When we decided to go to London for a year, we fully expected to enjoy the city’s many sites, activities, and restaurants, much like we’ve enjoyed other cities in the world. We expected to use the city as a home base and travel to other European destinations at least once every month. We fully expected gloomy winter weather and the need to escape the rain sometimes (we even packed rain boots). What we didn’t expect, or what we hadn’t anticipated, was finding a wonderful place to live.
Greater London and its many, many neighbourhoods, is as unique as its many inhabitants. Over the course of the year, we visited a number of areas of the city and were awed by how different each one was to the others: Aldgate has an industrial history which, today, has become vibrant markets and amazing food spots. Camden has a trendy vibe and proudly displays its punk and grunge origin. Greenwich has a strong naval history (present in building architecture and a wonderful naval museum) and proudly holds the Greenwich Meridian and Mean Time line. Canary Warf, formerly a main pier system for receiving goods from India, is now towering with tall buildings and operating as a key financial hub. Richmond is full of the quintessential cobblestone streets with niche stores and elegant dining options. Oh, and it also has the street and pub where Ted Lasso was filmed – we went a couple of times!
My favourite part of town, as you may know from previous posts, was Leicester Square and the theatre district. Every night of the week, at least 70% of the many theatres were operating. People would flock to the area to grab dinner, see a show, and then spill out of the theatres onto the streets and head to their respective homes either by catching the underground trains or hopping onto the red, double-decker buses. It was a sight to see – a mass of people falling out of every door of a building, shuffling along the tight sidewalks in all directions, and then, almost instantly, gone. If you counted to 30, you’d see the next theatre start spewing their happy and satisfied patrons onto the street and the chaos would ensue for another few minutes. It was impressive to watch.
Which brings me to my next point: public transit. We have yet to visit a city better able to move large amounts of people many different places all at once. For the entire year, we never needed or used a car. We got everywhere by walking, busing, or taking a train. The systems were all pretty dependable, punctual, and predictable so we were never late to arrive wherever we were going. Cost of use was reasonable (and free for the kids, for the most part). The city has cycling lanes and lots of electric scooters and bicycles to use. Many cars are electric as the city has strict emission zones (you can’t drive in the zones if your vehicle doesn’t have an appropriate emission rating). Not once did we ever experience poor air quality.
Every morning, many citizens would be out walking; heading to work, to school, out to get morning tea with friends, or out walking their dog. The cafes and breakfast spots would be mostly full with a constant churn of folks grabbing their “cuppa” on the way to work. We were part of that hubbub ourselves on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. When we first arrived, we didn’t have any plans for education other than to do our best to homeschool the kids. We joined a few Facebook groups, made some inquiries, and discovered a program called Spiritus. It was a gathering spot for kids aged 10-16 that doubled as an alternative to conventional school. The founder was able to hire some teachers to instruct the kids on a number of subjects over those three days. On certain Thursdays, she organized field trips to interesting programs in the city. At first, only Molly and Claire were attending the program. They LOVED it. They thrived. They made friends with everyone else attending and we saw them come into their own. Simon, on the other hand, was “stuck at home” with mom which wasn’t working very well. Thankfully, just after Christmas, Simon was able to also attend Spiritus and we saw the same improvements in him.
Without the pressures of travel, we were also able to reflect on our interests and engage in our hobbies. I found a Crossfit gym close-by and joined the classes. Claire joined the Crossfit Kids classes and had lots of fun. Simon tried jui-jitsu in a small venue under the rail tracks. Claire also took a semester of acting classes in a youth program close to our place. Molly opted out of classes but spent her spare time honing her drawing and painting skills. Erik and I tried some salsa dancing and Claire found a babysitter’s course. I was also able to find an amazing organization called City Harvest where I was able to volunteer a few times a month. The kids had swimming lessons. Claire built a model home from scratch. We were all feeling great digging into our passion projects – something that can be very difficult to do while moving often.
Another notable aspect of life in London was the ease at which we could get food. The Uber Eats and equivalent services were quite reliable and always available, but for us the best service was the home delivery grocery services. Every major grocery store offered home delivery. It was very, very slick. I fill a basket online, pick a delivery time slot, and a friendly face arrives with colour-coded bags and all my items. I handed back my last order’s bags for reuse, and they bound away to deliver their next batch. Our kitchen was quite small and our fridge was smaller than a standard-sized North American fridge, so I could only get about three day’s worth of fresh foods at a time. Having the delivery service saved me from lugging bags of groceries down the street twice a week.
And if you couldn’t wait for a delivery, every three to four blocks of high street had a mini version of the grocery stores with plenty of essentials in stock. Fruit vendors and niche markets were also within an easy walk, from imported Italian staples to Middle Eastern items and several Asian stores, we could get anything we needed for any meal. Cafes are very popular as are pastries so we never needed to go far for a good “cuppa” and a tasty treat. And, in the spirit of English culture, there were pubs galore serving many varieties of popular craft beer alongside a hearty meat pie or good ol’ fish ‘n chips. Yum!
Our little piece of Chiswick was very quiet, safe, and friendly. We made friends with our downstairs neighbours who had two young kids. Simon made fast friends with their eldest boy, Walter. Sadly, they left the neighbourhood around Christmas and we missed them dearly. We also enjoyed the company of our side neighbour, Martin, who had lived in his home for over 40 years. He had a beautiful garden and a huge train model in his attic. He happily shared with us extra Christmas decorations, good books, and tools. He kept an eye on the house for us when we went out of town and offered us use of his spare bedrooms when we hosted guests. We were very lucky to be next to him.
In summary, not only did we enjoy the amenities of a multicultural city, we also thoroughly enjoyed the friendly atmosphere of our little corner of Chiswick in the Borough of Hounslow. From the many dogs out walking to the filled patios of the pubs and cafes, from the specialty stores to the charity shops, and from the paving stone sidewalks to the lovely green spaces, we had no problem calling London our Home.