Life in London, and working at Gay Times magazine

It's been a few days now that I've been living and working in London and I figured I'd write a blog about it - because believe me, I've learnt a heck of a lot in this time I've been here.

Firstly I will address London, and living in Tooting Broadway

This place is a mile away from Lincoln. I know it's bad to say this, but the first thing I noticed when I got off the tube is the fact that there are colours of skin other than white in Tooting - a lot more. In fact, now that I sometimes feel in the minority regarding race in Tooting High Street, I know how difficult it can be for immigrants going to a culture that's unlike the one they left behind. Very un PC of me to say that, I know - but it makes you realise how untouched Lincoln is by immigration and I think the city is really missing out because of it. There's so much more culture that these people bring to the area.

Tooting High Street

I do love the Saree shops, the bright dresses and the pretty Asian jewellery though - and I think that the immigrants here have mixed really well with the other communities.

Londoners on the whole aren't quite as polite as people in Lincoln. The Tube trains are deathly silent (overwhelmingly so), people will push past you to cram into the space on busy tubes and generally be in a rush everywhere. It took some getting used to, and I've found out the hard way that I am just tall enough to fit on a tube, plenty of heads banging on poles before I found that out.

This is a common scene for me

But the place is so...alive. The rush and life of the place is infectious. I love being able to travel so far, so quickly. For a 50 minute journey from Tooting in Zone 3, to Gospel Oak in Zone 2 at the north of the city costs me something like £2-3 I think. It's ridiculously cheap and and I love it.

Being at Gay Times has been an interesting experience. It's made me realise that I'm so far from gay culture and that half of what they write about is beyond me. I do feel like I stick out a sore thumb in the office when I've been asked to write reviews for the latest music releases. If anything, perhaps it's confirmed how much I dislike gay culture, but I'm still happy to be working for a national publication.

Also, transcribing an interview with a French porn star was one of the weirdest things I've done in a long time. I knew that when their style guide included the phrase "Blowjob is one word" that this week would be anything but ordinary...

Experiences in the big city

This blog is a little late in posting, I had originally intended for it to be on the train home however due to unforseen circumstances I didn't have the time to!

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London was...impressive. It was simultaneously busy, noisy, rude, smelly, and strange yet I loved it. From the man wearing a £500 outfit yet snacking on McDonalds, to the drunk men trying to shop in Topshop wearing a pink bear hat I just couldn't get enough of it!

I also got the chance to wander around Soho, Covent Garden Market and many other famous attractions with my friends Angie and Kevin - I even managed to navigate the tube successfully myself which I feared would be an impossible task.

One thing I did notice is the business of the place - people seemed to be genuinely surprised when I opened doors for them as if it never happens :-/

The US Embassy was a very...daunting place. I've never seen a gun before, so to suddenly be confronted with 5 policemen with submachine guns wasn't desperately nice. "Come on in, it's a party in here" cried the chirpy security guard. I did smile but the man with the machine gun stood a few feet away from him didn't really make me see his point.

Still - just a few more days until my visa arrives and it's then time to book my flights!