I mostly hate living in London, and plan to follow this with a post with the 5 things I hate most about it. But let’s start with the positives.

1. Culture

There is so much art, much of it free, and great theatre (often with cheap tickets available on weeknights) that my goal to do something cultural every week is easily achieved with a plethora of options.

2. People Visit

I find that people I know come through London regularly, which is great. It seems like roughly every month someone I know is passing through, and it’s great to get dinner or brunch and catch up.

3. Flights to Europe

Yes, one of my favourite things here is the ability to leave. Popping over to the continent for the weekend is cheap and easy, with a choice of international airports (after living in Ottawa and KW, I vowed never to live in a city without an international airport ever again – I know YOW is international, but it is accessed by a one-lane-in-each-direction road, which is ridiculous).

4. Economically Vibrant

In the tech industry at least, there appears to be a lot going on – startups, events, and I get pinged more often than before by recruiters, some of the jobs are actually appealing (as opposed to the “come take a significant paycut to work for this unknown company”, although those do still happen).

5. Architecture

I like looking at the buildings in London, and wondering around and seeing how the style changes. I really like the mix of old and new.