(no subject)
I've come to a terrible realisation: I'm slowly falling out of love with London. I've been thinking this for months now and at first it bothered me.
What's weird is that being in France, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else than Paris. It's where most big exhibitions, concerts, theatre plays, etc... happen. I love the idea of going out and being able to simply take a bus to the Louvre or the biggest library in France. So quite logically, I should feel the same about London. And I sort of do, but the city itself doesn't appeal to me. I used to try and go to London every year even if I had nothing in particular to do there. Now I just can't be bothered if there isn't a big concert or event I really want to attend.
Quite frankly, I blame my year in Edinburgh. As much as I love (and I really mean absolutely love) walk in the West End at night, the number of parts of London I enjoy walking in is actually quite limited The city is too divided between districts. What I mean is that the West End is for entertainement, the city is for business, others parts are just for living... Of course it happens in every city but the divisions are not as clear-cut in Edinburgh and so I feel more at ease walking around the city.
I feel that the center of London is soulless because no one actually lives there. The hostel I was staying in last time I went was next to St-Paul's cathedral and during the day it was quite nice (if you like being only surrounded by men in suits who are always running from one place to another). But at night, it looked like life had been sucked out of these streets. Obviously, since everyone came here to work, the people in the hostel were almost the only ones who ventured in the streets around the cathedral during the night.
God knows I find faults in Paris but one of the things I like is being able to see that almost the whole of the city is always alive. The West End is animated thanks to tourists and Londoners who come here for the theatres and the restaurants but no one actually lives there (though it only is the impression I got. Do correct if I'm wrong because I've no idea of how difficult it is to get accomodation in London, how affordable it is, etc...). And if you venture a bit too far from the theatres, you find yourself alone all over again. I feel like the only part of London I could afford are not places I'd actually like. Even if I lived in London, I'd still feel like a tourist in the most popular areas because they're just meant for me to come eat, be entertained and then leave, but not actually live. To me, it makes a huge difference. You know, like Rose Tyler who eats lunch on Trafalgar Square but then goes back to her crappy suburb because the rents are so ridiculous in London.
If I live in a huge city I want to be able to live close to the center, and if I can't for lack of money, then I want to move somewhere else completely.
I know there are distrcits that are quite nice to live in in London, but as a tourist, I obviously rarely get the occasion to go there. Sherlock Holmes' district in Sherlock actually looks nice, but is it really affordable? (yes, I do think about everything through fandom ^^)
My mother (who's a nurse) is alone raising two children, and yet we can still afford living right at the center of Paris. I do realize we're lucky though. It is also due to the fact that we don't mind living in a very small flat with always quite a lot of noise either from the street or the neighbours, the pollution, the quite expensive rent for such a small superficy, and the fact that being 22 I still have to share a tiny bedroom with a teenager. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Are my assumptions about London completely false? Are more people living near the center of London than I actually realize? It really makes me sad to see that I'm falling out of love with the city of my dreams from when I was younger. I'd really like to love London again and I still feel like I could actually live there (all I need is animation), but just for a year or so, certainly not for a lifetime.
What's weird is that being in France, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else than Paris. It's where most big exhibitions, concerts, theatre plays, etc... happen. I love the idea of going out and being able to simply take a bus to the Louvre or the biggest library in France. So quite logically, I should feel the same about London. And I sort of do, but the city itself doesn't appeal to me. I used to try and go to London every year even if I had nothing in particular to do there. Now I just can't be bothered if there isn't a big concert or event I really want to attend.
Quite frankly, I blame my year in Edinburgh. As much as I love (and I really mean absolutely love) walk in the West End at night, the number of parts of London I enjoy walking in is actually quite limited The city is too divided between districts. What I mean is that the West End is for entertainement, the city is for business, others parts are just for living... Of course it happens in every city but the divisions are not as clear-cut in Edinburgh and so I feel more at ease walking around the city.
I feel that the center of London is soulless because no one actually lives there. The hostel I was staying in last time I went was next to St-Paul's cathedral and during the day it was quite nice (if you like being only surrounded by men in suits who are always running from one place to another). But at night, it looked like life had been sucked out of these streets. Obviously, since everyone came here to work, the people in the hostel were almost the only ones who ventured in the streets around the cathedral during the night.
God knows I find faults in Paris but one of the things I like is being able to see that almost the whole of the city is always alive. The West End is animated thanks to tourists and Londoners who come here for the theatres and the restaurants but no one actually lives there (though it only is the impression I got. Do correct if I'm wrong because I've no idea of how difficult it is to get accomodation in London, how affordable it is, etc...). And if you venture a bit too far from the theatres, you find yourself alone all over again. I feel like the only part of London I could afford are not places I'd actually like. Even if I lived in London, I'd still feel like a tourist in the most popular areas because they're just meant for me to come eat, be entertained and then leave, but not actually live. To me, it makes a huge difference. You know, like Rose Tyler who eats lunch on Trafalgar Square but then goes back to her crappy suburb because the rents are so ridiculous in London.
If I live in a huge city I want to be able to live close to the center, and if I can't for lack of money, then I want to move somewhere else completely.
I know there are distrcits that are quite nice to live in in London, but as a tourist, I obviously rarely get the occasion to go there. Sherlock Holmes' district in Sherlock actually looks nice, but is it really affordable? (yes, I do think about everything through fandom ^^)
My mother (who's a nurse) is alone raising two children, and yet we can still afford living right at the center of Paris. I do realize we're lucky though. It is also due to the fact that we don't mind living in a very small flat with always quite a lot of noise either from the street or the neighbours, the pollution, the quite expensive rent for such a small superficy, and the fact that being 22 I still have to share a tiny bedroom with a teenager. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Are my assumptions about London completely false? Are more people living near the center of London than I actually realize? It really makes me sad to see that I'm falling out of love with the city of my dreams from when I was younger. I'd really like to love London again and I still feel like I could actually live there (all I need is animation), but just for a year or so, certainly not for a lifetime.