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A Week in London: What I Didn’t Expect

I mean - they are living on a fucking island with terrible weather, crazy stabbing crime rates, shit food and ugly women. You would be miserable yourself.

Paris is a beautiful city with a few/not so few problematic spots like any city of this size, it's virtually impossible to find a city in the West that looks like a postcard from some dystopia. So yes, right next to Opera House you have a metro station where a homeless decided to take a piss.
You seem to have a hard on for anything UK related. Are you french? UK might be in a sorry state but France is a lost cause..
 

near

Gold Member
Yes, but often shriller and whinier. It's the worst accent here by far, even worse than Brummie.
The West Yorkshire accent is by far the worst accent I've ever had to tolerate. I like hearing the scouse accent, it has personality and charm to it in my opinion. Obviously not when you're speaking to someone who doesn't even speak English and uses a lot of slang.
 

FunkMiller

Member
If you visit Britain, get the fuck out of London and go see places like the Cotswolds. There is simply nowhere more beautiful, picturesque and pleasant than an English village on a warm Summer’s day. Even when living in the best weather and on/near the best beaches in Australia, I still crave the English countryside in summer. It’s glorious.

a1gNP2G.jpeg
 
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RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
I mean, I could literally walk at 3 a.m. in Abu Dhabi with zero fear. In London, at 8 p.m., there was a guy singing and screaming—and I assure you, I'm not exaggerating. It was in one of the metro stations (Oxford Circus I believe?) and it scared everyone. My brother who visit London constantly told us that we are late we have go back.
Ive came out of clubs in London barely able to walk and managed fine, I'm over regularly with work and have family living there and have never had any issues, it's a huge melting pot of a city with a ton of history and things to see and do, Abu Dhabi is a façade built by slaves ruled by a class of people you dare not cross, I'd take a sink estate in England over that sand trap 50 degree fake as fuck hell hole anyday
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
Ive came out of clubs in London barely able to walk and managed fine, I'm over regularly with work and have family living there and have never had any issues, it's a huge melting pot of a city with a ton of history and things to see and do, Abu Dhabi is a façade built by slaves ruled by a class of people you dare not cross, I'd take a sink estate in England over that sand trap 50 degree fake as fuck hell hole anyday

So in my estimates London is a place I wouldn't want to live, but if I had the money to live somewhere nice in London or somewhere nice in Abu Dhabi it would be the former easily.

I say this as someone who has a sister that lives permanently in the UAE and and have gone there a few times.

Everything you say holds up. As a tourist Abu Dhabi and Dubai can look very appealing, but after a while you can see behind it all. The freedom they allow there is a facade that could dismantle anytime with one wrong move and the heat makes the place unbearable most of the year which limits you to just hopping between shopping mall to shopping mall. It's a very restricted and repetitive life over there.

They treat most immigrant workers as 2nd class citizens.

My sister is married and has 3 kids there and a great house so it's for her, but I'd much rather take London and the UK.

Parts of Europe and parts of East Asia are my jam.
 

DKehoe

Member
Ive came out of clubs in London barely able to walk and managed fine, I'm over regularly with work and have family living there and have never had any issues, it's a huge melting pot of a city with a ton of history and things to see and do, Abu Dhabi is a façade built by slaves ruled by a class of people you dare not cross, I'd take a sink estate in England over that sand trap 50 degree fake as fuck hell hole anyday
I'm not saying London is perfect but the way I see some people online talking about it feels totally different than my own experience. Yeh there's crime, like in other cities across the world, but it's not like it's some hellhole. I'm not entirely sure why but there seems to be this trend of talking about cities like they've become total lost causes.
 

Facism

Member
If you visit Britain, get the fuck out of London and go see places like the Cotswolds. There is simply nowhere more beautiful, picturesque and pleasant than an English village on a warm Summer’s day. Even when living in the best weather and on/near the best beaches in Australia, I still crave the English countryside in summer. It’s glorious.

a1gNP2G.jpeg

Shame the roads are ass lol. Tell you what though, the Cotswold line cycle route between Chipping Norton and Chipping Campden is 90% new tarmac lol.

To add, anywhere in the Peak District, Lake District or Wales are great. Friendly af people too. Come to the UK to visit a city if you want the absolute worst this country has to offer.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Country where you can drink the tap water is a more informative point of information than whether they country considers itself wealthy or a democracy. The UK is still shit, though, and getting worse.
 

