Andrew Aigner-MuehlerLIVING OVERSEAS from my eyes.. LIVING IN LONDON
January 26th 2008 05:05
LIVING IN LONDON
An antipodean living in London, is like an Irishman and Guiness, it goes together. In many cases London is like a second home to us. If you’re lucky to have dual citizenship and carry a EU (European Union) passport, which we see as gold you’re laughing. There are many advantages:
· no long line ups and waits at passport control in either of your countries.
· working in a good paid job in London for a while and hopefully saving, before returning home will benefit you with exchange rate *the ability to travel to many different cultures and countries across Europe without hassle in a short term.
The one thing I noticed while living in Ireland and London is that the Brits and the Irish, do not realize how lucky they are, they both live in fantastic countries, and they are both on the front door step of Europe, for example there has been many times I have flown from London Stansted to Salzburg Austria for under thirty pounds return, in Australia we can not do that, the same distance flight will be Adelaide to Sydney and we might get it as low as hundred and fifty dollars, and we haven’t even left Australia. The airfares in Australia use to be much worst (expensive) before Mr Richard Branson came along with Virgin Blue and Qantas started Jetstar. In and across Europe/Britain there are so many No-Frills airlines competing for our business, but they’re still able to deliver cheap fares, that’s why I give Mr Michael O’Leary and Ryanair so much credit, Ryanair flies all over Europe and they don’t charge too much you can even pick up FREE flights and just pay little tax if you book a few months ahead, that, I have done. No-frills flights are the way to go, who cares if you have to pay for your food and drinks, it doesn’t cost that much anyway. God help the major airlines ie British Airways or United Airlines and that, if Ryanair ever go international or Atlantic.
Another thing about living in London is there is always something to do in the city, a lot of people opt for short break get away on the weekend, they leave on Friday and com back late Sunday night, and go to Europe or even the country. Places like Paris and Barcelona are only an hour away. The people who cant afford to get away are the die hard football supporters who eat, breathe and drink football seven days a week, Saturday to Monday is premiership, Tuesday and Wednesday are champions league, Thursday is UEFA and Friday is either the lower divisions. They either it watch in the pub on sky sports or if they’re lucky enough to get a ticket they’re at the ground. The atmosphere at English football grounds is amazing, you don’t hear the full extent on the television. It is very hard between football seasons, if you love your football, you need a past time for a couple of months.
If you’re a history buff there are so many museums in London to check out, for the party goers, the pubs are always rocking and when it comes to the night life, London probably hosts the best nightclubs and entertainment scene in the world.
If you like shopping and don’t have the money, don’t come to London, if you have the money, you’re in the right place, London is the best place to shop. Camden Town on the weekend is packed full of bargain hunters checking out the Camden markets, Oxford street as well as Regent street is always packed full of shoppers looking for a bargain, there are always sales in London. Just keep clear around Christmas time, as you can not walk down the street, the street is jam packed with Christmas shoppers. These are just the main shopping areas but there are so many other busy shopping areas in and out of London, they’re not hard to find. When it comes to food shopping, Tesco is probably your best bet, the stores are big, they have a good range, they’re fresh and they’re so much cheaper than the rest. Mark & Spencer and Waitrose have good quality but are quite posh so you will pay extra, Sainsbury are usually fairly small supermarkets, they’re quite cheap, they lack on the range a bit, the one thing the really fall down on is the service, that’s why I know longer shop there any more after a poor experience and lastly the other main supermarket is Asda, which is bit of a K-Mart selling clothing, electrical and food under the one roof, if you want a bargain its best to check them out.
When it comes to living in London, I found that this city is the cheapest place to live in the world, out of the developed countries. Of course when you’re traveling it seems expensive because you’re converting from your last country, when I go to London from Australia or Canada everything seems expensive, but if you do it the other way around it is also expensive. So that’s why you base everything on the money you earn in that country. If I bought food at Tesco and converted it to another currency, I still think you come out better shopping for food in London. When you’re shopping for a mobile phone deal I think London is the place to shop for a contract because of free minutes, length of contracts and upgrades I have already mentioned about the airfares but going by British Rail and National Express is just as cheap and now there is Megabus.com where you can go by coach for under four pounds from London to Scotland. With clothing if you shop around you can pick up a new wardrobe fairly cheap and the quality is good.
