I've spent nearly a third of my life in London,left it in the mid sixties not liking the changes from the forties and fifties...parking wardens,nasty highrise buildings,muggings and the closing of small shops etc.Didnt much care for the drug scene and flower power either.Somerset and the friendly locals was a step back in time and a change for the better.
But.... I still miss London and still think myself a Londoner,still miss the walks in the park on a sunday,and still miss the youngsters on the street,but there are a lot of things I dont miss now and unless London could transform itself back to the forties and fifties I could never go back to live there.(couldnt afford it anyway!)
photo of Regents Park from the Telegraph
Ah London is a state-of-mind I guess?Yes: i spent a couple of periods living in The Smoke.No: i would fancy living there now!Although.................
ReplyDeleteThe London of small villages conjoined together had a charm of its own (I recently took a wrong turn in Clerkenwell and seemed to be back in the age of MacMillan). Otherwise, it's dirty and noisy and smelly.
ReplyDeleteJust as well I've gone off it: the rail fare would set me back a week's wages these days.
Fiftes London in the Summer most definatel yes BUT the filthy smog in the Winter. You could
ReplyDeleteocasionally hear vehicles making intimate contact. Now known as blind dates. Buses guided by their conductors walking in front with flaming torches. Arriving home with wet soot on eyebros and lashes. Apart from that it was lovely!
Yes Kevin,you've hit the nail on the head,each area was different and a lot more cosy.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Notting Hill and it was a great place till they put in high rise blocks then it got cold and draughty and looked just like everywhere else
I left London in 1956, having lived in Earls Court for a while. I remember the city as a very romantic place, but I agree about smog etc. I went to Africa, and, from there I viewed the 'swinging London' scene with some envy, feeling I'd missed out. But maybe the changes weren't as delightful as they seemed to me, viewing them from a Rhodesian gold-mining town!
ReplyDeleteI went to London towards the end of the Swinging Sixties. Lived in various flats, all NW3, then W2.
ReplyDeleteBy mid seventies it was going downhill.Fast! But I loved my time there.The pic above reminds me of sliding down Primrose Hill on a tea tray.