Now I had originally thought this post would be about what I love and hate about living in London. But unfortunately, or rather fortunately, the love part became too long to not have its own post. I have lived in London for about 7 years now. I first came to London as a student and lived for a year as a student and then started working in the city in 2015. I recently realised that London is the city I have lived in for the longest period of time as an adult – how crazy is that?
Outfit details are on our Instagram.
When I first came to London in 2013 I have to say it was a bit of a culture shock, some of which is still difficult to come to grips with. I am sure you will hear more about that in the ‘hate’ part of this post. For now, let’s talk about the good stuff. If you are coming to London as a tourist or thinking of moving here make sure to read both the posts to obtain a balanced perspective.
1. The Clothes, the Style and the Fashion
Of course there are areas of London that are all about the amount you spent on an outfit, but it’s not the London I know. I love seeing people on the street wearing the craziest of fashions – not so much the trends. You can see people wearing thrifted clothes, clothes that definitely came from their grandma’s closet and sometimes it’s even clothes they made themselves. It so lovely to see people comfortable in their style. It’s just something that makes me very happy.
One point I also wanted to make is that most London men are also quite adventurous with their clothes which I love seeing.
2. The Free Resources – parks, museums, walkways, concerts, shows and events
I was going to write each of these as individual points but honestly, it would just look like a tourist brochure. By free resources I mean the free museums, the parks, the river walks and other public spaces. I am going to New York soon and while researching I did notice that there are very few free museums in New York City. Some were free on certain days and for some you can get free tickets but free in the way that the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum are – walk-in whenever you feel like is a different experience.
British Museum
Of course I understand why they are free and being Indian, I am fully aware of the history of colonisation but that doesn’t change my experience as a London local in a position to enjoy these free resources. You can see my full outfit and more pictures at the Imperial War Museum.
Similarly, London’s parks are wonderful. And I don’t only mean Hyde Park and the really huge fancy parks. I live in an extremely central part of London and there are at least 3 parks I can access with a 5 minute walk. They are not fancy like Hyde Park but they are good enough to picnic, go for a run, for my workout and just generally relax.
I remember travelling to London for a Coldplay concert and a U2 concert. Apart from these paid events, summer time in London is a fantastic way to experience some amazing events for free. Every summer I feel I don’t take enough advantage of these resources but next year!
Now there are some pretty pointless sites in London as well so make sure you steer clear of those!
3. The Restaurant and Bar Scene
Quality and variety wise the London food scene is incomparable. I am sure of it. Of course I havent been to every city in the world, but the variety, diversity and quality of food in London currently is fantastic. For someone who loves food, this is something which is very important to me. I have always lived in very food centric cities and I now realise this is very important for me. Of course I love Indian food and living in London is like hitting the jackpot when it comes to Indian food. What I also love is how adventurous about food living in London has made me.
4. My Life
I love my life in London. It’s not like I didn’t like my life in Bombay but there were aspects of it that were extremely difficult for me. There are difficult things in London as well but I feel these things are more in my control than it was in Bombay. Ok, I am going to stop speaking in riddles and clarify.
I used to travel about an hour and half to work everyday (and an hour and a half back) while living in Bombay. After moving to London I realised how much it affected me physically and mentally. It not only affected my work but also my social life and life at home, relationship with my family and friends. It made me exhausted and irritable.
After moving to London the commute to work was something I knew I wanted to prioritize. I knew I could compromise on everything else but not this. I now walk to work in about 25 minutes. It’s a decent enough walk over Southwark Bridge overlooking the Shard and St. Paul’s Cathedral and I really enjoy it. If you follow us on Instagram and see my Instagram stories in the morning you would have seen the background. I listen to my podcasts and it totally calms me down and makes me look forward to my day.
5. Travel
There is no other city in the world which is in a better geographical position when it comes to travel accessibility. Not even counting how accessible mainland Europe is, even going to Africa and Asia is easier from London than any other global city. Of course I am not saying Japan is a quick hop but on the scheme of things, the number of flights you can get to cities around the world from London is impressive.
Thats all for my love London post. Next week its going to be either my things about London I hate post or this outfit I am dying to show you guys. I just saw Bidi’s gorgeous fun summery colourful dress in this post and it’s really making me annoyed about this miserable weather in London. Guys, please make sure you have subscribed to our emails and are updated on our Instagram.
– Anisha
I love your dress and your style.
Thank you so much! 🙂