London... some love the place, some hate it... you?

[Master Ray]

So... I got some VERY cheap train tickets for a day out in London this coming Thursday a few weeks back when I was out of work, thankfully my new employers have let me have the day off....

I bloody love London but I know a few people who utterly hate the place... personally, I've had so many great times there, with friends or without... I usually try and manage a three or four day break there at least once a year... I can only manage a one-day visit this year.

I'd be interested to hear what you lot think of London.  As I get a lot older, I'm getting very interested in the history of the UK and London is full of that ancient stuff... so many things to investigate!  But I know it's damn expensive and some people think it's not a very friendly place... 

What are your experiences?  Tell me one of yours and I'll tell you one of mine... 

[Heno]

I love London. From the times as a kid when i I went there with my parents to stay with my Granny through school tours and to gigs. Love Camden too. Lived there for a few years in the 80s. They were tough times for me. Did enjoy lots of things. Could move back there for a while based on current projects.

[Pol]

Having stayed there for a couple of years nearly when i was 19 Got to say i mostly enjoyed it at the time. I certainly met some interesting and unique people I used to be a bit of Kings road punk Weirdly most of the people i was friends with were from my area (Ayrshire/Glasgow) though i didn't know them before. Maybe people from the same background look out for each other.
Really loved the fact that you could see good bands every night. I used to enjoy going to Deptford crypt etc and following the crusty punk scene that was big at time and enjoyed the psychobilly scene, Hammersmith had a few good pubs for that.
On the down side it definitely can be expensive, the traffic and the tube can be horribly slow and cramped It was certainly a eye opener having grown in a town of 50,000 people with very few black people or people from other ethnic or cultural backgrounds
Would i go back there and live definitely not, maybe a few days break if i got the right opportunity but there are so many other places i would rather go first

[Shush]

Go to London regularly with work. Like the  place, but my god, the traffic. It can really spoil your day 

[Amandistan]

I a not from the U.K so this is just a visitor's perspective. I have not seen very much so can just judge from what i have experienced.

I visited twice and did not see the big deal. It is very crowded and very,very expensive. To be fair i only visited the king cross area, Camden and some other of the more tourist areas so can not say much. It's just a very big city and the size is overwhelming. Everybody seems to preoccupied to be friendly when cities like Manchester were the opposite.

 It also felt unsafe as their were drunk people shouting in the street at night (some of the comments were sexual)  and I was alone. I guess that one experience also turned me off of London a bit.
I would give it another chance but not alone.

Greenwich looks like it would be very cool though.

[Bever]

Been on a 6 day trip with the misses this summer. Three days Oxford and three days London. I must say we enjoyed it very very much. My wife preferred Oxford, but for me London was the highlight of the trip.

Granted, we did have unusually good weather. 30+ degrees when we were out in London. We avoided the tube as much as possible for two reasons. One, it was bloody hot. Two, it gave us the chance to actually see the city instead of the underground. If we needed transport, we took the bus instead.

When walking around, we were very pleasantly surprised by some areas. Of course Saint James's Park. But we spent some time at Covent Garden at night and much enjoyed the atmosphere. And then there was the south bank area between London bridge and Tower bridge up until Potters Fields Park. A very nice walk.

All in all (and maybe we were spoiled because of the weather) it was an amazing trip and I really like the city.

[BlackCountryMaggiD]

Love it!
But only for a few days at a time.

[Master Ray]

Lot of love for London!

Amandistan, sorry you had that experience but quite frankly it's quite standard for the UK nowadays... we're not all like that, honestly!  Glad you liked Manchester though, I live about 40 minutes away and I get there all the time... such a great city (you should also try out Liverpool if you ever get chance...)

Heno, if you ever get back to London, let me know, we've spent enough time on this Forum going back and forth with our usual bullshit banter to let me know we'd enjoy clinking a glass or two together... I'm only a cheap train journey away. I also love Camden, it might be not as trendy as it used to be but it's a bloody fine place to go drinking.  Also a few minutes up the road from The London Forum, wish I could afford to see NMA there in December... 

Shush, I know what you mean about the traffic... I'd rather shit in my hand and clap rather than drive a car around London...

More opinions about London?  I don't mind if they're horrible! 

[Shush]

"I'd rather shit in my hand and clap"

hmm, thanks for  that simile M/R.

I will go around tomorrow looking for situations in which I can use it.

[Master Ray]

"I'd rather shit in my hand and clap"

hmm, thanks for  that simile M/R.

I will go around tomorrow looking for situations in which I can use it.

