London is one of the most important cities in the world as regards the economy. It is like a little kingdom on its own and totally divorced from what is happening in the rest of England.
Someone in Lancashire or in Cornwall will feel little kinship (brotherhood) with the Londoners of today. To be honest there are not many left and most of them live outside the city and commute to work every day.
Who are the ones who still live in London? Well of course the rich and those who have very good jobs can earn at least 145k a year. Why? Because if you do not earn that amount the bank would not give you a mortgage
Then the few who managed to buy their homes before London housing became outrageously expensive ( I would say very few of these).
After that, there is the poor who have been given a council home and then foreigners who divide a room for rent. But real Londoners like me?
Well, we may have vanished nearly, from most of London.
But the real reason is that even a very ordinary house costs hundreds of thousands of pounds and people just cannot afford one even if you earn what would be a great wage for Italy of about 3 k a month.
Today it seems that every week new development is taking place and there seems to be very little control as anything like a factory or a pub are turned into flats.
Lots of very good schools have become flats and one has to wonder why because real Londoners cannot afford these dwellings.
The people of the world come to London for shopping and eating. Many restaurants such as Gordon Ramsey have to be booked months in advance.
Unlike lots of presumed ideas, London eateries created most styles of restaurant that are common in Europe today as regards the look or ambience. Why do I say this? Because I actually saw the transformation.
The main shopping streets are Oxford Street where lots of shops are cheap and mainly sell fashion.
Bond Street is another where they sell very upmarket goods. There is also Carnaby Street which was the main street of the sixties swinging London.
The most elegant street for shopping is Regent Street which is a mixture of cheap to medium-priced goods. Most of it is shopping.
In the center of London, we have the West End and it is flanked by the financial center which we call "The City". Its also called "The Square Mile".
We call it the "city" because it is basically the area of Roman Londinium. While it is nearly impossible for someone to buy a house in London because of the prices some things are cheap especially supermarkets which are at least one third cheaper than Italy and also the JD Witherspoon chain of pubs where you can eat for 6 Euros. But anything involving tourists is very expensive such as hotels.
The East End of London once home to the destitute poor is now the place of young professionals and the rich. It has become trendy. Across the river from the East End is the Shard, a majestic palace of glass scraping the sky by Italian architect Renzo Piano. One of the few pieces of modern architecture that is noteworthy in modern London and artless London unlike the greedy but arty Victorians.
1. Why can't Londoners afford homes. Give other reasons you can think of
2.What are being turned into flats?
3.What does Oxford Street mainly sell
4. Why would someone feel little kinship with London?
5. Do Londoners actually live in London?
6.Why would the bank not give you a mortgage?
7. What is the Shard? Describe it
8.What happens at Gordon Ramsey?
No comments:
Post a Comment