When it comes to getting around London, one thing you don’t need is a car, because the transport system is so damn good, probably the best in the world by a long way, the buses are 24 hour, tubes and the trains run until one in the morning or so, and there are heaps of taxis where there are two kinds the traditional London cabs which run on a meter and there are the licenced cabs which is a flat fee, even better when you’re loyal to one cabbie. I will admit when you’ re living in London you will complain about London transport, why? I don’t know why? What is wrong with a tube coming every one to two minutes at the worst five minutes late in the evening, and the buses come every two to five minutes and at the worst every ten to fifteen minutes in the early hours of the morning when no body uses it hardly. You don’t realize how good it is until you leave and go to another country like Canada, where the TTC is shite, but I will tell you more about that, later in the book.
I do find it amazing when people hop on the tube at Leicester Square and get of at Piccadilly Circus just for example, because the time to walk down to the platform at Leicester Square from the entrance, you have already walked to Piccadilly Circus. I will say the Tube is not the best to be on when it comes to summer, only because in London it becomes very humid, and on the Tube it is very stuffy, but London Transport do issue a lot of warnings to the elderly especially.
The only negative about London transport is that they retired the old London route master buses, I do understand why because they’re very old, but it is their history, tourist go to London to see those buses and the London black cabs. Those route master buses were fantastic you could hop on and off before the allocated stops. Can you think of a London with out red double decker buses and black cabs? I know cant, that’s London. They still have red double decker buses but a new closed version. They were talking about replacing the traditional black cabs with a different model.
Getting around London is so easy and can never be better. Now to the socializing, you can walk into any pub in England and it is so easy to start a conversation, one of the biggest conversation starters is football, every one in the UK has a favourite football team, never met anyone who hasn’t., when you find a local its very hard to leave that local, if you do, you end up going back, even if you get banned, your friends will get you back in there. A lot of pubs in London are slowly getting the antipodean touch, the Walkabout started it at Sheppard Bush and are now exploding all over the UK. I know I can go back to London five years from now and walk into the White Swan In Golders Green and there will still be people I know there. If you are not a conversation starter that well, a game of pool well help you get involved or even karaoke, that’s not if your mates introduce you first. Soon as you have got a local, it’s a fairly close-knit group.
When you’re just starting off in London the best thing is to look for shared accommodation, you will eat, drink and go out together. Your housemates will introduce you to the rest of the gang. Your housemates will just not be housemates, but will also be friends that will also be your family, and because you are living overseas away from your own family and friends back home, you will find your newly found friends and housemates will mean much more to you than a lot of people back home.
When you do have your own circle of friends in London, you will get involved with drugs like it or not, if you are new to that scene, London is probably the place to experiment with drugs as its cheap and quite easy to get hold off and quite safe as well. Mates wont fuck up mates who wont fuck up mates who wont fuck up mates and the pattern continues. You will hardly never, get sold a bad or dangerous batch.
I did like most people who live in London, try to get involved into sport. I joined the Wimbledon Hawks Australian Rules Football Club. I went through pre season training, played two matches in the reserves, and then in Thursday’s training, my knee went, and couldn’t run any more, I struggled to walk. It was the same knee that I injured in Whistler, Canada in January 1999 cross country skiing. I was hurting, so I went to Ealing hospital. A Doctor Beverley saw me. Checked me into a month of physio. Physio didn’t help, and six weeks later was booked in for day surgery, and had half of my cartilage in my right knee removed. This was supposed to be followed by another six physio sessions, but was discharged after one and a half sessions, after one of the physiotherapist said “you don’t need this do you, you must be one of the quickest recoveries ever”, and further added “stop wasting NHS time and money”. That was my first ever operation, and hopefully the last. Thanks to the great relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom and several other countries, we get medical benefits. All of the physio I had before the operation, and after, as well as the operation, were all paid for by the NHS (National Health Service). A lot of English bag the NHS, but tell the truth I don’t think there is nothing wrong with it. I also used a NHS Dentist, Doctor Alan Lagnado. So, before you travel, check firstly what countries you are looked after medically, it might save you a lot of money on travel insurance if you are away from home for a long time. I had been living overseas permanently for seven years (2000 to 2007), and I never purchased travel insurance once. Work out the savings yourself. Never lost any baggage. Was hit by fraud once, but got my money back. Had a operation as you know without cost to me. Always read into things.
