London Hate

I used to resent London when I lived in the North but deep down I always knew I was just jealous.

Story of my life, really...

I hate a lot about it, but mainly because I don't live there and so when there am always hobo-ing, ie am street-level the whole time. I hate its self-importance, but then what's 'its'? I should just spend less time in Fitzrovia.

that's what i used to dislike about it, too.

What do I HAAAATE about London? I hate SO MANY PEOPLE IN MY WAY ALL THE FUCKING TIME, JUST MOVE IT, JUST GET OUT OF MY WAY, I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY TO WORK, TOO OR JUST A TOURIST GAWPING AT BUILDINGS, JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY. That is my number one hate about London.

Cabbage to thread.

I began to see the beauty of smaller towns and value what they had to offer. I particularly valued the fact that there was a lot going on near where I lived and I had to explain to ppl who originated in small towns that suburban London could be very dreary and boring - ppl from small towns whom I met at uni automatically thought of central London, not knowing and considering the suburbs.

I think when I went to Bristol and Oxford I forgot about the good stuff about my childhood - a loving family, no serious illness, good academic record at school - and concentrated on the bad stuff - being forced to do things I didn't like, other kids giving me grief. I put this together with the hustle and bustle and pollution and the drear of certain sections of suburbia and concocted a "London bad, small towns good" model in my head. This model was in no small way susbstantiated by the fact that I was undoubtably having a better time in Bristol and London, making lots of good friends and generally having a happy time.

Fast forward a few years. The veneer of Oxford had faded to some extent. The novelty of living in a small town had gone. It's a very transient place and many of the ppl I'd met had moved away. But at the same time I was no longer skint all the time and so could spend more money on travelling and having fun. I think joining sinister and ILX and going to more social events in London have led me to places in London that I never went to as a kid and in many cases couldn't (pubs and clubs). So I guess now I have the best of both worlds....I live and work in a small place and so don't experience the London commuter hell, but enjoy "dipping into" London on a regular basis.

x-post, argh...

I never go out in Oxford, Mark, only in London (and I've cut down on that), which gives me a stupid perspective on both.

The rest of London is OK. Sometimes very very good indeed. I've never experienced commuting there though.

Scalextric and Tom Petty better?

My bad commuting days were bad because they took me OUT of London; I'd have been happy to suffer the Bank branch bottleneck if I'd pitched up in the city itself. I suspect I'd dislike London more if I was a driver.

These days a part of me feels compelled to move there and be involved; that part of me is smaller than the part which likes to walk the coast path or intends to go kayaking down the Ex to Turf Locks. My 'dream' isn't to live in a big city apartment or townhouse, it's to have an old cottage in the middle of nowhere with plenty of space and air and water.

I love London, but miss the sea.

I do find the peace & quiet of Ally Pally quiet soothing - just wish there was easier access into town. Like Kate I rate 'ease of sleep' highly - and so getting off the nightbus after being out in the centre, and walking home in virtual silence always makes me pleased.

(nb I am, however, an extremely boring person.)

I can't agree with DC about the Irish. I only ever meet one Irish person in the borough of Lewisham, and he lives in Eltham.

It's fucking noisy! There are 5 lanes of road traffic of combined caledonian road/camden road outside my flat. For the first couple of weeks I really had trouble sleeping but it's something you get used to very quickly (maybe it's easier for me cos i lived in Hong Kong for 12 years of my childhood years).

Sometimes I still long for the days when I lived in Highgate, when I come home from going out drinking, and I step out of the bus/tube and my street is quiet and tree lined and nice. But on Camden Road where I live now yes, it's noisy, but it's relatively cheap, convenient with local shops and supermarkets, choice of over 10 pubs within walking distance, close to going out places in islington, and various parks, great bus connections, i can ride my bike to work, and hilmarton tandoori is just around the corner. What more do I want?

It's also 2 mins bus ride to bowling alley/DDR machine, that's what.

"going into town" in the weekends is still kind of a big thing for me though. even though i work there practically, it still feels different.

If you leave things unattended, though, they'd get nicked. My car got broken into the first day i parked there. Then 2 weeks later some essex wanker drove like a loon and ran into it while it was parked. Solution: don't have a car.

steve really?? count me in pls!

i prefer it to music, often, the sounds of the city at night, through the window

i know though, and i can hear it out there, right now. perhaps i'll always hear it

After 7 years away from the place, I cant wait to get back there.

Bits of it always seemed very broken down to me. Everywhere my brother's lived there seem to be boarded up shops and dingy looking newsagents. Everything seems crowded and close to the street and full of minicabs.

Of course, the famous bits are wonderful, even when full of gawpers like me at Christmastime, and the last time I was there, when I met ILXors for drinks, that was great.

I like the argument above that places are in London because they're on the Underground. The most remote places ever served by the Underground were Brill - a small village about 10 miles north-east of Oxford - and Verney Junction, a station in the middle of a field somewhere between Bletchley and Bicester.

His name, as it contains an obscenity, is 'spoonerised' whenever featured on the front page of an issue of VIZ, as it would be easily read by children whom are otherwise not entitled to buy the magazine. Hence he becomes 'Wockney Canker'.

i cut through spitalfields market the other day, on my way to aldgate, i hadn't realised half of it is now gap and starbucks and new offices, and the rest shunted into the other half

i dont know what i feel about the preservation people, and their attempts to save the market. im not sure ive ever liked spitalfields that much, its felt 'heritagized' as long as i can remember. im not sure the 'character' of it remained worth saving (on a strictly personal level), and as for the building, well, when they save buildings now, they just save the edifice, and put chain stores and corporate firms inside dont they. is it even worth it?

Although I hate the bland, preserved Spitalfields and the way it is endlessly, lovingly photographed over and over again by flickr dullards (and the same goes for the South Bank and the City etc. etc. etc. - those flickr people annoy me.. sorry, I digress), I suppose on balance I'm glad some of these old buildings have been preserved. I mean, if they were torn down it would just be Broadgate style developments with Starbucks etc. which seems like a bad thing right now but of course would be a good thing viewed in 2050 when such architectural schemes will have acquired a charm they currently don't have.