I decided to move north to Nottingham. Why you ask, as every other english person questioned me? First of all thats where the love of my life lived. I had traveled to Nottingham many times over my stay in London and every time I fell more and more in love with it. It was in the centre of England, so a good spot to explore the U.K. as a whole. Nottingham is a big city and has lots of opportunities for jobs just like London. One thing I realised was its a lot quieter and a lot slower pace of life. When living in London it was just go, go, go all the time, life was just flashing before my eyes. London was always crowded, lines everywhere people would push past you knock you off the sidewalk, people were rude and would never help you. In Nottingham the locals were the opposite.
We have all heard the saying “Bored with London, bored with Life” I never got bored with London, I just fell out of love with it. There is always something to do in London but most of those things cost money, and if you are just managing to pay rent and expenses there isn’t much room for a social life - which brings me to the point of not being able to afford anything.
I was getting quite depressed, the rent price’s are so high for what you get, and compared the income it isn't that substantial. Sometimes I had to prioritise my social life over food just so I could go to an event to meet friends. Once I move to Nottingham my rent was halved and my room double in size (including my own bathroom). Food was somehow cheaper and transport - well I could bike to work cause it was such a smaller area, yet my income stayed the same. London’s lifestyle really depends on your income, If your earning any less than £30,000 a year you will be scraping the barrel.
One major part of London that I despised of was the tourist groups. Like locusts spreading through a field, the tourist group ravages and ruins everything in its path. Try, for example, walking along Westminster Bridge on a Saturday without being forced out onto the road into the path of an oncoming bus. Taking photographs from the middle of roads, stopping abruptly, and whipping out a selfie stick every 30 seconds are three particular traits of the tourist from Hell. Let’s not be xenophobic about this – I was definitely one of these tourist’s In the first weeks I arrived, but after living there for a few months you just never went in to the tourist spots after mid-day.
Catching the Tube when you first arrive is a thrill (everyone recognises the sounds of "you are on the Piccadilly train to Cockfosters') but then it gets very old after traveling at peak time in the summer with a sweaty armpit in your face. Does anyone really enjoy the underground system? Well, obviously some people do. Elsewhere the train system is slower but at least you get a seat every time you board and they have AIR CONDITIONED carriages!!
If you’re a city person then maybe London is for you but personally I need silence to be able to sleep at night. With an air heavy with horns, exhausts, people shouting, music, air travel and general havoc, London is not the place to visit for tranquillity. As soon as you move out of the city’s it become peaceful and bliss, you can hear the nature around you.
Not only is it the noise, the travel or the tourist’s. It's the pollution is got to be one of the worst things about London. The first week I was there I sneezed and black soot came out of my nose. The capital is one of the top 50 worst polluted areas of Britain. I was constantly sick and decided it wasn’t good for my health breathing in all that carbon dioxide. When I moved to Nottingham I was surrounded by greener parks and I never got sick.
Well there are many other reasons why I didn't like London, but they are the main ones. I traveled a lot around England and stayed in many different places and to be honest London is not what its all cracked up to be. I always tell people when they are deciding to go on their OE to try somewhere different go to Manchester, Ireland or even Scotland, you never know you might be like me and love not being in The Big Smoke.
