London is HORRIBLE

[Anonymous]

Welp! Say what you’d like but I’m taking my son for spring break and we are thrilled to go.

[Anonymous]

We just got back yesterday and loved it! It has a fascinating history, culture, art, and the vibrancy of a world class city. And the flowers just started blooming. Parks are beautiful. Cannot wait to go back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier about having lived in both London and DC. You can't really meaningfully compare your experience vacationing in a place with living there. If you haven't had to work in a place, pay taxes there, hire a plumber, or try to find a decent school for your kid, you dont really know it.

Most Americans would be horrified at the condition of rental apartments in the UK (run-down, no clothes dryers, no garbage disposals), much in the same way that Londoners would be horrified to discover the number of important US cities that are wholly inaccessible by public transit.

Most Americans would also be frustrated by the need to be on hold for 40 minutes starting at 8 am to get one of the NHS appointment slots available that day at your local surgery, with its 10000 person patient docket. They would also be shocked to hear the NHS mammogram lady say, "See you in 4 years." On the flip side, Americans would also be pleasantly surprised when their NHS mammogram, scheduled for 10:30, actually takes place at 10:30, something that you could be sure wouldnt happen in the US.

All European cities have small apartments with few amenities - it comes with being old and crowded... why pick on London?

Munich, Zurich, Frankfurt, Vienna, Hamburg, Lyon, Amsterdam, Madrid for example have much better building construction, insulation, and plumbing in their homes

American homes are cheap but insulated well and have good plumbing for the most part

Swiss, German, Austrian and northern Italian homes are built out of good materials, insulated, good plumbing but cost to salary ratio is high

uk is unique in being expensive vs incomes with uniquely poor conditions

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/english-homes-more-expensive-and-in-worse-condition-than-most-developed-nations-report-12976858

https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/english-housing-is-worst-in-europe-report-finds/133243/

Sure. I’d happily live in London again but having just finished expensive repairs on my Victorian terrace house, I totally agree the housing is often of a poor standard. I don’t think anyone disputes that, do they? As pointed out in the report, most of the housing is much older than what you find in other European cities. This is to be expected as London’s wealth and growth meant it developed into a large metropolis much earlier than many other places. The curse of developing earlier is what might have been cutting edge infrastructure or construction at the time can be quite difficult to adapt many years later. Hence, the sewage system is now sub par, tunnels in the tube are too narrow to fit air conditioning onto train carriages, etc. Materials and building standards have changed a lot since the late 1800s when many of these places were built.

The most obvious solution is to knock it all down and build new modern efficient housing (if anyone had the money). Of course the irony is the old style of architecture is what lends London and many British towns and villages much of their charm. It’s all a trade off.

The lack of knowledge is astounding. What makes you believe that London developed earlier than other major continental cities? This is patently false. Prague is an example of that. Vienna would be an example of that too had they not modernized their housing stock in the mid 1800s to allow for taller ceilings, more daylight, broader streets and other comforts (as did Paris). London just didn’t think it was a priority. I love London but Prague has older and better quality housing stock.

“The UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe, and most likely in the world,” according to the BRE. “This is largely due to the legacy of dwellings built during the industrial revolution, which still form the backbone of our urban areas today.”

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/britains-old-housing-stock-emerges-key-emissions-problem-kemp-2021-12-02/

[Anonymous]

Just returned from London. We had a great trip but I can commiserate with op some. Gray skies every day and at least some drizzle. Everyone told us it’s been like that for months. I would definitely get a bad case of the blues if that was my normal.

Subway was super convenient, but also very dirty. London has the same grittiness as NY and that isn't everyone’s cup of tea.

We had some very good meals and some very mediocre ones. Budget wasn’t the issue. I think it’s fair to say that, on the whole, food scene much better in NY and Paris, where it’s hard to get a bad meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never want to hear people say how great London is or London is better than dc.

1. Housing is atrocious. We are living in a roughly 2 million pound flat in Mayfair and the plumbing is awful, the insulation/windows are awful and we are always cold (and we are used to Montana cold but homes in London are cold whereas in the us homes stay warm). Our colleagues here have homes anywhere between 500k to 6 million pounds here in various neighborhoods and they are all dumpy

2. The parks are overrated

3. People are mean

4. The tube and trains are mindblowingly expensive

5. Service is poor

6. British “professionals” have horrible work ethic without the “la dolce vita” attitude of Italians/southern euros. It’s the worst of both worlds - uptight, high expectations yet also poor work ethic/quality.

7. Food is awful

8. Social life is way too alcohol centric

There is literally nothing redeeming about this place. I’d rather live in Dallas and I think the south is 🤮 !

dc is 100x better than London

My cousin was born and raised in London - has same complaints. Literally just moved to the US for these reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try being a Jew there. It’s your experience plus hate.

Give actual examples. Have the 6yos been stabbed to death? Have the college students been shot with one being paralyzed? Did they get stalked and harassed while working a Kosher cart by a former state dept official who gleefully says that more Jewish kids should've been killed?

Try being Palestinian. PERIOD.

