“I miss London so much, I can’t wait to go back!”
“It’s the most beautiful city”
I could go on with the list of comments forever.
I would like to talk to you about what it's really like to live in London.
London view
Living in London means having a thousand options for anything.
Being a Londoner means checking the forecast for the next day, and then realizing that it's useless and you have to resign yourself to dressing in layers anyway.
It means that if you want to do something you just do it, because for better or worse you'll find it available.
London is that city where everyone is ready to help you if you need it on the street.
But yet, on the Tube it's forbidden to look at one another in the eyes.
If you happen to meet someone's gaze: it's clear that you're not a Londoner!
Living in London means that a quick spontaneous coffee with a friend every now and then will almost never happen because social life is planned and organized weeks in advance.
First of all, because you have to see when your friend is free and then because most likely your friend lives in East London, and you in West London so we are talking about a 1 hour commute just for a drink.
If you organize a dinner with friends is even worse as you have to find a date available to everyone.
Being a Londoner means that you do your weekly shopping at the big supermarket in your area, but then you leave work and rush to a corner shop to get a microwave dinner because you have neither the desire nor the time to cook when you get home.
It happens that you make friends in your same neighborhood (the Borough), but London has 32 boroughs, how likely are you that your friends live nearby?
London is that city where you learn to walk fast, really fast.
London park
We avoid tourist areas like the plague.
Living in London means never seeing those things, those places, that you see on vacation.
And maybe we pass by them every day, but we don't pay attention.
It's a great shame, but that's how it is.
Being a Londoner means that you are part of one of two groups: the one that would never move from here, or that group of Londoners who dream of moving to the countryside.
Living in London means that to do the things you do on holiday, we have to wait for the weekend or take days off from work too.
Living here means that often in the evening you just don't feel like going to that super nice place that everyone talks about, because sometimes you just can't.
Living in London means that you can work with people from many different countries, in the same office.
It also means having office parties with potlucks where everyone brings something typical to share and you learn about other cultures.
In fact, living in London means meeting thousands of people and thousands of cultures, being able to taste all the foods in the world, and learning to have an open mind, which then allows you to travel more peacefully and grow with a very international mentality.
Living in London means that you go out without an umbrella, and if it rains you don't care.
Living in London means going to the grocery store in your pajamas because no one cares what you wear.
London meadow
Living in London means being able to reinvent yourself every day if you want.
It means having no age limits to start a new job and a new career.
No one stops you if you show that you know how to work well.
But, living in London means that for that job you like you will have to do 1500 interviews because you will often have ruthless competition.
All in all…I love living in London!
