XX
"London is a fantastic creator of jobs - but many of these
jobs are going to people who don't originate in this country."
Mayor Boris Johnson on jobs in London
Fellow Austrians keep asking me this rather
uncomfortable question about whether I miss my native country. Whether London
is not too big for me. I then go, well, yes, but, you know, sort of, though,
actually, no. Utter bewilderment. On both sides. Why am I being so vague
in my response? Why am I never prepared to answer this question properly?
Because I don't have the slightest clue how to
explain to someone who’s never had the privilege to live in a city like London
what it’s really like. All they get to see is tourist crowds, British flags and
pictures of the Queen, Oxford Street and our house in Southeast London, with
the cold lounge. If they have never been here, they think of London as the
monster city à la Sherlock Holmes where it always rains and the smog creeps
into the gaps of the horribly moist houses and slowly suffocates you in your
sleep. If the bedbugs don't kill you first, that is. Honestly, London's image
doesn't seem to have improved that much, despite extensive social media efforts
and two cute-looking Royal babies. But then again, the Royal family isn't
London.
When Austrians first arrive here (and I am
quite confident that this applies to many other citizens from smaller
countries) they tend to get slightly nervous and I don’t resent them for it. I
was exactly the same when I came here as a tourist and even more so when I
arrived fresh off the ship (plane). Moving here meant that it wasn't just a
trip after which you go back to what you know and what you're comfortable with,
but a long commitment that will haunt you forever. I was a nervous bundle; a
wreck - not at all used to this boundless and seemingly mad metropolis.
In fact, we Austrians are usually not used to
any big cities in general. Vienna’s population has not yet passed the 2 million
mark and the remaining 6 million people are spread all over towns, villages and
hamlets. The capitals of the Bundeslaender such as Graz just
about exceed 300,000 people. You see...there is space. Breathing space. Space
to build comfortable detached houses. And, in many cases, we get to decide what
the house will look like – the architect designs and the owners, including
family and friends, actually build it! Backwards, you will spitefully tease.
Traditional, you will sarcastically mock. Before you do, please have a look at
the size of these houses. In Austria, we don’t measure in bedrooms: we measure
in square metres. Because, and I’ll happily say it again, there is space.
There also seems to be a lot more time in
Austria than there is in London. Summer days stretch endlessly into wonderful
nothingness, so you decide to indulge in delicious (and cheap) Gruener
Veltliner in one of the rustic Heuriger restaurants,
spend days tanning next to one of the hundred crystal-clear lakes and get high
on immaculate oxygen streaming through your lungs (this sounds more like Sound
of Music than it actually is!) Fact is: there is definitely a slower
pace of life in Austria and it's only when you move away that you start
appreciating this.
London, on the other hand, hardly ever offers
you this peace and quiet. It's a city to get your brain cells whirling; to
exhaust you every day from the early morning until late at night. The city
is like a drug you can't stop taking because your body and mind crave for it.
It tears all confidence out of you and then, randomly, injects it back at once
so your hormones are all over the place. It leaves you totally wretched and
depressed with the rain pouring down on you when, at the next shop, a stranger
pays for your umbrella because you haven't got enough money on your debit card.
It has you squeeze into trains that are overcrowded to the max or wriggle on
your bike through the thick London traffic where your life is at an even higher
risk (so far, 8 cycling deaths in 2015). It offers you little space at a high
price and usually something different to what you have known as comfort.
Back to my initial question: Why am I into
this drug called London? Why do I not prefer living a nice, comfortable life in
a smaller, but supportive community? Because I get something even better in
return. Currently, I feel that any kind of stagnation and routine would gnaw
away at my youth. London, however, changes you constantly, radically;
transforming you into the person you really are at heart. It offers you a
plate of exotic things you have never seen, heard, danced, tasted and
experienced before.
Take a spontaneous Sunday afternoon Swing
dancing class in Shoreditch; enjoy Iberian steak in an amazing Spanish
restaurant when, out of the blue, Star Trek and X-Men celeb Patrick Stewart
sits down behind you. Where else in Europe can you watch Kevin Spacey live on
stage for £10? Which city offers Shakespeare galore, stunning gigs and concerts
every day of the year? Shopping from 6 a.m. until midnight and on Sundays
does make life so much easier. It's only 1 hour to the next beach (Brighton), 4
hours on the train to Edinburgh and two hours to Paris on the
Eurostar... I should probably start working for the London tourist board!
Moreover, London is there to
get your career going and to introduce you to
people you would have never chosen to hang out with but who
have become your closest friends. The city confronts you with
plain beauty on one street corner and hair-raising distortion on the next.
In short, it will shock you, and never leave you bored because there is always something
else to do, to see. And then, all of a sudden, you discover a quiet spot
with no-one around. You sit down in the sunshine, watch the Thames slowly flowing
past and you feel utter bliss.
