London is…

I’ve been thinking a lot about my time in London, now that I’ve lived here for over four years.  And it got me thinking: how could I possibly begin to describe the wonderful roller-coaster that is the expat experience?

Here’s a starter for ten, at any rate. To me, living in London is…

• Busy and lonely all at the same time
• Equal parts filthy and elegant
• It’s dancing in the middle of the road with a kebab in hand
• Making friends on the night bus…
• …and convincing 10 strangers on said night bus to play charades with you
• Not having time to read that magazine you bought a month ago intending to have some ‘down time’ to read it
• Crying on the tube about some boy who wasn’t even worth it…
• …and not even giving a shit what the other passengers think as you snotball into your tissues
• Then remembering that moment, fondly, years later
• It’s fine dining and swanky bars
• Followed by dirty chicken at 2am
• It’s underground nightclub raves
• It’s breathtaking art right on your doorstep
• It’s illegal art-squat-parties-in-abandoned-office-blocks (sponsored by that dodgy cider brand you can’t recall)
• There’s creativity beyond anything you’ve ever seen
• There’s all those amazing weekend jaunts to Europe
• Landing in Gatwick at 730am on a Monday and rocking up to work fresh from an Amsterdam bender, suitcase in hand
• Trips to the countryside
• The dodgy shingle beaches
• The cream teas, cottage pies, eton messes, and many a full English – mmm
• The many Be At One cocktail bars, dangerously close at all times
• The realising you’ve tried most of the cocktails on the Be At One list, mostly due to their 2-4-1 offer
• It’s rudeness beyond anything you’ve ever seen
• And kindness that exceeds all expectations
• Constant, exhausting, exhilarating change
• Where you’ll learn to hate and then love the NHS
• Where you’ll meet the most interesting people with the most interesting jobs
• Where you’ll realise that what you thought you wanted maybe wasn’t what you wanted after all
• It’s a place where someone always wants something from you: be it your money, your time or your ass
• It’s de-humanising and re-humanising at the same time
• It’s the fizzing, gleeful delight when summer rolls around and you can picnic in Hyde Park again
• It’s the simple joy of lazy afternoons in London Fields, followed by insane nights out at The Dolphin on Mare Street – if you’ve never seen a lady swing a bar stool wildly over her head, you haven’t lived
• It’s buying your entire summer wardrobe in Primark for £60
• It’s an endless, always-changing cycle of wonderful new friends  and colleagues
• Plus the solid crew who’ll always have your back
• It’s nights on the sofa watching back-to-back episodes of Orange Is The New Black because you can’t afford to go out
• It’s rice-and-bisto for dinner when you really can’t afford to go out
• It’s champagne and oysters when you can
• And on the topic of oysters. If the world’s your oyster then surely  London’s the pearl
• She’ll win you over whether you want her to or not
• And she’s definitely a lady. A crafty, bonkers, wonderful, brutal lady
• She’s your boss
• She’ll make you her bitch
• And then one day you’ll fight back like you never fought before
• You’ll win her respect
• You’ll win your own respect
• And everything gets a little easier
• Because, when it all comes down to it, London is life