I’ve grown the like the place, it’s changed a lot in 10 years since I used to go there for work, or maybe it’s the places – I used to work in Bishops Gate and Canary Wharf, now it’s Lambeth and Westminster, or maybe it’s the time of year I used to have to go in Autumn and Winter, now it’s usually Spring to late summer.
It’s not a place I’d like to call home, but I’m nearly 40 now and don’t need the hassle, if you’re younger it looks great – there’s a lot of opportunities which means you can progress through a career faster than you can in other places in the UK. The people I work with there seem to be about 12, but they’re on their 3rd job from Uni and looking for their 4th. Competition is tough though, they’re all very switched on and keen, ‘office hours’ in London seem to be 8-6 whereas the rest of the country is resisting the move from 9-5 to 9-5:30 (and I’m with them).
In my limited experience people who can’t stand the place (which was me 2 years ago) are missing the attraction, it’s not the money, any ‘London weighting’ you might get is easily pissed away just trying to keep a roof over your head or getting about, or maybe even the opportunities – it seems to be the pace of the place people like, or at least the ones I know – they love the way people march about at twice the speed of anywhere else, the way Londoners can tear through an automated till at twice the pace as anywhere else, whilst talking on the phone. It’s not anti-social either, far from, it’s not like some tiny Yorkshire village where you say hello to the old lady down the road every morning – you can’t say hello to everyone it’s bedlam on the street – but people go out a lot, the bars are busy most evenings, people sit in groups an eat together, also people tend to be more tolerant of strangers than in quieter places – they’ll talk to people they don’t know – if only to ask to get past, instead of throwing mad shapes to try to squeeze past without daring to touch or talk to someone.
I prefer to live a quieter life, I’m happy taking it slower, but I do sometimes regret turning down so many offers to work/live there in the past.