Myths and Truths about London

Before I moved to London, I spoke about the city with many of my friends, colleagues and strangers. It seemed everyone had opinion about London, no matter if they ever visited it or not. After talking to a few dozen people I realized that people either love or hate London. There didn’t seem to be too much of a middle ground. “You will love it there, it is just so amazing, I am jealous” was what one group of people was saying while the other was telling me “You really want to move there? The weather is just awful, the prices are too high, the city is too crowded…are you sure?”.

Today I will share with you some of the things that people told me about London, and I will also tell you if I think they are just myths or there is some truth to them.

I was told that:

• It always rains in London and I will get lucky to get one sunny day in a week. My experience: FALSE. I have had a few rainy days here so far, but overall the weather has been very nice. I was truly enjoying sipping my morning capuccino outside at a Greek cafe nearby and reading the Sunday paper. And when it did rain, it didn’t last for too long. I am sure this will get worse as winter approaches but so far so good!
• It is a dirty city and the Tube is especially nasty. My experience: FALSE. Where I live (Notting Hill/Bayswater) and work (Liverpool Street Station) it is as clean as a busy city can get. I see somebody cleaning the streets every day. And the Tube is clean as well. Sure, there are times when one train might be dirty, or one seat is stained, but nothing to complain about.
• The food is just awful. My experience: FALSE. I didn’t have any bad experience so far, just the opposite. I liked the full English breakfast (eggs, sausages, tomato, beans, ham) I had the other day, I enjoy the variety of cuisines all around and the fish & chips was good too.
• The Tube is always busy. My experience: ALMOST ALWAYS. Yes, the Tube is busy, especially in the morning and late afternoon. I had a horrible experience taking the Victoria line one morning. I couldn’t board twice and to even get in I had to really push myself into the train. I think five people were within 25cm/10in proximity of me while on the train. I was just praying it doesn’t stop in the middle of the tunnel. That said, not lines are that busy. I live on the Central line and that one is fine most of the time. It also runs about every 2 minutes during peak hours. The Tube is busy but very efficient. I must say, an A/C would be nice!
• It is very expensive. My experience: TRUE, but… Yes, London is expensive, especially rents, but as anywhere there are ways to save money. There is the National Rail Card that gives you discounts when you buy train tickets (I recently took a speed train operated by Virgin Trains to Manchester for £22, first class with breakfast), the same card offers you discounts in restaurants and for other services, if you subscribe to a newspaper you also get offers for other discounts (for example I joined local independent cinema and got three free tickets for joining and will get a discount for each ticket I purchase there for the entire year), last-minute show tickets are also available, Taste London card offers 50% off at 800 London restaurants… There are ways to save, but it is expensive here.
• British people are not very nice. My experience: FALSE. Everyone I met has been very nice to me, helpful, very friendly. Not sure where these people my friends were talking about are hiding.
• There is always something to do. My experience: TRUE. Yes, indeed. There is so much going on in London it is absolutely amazing. So many nationalities, so many cultures, so many activities. You can live here years or your entire life and never get bored. While San Francisco, Los Angeles and Prague (all cities I’ve lived in) have many things going on as well, I don’t think it compares to the eclectic variety of events that happen in London.

That’s all for today. More soon. Any myths you heard about London? What do you think of the city?