Quote Originally Posted by bobh View Post
OK, I will.
I lived in Leyton, about 6 miles from the "City of London" which is the equivalent of a borough (there are may boroughs in Greater London, Leyton being in B of Waltham Forest.
I used to cycle to work, as the tube was overcrowded and smelly during rush hours. Rush hours were about 6-9:30 in the morning, 4-7 in the evening. Nobody spoke on the platforms or trains. My cycle route took me down Mile End Road, which was a wide road, but had stalls set out on the pavements, spreading into the road itself. These were mostly fruit&veg, as could be seen by the amount of spoiled fruit & veg on the ground.
The air smelled dirty, a white shirt was grubby by the end of the day. My wife is London-born, and after we moved to Cardiff, once over the initial culture shock she found London dirty and smelly when we visited back there.
You get a" London Weighting" allowance in your pay, but this doesn't compensate for the extortionate prices of buying or renting property, nor the cost of food &clothes. Don't start me on theatre prices.
Yes, there are great places to visit around London, if you can afford them. Most visitors who go shopping go to Oxford St, which has all the big department stores, but contain exactly the same stuff that can be bought in the provincial branches of these stores (or online), at less cost.

Crime is rife throughout, you only have to see the news to confirm that.
Is that enough for you
Yup, it's enough. I was back and forth their for six years, admittedly not living there but spent considerable time in London, all over. There's not much point debating with you when all you can do is pick up on the negatives. It begs the question why did you stay so long. London has it's problems, logistically it's a nightmare on times and you have to be organised, I learnt that quickly. But there's a whole lot of fun to be had on every level. Maybe you should have got out more.