Leeds or London Loving

Recently my family has made the transition from northern to southern living, my mum claiming that ‘London life is more vibrant’ making it a valid reason to move away from the ‘rainy, unchanged north’. Me, being a northerner through and through had a lot to say about this drastic move; the north is all I have really known and has never let me down so I have no reason to move away from it. But since I had no choice in the move I thought I would broaden my horizons and accept the fact London may genuinely be my new home.
After spending a couple of weeks in London over the Christmas and Easter holidays I managed to make the most of what’s available and to be honest, every thing that is available in the ‘great big city of London’ is available up north as well.

Shopping: London: Oxford Street , Regent street and all the other famous roads.

Shopping: Leeds: Victoria quarter and Leeds city centre in general, you don’t have to travel on different tubes to different towns to find the thing you want.

Big shopping centre: London: Blue Water

Big shopping centre: Leeds: White Rose and Medowhall is only 30 minuets away which is about the amount of time it would take to commute to a worth while shopping are in London.

Markets: London: e.g. Camden, Liverpool street

Markets: Leeds: Leeds indoor and out door markets – they are all located in the city centre and you don’t have to travel to get to all the different ones.

Museums/Art Galleries: London: plenty for all different types of interests.

Museums/Art Galleries: Leeds: Although there are not as many museums of interest in the north, it’s just as easy to travel to the south to see one. Once you’ve seen the museum once you have seen it all.

Nights out (clubs): London: Plenty that require £15 just to gain entry.

Nights out (clubs): Leeds: Gatecrasher, big nights such as metropolis, the o2 academy offers other gigs and events.

Nights out (bars): London: Every town offers its own version of night life.

Nights out (bars): Leeds: Headingley has lots of cheap and cheerful bars that are suitable for all ages.

Places of interest: London: Madam Taussaurds, Big Ben, the London eye, the dungeons and many more are located in London.

Places of interest:Leeds: You are never to far away from some thing to do, there’s tropical world, York dungeons are only 30 minuets away as well as the castle walls located there. And there are seasonal events such as the German market.

Eating out: Both Leeds and London are abundent in a variety of places to eat out at.

Country Side: London: the real country side is non-existent here although there are boating lakes and parks.

Country Side: Leeds: Country side every where, from the peak district to the lake district, to fields of greenery and walking paths. No artificial green areas are needed.

Fresh Air: London: Smog – it has been said that Londoners snot can be black on some days due to pollution.

Fresh Air: Leeds: Fresh area all around, a healthy green colour for northern snot all year.

I do have to admit that in some areas London does excel such as the theatres have so many more viewing options, but with the amount of theatres available I would be disappointed if there wasn’t.
There are a few more centrally located things to do such as the London eye and the houses of parliament, the river themes, but how many times can you visit the same place? And the prices of visiting these areas are extortionate so even if you wanted to visit every day you couldn’t. The same applies for nights out, there may be more areas with bars, pubs and clubs but when you are paying £4 for a pint how often are you going to make the most of these.
Maybe I am just being biased because I was raised in the north, but at the end of the day, putting places, prices, pubs, bars, clubs, shopping and eating aside you are left with the people. And it has to be said northerners are much friendlier and polite breed compared to those in the south. Southerners are too engrossed in themselves to carry out a simple act of kindness such as hold a door open for the person behind or give up their seat for the elderly lady or even apologise quickly for standing on your foot on the tube .
I have to say I am all for :

Easter

Easter holidays have always been an interesting and active time of year for me. England just starts to get hotter, the BBQs come out and best of all... CHOCOLATE!!
Coming home from Uni im instantly greeted with properly cooked dinners and then on the Easter Sunday a big BBQ and Easter egg hunt (I have a 9 year old sister so it is still acceptable to plan things like Easter egg hunts at 19). I’m not sure if its just me getting older but so many things about Easter have changed like:
· How long it takes me to find my eggs – It definitely used to take me an hour or more but now the hunt is over in ten minuets.
· Getting into my Easter eggs is so much quicker and easier and the egg is more or less the same size as the box – this might have some thing to do with the recycling laws so there isn’t double the amount of packaging needed to find the smallest egg insider. Or I have just got older and can’t eat as much chocolate any more so the eggs fill me quicker making them seem like there’s more chocolate to them.
· Its just BBQ Sunday not church and BBQ Sunday like it used to be – changing times or just the fact my nana isn’t there to drag us all to church?
· Its risky planning to BBQ – its definitely true about the colder wetter winters coming about, planning a BBQ in April is as dangerous as having a naked flame near gas... you never know when some thing is going to go off (in this case when its going to rain). I’m sure when I was younger the Easter holidays were hotter?!
I guess I’m just trying to say are times changing for the worst? For the better? Or have they always been like this?