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bigbadwolf


Posts: 100
Joined: Jan 2008
Post: #1
06-09-2008 05:47 PM

After reading Alexi Sayles 'The weeping womens hotel' (very good by the way, along with all his other work) I was mulling over the point that the majority of the characters aren't from London and and don't often interact with those born and raised in the capital. How many of you guys are from other parts of the U.K or from abroad and if so what lasting impressions have London/Forest hill and it's citizens left on you, good or bad and don't be shy.

I was born and raised in London.

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brian


Posts: 2,002
Joined: Apr 2005
Post: #2
07-09-2008 02:43 PM

I was born and raised in Sydenham , been in SE 23 since 1974.

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barty


Posts: 19
Joined: Jul 2008
Post: #3
07-09-2008 02:59 PM

I'm from west London, born in Acton, W12, then lived in Southall, West Drayton (near Heathrow) before fleeing London for west Yorkshire in 1997.

I moved from Yorkshire to Forest Hill in 2003.

I dunno whether my experiences of Forest Hill and its citizens are because they're from Forest Hill, or because London itself changed whilst I was away!

Growing up in Southall, there was a large ethnic Asian population, now in Forest Hill it's a bit more Afro-Carribean, but, other than that, the biggest thing I've noticed since I came back to London is the transport system.

The office of Mayor was created whilst I was in Yorkshire, and the bus service in particular, was massively better when I came back.

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Applespider


Posts: 285
Joined: Feb 2006
Post: #4
07-09-2008 03:14 PM

I'm Scottish - have lived near Stirling, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Newcastle before coming to London. Stayed near Wandsworth Common initially which I liked aside from lousy transport (or let's just say infrequent), then Bow which was far too concrete for my tastes and then to Forest Hill.

I like London in general - there's lots on and I like the cosmopolitan atmosphere (and Cosmopolitans) and the general level of tolerance that results. And I like our general area - Forest Hill and East Dulwich. I know more neighbours here than I have anywhere other than my original home. I like our local shops and our transport links. I think we're blessed with beautiful, easy accessible green spaces and it's a pretty safe place to live.

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Elizabeth25


Posts: 212
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #5
07-09-2008 04:09 PM

I moved to London from New York in 1997. In fact I moved to NY in 1990. So 'where I'm from', Boston, feels a bit alien to me. I often get asked for resturant recommendations for Boston and really have to plead ignorance, since having left Boston at 18, and didn't frequent resturants that wouldn't have given me change for $10.

Really, London has felt more like home to me (and a sub category Forest Hill) than any other City I've lived in. I met my husband here. Bought property here. Had my son in Lewisham Hospital (would not recomend it--but that is another thread).

In a way London has given me, what I expected from NY. Don't get me wrong NY was a lot of fun. But I moved to NY to re-invent myself in that awkward way that most 18 year olds want to re-invent themsleves. But it was London where I stopped putting on personas and found who I really am.

It hit me a few years ago, before children, I was flying into Heathrow, and as we landed I thought "ah, home." And it shocked me a bit. I hadn't even realised that a City I moved to "for a year, because it seemed like fun" would become my home.

We all leave the sandbox and our parents' house and find and create a 'home' somewhere. That may be two miles away or 4,000 miles.

Last year a couple moved next door to my parents, in suburban Massachusetts. When the guy met my father over the picket fence he said he grew up in New Castle and his wife was Spanish. My father said, "oh, my daughter lives in London". It is a small world, and it is understandable that London should be one of the major hubs of that world.

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barty


Posts: 19
Joined: Jul 2008
Post: #6
07-09-2008 04:18 PM

Elizabeth - a bit off topic this, but the end of your post made me laugh! It shows what a small country in terms of physical size this is compared to the USA!

Your dad's neighbour grew up in Newcastle, and they were doing the whole "my daughter's in London, small world!!!" thing??Laugh For most Brits, the 250-or-so-mile trip between London and Newcastle is like one end of the country to the other!!!! Going from one end of America to the other must take a good few weeks by car!!!!!

Just shows the differences in what people from different countries think a "short trip" is!!!!

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Elizabeth25


Posts: 212
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #7
08-09-2008 09:17 AM

Yes, my Dad once drove to Indiana from Boston in a day, 1,000+ miles.

But what I really meant was looking at how much people move around and end up in a place miles away from where they grew up. This guy thought he was moving to a small bedroom community in the US and he was surpirsed to find that his neighbors daughter lived in the country where he was from.

If my neighbor in London were to say, 'Hey my daughter lives in Chicago' rather than say Brighton or Ealing, I'd have the same thought. Maybe 'small world' isn't the right phrase. Maybe 'well traveled' world is better.

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