Londoners - Are you Real or Fake?

[droid]

I make no claims to be a Londoner, but according to family legend, I have several uncles, grand uncles and distant relatives who helped build the place...

That good enough for ya?

 

[Omaar]

I lived in London from 1996 to 1998, then went back to New Zealand. Just arrived back here in november, and am living in Peckham now. I like Peckham, although someone was stabbed at my bus stop the other week and the street was cordoned off for a few days. My Grandmother and a few generations preceding her lived here in the 19th and early 20th century though, they were jewish tailors in the east end.

 

[Grievous Angel]

I lived in Essex -- but near the end of district line (Hornchurch).

Lived in London proper for years - Westbourne Park, Hammersmith, Dalston, Stoke Newington, Brixton

Technically "real" "London" but

I
don't
give
a
fuck



Hated living there for a few years, but now I LOVE going back to visit - and like escaping back to Sheffield even more.

 

[bassnation]

I lived in Essex -- but near the end of district line (Hornchurch).

i didn't know it was hornchurch you come from - thought it was north essex, heading towards ipswich. from my limited knowledge based on passing through, hornchurch is almost east end.

i can't imagine living in london again for a variety of reasons - very happy where i am now, although it took some adjustment on my part to get to know the place and the people. its certainly the last move i intend to make, god knows lived in so many parts of the uk, its time to put down deep lasting roots.

my life and business is still intimately tied to london, and i still spend the majority of time there. you aren't that distant, conceptually speaking in essex anyway.

 

[...]

My Uncle Jack came down to London when the family business had a building contract in Whitechapel after the war. Unfortunately, he drank away all the profits.

 

[SIZZLE]

Isn't London a bit like New York tho? People kind of elect to move there and create a kind of 'existential' city, rather than one based on the contingent fact of birth?

This is maybe way OT, maybe not but having grown up in New York (and am therefore, a REAL New Yorker, thank you, thank you) I find that the real new yorkers, very few of them anyway, are the reason NY is an exciting place to be. It's more the alienated young kids from the sticks who have something to prove, come, live in some horrible place, pay horrible rent and just run around intoxicated by the possibility of things and hang out with a lot kids like them that are actually doing anything.

Most of the real New Yorkers I grew up with spend their time getting wasted and complaining about the fake new yorkers, how they drive up rent prices, vice magazine, williamsburg, etc. If they were the only people there NY would be a very different place, and a lot less exciting. So for my money, bring em on, most of these people moved here for a reason (and therefore are often more interesting than those simply born there) and since they are struggling so hard just to be there work harder, do more and generally make things more interesting.

That said, I moved to Berlin and became one of the aforementioned people, that was actually one of the turning points in my relationship to them, so I might not be totally unbiased. I can tell you though, in this case it's more fun driving up the rents and being part of the problem than vice versa.

 

[bun-u]

I'm a fugazi too...from Coventry for real

 

[Ach!]

Tottenham -> Edmonton -> Highbury -> Dulwich -> New Cross...

perhaps I should get out of London someday. Sometimes it feels a little embarrassing having to admit you've never lived anywhere else for an extended period. Perhaps exotic Bedford has something to offer.

 

[luka]

This is maybe way OT, maybe not but having grown up in New York (and am therefore, a REAL New Yorker, thank you, thank you) I find that the real new yorkers, very few of them anyway, are the reason NY is an exciting place to be. It's more the alienated young kids from the sticks who have something to prove, come, live in some horrible place, pay horrible rent and just run around intoxicated by the possibility of things and hang out with a lot kids like them that are actually doing anything.

Most of the real New Yorkers I grew up with spend their time getting wasted and complaining about the fake new yorkers, how they drive up rent prices, vice magazine, williamsburg, etc. If they were the only people there NY would be a very different place, and a lot less exciting. So for my money, bring em on, most of these people moved here for a reason (and therefore are often more interesting than those simply born there) and since they are struggling so hard just to be there work harder, do more and generally make things more interesting.

That said, I moved to Berlin and became one of the aforementioned people, that was actually one of the turning points in my relationship to them, so I might not be totally unbiased. I can tell you though, in this case it's more fun driving up the rents and being part of the problem than vice versa.

to the contrary, i think these people are the very people who fuck a city up. they're dazzled, thats the best way to put it, everything excites them, they're blinded by the dazzle, all they see is gleam. i really loathe these people to be honest.

 

[Jim Daze]

Lived in London for about 17 of my 33 years so I guess I'm semi-real, certainly feel that way at the moment. The rest of the time was spent standing in a freezing bus shelter in Essex which is populated by quite a lot of working class ex Londoners .

 

[bassnation]

to the contrary, i think these people are the very people who fuck a city up. they're dazzled, thats the best way to put it, everything excites them, they're blinded by the dazzle, all they see is gleam. i really loathe these people to be honest.

thats about 75% of london you just wrote off there!

we are talking about people who are slightly more integrated than a bunch of tourists blocking the way in the underground.

remember london has always been this way - its a city of immigrants, built and sustained by outsiders who eventually get sucked in.

 

[droid]

thats about 75% of london you just wrote off there!

we are talking about people who are slightly more integrated than a bunch of tourists blocking the way in the underground.

remember london has always been this way - its a city of immigrants, built and sustained by outsiders who eventually get sucked in.

Nah mate! its all about the real Londoners innit!

Like Luka and Arfur...

 

[Don Rosco]

I was born on Electric Avenue, Brixton (or the nearest maternity hospital anyway).

Left when I was 4 or so though i've lived in Dublin for most of the rest of the time, but went back for a year in 95.

So, real. Yet fake.

 

[droid]

I was born on Electric Avenue, Brixton (or the nearest maternity hospital anyway).

Left when I was 4 or so though i've lived in Dublin for most of the rest of the time, but went back for a year in 95.

So, real. Yet fake.

Always knew there was something fishy about you....

 

[tryptych]

Fake. From Lancashire originally, lived in Stratford and south (camberwell, brixton, herne hill) for 4 years, and now back to brixton after two years away from the capital.

Actually enjoying being back, lot more than I thought I would. London's a much more appealing place if you don't have a 9-5...