“You have to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you got, and remember what you had. Always forgive, but never forget, learn from your mistakes but never regret. People change, things go wrong, but just remember life goes on.”
First things first, apologies – My London Diaries has been somewhat quiet since my post-Christmas blog. And I’m going to be truthful, I’ve been feeling a little lost (and have fallen a little out of love) with London, so I haven’t really felt like writing about it.
How is this possible I hear you ask? London has everything: the shows, the shopping, the bars, the restaurants, the celebs…yes London is pretty damn amazing but at times it is impossible.
You know you’re never going to get a seat on the tube in rush hour and that’s fine but what would be nice is to have some personal space and not be able to smell the B.O of the person towering over you.
You think the cars in London are bad then you realise the real enemy to pedestrians are the cyclists – they are a law unto themselves. They’ve clearly never learnt the definition of ‘zebra crossing’.
And the queues. Oh the queues. You want a coffee? The queue is a mile long at Pret/Starbucks/Costa. You want to go for food? That’ll be a 15 minute wait, let us take your number and we’ll call you when the table is ready. Just need to pick up a top? Sure, go join the 30-people-deep queue at the cash desks.
Oh and the expense. Heard about all the amazing pop-ups we have in London (okay mainly in Shoreditch)? Great aren’t they: £5 for a crisp sandwich, are you for real? Go to the Coop and buy a loaf of bread and a multi-pack and you can have about 20 homemade versions for the same price! £10 to play in a ball pit that’s the size of a corridor? £16 for a ticket to the cinema in Leicester Square? I could go on.
Of course then there’s the whole thing of having my phone pinched. Yep, really..straight out of my pocket. The less that’s said about that the better.
And one final thing: TUBE STRIKES. In the words of Sadiq Khan when campaigning to be Mayor of London ‘There will be no more strikes under my watch’..really Sadiq, because I’ve lived here for six months and I reckon there’s been one EVERY SINGLE MONTH.
Wow, that feels good to get that off my chest! It’s difficult to admit it when everyone tells you how lucky you are to live in London because ultimately you feel like you’re being ungrateful and not making the most of it but my god sometimes it really tests your patience. Some mornings I want to scream at the top of my lungs “SLOW THE EFF DOWN” to commuters rushing to get on the tube when there clearly isn’t any space left. We are all in this rat race together, so please let’s help each other out (get up a little earlier then you wouldn’t have to rush around is my first piece of advice).
The lady in Tesco the other day actually thanked me and told me to have a nice day! Why should I be surprised by this? Because no one ever talks to each other! Maybe it’s just a Northern thing but it’s actually pretty great to chat to people, ask them how their day is going and just BE NICE.
Yes London has A LOT of amazing things, but one thing it’s seriously lacking in is manners.
Okay, rant over.
Despite my slight (okay big) London-life crisis, I have still had a pretty awesome February. I went to the Top Secret Comedy Club, which despite being not top secret at all (it’s in Covent Garden) was absolutely hilarious especially when you’re drinking pints from a giant jug and your brother and his girlfriend are already pissed.
I met up with a friend who I hadn’t seen since sixth form over tea at Yumchaa in Soho which was the cutest tea-shop ever. We picked up right were we left off and have plans to go to the theatre this week. I also met up with a girl I went to Uni with and we had food at Zizzi’s and it was equally as lovely. Granted I’ve spent most my weekends at home in February (for parties, engagements and a charity do) the time I have spent in London has been great too!
Work has been brilliant: we smashed through the South America destinations and FINALLY OH FINALLY I’ve written about Reykjavik (and mastered how to spell it). My latest article about Newcastle shot to the top of the most-viewed article list thanks to NewcastleGateshead sharing it on their social media! 🙂
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, you’ve got to take the bad with the good.
It’s never going to be sunshine and rainbows, it’s London for gods sake, there’s too much smog to see a bloody rainbow.
But city life does have it’s advantages: you get too meet up with old friends because chances are you’ve all moved to London for work because trying to find a decent graduate job at home is impossible; you can walk along the River Thames and see Big Ben and the London Eye whenever you want; when the tubes work (and aren’t packed) they can get you to the other side of town pretty quickly; you’ll meet every colour and nationality in the world on your commute which I think is pretty amazing; you can (if you have a money tree) see a West-End show every weekend and last but not least, you will never ever, ever ever, be bored.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again…London is the lover who will break your heart into a million tiny pieces and then put them all back together again. It’s easy to love, easy to hate but if you ever choose to leave, you’ll look back on it with fond memories and remember it as the place where you lost and found yourself all over again.
My London Diaries 