Hookshot

Member
If you visit Britain, get the fuck out of London and go see places like the Cotswolds. There is simply nowhere more beautiful, picturesque and pleasant than an English village on a warm Summer’s day. Even when living in the best weather and on/near the best beaches in Australia, I still crave the English countryside in summer. It’s glorious.

a1gNP2G.jpeg
The rolling countryside of Devon all vibrant and lush after a brief summer shower is what I picture as a beautiful English summer, lived down there as a kid and it's wonderful, close to the coasts, got some national parks. It's not as spectacular as vistas like Kilimanjaro or the Grand canyon but if you could guarantee the weather I'd recommend it to anyone.
 

DKehoe

Member
What is it about forums that attract so many people who are terrified of cities?
I remember a couple of years ago someone made a thread here asking why people choose to live in cities. It must have been in the politics forum because I can't find it now They seemed genuinely confused about it, taking all the online scare stories at face value and thinking they reflected the typical city living experience. There are perfectly good reasons to prefer living in a more rural area, so I'm not saying one is definitively better than the other, just that it was odd to see someone not understand what possible benefits there could be to living in a city.
 

ahtlas7

Member
Then there’s the whole drinking water from the tap thing. People just grab a glass and drink straight from the sink. I thought it was a joke at first. I kept expecting to see a bottle somewhere, but nope, tap water’s the way to go. I eventually tried it, and it was fine, but it still felt a little odd.
This story has no context if we don't know where you're from.

Arrakis
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
You seem to have a hard on for anything UK related. Are you french? UK might be in a sorry state but France is a lost cause..
I don’t think you’ve been paying attention to the last 5 years. France has problems, but the economy is strong, unemployment relatively low and we will be the largest EU country in 10-15 years. UK is a shitstorm by comparison.
 

Mephisto40

Member
London is basically the city nobody in England wants to live in, but everybody outside of the UK thinks they want to live in

It's a good place to visit every now and again as I only live 2 hours drive or an hour's train away, but I'd never want to live there
 
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Mossybrew

Banned
As an American none of that stuff seems unusual for a large city. I'd guess many of our sprawling metropolises have more space and don't feel as packed in tight, but that might be the only difference.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
I ate at fallow off of Haymarket which was very good, but most of the time I just wondered why everyone smelled so bad. Could have been all the homeless? I saw a few but not a lot or maybe there was actually a lot and that is what smelled so bad lol
 
I don’t think you’ve been paying attention to the last 5 years. France has problems, but the economy is strong, unemployment relatively low and we will be the largest EU country in 10-15 years. UK is a shitstorm by comparison.
That isnt the point.
You clearly have an axe to grind against the Uk.
Couldn't care less if the economy is bigger than the UK . What a weird barometer to use.

Also bragging about being the biggest country in 10 years... The world and Europe needs less humans not more. Btw when you become the largest country in Europe in 10 years; how many of them will be french? 🥖
 

DeVeAn

Member
I just spent a week in London for training, and man, was it a shock. I knew things would be different, but I didn’t expect it to feel so out of place.

First thing that hit me was the bathrooms. No water, no bidet—just toilet paper. It’s so basic, but I couldn’t help but wonder how people get used to that. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but I guess it’s just normal for them.

Then there’s the whole drinking water from the tap thing. People just grab a glass and drink straight from the sink. I thought it was a joke at first. I kept expecting to see a bottle somewhere, but nope, tap water’s the way to go. I eventually tried it, and it was fine, but it still felt a little odd.

Eating out was another experience. The tables are packed so close together, it feels like you’re sitting with strangers. I couldn’t help but overhear the conversations next to me, which felt weird at first, but after a while, it just seemed normal. Everyone’s packed in tight, and nobody cares.

Space was a big adjustment, too. My hotel room was tiny. Like, I couldn’t move around without bumping into things. The apartments I saw were just as small. But I guess that’s just how things are here—every inch of space is used. Even the streets are narrow, made for people to walk, not for cars. It felt like a completely different way of living.

But the biggest thing that stuck with me was the homelessness. I saw a lot of people sitting on the street with blankets or signs. It was hard to ignore. It just felt like a reality you can’t escape, and it made me think a lot about the city.

