I would like to leave this city...

There are points in time where it seems like EVERYTHING is getting you down and all you seem to do is piss people off. When you've been in London for a long time, it starts to become like living with your mother- you're fond of her, you love her, but if she squeezes the toothpaste tube from the middle one more time, you'll fucking kill her.

Basically, it starts to become about the little things. What starts off as wide eyed wonderment, skipping through the city making new friends every night and ditching them just as easily, soon becomes hanging around with the same people you've known for years who all assume everything's fine while they make a mug of cocoa for their loved one on a Saturday night.

I recently turned 26, and I've now been in London for nigh on 8 years. When people ask me where I'm from, I can't feasibly give them the hackneyed "originally, I'm from Corby but now I live in London..."

It's just "London"

People describe me as "the quintessential London man" and I still feel like the small town boy with naive stars in his eyes. I'm still looking for the heart of Saturday night... I'm wondering if it's here... Or somewhere else. Maybe even in another country...

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!