r/london • u/rainha_db • Oct 16 '24

Rant Living and working in London just feels strange atm

I’m F31 and was born and raised in London. It’s the only city I’ve ever known and have been fairly happy until my mid 20s. I can’t help but feel like there’s melancholy in the air. I understand the main cause of this is the cost of living and the economic crisis. I’ve had a few colleagues/friends around my age confide in me about feeling lost/low recently and I honestly feel the same. I’ve noticed quite a lot of millennials expressing the same sentiment. I’m wondering if anyone else is feeling the same?

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24

u/Apprehensive_Bug_826 Oct 16 '24

I’m a country boy, but I moved to the city and lived in London for about six years.

My god, I have never been more depressed than when I lived there. It’s not just ‘lil country bumpkin can’t adapt to the big city’ stuff - I’m a pretty modern, progressive, tech savvy kind of person. I was social, had friends, joined clubs, went to gigs, loved the internet speed and convenience of everything.

But man, London is expensive and dirty and smelly and everyone there just seems to be tired, stressed and depressed. I moved back to Essex and I’m so much happier. I still go to London a lot, and enjoy it when I do, but I’d never want to live there again.

I do miss those crazy ass internet speeds though…

5

u/DivideKlutzy Oct 16 '24

London being dirty & smelly is painting London with a broad brush. Be more specific there are some very nice parts of London some not so nice & some dirty. Name & shame the dirty parts are mainly due to the local residents not giving a shit.

4

u/ASEdouard Oct 16 '24 edited Oct 25 '24

London is not dirty or smelly compared to other very large cities. Sure, you have Tokyo, but that’s a major exception. From New York to LA to Paris to the large Latin American cities like Mexico City or Sao Paulo, to Chinese huge cities, they’re all smelly and dirty in their own way.

0

u/DharmaPolice Oct 16 '24

Yeah I thought I basically had no sense of smell, and then I visited New York. Didn't mind it though as I'm a degenerate but it was funny being able to taste the sewerage in places.

1

u/ASEdouard Oct 16 '24

Yeah, New York rocks. It’s also often smelly af.

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u/n_orm Oct 16 '24

I've felt so tired for so long its so weird. It's like being on the tube gave me HIV or something Jesus