The city itself is huge, covering a total of 607 square miles and a population of about 8 million, the metro population is about 14 million! The city consists of 32 different boroughs, operating much like the cities do within the Puget Sound Region. It boasts the 2nd largest financial district behind New York and has the 5th largest GDP in the world.
Okay enough about the boring facts, now on to what makes London a city.
First, I'm convinced there are no traffic laws within the city. You are allowed to pass on any street, there are no stop signs and pedestrians cross at their own risk. Most of the time I just run hoping that I can make it across before the truck or bus hits me. Motorcycles ride down the middle of the road on the dashed line, personally I think it is suicide. I'm way to nervous to ride my bike if I had one, but lots of people do, I was astonished to find out only 12 cyclist had died this year from accidents with vehicles (the same as Seattle). Also the streets are pretty small and I'm still nervous when 2 buses pass each other on a 2 way roadway and cars are parked on the street, yeah cars can basically park anywhere on the streets or sidewalks without threat of tickets. Oh yeah, and people just randomly turn around in the middle of the street!
Public transport: well they have it here and in massive amounts. First you have the Tube, or underground (not all underground), the Overground, the DLR, Trams, Trains (different than both Tube and Overground), as well as a massive amount of buses. I avoid the buses if I can, nothing against them personally but traffic sucks (remember no traffic laws). You have to ride the Tube if you can, granted during rush hour you are lucky if you get on the first train as people are spilling out at all times. Much like other cities there is a warning and if you are caught in the door, well you are caught in the door. I've seen many bags, backpacks and purses get stuck on a normal day. If your personal items do get stuck, everyone stares because you are holding up the train. The worst part about the Tube though is how hot is always is. When I arrived in London it was in the 80's the entire first week, no ac on the trains and the humidity killed me, I felt like the fat American sweating in the corner! But you can't avoid taking the Tube, it is fast and mostly on time. I have never waited more that 5 minutes for a train and that was after midnight, so we all deal. There are 8 different zones when riding the Tube, but most people stay within the 6. They are just rings that represent the cost of taking any TRAIN system, buses don't have zones. I live in zone 2, so pretty close to what is considered Central London. My monthly pass costs about 77 Pounds for unlimited riding, I then need to "top up" if I want to ride outside my normal 2 zones.
Something else I have noticed about the Tube recently is that it is pretty dirty, just dust wise. Whenever I have spent some time on the Tube I sneeze a bunch and I need to blow my nose, lots of black gunk comes out when I do. I know you all wanted to know about that!
The city itself is split up in 5 main areas, North London, South London, West London, East London and Central London, your postcode represents where you live. Mine is NW2, so I'm in Northwest London, though it isn't recognized as an area really. Within the boroughs of London there exist different districts, I live in Cricklewood between Willesden Green and Kilburn. My school is in Hendon the borough of Barnet, it is getting easier to remember where everything is actually. Each Borough is responsible for everything except for the Metropolitan Police and transit basically, so utilities (if publicly owned), waste management and streets. This creates big differences within neighborhoods if they overlap boroughs. I've noticed West Minster is very clean and there are workers always cleaning the streets, DUH, its the tourist center.
I told my parents the first time I talked to them that I thought the city was pretty dirty, well here is why. I had to ask a Londoner why they don't have any bins (garbage cans) to throw anything away on the streets. Well its because of the IRA bombing campaign some years back, so when Tube stations do have bins, they are just metal rings, think basketball hoop, with a clear plastic bag. So when walking around you will see lots of beer cans, fast food bags and other items just sitting in the gutter or on the side of the walkway, unless you are in the tourist center where they keep it clean.
So that is all I have to say, I need to keep some to myself so I can write another "Londonism" post in the future, believe me I have lots more. Really I'm just tired of writing and am thinking about catching the Champions League game on tv at the local pub. Hope you all enjoyed my insider info on the great city of London. I am enjoying myself here so no harm meant.
Good to read, Bryce! It started to answer some of the general questions I had about the differences between the States and there. Thanks for sharing and I'm glad you enjoyed WHL today!
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