respect.

There are also those rare days during summer when the city is emptier, and a mirage of continental life fleetingly appears...

Like anyone, I've little patience for rush hour public transport.. and a fair chunk of the populace are a unique breed of total cunt, but nowhere else have I had nights out that run spontaneously from say, cheap, good food, to a free film screening, to a club that plays what I want to hear.. perhaps introducing me to undiscovered treats, then perhaps to a warehouse party.. etc etc..

I love certain northern cites, but being half Pakistani I regularly get told to 'fuck off back to leicester', that's only ever happened in London in New Eltham, and it's my own fault for going there.

 

[luka]

am i still the only person on dissensus that was actually born and raised in london>?
i was last time i checked but that was years ago.

 

[simon silverdollar]

tom lea is a londoner born and bred too - from bethnal green.

 

[scottdisco]

I've been here 10 years but since taking a job with a 5 minute cycling commute have all but forgotten what it's like having to brave the centre, which is a bit of a luxury i guess. In fact i barely leave SE15/SE5 anymore, it's a strange, near-village life, interspersed with the odd trip to obscure parts of north and east london to investigate/get lost in some new alien area; I've yet to exhaust it in that respect.

There are also those rare days during summer when the city is emptier, and a mirage of continental life fleetingly appears...

Like anyone, I've little patience for rush hour public transport.. and a fair chunk of the populace are a unique breed of total cunt, but nowhere else have I had nights out that run spontaneously from say, cheap, good food, to a free film screening, to a club that plays what I want to hear.. perhaps introducing me to undiscovered treats, then perhaps to a warehouse party.. etc etc..

I love certain northern cites, but being half Pakistani I regularly get told to 'fuck off back to leicester', that's only ever happened in London in New Eltham, and it's my own fault for going there.

sounds like you've got it nailed. my little brother has been living in SE5 for a couple of years or so now (after a long time in various places in Brixton, SE4 and Hammersmith) and it's great there. good railways for London Bridge or Victoria, near Brixton and Elephant and Peckham and Dulwich, good buses to Euston/Liverpool Street etc, some nice parks round there, nice vibe.

in terms of the cosmopolitan vibe in London obviously nowhere in the central/northern provinces is the same but certain parts of inner Brum (i know it well) are cool, and certain parts of s and n Mcr are quite well miscegenated. can't speak for Leicester or Blackburn or Huddersfield or the like, get the impression (knowing Blackburn and Huddersfield a bit) they may be less ethnically diverse than some other provincial towns, whilst at the same time having a higher proportion of non-white locals than those same other provincial towns if you get me. yeah the west midlands is cool, in pubs with a mate there the other month in Brum town and in one suburb it felt like being back in se London or urban north america in terms of the ethnically diverse punters, a refreshing change from time in working men's clubs in Featherstone or pubs in Crewe.
hope i don't sound like a ropey Daily Mail cock for bringing this final paragraph up, i'm speaking with love!

 

[scottdisco]

Simon if you're still reading this, OT, but i read in Out Inn Cheshire (!) that the Frodsham Brewery is now up and running, it was the old Stationhouse micro round your way anyway but they changed the name when there was a beer fest round there recently, no more info at present

 

[simon silverdollar]

oh wow, great news! Frodsham's always have a strangely vibrant real-ale scene, for such a small town.

re. your previous post - "pubs in crewe". *shudder*. Crewe is a crazy, crazy place isn't it? just wall-to-wall brothels and tribute band nights.

 

[IdleRich]

"am i still the only person on dissensus that was actually born and raised in london>?"

I think you're the only person in London who was born and raised there - and you're not there any more. London is a city of immigrants basically.

"I think the secret of being happy in London is finding your little area, get to know it really well, get your mates to live round there too is poss, don't go to far a field cos its stressy, avoid centre wherever poss, have a decent commute to work, shop in the little shops near you, go to all the amazing stuff that is on, keep a keen eye on all websites etc for free stuff and then you kind of have the experience of living somewhere a bit smaller but with the resources of a huge city. Basically be dead parochial!"

This is basically my life - except in London Fields rather than south of the river.

 

[luka]

I think you're the only person in London who was born and raised there - and you're not there any more. London is a city of immigrants basically.

thats true enough.

 

[mistersloane]

am i still the only person on dissensus that was actually born and raised in london>?
i was last time i checked but that was years ago.

I'm London born n bred.

I still really like it here but I like other places too, I'm not too bothered, and getting defensive about places is stupid.

It helps me to get out of London / where I am alot - even just for a day - or if not have big spaces you can live in or hang around in. It's all about claustrophobia I think. And if you are feeling claustrophobic and can't get out, just look at some footage of India and then London suddenly all seems really empty and serene.