London 2 (5) years on.

[Ham]

What you see. There we have it. I'm rather glad I don't have your distopian vision, must be a miserable place to live in. Maybe that's why you're only at home in Yorkshire ? (BIG winkey smilie)

You think that London is more homogenised than other places? Very odd view, that. Don't know how you can substantiate it, but if that's what you see, that's what you see. London is home to the very biggest range of shops, venues, you name it. And most places outside London are a simulacrum of each other with identical high streets. London supports the widest variety imaginable. Near me, I have Westfield. Next door to that, the cheap corner Stratford shopping centre that none of the major multiples (except for Sainsbury) would touch. The market in Stratford (cheap) shopping centre is thriving. A short walk is the asian market that is Green Street. Wanstead is cafe society. Leytonstone is Polish/ South African. Plaistow has a great market (One Pound Fish). Sod unhappy - this is vibrant. And we're not alone.

Then the houses, row after row of suburban identikit suburbia.  This somehow - in your mind - affects the inhabitants in ways that living in the ticky-tacky boxes that pass for modern housing in the country does not? The back to backs in Gateshead, Newcastle are so much better? That is the most astonishing prejudice which I think you might reconsider given half a chance. All you have to do is look past the doors to the people.

I'm not asking you to like it, this is city life full on. But it is awesome and fantastic, and not a shit heap.

Oh, and as far as being "full on" is concerned, we like to think so, but visiting places like Beijing and Shanghai humbles even this Londoner.

[clarion]

That post convinces me.

It's definitely a shit heap.

[fboab]

To be honest Clarion, I find your distaste unconvincing. If you disliked it that much, you'd move. You just enjoy playing the curmudgeonly Yorkshireman who hates the South.

Claiming 'I can't afford to move' is ridiculous when it's the most expensive place to live in the UK. Or have you, too, been snagged by it's Greed Magnet. 

FWIW I'd love to have lived there when I was young enough to appreciate it. I'm too old and set in my ways now. And to my eye a terrace in Newcastle is nicer. (Ham: we don't have back to backs on Tyneside. We have Tyneside Flats)

[Ham]

Not back to backs? Oh well, I've lived in them without knowing that.

Nothing against them at all, just fail to see the difference between those, the modern version in or out of London and the suburban serried ranks that apparently mean the people that live in them are shit and London is a shit heap.

[Andrew]

I defy anyone not to be buzzed by the Arab cafes of Edgware Road on a Saturday night. And if Tunisia played Algeria (etc, or any permutation thereof) at football, the area was electric! 

[jane]

I love London.  Yes it is mean, nasty, dirty, full of greedy, selfish people who make their living out of exploiting others, people who would step over you if you were lying injured in the street (this has happened to me), people who look right through you if you dare to smile at them at traffic lights or on the tube.  It is also home to some of the most open hearted, creative, amazing, fascinating, friendly (insert positive adjective of your choice here) people I have ever met in my life, people who would cross the road to stand up for you and your friends in the face of downright violent and aggressive racial and homophobic abuse, even though they had never met you (also happened to me).  That's the rather the point, I think.  All human life is here.  No, it doesn't have the Peak District (which I also love and where I have spent many happy days).  However, I bet I would have found someone a bit more helpful in nasty, greedy London if my rim had split here rather than in Hope, where the local lbs couldn't be arsed to offer me any more than a snide comment about getting my just desserts for not keeping clean rims.  (Split rim was nothing to do with that anyway). 

[Greenbank]

London is awesome, but it does depend on which specific bit and on your circumstances.

I've lived in some bits of London I'd never want to live in again, but I've been perfectly happy living just a few miles away from some of those places.

Being part of the community certainly helps. When I first moved to London the only time I saw people I knew was at work or when pre-arranged. Now I can't go for a walk to the local shops without bumping in to 3 or 4 people I know and will stop and have a chat with. I even know and speak to my neighbours. There's so much variety within a mile of where I live let alone 5 or 10 miles; all of which is easily accessible without a car.

[Exit Stage Left]

What I see is lots of porridgey high streets full of fried chicken shops indistinguishable from one another.  Sure, there may be some places a wee bit better than others, but it's more homogenised than elsewhere, through being crammed together.  Oh, and there are the miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of boring semi detached suburbiadeth.

An interesting exercise is to get Greater London up on Google maps, click on the little streetview bloke, close your eyes and place him randomly on the map. Most times it will come up with some suburban housing. That's an observer effect though. The streetview car only goes down streets, so you'll never see open space, parks or woods. You'll just get the superficial view that someone with no curiosity sees.

London is one of the top five greatest cities in the world, but it's not very well sited. If I had to live in a city then Vancouver would appeal, but I've never been. Of the places I have been to, Geneva and Annecy struck me as the nicest.