London Social Life

Now, I'm a boy of humble beginnings; I grew up in a small town called Corby, Northamptonshire. It's pretty routine for friends and relatives to drop round unexpectedly, have a cup of tea and a chat, and then go and do whatever they were doing that day anyway. Having grown up around this, I came to expect that one day, when I was an adult, dropping by for tea is a routine thing.

That was before I counted on moving to London.

London is a place where 'dropping by unexpectedly' is rare, and 'spontaneous' amounts to texting a friend suggesting you go out about 4 hours before you do so. Recently, I tried to arrange going for a drink with a friend.

"How about the 5th of February?"

"Can't. Not in town that day. The 13th?"

"Ah, I'm working that night. Can you do the 22nd?"

And so on, and so forth until I think every date in February was mentioned and both of us were too busy. So that's another month I don't get to see this friend of mine. Thing is, I now also find myself planning my social calendar weeks in advance just so I can get round everyone! You're probably thinking "Oh poor you. How awful it must be to be popular."

It just means that everything else is cut. If I subtract my working hours and sleep, my week is already severely diminished. Add into the mix devoting spare time to creative pursuits AND going to see friends, that means I have about... Ooo, a couple of hours to myself every week. And those hours are probably spent getting showered and dressed to do the other things!For somewhere so vibrant, it just takes so much time to do anything here!