This is where I am right now: I am living in London.
Until recently I only worked in London, living just outside of what is considered Greater London. The commute was horrendous. I’ve done it for just over six months and I will never do anything like it again. The amount of time you waste traveling from home to work and then back again is staggering. Not to mention the amount of money it costs in this country.
It killed my spirit, made me irritable and impatient, downright aggressive with everyone standing in my way and I didn’t like myself for it at all. Just to save my sanity I had to move closer to work for an easier commute.
I now live in zone 3, which is close enough for work, but not too close to feel engulfed by the big city.
After living in New Zealand for almost three years and another year in Victoria, Vancouver Island, I can state with conviction that I am not a big city kind of person. I love open spaces and I hate crowds. I prefer to immerse myself in nature and abhor concrete jungles.
I want to live on a boat.
Nothing more need be said.
Nevertheless I love London. It is an amazing city. I love my own city, Berlin. I love Paris and Rome and New York and Chicago.
I just don’t want to live there.
Whilst I live here, I want to make the most of it, though. Experience London as one can only from within. It’s worth it.
But I won’t be able to stay. I can feel my energies being drained on a daily basis. It is more tiresome than I could have imagined it to be. London never stops and it’ll drag you along, like it or not.
It can also be invigorating, especially in the evenings or at night. Then it’ll pull you in and capture you to show you what it all really is about. In those moments you will feel invincible and infinite and I can’t say no to that. I wouldn’t want to.
Whatever it will give me, I will take it and see what happens.
And when I leave I can say that I have lived in London, which is actually kinda cool. In the same way that I like to say I have lived in Melbourne.
London is just another stop on my journey, and like all the stops before it’ll have a purpose and teach me something until I’m ready to move once more.
2clouds 