Sick of London,

TheBlueWolf

I'm a born and bred Londoner but can't wait to get to Texas and not just because Mrs TheBlueWolf is there. I'm fed up with London too.

57Deluxe

I remember the days when I used to work in Belgravia and had to take a company car up each day. You could walk the massive empty rank of Parking Meters that ran from Sloane Sq to Hobart Place and 'trip' the meters with an oversize foreign coin to see which meter was jammed and stick a note on the windscreen for at least 2 free hours, sometimes a whole day!

http://i63.tinypic.com/vpuaf8.jpg

FarleyUK

I started working in London (near Spittalfields) in January; it's a 5 hour round commute everyday, and I've never worked in London before. I live in the home counties, and I actually like London.

....but it's the people in London that are the issue I think.

As has been mentioned above - they are so incredibly rude and obnoxious; I have never in my life been anywhere where people don't say 'thank you' for thinks like holding doors open etc. It doesn't take a lot of effort, and yet it's like it's beneath them.

Also, everyone seems to be a stupid hipster - might just be Spittalfields, but these guys seem to have the worst attitude of all.

Everything is MUCH more expensive too - minimum of a fiver for lunch.

Plus, the underground in rush hour - do NOT attempt the Northern line or Jubilee line! I had to see a client at London Bridge yesterday, and spent 10 minutes queuing on the platform at Moorgate to get on a Northern line tube, with no air-con. Gave up and got a taxi instead.

FX_Munkee

Dominic said:

Yes .....the thing I really hated about moving a little way out of London was the Villagey type Gossip, busybodies,small town petty-mindedness and parochial attitude.
 Menus of local eateries were stuck somewhere between 1965 and 1972 and the local " chinky " as the locals happily call it closed at 8pm which is just as well because it served food that had escaped from a Vesta packet somewhere in the mid 1970s and bore absolutely no resemblance to any Chinese food (Cantonese, Szechuan or Shanghainese ) that I have ever seen.
 I swear;the day after we moved -in an old man came to the door to introduce himself as "the Crow Man " . I was polite and nodded as he mumbled and told me how long he had known Mr Atkins the previous owner. He said he would be back Thursday. I assumed he was a local character albeit a bit odd and never thought any more of it.
 On Thursday my wife phoned me at work aghast ......the old boy had come back on his bicycle from which hung a string of dead Crows .......For sale .........For eating !!!!!!!! I suddenly realised the significance of 4 and 20 Blackbirds when she told me that he had explained how "local folk" were partial to a Crow Pie ! This was 1980s .

I think your problem was moving to a fictional black comedy sit-com village as opposed to a real "commuter belt" type one.

mellowsun

London is a massive place, you can't just write the whole place off. 

There's good bits and bad bits and touristy bits.

But it's good to have a break from the place. A lot of it is grimy and smelly, and oddly these are often the most expensive bits because they central.

For me the balance is living in the leafy but inexpensive suburbs and commuting into the City of London and West End when necessary

ToneControl

adamm82 said:

I've spent most of my life in London and I think I'm outgrowing it.

Today my train was cancelled. So it took me 2 hours to get to work. 2 hours for a journey that is 8 miles into the city, 

I arrive in the city and I pop into Sainsburys and they have no cold food as the fridges are broken. I go to tesco and the fridges are also broken.

Nothing works here. Ok today may not be a typical day but here are my reasons I want out.

Rent and housing prices are ridiculous,
Everything seems more expensive,
Roadworks everywhere they have had my street closed for 3 months causing a very long diversion every time I want to go anywhere.
Transport is awful and horrendously overpriced and doesn't work sitting (if you are lucky) on old trains, I consider my self a bit of a tube geek but bored of it. 
It's full of horrible people. 
Doesn't feel safe anymore
anytime you go out you have to keep an eye on the time otherwise it takes forever to get home, even with the 24 hour tube it's not really that helpful.

Maybe it's because I am getting older but perhaps I'm not the only one.who feels like this. 

I think you've simply escaped from the "group think" that ties people there

Heartfeltdawn

Or he's fallen prey to the 'grass is greener' mentality, can't see all the tangible benefits of living in London, and really should go and spend a year living in Newport in order to get some perspective. 

Transport here in Bristol is more expensive to get around. Three mile bus trip in London is not £3 as it is here in Bristol. I know that life growing up in the countryside meant that a cancelled train = a fucking long walk home (13 miles in some instances). Job choice was less, rental prices everywhere are fucked, I've been attacked way more in grotty towns than I ever have been in major worldwide cities... The moaning about transport by Londoners is the thing that always gets me. Seriously folks, you have a fucking ace bus network, improving cycle network, a Tube system, and trains coming out of your arses. 

Guitar_Slinger

Doing sums tells me I've spent 60% of my life living in London, since leaving school and moving here.     We've all got our reasons for loving or hating a place and IMHO it's all about light and shade/taking a break from where you are to appreciate it.

