Half a Year in London!

Last Saturday was exactly 6 months since I arrived in London. It feels like a lot longer... on the other hand, it doesn't.

I'm pretty settled by now - I've got a nice flat, a good job, great internet connection, and any day now my bike will arrive. But I do still miss SA. So here's a roundup of my thoughts on London, what I like, what I don't like, things I've noticed... just me thinking aloud again (so very much on topic for this blog, then).

The main thing I love about London is how you can get anywhere. It might take a while (and that's one of the things I don't like about London - it takes an hour to go from anywhere to anywhere else), but you can get from point A to point B without stressing. You get used to so quickly, and start complaining about the overcrowding and the heat and the fact that sometimes you have have to wait 10 whole minutes for a bus - but there's transport from anywhere to anywhere any time of the day or night (there are even night buses!). And it's safe. Compare that to Cape Town, where there are a couple of train lines, which don't run in the evenings or weekends, aren't really safe, don't run very frequently, and don't actually go anywhere useful. I can do so much more here than I ever did at home, just because I can get places and get home again.

Which is the second thing I love about London - there's always so much to do. There are always new movies to see, theatre to go to, and you could spend a lifetime here and still not get finished doing all the touristy stuff.

What I don't like, as I mentioned, is how long it takes to go anywhere. It takes me an hour to get to work, and an hour back again, which is a huge chunk out of your day. I don't like how it's always crowded, and noisy - but then that's why it's so nice to live out here, where there's greenery and peace. And winter might be worse, admittedly, but the weather's really not as bad as everyone thinks. Summer's short, but it's worthwhile - you imagine London as being this drab, grey place, but it really does get blue and sunny.

I like my flat - I like how it's small and compact and all my own, and I barely even notice the sloping floor any more. What I don't like about the flat is the shower - it's tiny, and I really miss having a bath. And I don't like the dryer, which gets way too hot, even on the half-heat setting, and I'm sure it's not good for my clothes. But I can live with that... there are little things, like no mixer taps, and the stove is really ancient and uses gas, and the couch is comfy enough but not quite what I would have chosen. But considering that I'm not going to live here forever (even if I stayed in London, I'd get my get own place and furnish it myself) it's fine.

I don't like the way insurance works here. You pay for a year up front, and generally in one lump sum (you can pay monthly, but you pay extra). And then you're locked in for the year. And it's expensive. In SA, you can switch around as you like, whenever you get a better quote!

I'm starting to get used to the shops - I know where to go for what, mostly. It sounds dumb, but it's difficult at first when even the shops are all different to what you're used to :-) And I'm getting used to the money, and I've almost stopped converting everything back to ZAR. And I love how I earn so much, when you convert the amount I put into savings everything month back into Rands!

I love the way they always have these "50 greatest" type shows on TV. It means there's always something to watch, and there's a definite popcorn effect... oh, I'll just watch _one_ more! And the TV's pretty decent, in general.

But SA's still home (although I've been told it takes a year for that to wear off). I know how everything works there, and I grew up there... it's home, basically. And my family's there, and I do miss them (and I feel a bit guilty because I know they miss me too). I phone home a lot, which is cool - with cheap phone calls, and email, and msn, it's like you're not that far away at all.

Walking around in London, you know that you're not going to run into anyone you know; if someone looks familiar, it's not going to be who you think it is. But it's not like I'm not forming any attachments here, and as much as I miss SA now, I know I'll miss London when I eventually go home (whenever that may be). I did hope that I'd meet more people here, and make more friends, but I guess I should have known better - I'm the same shy, not-very-outgoing, find-it-difficult-to-talk-to-people person that I was in SA, and being in a new country wouldn't change that. But I should make more of an effort to make friends with the people I do meet; although I still don't really know how to meet people.

I know, this is another monster-long post all about me - but then if you thought this blog was about something else, you didn't notice the title :D Some more techie stuff isn't coming, really, it just takes more effort than rambling on about myself! And really - if anyone reading this has any questions about living in London, especially coming from SA, post a comment and I'll do my best to answer. I've already written a bunch of stuff on moving to London for a friend of mine back in SA; I really should reformat it sometime and post it, since it might be useful to someone else sometime. I guess the biggest difference between SA and London is that there's just so much more here - more to do, more career opportunites, more everything.

Update: Other things I've thought of since I started this post - I miss my dog (well, my parents' dog, but still); there just aren't that many animals in London, and I miss that. And when I was saying about SA being home, and familiar - it's little things, like shopping centers, and the mountain and the sea (I miss them both!), and just the look of the houses and gardens and roads and pavements.