Tuesday 7 August 2012

There is something about London


  What is it it about London that makes you get over all that you don't like about living in the UK? I arrived here in March 2011. I was never too excited about living in the UK because as per my knowledge acquired from books and movies, it wasn't a country with the grandest of lifestyles.

  I arrived in Reading, a town that is an hour away from London. On my way from Heathrow to our flat in Reading I had decided that I was never going to enjoy living here. But then on my first weekend here, my husband took me to London and there was something about it that made me get over the narrow roads, the ugly hatchback cars, the biting cold (I was freezing in March which is supposed to be spring!), the lack of a family entertainment night life, the malls and stores closing around 6pm, and the suffocatingly small houses! There was something in the air of London. Something that made you feel like a tourist and something that made you feel at home because everyone around you seemed like a tourist! Or maybe it was the metropolitan feel of the city. You can't tell who is actually native to the country because of all the multi ethnicity that you see all around you. Or is it that you can get the best of any cuisine in the world here? Or perhaps the designer shopping? The best of which is only limited to the busy shopping centres in Central London. Sometimes you feel it's the trend watch in the city that really refreshes you. If you have trouble matching your new highlighter yellow trousers to a suitable top, take a walk down Oxford street and just looking at the shoppers will give you at least half a dozen ideas! Maybe it's the acutely planned under ground system of the city which makes you wonder why on earth would anyone drive a car when you have such a convenient mode of travelling? Not to forget the planning of the city. For someone who belongs to a country where land is in abundance, it's a marvel how such a 'big' city of the world is actually planned on a relatively smaller piece of land.

  All I can say is, my husband will be over joyed to read the above thoughts on London. =P I've given him such a hard time with my bitter criticism of life in the UK ( don't be surprised if you see a never ending post on that soon) that this would be a breath of fresh air for him.

  Perhaps like every place in the world, UK too has its pros and cons. Something works for some while it doesn't for others. Visiting London for the weekend or day trips is one of the things I look forward to the most. You can never get lost in the city because it's so well planned out. You can never get bored in the city because there is so much to shop, so many theatres to visit and so much history and culture to admire. But don't you come to me later that I didn't warn you, unless it's central london or a few other popular streets around London, life will come to a dead stop around 6pm unless pubs and bars is your idea of sole entertainment in life.


 

  

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