An antipodean living in London, is like an Irishman and Guiness, it goes together. In many cases London is like a second home to us. If you’re lucky to have dual citizenship and carry a EU (European Union) passport, which we see as gold you’re laughing. There are many advantages:
· no long line ups and waits at passport control in either of your countries.
· working in a good paid job in London for a while and hopefully saving, before returning home will benefit you with exchange rate *the ability to travel to many different cultures and countries across Europe without hassle in a short term.
The one thing I noticed while living in Ireland and London is that the Brits and the Irish, do not realize how lucky they are, they both live in fantastic countries, and they are both on the front door step of Europe, for example there has been many times I have flown from London Stansted to Salzburg Austria for under thirty pounds return, in Australia we can not do that, the same distance flight will be Adelaide to Sydney and we might get it as low as hundred and fifty dollars, and we haven’t even left Australia. The airfares in Australia use to be much worst (expensive) before Mr Richard Branson came along with Virgin Blue and Qantas started Jetstar. In and across Europe/Britain there are so many No-Frills airlines competing for our business, but they’re still able to deliver cheap fares, that’s why I give Mr Michael O’Leary and Ryanair so much credit, Ryanair flies all over Europe and they don’t charge too much you can even pick up FREE flights and just pay little tax if you book a few months ahead, that, I have done. No-frills flights are the way to go, who cares if you have to pay for your food and drinks, it doesn’t cost that much anyway. God help the major airlines ie British Airways or United Airlines and that, if Ryanair ever go international or Atlantic.
Another thing about living in London is there is always something to do in the city, a lot of people opt for short break get away on the weekend, they leave on Friday and com back late Sunday night, and go to Europe or even the country. Places like Paris and Barcelona are only an hour away. The people who cant afford to get away are the die hard football supporters who eat, breathe and drink football seven days a week, Saturday to Monday is premiership, Tuesday and Wednesday are champions league, Thursday is UEFA and Friday is either the lower divisions. They either it watch in the pub on sky sports or if they’re lucky enough to get a ticket they’re at the ground. The atmosphere at English football grounds is amazing, you don’t hear the full extent on the television. It is very hard between football seasons, if you love your football, you need a past time for a couple of months.
If you’re a history buff there are so many museums in London to check out, for the party goers, the pubs are always rocking and when it comes to the night life, London probably hosts the best nightclubs and entertainment scene in the world.
If you like shopping and don’t have the money, don’t come to London, if you have the money, you’re in the right place, London is the best place to shop. Camden Town on the weekend is packed full of bargain hunters checking out the Camden markets, Oxford street as well as Regent street is always packed full of shoppers looking for a bargain, there are always sales in London. Just keep clear around Christmas time, as you can not walk down the street, the street is jam packed with Christmas shoppers. These are just the main shopping areas but there are so many other busy shopping areas in and out of London, they’re not hard to find. When it comes to food shopping, Tesco is probably your best bet, the stores are big, they have a good range, they’re fresh and they’re so much cheaper than the rest. Mark & Spencer and Waitrose have good quality but are quite posh so you will pay extra, Sainsbury are usually fairly small supermarkets, they’re quite cheap, they lack on the range a bit, the one thing the really fall down on is the service, that’s why I know longer shop there any more after a poor experience and lastly the other main supermarket is Asda, which is bit of a K-Mart selling clothing, electrical and food under the one roof, if you want a bargain its best to check them out.
When it comes to living in London, I found that this city is the cheapest place to live in the world, out of the developed countries. Of course when you’re traveling it seems expensive because you’re converting from your last country, when I go to London from Australia or Canada everything seems expensive, but if you do it the other way around it is also expensive. So that’s why you base everything on the money you earn in that country. If I bought food at Tesco and converted it to another currency, I still think you come out better shopping for food in London. When you’re shopping for a mobile phone deal I think London is the place to shop for a contract because of free minutes, length of contracts and upgrades I have already mentioned about the airfares but going by British Rail and National Express is just as cheap and now there is Megabus.com where you can go by coach for under four pounds from London to Scotland. With clothing if you shop around you can pick up a new wardrobe fairly cheap and the quality is good.
