The Long Goodbye (Part 1)

The answers to the questions everyone has been asking me.

My last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, making final preparations for my move to San Francisco and seeing friends and relatives for one last time before I head off. It’s been a lot of fun and, I admit, a little emotional.

In all of these interactions, I have been asked the same questions a lot: What will I miss (and not miss) about London; what am I most looking forward to about San Francisco; and what am I most nervous about?

That’s worthy of a blog right?

To be honest, when asked, I have struggled with the answers, but as I contemplate leaving the city that has been my home for 25 years, here’s my attempt at answering the first part:

What will I miss most about London?

1. Friends and family: It should be taken as read that my friends and family top the list. Indeed, this whole process has weirdly brought me closer to many. My (first) leaving drinks party was a bit like attending my own wake, with people from all different spheres of my life coming together, people I have known for decades meeting for the first time. Quite emotional. And at the weekend I had lunch with my siblings, their partners and my mother for the first time in…. well, ever? (I think it’s fair to say that as a family we are more like the Simpsons than the Waltons.)
2. Brixton: Brixton has been my home (on and off), or at least my centre of gravity, since I first moved to London in 1991. It’s changed a lot, of course, not always for the better (although those who bemoan the gentrification are viewing the recent past through rose-tinted spectacles). But it’s my home. Yes, there are decent bars and music venues and restaurants in San Francisco, but that doesn’t mean I won’t miss The White Horse, the Brixton Academy and the vibrancy of Brixton Village. And my own flat, of course, which will be someone else’s for the next three years at least.
3. Those ‘London moments’: London is an ever-changing city that never fails to inspire, surprise, thrill… even after all these years. But anyone who, like me, grew up elsewhere and made London their home later in life, knows what I mean when I talk about ‘London moments’. For me it was always crossing the Thames in a black cab late at night, on my way home, and seeing the city in all its glory: St Paul’s to the left, the Palace of Westminster to the right, and realizing this great city is home, and what a privilege that is.

What will I not miss about London?

1. The Central Line: This past week has been a week of ‘lasts’: Last drink with so-and-so, last weekly meeting on this or that, last Pret breakfast… But one thing I can’t wait to come to an end is travelling on the Central Line. The California Girlfriend (CGF) just reminded me that not everyone will knows what that is, so for the benefit of my American friends, the Central Line is the tube line – the red one on the map – that runs East to West through London. And it’s awful. Always busy, always hot, whatever the weather outside. Honestly, walking down into Chancery Court station is like descending into the seventh circle of Hell. Rarely have I been so intimately acquainted so many of my fellow Londoners’ armpits.
2. Paying £12 for a vodka and tonic: By any measure, London is an expensive city, and you kind of get used to it. But it is ridiculous. I mean everything is expensive. Now, having spent some time in San Francisco already, I know that it’s not exactly a bargain basement city either, but honestly!
3. Fad-ism: Keeping track of the latest ‘thing’ can be exhausting. And the ever-evolving nature of London means there is always a new thing to supersede the last one, which quickly becomes sooooooo last week. From cocktails to clubs, music to memes, fashion to food, the pace is dizzying. Many of my friends got off this roundabout long ago, opting to freeze their lives some time in the early 2000s, but if you work in communication like I do, and are surrounded at work by millennials, you can’t help but get sucked in to the fad vortex. And it’s exhausting!

If I appear to be in a reflective mood, it’s because I am. It’s my last working day in the city that has been my home for a quarter of a century, and on the threshold of a new adventure.