By the end of the week, I’d gotten used to some things, but London still felt a little alien. It’s a cool place, but it definitely made me see how different cities can be. Would I visit again? Most definitely. But it’s definitely not like anywhere I’ve been before.

Do you have any interesting or surprising stories about cultural differences you've experienced in London?
I'm American and never used anything except toilet paper after dropping a deuce. I also drink water from the garden hose. I lived in Seattle for a bit and yeah lots of homeless.
 

AfricanKing

Banned
What £850,000 gets you in a small village in Cambridgeshire that is very well linked to Cambridge and other places.


What £1,000,000+ gets you in London


You could also get a place much cheaper or bigger than the first one in other parts of the country, such as slightly further up North or just slightly further away from Cambridge.

I just see London and major city living as a scam, unless you have a salary to justify it that you can't make elsewhere. Also this is a tiny country compared to others and I can get to Central London in 50mins by direct train from a train station which is a 10min drive from my house. Yet can enjoy all the benefits of not being in that rat race, of which there are many.



Prestigious Two Bedroom Apartment in Regent’s Park with 24 hour porterage and private parking. Leasehold Approx. 41 years.

You dont even own the fucking Flat and it will revert back to the leaseholder in 41 years ... crazy
 

hemo memo

You can't die before your death
I'm American and never used anything except toilet paper after dropping a deuce. I also drink water from the garden hose. I lived in Seattle for a bit and yeah lots of homeless.
I'm not an American though.
 
The rolling countryside of Devon all vibrant and lush after a brief summer shower is what I picture as a beautiful English summer, lived down there as a kid and it's wonderful, close to the coasts, got some national parks. It's not as spectacular as vistas like Kilimanjaro or the Grand canyon but if you could guarantee the weather I'd recommend it to anyone.
Roight there bey?

I do miss Devon, especially the accent:



To be fair Devon is a bit of a mixed bag though.

Back to the OP, the idea that drinking tap water is an odd thing is boggling. I mean surely it should be an aspiration for all countries that its citizens can access clean water this way, not through some commercial enterpise profittering off a basic human neccesity by selling it in bottles.
 
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Tams

Member
I mean, I could literally walk at 3 a.m. in Abu Dhabi with zero fear. In London, at 8 p.m., there was a guy singing and screaming—and I assure you, I'm not exaggerating. It was in one of the metro stations (Oxford Circus I believe?) and it scared everyone. My brother who visit London constantly told us that we are late we have go back.

Lol, just singing and screaming. How scary.

Though there are no go areas at night in London. Oxford Circus is not one of them though, lol.
 

Tams

Member
If you visit Britain, get the fuck out of London and go see places like the Cotswolds. There is simply nowhere more beautiful, picturesque and pleasant than an English village on a warm Summer’s day. Even when living in the best weather and on/near the best beaches in Australia, I still crave the English countryside in summer. It’s glorious.

a1gNP2G.jpeg

The guy who lives in the house on the right used to have a yellow car. The locals and tourists hated him.
 

hemo memo

You can't die before your death
Lol, just singing and screaming. How scary.

Though there are no go areas at night in London. Oxford Circus is not one of them though, lol.
It sounds ridiculous, but more screaming than singing, and underground in a foreign city with two of my sisters whom I need to protect, with very few people around. It was scary.
 

FunkMiller

Member
Everything you say holds up. As a tourist Abu Dhabi and Dubai can look very appealing, but after a while you can see behind it all. The freedom they allow there is a facade that could dismantle anytime with one wrong move and the heat makes the place unbearable most of the year which limits you to just hopping between shopping mall to shopping mall. It's a very restricted and repetitive life over there.

Agreed. The UAE is a fucking toilet for anyone who isn’t indigenous to the country and rich. Appalling attitudes to women, immigrants and minorities, mired in grotesque backwards religion, and fake as all hell and back. Been forced to go there for work on several occasions. Never again if I can help it.
 
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Working in London, there are some very nice parts and a fair bit of history and culture. I am not sure you can compare it to Abu Dhabi at all. Abu Dhabi had a population of 25,000 in 1960 - London had 9 million or so. Abu Dhabi is basically the early stages of Sim City where everything is perfect until the money runs out and it goes horribly wrong. Not to say you shouldn’t enjoy living there now though, if you like a staunch muslim authoritarian regime, with a ton of behind the scenes exploitation and lack of history and culture.
 
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