When it comes to getting around London, one thing you don’t need is a car, because the transport system is so damn good, probably the best in the world by a long way, the buses are 24 hour, tubes and the trains run until one in the morning or so, and there are heaps of taxis where there are two kinds the traditional London cabs which run on a meter and there are the licenced cabs which is a flat fee, even better when you’re loyal to one cabbie. I will admit when you’ re living in London you will complain about London transport, why? I don’t know why? What is wrong with a tube coming every one to two minutes at the worst five minutes late in the evening, and the buses come every two to five minutes and at the worst every ten to fifteen minutes in the early hours of the morning when no body uses it hardly. You don’t realize how good it is until you leave and go to another country like Canada, where the TTC is shite, but I will tell you more about that, later in the book.
I do find it amazing when people hop on the tube at Leicester Square and get of at Piccadilly Circus just for example, because the time to walk down to the platform at Leicester Square from the entrance, you have already walked to Piccadilly Circus. I will say the Tube is not the best to be on when it comes to summer, only because in London it becomes very humid, and on the Tube it is very stuffy, but London Transport do issue a lot of warnings to the elderly especially.
The only negative about London transport is that they retired the old London route master buses, I do understand why because they’re very old, but it is their history, tourist go to London to see those buses and the London black cabs. Those route master buses were fantastic you could hop on and off before the allocated stops. Can you think of a London with out red double decker buses and black cabs? I know cant, that’s London. They still have red double decker buses but a new closed version. They were talking about replacing the traditional black cabs with a different model.
Getting around London is so easy and can never be better. Now to the socializing, you can walk into any pub in England and it is so easy to start a conversation, one of the biggest conversation starters is football, every one in the UK has a favourite football team, never met anyone who hasn’t., when you find a local its very hard to leave that local, if you do, you end up going back, even if you get banned, your friends will get you back in there. A lot of pubs in London are slowly getting the antipodean touch, the Walkabout started it at Sheppard Bush and are now exploding all over the UK. I know I can go back to London five years from now and walk into the White Swan In Golders Green and there will still be people I know there. If you are not a conversation starter that well, a game of pool well help you get involved or even karaoke, that’s not if your mates introduce you first. Soon as you have got a local, it’s a fairly close-knit group.
When you’re just starting off in London the best thing is to look for shared accommodation, you will eat, drink and go out together. Your housemates will introduce you to the rest of the gang. Your housemates will just not be housemates, but will also be friends that will also be your family, and because you are living overseas away from your own family and friends back home, you will find your newly found friends and housemates will mean much more to you than a lot of people back home.
When you do have your own circle of friends in London, you will get involved with drugs like it or not, if you are new to that scene, London is probably the place to experiment with drugs as its cheap and quite easy to get hold off and quite safe as well. Mates wont fuck up mates who wont fuck up mates who wont fuck up mates and the pattern continues. You will hardly never, get sold a bad or dangerous batch.
I did like most people who live in London, try to get involved into sport. I joined the Wimbledon Hawks Australian Rules Football Club. I went through pre season training, played two matches in the reserves, and then in Thursday’s training, my knee went, and couldn’t run any more, I struggled to walk. It was the same knee that I injured in Whistler, Canada in January 1999 cross country skiing. I was hurting, so I went to Ealing hospital. A Doctor Beverley saw me. Checked me into a month of physio. Physio didn’t help, and six weeks later was booked in for day surgery, and had half of my cartilage in my right knee removed. This was supposed to be followed by another six physio sessions, but was discharged after one and a half sessions, after one of the physiotherapist said “you don’t need this do you, you must be one of the quickest recoveries ever”, and further added “stop wasting NHS time and money”. That was my first ever operation, and hopefully the last. Thanks to the great relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom and several other countries, we get medical benefits. All of the physio I had before the operation, and after, as well as the operation, were all paid for by the NHS (National Health Service). A lot of English bag the NHS, but tell the truth I don’t think there is nothing wrong with it. I also used a NHS Dentist, Doctor Alan Lagnado. So, before you travel, check firstly what countries you are looked after medically, it might save you a lot of money on travel insurance if you are away from home for a long time. I had been living overseas permanently for seven years (2000 to 2007), and I never purchased travel insurance once. Work out the savings yourself. Never lost any baggage. Was hit by fraud once, but got my money back. Had a operation as you know without cost to me. Always read into things.
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