London Living: The Reality of It

London has a population of 8.7 million people. London has the oldest underground public transports system in the world. It is one of the most expensive city to live in the world. If you want to know some more boring fact about London you can look here. The Greater London area is separated into boroughs and I live in the West London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. There isn’t a lot to do here, but there is Westfield Mall, one of the biggest shopping centres in Europe. Shepherd’s Bush, where we currently live, has a high population of immigrants. Which is great, since I am an immigrant.

I’m gonna start by saying my life isn’t like a Bridget Jones’ movie. It isn’t like that early naughties Amanda Bynes movie that no one really remember (except me probably). I’ve never been in a black cab. I have never been to Buckingham Palace, and honestly I think the royals are overrated anyway. I am living an average life in an unaverage location.

My average day starts at 8:30am when I shove my feet into my slippers and shuffle to the kitchen. There is at least one day’s worth of washing up. Though we live in a pretty big flat, we don’t have a dishwasher to hide all our dishes in until the machine is full and can be run. I might do some of them this morning, or I might just wait until the evening when I need one of the dishes to make dinner. After maybe doing the dishes, I make Ben and I breakfast smoothies. We are trying to change our eating habits right now, so that includes becoming one of those people who drink their breakfast.

Not all stations have two entrances and a shopping centre

Once we are finally able to put ourselves together to get out of the house, there is a twenty-five minute walk to drop Ben off at work, then I walk another ten minutes to get to Hammersmith Station. On the way there, I pass by a Subway and the smell of warm bread is a nice distraction from the exhaust fumes and urine. After walking down to eastbound platform, I stand around waiting for the Piccadilly line train to arrive. Since I refuse to get on a train with no seats available (because yeah I am that uppity about standing on the tube), sometimes I have to wait a bit, other times I don’t, it just depends on the day. Per tube etiquette I do my best to not look at other people, but because I am very nosey I will listen to conversations and probably stare anyway. Sometimes American tourist will get the same train car as I am. I always want to talk them, mostly because they stick out like a sore thumb and I am worried I still look that way, but also because it’s nice to talk to people about what they are doing here. So thirty minutes later, I get off at Caledonian Station and walk another ten minutes to my in-laws where I am currently doing freelance database and archivist work. My commute time is actually pretty typical for people in London. Where I used to only have to drive 5 minutes to get where ever I wanted to go when I was living with my parents and now I consider my hour commute totally normal.

Probably over 1,000 Penguin Publishing books on these shelves

From 11-5:30 I am surrounded by classic novels, comic books, and piles of archival plastic. There are a lot of breaks for coffee and tea, I eat the same lunch (a ham and cheese sandwich with a couple gherkins on the side) everyday, and then at the end of the day I make the long commute home. On my way to the station there is an amazing (read as pretty alright drunk food) Chinese take away that does a huge six quid pot filled with chicken, rice, noodles, and spring rolls. I have to force myself not to get a snack box on the way home. One of the most tortuous things you can do to a person is force them smell your hot delicious food while they are trapped in a tube car. I rush out of a crowded Hammersmith Station and head to Ben’s work.

Formally of Camden Market, 

this is the best goddamn chicken ever

On our walk home, we spend most of the time debriefing about our day, talking about what we will have for dinner, and what we could do that weekend. Once home, I’ll make dinner and we will relax in our living room, watching 3rd Rock from the Sun, playing video games on our computers, and just decompressing after the day. We will probably go to bed around 11pm and watch another episode of TV or maybe we will just snuggle up and fall asleep, but that is it.

That is what a day is like for those of us average people living in London. Sometimes Ben and I will get drinks with friends, other times we will order take away, or maybe will we go to the cinema to see a movie. On the weekend we might do something a bit more exciting, but that could walking thirty minutes to visit the big Sainsbury’s supermarket in Chiswick. Living in a city doesn’t mean we live a more exciting life. Which was something I didn’t learn until recently because spending semester abroad doesn’t really mean you understand a culture. We aren’t living in a fairytale, it’s tough living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. So I guess that means life is what you make it. I feel like I’m living in both a harsh reality and a dream. There are many time when I think about how our life would have been different if Ben had immigrated to Indiana, but then I remember that wouldn’t have made us happy. I would rather struggle together in London, than have stayed in Indiana. I’m sure there are a lot of people in similar situations who feel the same. Though not all parts of my life are glitz and glam, I feel most at home here London. To be cliche, life is what you make it, so make it yours.