Things you'd miss about London

[Treebeak]

Perversely I would miss the nature. I think London is full of amazing spots of natural beauty, real wilderness that I've never come across in any other city. I could never live in the country as it would drive me insane, but I love living in a city with pockets of countryside throughout it.

.

Strangely enough this is exactly what I was saying on Friday - you can be in the middle of the city - with every convenience and entertainment you could ever need and then on a massive open space sunbathing within minutes. And there HEAPS of places to go! I love that there are still new bits of 'green' london left to explore.

Oh yeh and being able to roll into a shop at 4 in the morning on a beer run aint half bad either

 

[Fuzzy]

Oh yeh and being able to roll into a shop at 4 in the morning on a beer run aint half bad either

that is one of things i do miss about living in a bit city. i guess it just means you have to be a bit more prepared to avoid the need for a late night beer stop.

 

[Nixon]

Ths buses
The dealers
The PEOPLE
The cityscape
The multi-culturalness (id hate to be the only black in the village )
camden
aldgate
shoreditch
soho
lewisham

oh i love london

 

[gabi]

the pubs. oh and the coolest fucking city in the world.

 

[Iguana]

I wouldn't miss the dirt and pollution, and grey bogeys

Gah! I remember how bad my nose was when I first moved to London. I was constantly congested and my throat ached. I had no tolerance to the tap water, which has some chemical in it that I'm allergic to, so my whole mouth and throat were covered in sores.

And to top it off the speed and pressure on the Victoria line made my ears pop so much I got a bad infection in one of my ears.

 

[pinkmonkey]

I'd miss the variety of food you can buy, the transport system (although it's a love-hate relationship) and the ease with which I can do my job - I can go into town and do research quite easily. I don't think I'd miss much else, I only go into town if I really, really have to.

I would have moved away from London had we not moved to 'rural' Tottenham. We'd both had enough. Now our itch for nature is scratched, I feel the need to move no more.

 

[art of fact]

the parks
the thames
alot of free stuff
24 hr offies

 

[Cid]

but that shows you've been in a city.

Also you sit in a park and it's just not like the countryside cos you're by a road etc. the smog in summer can be quite bad too.

But it's just like any city really, pro's and con's innit

Most inhabited places in the countryside tend to be quite close to roads as well tbh...

Anyway the larger parks have plenty of secluded spots well away from the roads.

I'd miss:

Easy availability of cheap, high grade drugs (or possibly not as I need to cut down, but meh).
Endless options for nightlife.
Endless cheap options for going out in the day.
Central London at night.
The view from Parliament hill.
My friends.
Museums etc.
The ability to buy practically anything you need at practically any time of day.
Public transport (ok so it has its problems, but anyone romanticising the countryside should try living somewhere where the nearest meeting place for anyone under 70 is a half hour drive away).

There're plenty of things i'd be glad to be rid of about the place, but I love it too.

 

[Orang Utan]

Gah! I remember how bad my nose was when I first moved to London. I was constantly congested and my throat ached. I had no tolerance to the tap water, which has some chemical in it that I'm allergic to, so my whole mouth and throat were covered in sores.

I remember that, but only cos you remind me, tis a distant memory now.

 

[Monkeynuts]

Nearly 13 years

And never noticed the black bogeys?

Perhaps you have very hairy nostrils which filter it out... or breath through your mouth

 

[Monkeynuts]

The ability to buy practically anything you need at practically any time of day.

Be good to have some sort of informal directory of places... there's nowhere down here AFAIK, I tend to stop off in Camberwell.

I can raise you a late night DIY shop for your all night offy though

 

[Orang Utan]

And never noticed the black bogeys?

Perhaps you have very hairy nostrils which filter it out... or breath through your mouth

I do have hairy nostrils actually but I have had grey bogeys - but if that's the only evidence of pollution, I can't say that it upsets me.

 

[Bazza]

I'd miss having to get off the Victoria Line prematurely after being stuck in a tunnel for 30+ minutes and then getting to work 90 minutes later than I should. Tossers.