Hey, I nicked it from last Fridays episode of 'Big School'... wish I was that clever.

[ldopas]

So... I got some VERY cheap train tickets for a day out in London this coming Thursday a few weeks back when I was out of work, thankfully my new employers have let me have the day off....

I bloody love London but I know a few people who utterly hate the place... personally, I've had so many great times there, with friends or without... I usually try and manage a three or four day break there at least once a year... I can only manage a one-day visit this year.

I'd be interested to hear what you lot think of London.  As I get a lot older, I'm getting very interested in the history of the UK and London is full of that ancient stuff... so many things to investigate!  But I know it's damn expensive and some people think it's not a very friendly place... 

What are your experiences?  Tell me one of yours and I'll tell you one of mine... 

I don't hate it, I just hated living and working there for 6 years. It all depends on where you live, some parts are like any other city and the middle is a cauldron of heaving, relentless, impersonal, rude, breathless human beings. Im happy to visit, but happy to live up in the North West.

[sozbot]

I live on the outskirts of London and I have very mixed feelings about it. Sometimes I love living here, other times I would rather be anywhere else.

It's very expensive, it takes AGES to get anywhere, social gatherings are rare as people can't be arsed to leave their borough (and rightly so, because it's so awkward to get anywhere that isn't directly in or out - sideways? What's that?), and people are so much less friendly than every other UK city I've visited.

That said, the sheer amount of STUFF going on here is incredible. If I had an unlimited budget, I could go out every night of the week and see something incredible.

I'm here now because at the moment, it's where I need to be for work. I'm hoping this changes in the next 5-10 years, but I suppose I'll always have a soft spot for London, even if my time here has been bittersweet.

[Master Ray]

Think I know what you mean, Sozbot.  Much as I like visiting London, I think you'd have to be on a really big wage to truly enjoy the place.  Not an average wage and having a huge commute every single day, only to get back to a place that isn't all that nice... people I know from the London area are desperately broke just to struggle to a halfway decent standard of living... hope you're not one of them!

[sozbot]

Think I know what you mean, Sozbot.  Much as I like visiting London, I think you'd have to be on a really big wage to truly enjoy the place.  Not an average wage and having a huge commute every single day, only to get back to a place that isn't all that nice... people I know from the London area are desperately broke just to struggle to a halfway decent standard of living... hope you're not one of them!

Just seen this now, many months later!

Well, I'm fortunate enough that Husband and I own our house with a relatively small mortgage (due to a legacy I was left), and he earns decently as a self-employed electrician. I'm at a point in my music career where earnings are sporadic but I have to keep doing what I do and forging ahead otherwise it'll all be for nought... I can't afford to take the time away from my work and get an office job or whatever. It'd be foolish at this point. I'm earning enough to not need to do that, but I'm not earning ENOUGH. If I didn't have my husband and this house, I'd be in a very different situation.

Frustrating, but we do OK. We're far from rich, but because of his work we can still go out to dinner and the pub and see most of the bands we want to see.

I do find that the cost of travel is crippling. Quite often I have to make my excuses to musician friends because at certain times I can't afford to see their shows - it's not just the cost of the ticket, but the price of travel and the inevitable drink afterwards as it's really quite rude to leave without saying a proper hello and congratulations... I'd rather do these things less frequently and do them better.

I'm happy to admit that we're lucky, and we're so much better off than many. We are thankful for it.

However, I'm tired of having to conjure things out of thin air. As a household we do fine, but I have very little money to spend on anything for myself. I can't remember the last time I bought a new dress. I can afford to spend a little money on myself maybe once a year. Birthdays and Christmas are stressful because I want to buy gifts for people that they deserve, and I can't, because all my money gets eaten up by travel and just... London. I must spend at least £100 a month on travel, and that's when I'm not travelling into Central London often.

My husband probably doesn't realise I feel this way - he'd hate it if he knew, but I hardly feel as though I can say to him "please give me more money on top of what you already spend supporting me so that I can have something nice for myself".

I just feel that our life would be so much better if we lived in another city, but by the same token, we feel stuck here. I feel as though the 6 years I've spent building up contacts in London would disappear overnight if I wasn't immediately in their line of sight. I've seen it happen. Also, my husband has built his business over almost 15 years and would either have to go back to working for someone else, or start from scratch.

So basically, it's tough to have a good life here, and we can't afford to move.

Please excuse the rant and whine, I just feel trapped. First World Problems in the extreme. I laugh at myself for complaining, frankly.