Now, to the general world this may have just burst your bubble of the fantasy of living in London and you'll probably be sitting in your seat feeling slightly deflated. For that, I'm truly sorry. But for anyone who has made the move over here, I am sure like me you find this all incredibly funny. Bittersweet, but most definitely funny. For this author has hit the nail on the head so well, I couldn't help but think back to it on Friday night when I sat at home holding my second cup of tea (having re-used the first teabag) and had a grand total of 19 pence sitting in my UK bank account. For 19 pence, you MIGHT be lucky to buy a single banana (depending on where you bought it from) but unfortunately you'd be one penny away from a Freddo. Devastating stuff.
I've always loved listening to my parents' travel stories from when they lived in London in the 1980s. The places they saw, the experiences they had. How they managed to do something different every weekend that was so exciting it made their mundane jobs in horrible weather conditions tolerable. It was easy to filter the other stories they had to tell of not being so poor they weren't able to afford (grey coloured) meat and of the water freezing over in their apartment's pipes. After all, that was the 1980s! Computer hadn't even property taken off then! Besides, anything prior to the year of my birth was practically the dark ages. Times had changed, surely.
Haaa, Emma of the past. Tut tut. How ignorant you were.
Though I feel like I must mention my amazing time in Bath last weekend at this point in time and plans to visit Copenhagen and Berlin in the next couple of months, unfortunately the reality is that I will most likely not buy any new clothes whilst living over here apart from a couple of staple save-me-from-the-deathly-cold-weather items. Certainly, it will not be a particular coat that caught my eye that would use up my entire month's leisure allowance.
I will not be travelling to Paris every weekend, despite it only being a train ride away.
And I will learn to be inventive with eggs. And rice. And carrots.
However, these are the living conditions of most people who choose to live in London. Many people in their twenties move to London from all over the UK for the work opportunities, lifestyle and the general excitement of leaving home. The good news is that there's a wonderful feeling of, "we're all in this together." House parties are back in vogue and people are more than accommodating to lend their couch (and sometimes bed) to crash on if you've missed the last tube home.
On the same night that I was sitting on the couch with 19 pence in my bank account, I came across the Pursuit of Happyness on TV - a movie featuring Will Smith based on a true story about a father who overcame all financial odds to make a success of himself. Unlike Will Smith's character, I knew that my paycheck was due to hit my account the next day and had somewhere that I could safely call home. On any other given day I am able to give a spare banana to the homeless man who sits across the road with his dog, who never budges from the man's lap.
And despite being reminded of the insane wealth of others on Deadline Day in the world of football, which has now consumed the lives of all of the men in my London life, that's enough for me!
Love, Em xxx
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