I love London really, just not this morning.

 

[Monkeynuts]

I do have hairy nostrils actually but I have had grey bogeys - but if that's the only evidence of pollution, I can't say that it upsets me.

I agree, better the dirt goes into your bogeys than your lungs I think...

 

[Roadkill]

Can't say I've ever noticed having grey bogies. One thing I do notice is that, if I leave my bathroom window open, dirt - it looks like smuts from a coal fire - accumulates quite quickly on the window ledge.

 

[Iguana]

I'd miss having to get off the Victoria Line prematurely after being stuck in a tunnel for 30+ minutes and then getting to work 90 minutes later than I should. Tossers.

I got fucked by the Victoria line as well this morning. But I have just bought this so hopefully that will be the end to my travel problems.

 

[Orang Utan]

Lazy!

 

[Iguana]

Lazy!

You still have to cycle it to get it to work. That's way less lazy than getting the tube. And Marylebone to Tottenham is nearly all up hill.

 

[nosos]

The ability to buy practically anything you need at practically any time of day.

After 3 years of having innumerable 24 hours shops (most of which sold booze at all hours) within walking distance of where I was living, finding myself unable to buy bread at 4:30pm on a Sunday afternoon is a really fucking shitty experience.

I miss pretty much everything about London and every time I have to leave it to "return home to Coventry" (...eugh...) it makes me sad. Though rationally I know there's a fuck load of stuff I didn't like about it. I doubt I'd enjoy living outside zone 1 in London (was living 10 mins from russell square tube for a year and then literally a minutes walk from Euston station) yet living in zone 1 London left me in a state of perpetual over-stimulation which left me always wanting to be stoned. Plus it fucking smells: it really shocked me when I first walked down Eversholt street a month or two after leaving London and realising that I’d never noticed how distingusting a stench permeates that street despite walking down it 30+ times a week for the past two years. Also, the absence of any local boozer that you could get drunk in for less than £20 was a bit shit. Likewise, the traffic and over-crowding….

Ok maybe I don’t miss living in London. It really is impossible to articulate quite how much cooler it is than Coventry though.

<starts plotting a move back to Manchester>

 

[catrina]

I absolutely love the parks. I go to the parks very frequently, and every time I'm just astounded at how there is such a beautiful park plopped right in the middle of such urban mess. Makes it all tolerable.

The constant sense of adventure and the multiculturalness, of which the public transport network is an integral part.

I can't stand commuting by tube or bus everyday, but whatever you feel like doing on any given Saturday (or Tuesday), all you have to do is hop on a tube or bus or boat and you're there.



(But the winter actually sucks. And the housing costs! And the stupid f*cking tube! and buses...and it's too crowded...and I'm so fed up of lugging shopping around miles and miles)

 

[Kanda]

I'd miss the Thames.

Treebeak said this in a text last night, she was on her way home from her leaving do in a cab.

I LOVE going over the Thames, walking, in a cab, at dawn fucked out of my tiny mind or whatever.. I <3 The Thames

 

[Bazza]

I LOVE going over the Thames, walking, in a cab, at dawn fucked out of my tiny mind or whatever.. I <3 The Thames

Yes! Totally agree.

My best Thames moment was after a night clubbing with my girlfriend.

We went to sit underneath David Blaine (it was his last night in the box) and we had a smoke whilst looking out to Tower of London (my favourite landmark).

It was such a lovely moment, I totally forgot that David Blaine was suspended in a box virtually above our heads.

 

[Meltingpot]

What I do miss (I've not visited the city since 1994); the bookshops and the vegetarian restaurants, especially around the Charing Cross - CentrePoint area, and Neal's Yard (in Covent Garden), which in addition to good veggie restaurants also has bread as good as I've had anywhere.

 

[Xanadu]

I'd miss the Thames.

Treebeak said this in a text last night, she was on her way home from her leaving do in a cab.

