Having arrived in London on Friday evening, and having been been whisked straight out for cocktails, it was obvious that Saturday would start with a hangover.
Luckily it also started with a few hours to myself. So, I took myself off through the foot tunnel to Greenwich. Once safely on the other side, I stood at the railings looking back at the Isle of Dogs. With a tall skinny latte in hand, I pondered on a London life.
I have had so many amazing times in London that I often wonder about living there.
But when I consider the realities of living in London - the cost of buying/renting somewhere to live, the tube in rush hour, the cost of going to the cinema, the fact that distances are measured in time not miles - I think again.
It makes me realise that being a visitor to the great city is the best way to appreciate it.
My London friends enjoy the city, embracing fully all that the capital has to offer - they eat out a lot, they go to the theatre, to the ballet, to the opera. They get tickets for the visiting exhibitions, they're in the wimbledon ticket lottery. They go to the proms (and never, ever the last night) and they have good, full, London lives. Luckily, they all earn good money to be able to do these things.
None of it makes me want to live there though. Some cities are for living - Lyon, Rotterdam, Birmingham, Berlin. You know by now that these are the cities I love. Cities that have everything you could want, everything you could need and where life isn't too much of a challenge.
Other cities - Paris, New York, Tokyo, London, Barcelona - are there to entertain us.
To make a home in any of them would be like moving in with a mistress - a good idea in theory, but as you get to know her more and more, you start to wonder why you left the wife in the first place...
5 commentaires:
Glad to hear you love Birmingham too, it's getting better and better I think.
Had a quick wander round the Bull Ring yesterday, did a bit of light shopping and then had a late lunch/dinner in one of the posh pubs. Really lovely.
People take the proverbial p out of Brum and Brummies, but even though I'm not born and bred here, it's still nice to hear a Brummie twang when away from home - kinda friendly I think.
I really love Birmingham. One of these days I'll post my Birmingham love story - why I love the place so much.
And as for the accent, suffice it to say that to this day I don't know how a straight man can resist a sweet, gentle, brummie accent on a girl.
Maybe it just reminds me of home?
Kipper tie? you two can't be serious.
Maybe the disclaimer "sweet, gentle" is the clincher.
I know it's not fair, but whenever I hear someone with a brummie accent I have to overcome the prejudice that they sound thick.
I blame Lennie Henry
There are accents in the UK that sound more stupid than Birmingham accents...
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you :
1. Bristol
2. Liverpool
3. Manchester
4. Essex
5. Cornwall
And I might point out that most people confuse the Birmingham accent with that of the Black Country and Wolverhampton. Which is actually an accent I really like.
But it probably would make it to number 6 on the list....
London life -any city life is no longer for me. I like to visit, but London these days for me looses its charm after two days.
Birmingham - that’s like a sort of City/town its hard to comprehend the size it is. I love the markets, jewellery quarter Mailbox bits etc. Manchester Leeds -keep em, Bristol now way. Cardiff growing and offers so much more these days, including £1.5m flats.
But I love where I am I can get to Cardiff, Swansea in 45 mins max. London is 3.5 hours Beaches less than an hour and I am in the mountains. I think quality of life isn’t a commodity cities offer these days. But I have so changed the way I think about life -live to work, what for, tax man and cost of working take most of a high salary. Now I work for my self, limit it to three days and on paper earn half what I did, do you know I see no difference, Well may be I now only buy a Mulberry handbag once a year at Cheshire Oaks :>)
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