I’ve been thinking a lot about my time in London, now that I’ve lived here for over four years. And it got me thinking: how could I possibly begin to describe the wonderful roller-coaster that is the expat experience?
Here’s a starter for ten, at any rate. To me, living in London is…
- Busy and lonely all at the same time
- Equal parts filthy and elegant
- It’s dancing in the middle of the road with a kebab in hand
- Making friends on the night bus…
- …and convincing 10 strangers on said night bus to play charades with you
- Not having time to read that magazine you bought a month ago intending to have some ‘down time’ to read it
- Crying on the tube about some boy who wasn’t even worth it…
- …and not even giving a shit what the other passengers think as you snotball into your tissues
- Then remembering that moment, fondly, years later
- It’s fine dining and swanky bars
- Followed by dirty chicken at 2am
- It’s underground nightclub raves
- It’s breathtaking art right on your doorstep
- It’s illegal art-squat-parties-in-abandoned-office-blocks (sponsored by that dodgy cider brand you can’t recall)
- There’s creativity beyond anything you’ve ever seen
- There’s all those amazing weekend jaunts to Europe
- Landing in Gatwick at 730am on a Monday and rocking up to work fresh from an Amsterdam bender, suitcase in hand
- Trips to the countryside
- The dodgy shingle beaches
- The cream teas, cottage pies, eton messes, and many a full English – mmm
- The many Be At One cocktail bars, dangerously close at all times
- The realising you’ve tried most of the cocktails on the Be At One list, mostly due to their 2-4-1 offer
- It’s rudeness beyond anything you’ve ever seen
- And kindness that exceeds all expectations
- Constant, exhausting, exhilarating change
- Where you’ll learn to hate and then love the NHS
- Where you’ll meet the most interesting people with the most interesting jobs
- Where you’ll realise that what you thought you wanted maybe wasn’t what you wanted after all
- It’s a place where someone always wants something from you: be it your money, your time or your ass
- It’s de-humanising and re-humanising at the same time
- It’s the fizzing, gleeful delight when summer rolls around and you can picnic in Hyde Park again
- It’s the simple joy of lazy afternoons in London Fields, followed by insane nights out at The Dolphin on Mare Street – if you’ve never seen a lady swing a bar stool wildly over her head, you haven’t lived
- It’s buying your entire summer wardrobe in Primark for £60
- It’s an endless, always-changing cycle of wonderful new friends and colleagues
- Plus the solid crew who’ll always have your back
- It’s nights on the sofa watching back-to-back episodes of Orange Is The New Black because you can’t afford to go out
- It’s rice-and-bisto for dinner when you really can’t afford to go out
- It’s champagne and oysters when you can
- And on the topic of oysters. If the world’s your oyster then surely London’s the pearl
- She’ll win you over whether you want her to or not
- And she’s definitely a lady. A crafty, bonkers, wonderful, brutal lady
- She’s your boss
- She’ll make you her bitch
- And then one day you’ll fight back like you never fought before
- You’ll win her respect
- You’ll win your own respect
- And everything gets a little easier
- Because, when it all comes down to it, London is life
