Having lived in London for a couple of weeks now I'm beginning to get used to things.  The area in which we live is actually not what I expected from a London suburb.  The area is very green with plenty of trees lining the road and plenty of open spaces.  We live between two areas of Wanstead and South Woodford, both of which have high streets with a number of shops and bars / restaurants.  Wanstead is closest and has a small Somerfield along with Boots, Woolworths and smaller indepdendent shops.  South Woodford is a little further but has a few more shops including a Sainsburys.  Both places have tube stations with the closest tube station being Snaresbrook which is about 5 minutes walk away.

The image that most northerners have of London is place where everyone is unfriendly, doesn't speak English and the shops are all more expensive.  Now I can't say that all of those myths are untrue, but like anywhere there are always unfriendly people and tourists.  Yes, some things are more expensive - here is a list of what I've found so far:

• Fish and Chips - surprisingly this is about twice as expensive as our local chippy in York!
• Beer - yes this is normally more expensive, although it does depend where you go and what comparison you make
• Rent - yes this is normally significantly more expensive
• And that's it...

What might be quite surpising to some people is that other things are actually the same prices.  Most high street shops sell at the same prices, electricity is roughly the same price.  Even travel is not that much different when you consider a bus trip to most places is £1 with an Oyster card, and tube journeys are more expensive over longer distances, but then again there is a tube every 3 minutes - and you'll be unlucky if you ever wait 5 minutes, if only that was true of buses up north!

The next myth to quash is that everyone being unfriendly.  Now far from this, I've found people who are unfriendly but also many people who are friendly and polite and helpful - it just depends on who you meet - much like anywhere I suppose!  Coming from a white middle class city such as York the stereotype that 'no one speaks English' could quite easily be fulfilled.  The truth is that there are more people from foreign countries who live in London.  Without getting onto the whole racial debate there are areas with high Indian populations and high Black populations, just as there is in places like Darnall in Sheffield (the city I was born and grew up in).

Finally one myth I can't quash, London drivers are useless (putting it politely)!  The three days I had driving down here while looking for houses were some of the most scary due to the amount of stupid, impatient drivers on the road.  Very few people will ever give way to another driver, and pedestrians and cyclists are invisible (or so it seems).  Yes London drivers are bad, but in the end to a certain extent you kind of have to join in, or you never get anywhere - and that's why this will always continue!  Oh, and I'm not sure about Chelsea tractors but I think they're starting to plough the fields across most of North London!

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