Aggressive anti-semitism is really becoming a growing problem in London. The British papers report on it. Maybe if Hamas hadn't gone on a genocide blitz last October and spent the billions and billions building tunnels devoted to terrorism instead of helping their own people or using Palestinians as human shields, Gaza wouldn't be in this mess today, eh? I'll never forget how the first mass protests started even before the dust had settled on October 7. Which tells you everything you need to know.

Blah blah blah human shields blah blah. Everyone is clued into the hasbara playbook now and most of us are bored with your gaslighting. Hamas wasn’t even created until the 80’s and the genocide of Palestinians has been happening since 1948 but nice try.

[Anonymous]

oh wow - I lived in London for a few years and LOVED it. Yes, super expensive, but setting that aside...amazing restaurants, great food even at supermarkets, so many interesting places to go and things to do. People and work ethic seemed as good (or as bad) as anywhere else I've ever lived (NYC, DC, Boston).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just returned from London. We had a great trip but I can commiserate with op some. Gray skies every day and at least some drizzle. Everyone told us it’s been like that for months. I would definitely get a bad case of the blues if that was my normal.

Subway was super convenient, but also very dirty. London has the same grittiness as NY and that isn't everyone’s cup of tea.

We had some very good meals and some very mediocre ones. Budget wasn’t the issue. I think it’s fair to say that, on the whole, food scene much better in NY and Paris, where it’s hard to get a bad meal.

Where did you stay?? Camden town?

London is gleaming compared to NYC!! But food is much better in NY - completely agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does it compare to New York?

New York is more interesting
London is safer
London parks are better
New York jobs are a LOT better
London has better museums
New York food is better
London access to Europe is better
New York weather is better IMO
Theatre is better in London

New York imo is better if you don’t have a very London/uk/euro centric job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try being a Jew there. It’s your experience plus hate.

Give actual examples. Have the 6yos been stabbed to death? Have the college students been shot with one being paralyzed? Did they get stalked and harassed while working a Kosher cart by a former state dept official who gleefully says that more Jewish kids should've been killed?

Try being Palestinian. PERIOD.

Aggressive anti-semitism is really becoming a growing problem in London. The British papers report on it. Maybe if Hamas hadn't gone on a genocide blitz last October and spent the billions and billions building tunnels devoted to terrorism instead of helping their own people or using Palestinians as human shields, Gaza wouldn't be in this mess today, eh? I'll never forget how the first mass protests started even before the dust had settled on October 7. Which tells you everything you need to know.

Blah blah blah human shields blah blah. Everyone is clued into the hasbara playbook now and most of us are bored with your gaslighting. Hamas wasn’t even created until the 80’s and the genocide of Palestinians has been happening since 1948 but nice try.

When you gaslight while accusing others of gaslighting, is it regular gaslighting or is there another term? Double gaslighting? Either way, get a f’ing clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does it compare to New York?

They are quite different IMO but I like both. There are truly too many differences to name. My suggestion if you haven’t been is to watch YouTube videos to get a feel of it. Of course being there is different but videos will show you what London looks and sounds like.

I personally love both cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just returned from London. We had a great trip but I can commiserate with op some. Gray skies every day and at least some drizzle. Everyone told us it’s been like that for months. I would definitely get a bad case of the blues if that was my normal.

Subway was super convenient, but also very dirty. London has the same grittiness as NY and that isn't everyone’s cup of tea.

We had some very good meals and some very mediocre ones. Budget wasn’t the issue. I think it’s fair to say that, on the whole, food scene much better in NY and Paris, where it’s hard to get a bad meal.

Where did you stay?? Camden town?

London is gleaming compared to NYC!! But food is much better in NY - completely agree.

Knightsbridge, actually.

[Anonymous]

The Guardian had an article today:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/25/uk-housing-is-worst-value-for-money-of-any-advanced-economy-says-thinktank?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“ The UK’s “expensive, cramped and ageing” housing stock fares poorly compared with other advanced countries, analysis by a thinktank suggests.

Households are paying more than other countries – but getting less in return, the Resolution Foundation said.

“When it comes to housing, UK households are getting an inferior product in terms of both quantity and quality,” the thinktank said.”

“Uk housing is the worst value for money of any advanced economy”

[Anonymous]

25 pages and no one has quoted Samuel Johnson.

He who is tired of London is tired of life.

[Anonymous]

Writing from London now- Chelsea area. The weekend was pleasant with some sun and wind. Every single person had been extremely kind and yielding towards us. We wait no more than 1 minute for the train and although we are America( black American)— the loudest travelers are Italians and Spaniards. We caught a Bentley cab because why not. Beautiful architecture and I grabbed some unique finds from Camden town and grabbed some items from Selfridges. My son and I snapped up 2 solid pairs of Adidas that can’t be found back home in DC. Food has been hit or miss but zero complaints on Jamaican, Indian and we did a traditional British breakfast for the hell of it. I have no clue what OP is saying but we are enjoying ourselves. Also the white men— chefs kiss. Impeccable style. I’m slow rolling our return back to the states. I don’t want to go back to shabby DC.