My selfish opinion would be to stay in London for another 10 years (or as long as I can stick it), then move away and retire early.  The biggest reason I have for moving away now is for my 5 year-old son to live in a bigger house, go to a better school with smaller classes and play in less-polluted streets.  The only thing stopping us is not knowing where to live!

roberty

I think I'll be moving to Bristol from London in September.  Been in London for 12 years and I love it, but the life I have here is different to the one I had in 2005.  I had a room in Kentish Town for £280/m, everyone I knew was in a band and everything was in walking distance.  I work a 9-5 now and live miles away from any sort of counter-culture, commuting on the central line.  If I'd been canny enough to get on the property ladder a few years ago I'd probably stay, but I cannot physically stomach the thought of paying £250k for a shoebox in Barking.  It's such a shame.

adamm82

Heartfeltdawn said:

Or he's fallen prey to the 'grass is greener' mentality, can't see all the tangible benefits of living in London, and really should go and spend a year living in Newport in order to get some perspective. 

Transport here in Bristol is more expensive to get around. Three mile bus trip in London is not £3 as it is here in Bristol. I know that life growing up in the countryside meant that a cancelled train = a fucking long walk home (13 miles in some instances). Job choice was less, rental prices everywhere are fucked, I've been attacked way more in grotty towns than I ever have been in major worldwide cities... The moaning about transport by Londoners is the thing that always gets me. Seriously folks, you have a fucking ace bus network, improving cycle network, a Tube system, and trains coming out of your arses. 

Not Grass is Greaner, more like I want different Grass.

Of course there is lots of good things about London, But I won't miss them, I'd come back to visit I have family here. 

Also some of my current my dislikes of London are probably dislikes of the UK in general in it's current situation. So moving abroad seems very appealing right now. 

And we have every right to complain about the transport as it costs a fortune. Buses may be cheaper if you live on a handy route where you can get a bus. They are often as squashed as tubes these days. 

Tone71

The only problem with London is the lack of Londoners in it as they`ve all moved to the suburbs.

Dominic

FX_Munkee said:

Dominic said:

Yes .....the thing I really hated about moving a little way out of London was the Villagey type Gossip, busybodies,small town petty-mindedness and parochial attitude.
 Menus of local eateries were stuck somewhere between 1965 and 1972 and the local " chinky " as the locals happily call it closed at 8pm which is just as well because it served food that had escaped from a Vesta packet somewhere in the mid 1970s and bore absolutely no resemblance to any Chinese food (Cantonese, Szechuan or Shanghainese ) that I have ever seen.
 I swear;the day after we moved -in an old man came to the door to introduce himself as "the Crow Man " . I was polite and nodded as he mumbled and told me how long he had known Mr Atkins the previous owner. He said he would be back Thursday. I assumed he was a local character albeit a bit odd and never thought any more of it.
 On Thursday my wife phoned me at work aghast ......the old boy had come back on his bicycle from which hung a string of dead Crows .......For sale .........For eating !!!!!!!! I suddenly realised the significance of 4 and 20 Blackbirds when she told me that he had explained how "local folk" were partial to a Crow Pie ! This was 1980s .

I think your problem was moving to a fictional black comedy sit-com village as opposed to a real "commuter belt" type one.

Thorpe - le -Soken ....not fictional 

roberty

Nitefly said:

On the other hand:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/06/if-youre-not-tired-of-london-youre-tired-of-life

  

Rod Liddle is trash:

So, Crispin Blunt MP feels hurt because laws proscribing amyl nitrate (or 'poppers') would criminalise the entire gay community. ... I would have thought that the requirement for amyl nitrate to relax the sphincter muscle and lube to accommodate entry was God's way of telling you that what you're about to do is unnatural and perverse. Or your body's way of telling you – your call. So eeeeuw. ... Crispin and others can always use a [crowbar] instead

Nitefly

To be honest, @roberty , I'd never heard of him - I found that on Google as I was checking the Dr Johnson quote in my original post.  He sounds a miserable twat either way...

roberty

Nitefly said:

To be honest, @roberty , I'd never heard of him - I found that on Google as I was checking the Dr Johnson quote in my original post.  He sounds a miserable twat either way...

Yeah np.  The article starts off alright but takes a very nasty and sudden turn, so I thought I'd do some googling.  Lo and behold

Philly_Q

roberty said:

Nitefly said:

To be honest, @roberty , I'd never heard of him - I found that on Google as I was checking the Dr Johnson quote in my original post.  He sounds a miserable twat either way...

Yeah np.  The article starts off alright but takes a very nasty and sudden turn, so I thought I'd do some googling.  Lo and behold

I read that Rod Liddle article and thought hmm, much of this is true - sort of - but it's being described in the most twisted, negative way imaginable.  London may be a shithole but it's my shithole (...so to speak).  Fuck off Rod Liddle, you nasty man, we don't want you.

Wolfetone

I just don't understand the attraction to London or the the whole south east to be honest. Getting anywhere is an absolute nightmare, house prices are a nightmare, pollution is a nightmare. I can't agree that people aren't nice. I have had some great craic with the locals. 

Dominic

Liddle sets himself up to be the journalistic shock -jock.His books are very boring tho'
I remember when he had no more than a dozen column inches writing freelance for TIME OUT

rossyamaha

Said it before and I'll say it again. London is a great place to leave. So is Lowestoft. 

Danny1969

I used to work in London in the nineties, I had the contract to paint all the pillar boxes amongst other things. I still work up there now a few times a year in gigging capacity. No way I would live there .... for average working folk it's a low standard of living with small accommodation, no garden, low quality of air, long working hours when commute is factored in. 

Since they built the Hindhead tunnel I can be in London within an hour but where I live is 5 miles from the sea and 3 miles to the most glorious countryside. I expect the money I pay for my detached 4 bed bungalow with large gardens would probably get me a 3 bed flat in London