Whenever I tell people back home I’ve been living in London for the last three months, they inevitably say some version of “I’m so jealous,” to which I respond, “I don’t love it.”
It's so true that one of London's best kept secrets is that the grey weather makes it so damn COZY. Even though I'm sad to see summer end here (not much of a summer tbf), I can't help but feel giddy about the return of Sunday Roasts and pubs with fireplaces.
PS. I lucked into a flat with a separate washer-dryer - so those rare gems do exist! Using it really helps with my infrequent homesickness -- and the damp.
I too love London's climate. Being from Oregon... I too do not love London. Although I am there frequently on my way to Liverpool. I can't put my finger on why exactly. Maybe it's just that to me all major world cities seem more or less the same at this point. Where as the smaller cities have distinctive character in a way that is more appealing to me.
You never did say what it was you didn't like about London.
Smiling my way throughout the essay, as we get ready to pack our bags for a house exchange to London. I’m ready for grey skies and the stuff that falls out of the sky. After an entirely dry summer in Victoria, BC. I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather over there. Someone described the wet summer as ‘drecky’ if that’s a word.
Climate change aside, Victoria is usually the drizzle capital of Canada so London will feel like home. Home away from home.
My wife and I go to a lot of music festivals. Fortunately for us, two of our favorites are in September and October, when the weather is...manageable.
Unfortunately, one of them is in Las Vegas. In May. That seems like an unforced error! Vegas is quite comfortable in the winter months - why not have the festival then and not risk people getting heat stroke???
Also the corn on pizza thing is unfortunately not confined to London. I saw it in Hungary as well.
An essay after my own heart. I love the gray and drizzle and can never get enough and have always avoided the sun like the plague. Beaches, too. I'm envious of you, too, for the same reasons you have.
Bizarrely, the only time I’ve been to London, I literally met Eddie Redmayne… I share your appreciation of the sight of a gray sky and the feel of a light drizzle, but I’m unfortunately married to the poster man-child for OP and Panama Jack, so I’ll be spending my golden years trying to avoid golden sunlight.
Hooray! On my old desktop PC Ticketmaster believed I was human. I’ll be in the second row and at the meet & greet. I’ll try very hard not to be awkward. And I apologize for the lengths of my replies. It’s not like this is my Substack. I will try to make them quick and dirty from now on.
My motivation to move to Seattle ten years ago was around 80%. Little did I know, however, that the nine months of rain was always just a light mist. The summers there inexplicably turn into a sun worshipper’s paradise and I really fucking hated it. I felt cheated and have despised an otherwise wonderful city ever since.
I just moved to Brooklyn, which I hear has regular seasons. This is disappointing. Side note: I was so happy to hear The State tour added NYC dates yet when I tried to buy tickets through Ticketmaster, it thought I was a bot. I’m trying again with a friend’s computer today.
“Sweet corn” on a fucking pizza? It is anathema to lovers of the massively underrated anchovy. Though if there was a place that would serve such an abomination in NYC, it would undoubtedly be some “boutique” pizzeria in Brooklyn.
The weather in London sounds absolutely wonderful and a perfectly admirable reason to want to move there. If I could afford such a move I would be there in a New York minute.
London is a Ghetto.
It's so true that one of London's best kept secrets is that the grey weather makes it so damn COZY. Even though I'm sad to see summer end here (not much of a summer tbf), I can't help but feel giddy about the return of Sunday Roasts and pubs with fireplaces.
PS. I lucked into a flat with a separate washer-dryer - so those rare gems do exist! Using it really helps with my infrequent homesickness -- and the damp.
I too love London's climate. Being from Oregon... I too do not love London. Although I am there frequently on my way to Liverpool. I can't put my finger on why exactly. Maybe it's just that to me all major world cities seem more or less the same at this point. Where as the smaller cities have distinctive character in a way that is more appealing to me.
You never did say what it was you didn't like about London.
Smiling my way throughout the essay, as we get ready to pack our bags for a house exchange to London. I’m ready for grey skies and the stuff that falls out of the sky. After an entirely dry summer in Victoria, BC. I’ve been keeping an eye on the weather over there. Someone described the wet summer as ‘drecky’ if that’s a word.
Climate change aside, Victoria is usually the drizzle capital of Canada so London will feel like home. Home away from home.
Having just come in from a walk under an obnoxious bully of a sun, this warmed my already hot heart even further.
My wife and I go to a lot of music festivals. Fortunately for us, two of our favorites are in September and October, when the weather is...manageable.
Unfortunately, one of them is in Las Vegas. In May. That seems like an unforced error! Vegas is quite comfortable in the winter months - why not have the festival then and not risk people getting heat stroke???
Also the corn on pizza thing is unfortunately not confined to London. I saw it in Hungary as well.
An essay after my own heart. I love the gray and drizzle and can never get enough and have always avoided the sun like the plague. Beaches, too. I'm envious of you, too, for the same reasons you have.
Bizarrely, the only time I’ve been to London, I literally met Eddie Redmayne… I share your appreciation of the sight of a gray sky and the feel of a light drizzle, but I’m unfortunately married to the poster man-child for OP and Panama Jack, so I’ll be spending my golden years trying to avoid golden sunlight.
The only possible solution: leave your partner for Eddie Redmayne.
Hooray! On my old desktop PC Ticketmaster believed I was human. I’ll be in the second row and at the meet & greet. I’ll try very hard not to be awkward. And I apologize for the lengths of my replies. It’s not like this is my Substack. I will try to make them quick and dirty from now on.
DON'T BE AWKWARD AT THE MEET AND GREET!!!
This essay captured my summer essence.
Truth
This sounds glorious.
I remember a similar line of questioning when I moved back to SoCal after living near the coast in dreary Sonoma and Humboldt County.
Why the heck is the sun so… loud?
Sun is indeed loud! Noisome even.
My motivation to move to Seattle ten years ago was around 80%. Little did I know, however, that the nine months of rain was always just a light mist. The summers there inexplicably turn into a sun worshipper’s paradise and I really fucking hated it. I felt cheated and have despised an otherwise wonderful city ever since.
I just moved to Brooklyn, which I hear has regular seasons. This is disappointing. Side note: I was so happy to hear The State tour added NYC dates yet when I tried to buy tickets through Ticketmaster, it thought I was a bot. I’m trying again with a friend’s computer today.
“Sweet corn” on a fucking pizza? It is anathema to lovers of the massively underrated anchovy. Though if there was a place that would serve such an abomination in NYC, it would undoubtedly be some “boutique” pizzeria in Brooklyn.
The weather in London sounds absolutely wonderful and a perfectly admirable reason to want to move there. If I could afford such a move I would be there in a New York minute.
Love this. My plan is to retire somewhere with a cool climate. Assuming such a place still exists in a few years.
True poetry for those of us with the same feelings about sun worship:
Whereas I have stayed here and retained my delicate porcelain complexion, the very picture of health. Or jaundice, depending on the light.