Living in London is not glamorous, sexy or even fun

If you, like me, left your monotonous life in suburban London to go and study in a less glamorous part of the country,  you almost endure endless tedious remarks from people at uni who are not from London.

Remarks like: “Isn’t this town boring in comparison?”, “You must go out all the time at home!”, “How can you say your holidays were dull, you’re from London!”

In addition, you receive perpetual mocking for the “posh” accent you probably have, and everyone assumes you’re either the super-rich child of some senior banking executive or you’re of direct aristocratic descent. All this makes you wonder where all this daft rhetoric comes from, because the reality, as those of you who are like me will know, is a lot less glamorous.

Let’s face it, whilst the area you live in may technically be in London, for the most part that means dreary working-to-middle class suburbs that are at least a 20 minute tube ride from anything interesting, and a 30 minute tube ride from anything a visiting tourist might recognise as “London”.

Even people from towns as far out as Watford and Epping usually say they are from London, simply because it is easier and less embarrassing than explaining where they actually live, which realistically can only be done with a compass and a six-figure grid reference. For the most part, those of us who call ourselves Londoners do not, as seems to be the thought amongst those from elsewhere in the UK, live a stone’s throw away from the palace of Westminster on a road which just happens to have every one of the best nightclubs in Britain on it.

Probably not that different from your local high street, is it?

I write this from my family home in the borough of Harrow, NW London, where the most interesting landmarks are a hill with a posh school on it, and a road with the highest concentration of Middle Eastern restaurants that you’ll see this side of Baghdad. You want to see Buckingham palace? That’ll be £6-7 for a tube ticket to zone 1 and an hour or so standing in a sweaty sardines tin with nothing to look at but the armpit of the guy holding the rail above your head and a tattered copy of the Metro.

If that doesn’t sound appealing to you, I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with a trip to the local Starbucks or one of innumerable franchised Italian restaurants that seem to have invaded the area. Although if you spend enough time down the local, you may just get to meet a local celebrity.

You thought it was going to be Spencer Matthews, didn’t you?

I’m not the only one who thinks living in London is bullshit either. These Londoners feel the same way.

Vinit Ghadia – Accounting and Finance second year, Aberystwyth University

I’d say people watch shows like made in Chelsea and assume Londoners are all like that but in reality the majority of Londoners go to work most days and don’t spend their time having “afternoon tea”.

James Kelly – Neuropsycology second year, Bangor University

People think that everyone is rude, the streets are so busy you can’t move, and it’s an awful place to raise kids because of the daily urban horrors they’re exposed to.

Conclusion

So there you have it folks. Next time you meet someone who’s from London, think twice before you ask them how the Queen is doing, what their butler is called, or how closely the school they went to resembles Hogwarts. Because there’s probably far worse stereotypes they could hold you to about wherever you’re from.