I LOVE going over the Thames, walking, in a cab, at dawn fucked out of my tiny mind or whatever.. I <3 The Thames

I always love it when I'm sitting in the back of the car and my parents are driving over the river at night.

 

[beeboo]

I love...

the fact my commute can take me from listening to woodpeckers in the trees to watching the stallholders set up for the day in Brixton to people hurrying to parliament with a briefcase full of papers to tourists in the parks to strange gents smoking oversized cigars at 8am in Mayfair.

the fact my job often involves spending time finding out more about the city

the fact if I get 'city sick' I can be in rolling countryside in half an hour

that I can buy yummy turkish food from the corner shop and they let me pay later if I don't have enough change

that things change faster than I can keep up so I never run out of stuff that I want to do - there is ALWAYS a gallery or club or restaurant or gig

knowing my neighbours and having a bit of a connection to the local community

that SE London really feels like home

the way that completely different places nestle next to each other and that walking a few yards can take you to somewhere completely unrecognisable to where you were before

If someone could cut off a bit of Snowdonia and drag it round to Southend, I'd probably be able to live here forever.

 

[vagrant]

beebo whoever you are i salute you

spot on

variety, change, everything's within cycling distance, opportunities,
randomness - it's the best!

And SE london - the STILL undescovered best.

also...
london + bicycle = heaven!

 

[nosos]

I can raise you a late night DIY shop for your all night offy though

Do they sell tables?

I remember a drugged up argument I had where I insisted there must be somewhere in London you can buy a table out of hours.

I knew I was right!

 

[spanglechick]

Do they sell tables?

I remember a drugged up argument I had where I insisted there must be somewhere in London you can buy a table out of hours.

I knew I was right!

ikea in croydon is open til midnight monday-friday...

 

[ngeru]

I'd miss the wonderful friends I've made over here, having such a huge choice re the endless variety of things to do & see, plus despite feeling unsafe in my neighbourhood over recent times (eg. me being attacked for my bag & Paul Erhahon's murder... both at the end of our street ), I'd miss this area we've called 'home' over the last 6 years... esp. the people I've met in the community such as the old school Eastenders that run various shops/stalls, the Turkish guys that own our local mini-mart & the Polish people that work in the cafe around the corner from us. In fact I'd miss visiting that cafe, not only because of the friendly staff & great food but the locals that frequent it are top notch. I've befriended many of the old boys there & they often enquire about hubby, as they ask after me when speaking to him. Oh & I'd miss the open-mindedness & such a vibrant array of cultures & nationalities all thrown into the mix.

My London shitlist is a helluva lot longer though, hence why I'm glad to be leaving!

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

After 3 years of having innumerable 24 hours shops (most of which sold booze at all hours) within walking distance of where I was living, finding myself unable to buy bread at 4:30pm on a Sunday afternoon is a really fucking shitty experience.

I miss pretty much everything about London and every time I have to leave it to "return home to Coventry" (...eugh...) it makes me sad. Though rationally I know there's a fuck load of stuff I didn't like about it. I doubt I'd enjoy living outside zone 1 in London (was living 10 mins from russell square tube for a year and then literally a minutes walk from Euston station) yet living in zone 1 London left me in a state of perpetual over-stimulation which left me always wanting to be stoned. Plus it fucking smells: it really shocked me when I first walked down Eversholt street a month or two after leaving London and realising that I’d never noticed how distingusting a stench permeates that street despite walking down it 30+ times a week for the past two years. Also, the absence of any local boozer that you could get drunk in for less than £20 was a bit shit. Likewise, the traffic and over-crowding….

Ok maybe I don’t miss living in London. It really is impossible to articulate quite how much cooler it is than Coventry though.

<starts plotting a move back to Manchester>

This is such a spot on post. I like my job where I am in china, the lack of commute, the cheap cost of living, but sometimes miss the groovy-funky-channel-27 nature of london, if only i could teleport to london for the weekends. Or at least every other weekend, and spend the other in the thai islands.