My favourite thing about the British, especially Londoners, has to be their resolve. They have got to be the only people in the world that know that they’re in a miserable position, yet they’ll be damned if they admit it. If you are trying to alleviate a problem that everyone knows exists… Watch out, because the people who will probably benefit the most from it will be up in The fruits of this wonderful and cheery outlook on development can be seen in the wonderful infrastructure of London and the rest of the UK. The highways are creaking because everyone sort of forgot that you have to build your infrastructure up in order to keep up with a growing population. They also conveniently forgot to build new buildings closer to the city center instead of spreading out in all directions. The average person in London commutes over an hour to get to work. That is quite frankly RIDICULOUS. These people sit in their cars, the trains and the tubes for HOURS each day just to get to work. Work, mind you, is a pretty miserable place to be. Walk around the streets of London on any given day at any given time and you can see the miserableness of everyones lives darkening their already ugly faces. You would think for a government that charges you £8 every day just to drive into town with fines for illegally stopping for 5 minutes on the side of a street running up into the triple digits would be able to afford to bulldoze a couple of dilapidated houses on major throughfares and build some extra lanes. Hell even reducing the number of traffic lights on intersections would be a start. The first time I drove around the A406- The North Circular, I was appalled. You are buzzing along on a 6 lane highway type road, only to turn a corner and have to merge all three lanes into one and pass these miserable sheds masquerading as houses with signs in the windows that read “NO EXTRA LANES FOR THE A406.”
ARE YOU GUYS RETARDED?
No one is going to bulldoze anyones house without paying them anything. Do these people who live in these miserable places not have enough sense to know that the destruction of their rat infested home would be the best thing to happen to them ever. They would get paid, be able to afford to move to a house that’s not on a major roadway. Have some common sense. Go on. Take the Money and Run. I just fail to understand why no one speaks up. Less rat infested houses mean more room for roadways, meaning less waiting merging from 3 lanes into 1 for 7 miles before getting back into a normal traffic pattern. Getting around this town is a horrible mess. Getting anywhere takes forever, not because there is too much traffic, but because we have 2007 traffic on roads built for 1975 traffic. Get a clue. Stop protesting just because thats all you know, and start thinking. Maybe some change can be for good. Build some more roads, and then maybe we can all start thinking about how to prevent people from getting the Black Lung from the Tube.
WIHL
I hate London too – I agree with all 3 of your blog posts. I wish you had kept writing.
Are you still in London or have you escaped?
I am out of here in a few months. And the thing is, I was born here but have lived in the US and know better than to continue a life here that becomes more and more miserable with each passing week.
Good luck!
Hi there. Not like me to write anything like this but was randomly searching under ‘London sucks’ so as to feel normalised in my intolerance of this city. I really agree with your posts. The weather, say no more. The ’service,’ feels like people are doing you a favour by doing their jobs. The transport, where anyone gets away with ranting or littering or even assault which I have witnessed. It is too many self-absorbed, inwardly seething people crammed into too small a space and is going to hell in a handbasket. I hope I can leave by June 08. Bye for now
Wholeheartedly agree with the post. I want to leave this self-obsessed and money-obsessed city. Glad to know there are plenty of others in London who don’t think it’s the centre of the universe. Roll on June ‘08, and hopefully I can be outta here!