This Drug Called London

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.