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Lol. It rained A LOT every summer for the past 6 years. I remember when I came to UK 12 years ago, it was so hot every summer, I always asked myself "Who says that England is wet??? Its as hot as Spain!". But the weather changed back to "British" when I went to uni.
As for other things you mentioned, I agree with you. Perhaps I bashed London too much, but I was only speaking from my own experiences. One thing though - there are large Asian neighborhoods in London, where English people don't normally go. I was unlucky enough to have a solicitor there, so I've seen some Muslim fanatics there. Also, remember poppy burning incident a few years ago and Abu Hamza waving his hooks? I can't remember whether it happened in London or not, but things like that usually happen there. And finally, those articles, regarding "Crime capital of Europe" aren't based just on the murder rate, but on crime in general. I personally thought Paris was more dangerous, but I guess, there is more petty crime in London and maybe murders because of light prison sentences (that's if criminals do go to prison and don't get a slap on a hand).
Fair enough - there's radical people in this country, why are they here if they hate us? No idea, but I think the current government is coming down hard on these idiots, and one is in the process of being deported.
And, I found something similar about Brussels being Europe's crime capital, and Limerick being the murder capital etc. etc.
Fair enough - there's radical people in this country, why are they here if they hate us? No idea, but I think the current government is coming down hard on these idiots, and one is in the process of being deported.
And, I found something similar about Brussels being Europe's crime capital, and Limerick being the murder capital etc. etc.
Yea, I found the same thing about Brussels. I could not believe it! Who even goes to Brussels? It's the most boring capital in Europe in my opinion, just like a big village with terrible traffic jams. Maybe I am really unlucky, but I don't think I ever spent so much time in London traffic as I did in Brussels. And I was there only for one day.
It is good that at least some terrorists are being deported. Too bad there is so much tension between Russia and UK. It's actually ironic, a lot of Russian scumbags live in London, but England gives them asylum, just to **** Russia off.
One thing London easily wins on is history! It has a lot of it!
I lived in London in 2003 for a year, and now I live in LA. Admittedly my salary has increased dramatically so comparisons are harder.
I thought that the food in London was pretty darn good. I lived in Spitalfields and there are plenty of fabulous ethnic restaurants there. Shoreditch also has some great food. I do agree however you will be spending a lot more to eat out than you do in SoCal. All the museums are free in London so there are plenty of indoor activities for when the weather is inclement ie. most of the winter. The skifields of France are not that far away. It takes me 5 hours to drive to Mammoth, and you can hit up France in under that time.
I live in Redondo Beach and work in Santa Monica. That's a 14-15 mile commute. In traffic this drive takes me between 45mins - 1hr. I ride my bike as much as possible and that takes me 1hr 10mins along the bike path. This kills public transit, but I would like to think that after riding here so much that I could get used to wearing more layers and riding a bike in London. It's not like there are many hills and due to the traffic the cars are moving at a slower pace. While the tube and buses may be expensive a lease car with insurance in SoCal is about $500 a month (no money down on the lease), and $50 to fill the tank with gas, I do this once a week. So all up about $700 a month on a car. A zone 1-6 monthly travel card is 191 pounds. That leaves plenty of money for Zip Cars or rentals or cabs when you need them. So in many ways I think London wins on the travel cost, but not necessarily convenience.
As far as I'm aware it is about 25% more expensive to live in London so in my mind it's all about how much you earn and does the weather have an affect on your mood. To love your time in London you have to be making more money than in SoCal by quite a margin. If you do then it's a great place to be if you don't get dragged down by the grey winter weather.
IMHO take the job in London and give it 2 years. If you don't like it then move back to SoCal. If nothing else you will have done many 3 day weekends exploring Europe!!!
I sometimes wonder about some Americans behind these comparison thread starters. I have come to the conclusion that most of them use City Data forums as a dream machine, as if chatting about it, makes it that more realistic. The fact is, most of these supposed moves never materialize and they move on to the next fantasy.
From what the OP mentioned it is obvious he knows what type of a city London is...he pretty much answered his own questions.
Two other things. London isn't as naturally beautiful as Southern California. We have some awesome parks, but nothing like the majestic mountains, rugged canyons and beaches of SoCal.
You very rarely seem to see the "I moved here (however many) months ago and it's as great as you all said/your a lying bunch of b*st*rds, it's terrible, I HATE IT!" posts....
OK. Since he wrote London/UK it was a bit confusing. It's one of the best cities for parks though.
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