I was born in Islington, London and stayed there until the family moved to Milton Keynes when I was 8. I stayed there, (apart from a brief spell in Telford in the early nineties) until 1997 when I moved to a place just outside Luton called Houghton Regis, to be closer to work.

I moved up to Manchester in 2000, (April 26th to be exact. It was a Wednesday) and have been here since. I also work in manchester.

I spent nearly all my spare time in Abingdon about 10 years ago and also worked in a pub. Small world....

What prompted you to move oop north?

I know Houghton Regis. I had a client based there.

he was in london, nuff said?

Carolyn's in Lahndan and she's not moving.

Mark

Well, somebody's got to.

I wouldn't mind to, given the chance.

Mark

its also a stones throw from where i used to live, Stewartby is literally just the other side of Ampthill

I'd been friends with Mrs. V. for quite a while, (speaking every day) and visiting whenever I could, and we eventually realised that we made a good pair. I had a few "issues" at my job, (after having worked right through Christmas, including Christmas day, to sort out their Y2K problems) I came down with a viral infection and was off work for three weeks. As I was in Manchester, recuperating, (yes, it was actually that bad) they said they wouldn't pay me for the time off, as I hadn't handed in the sick notes, (I kept hold of them to hand in personally, rather than risk losing them in the post) so I told them to stick the job, and two days later I was living in Manchester.

Every big city has positives and negatives but as big cities go London is one of the most interesting in the world and I do feel very lucky to be able to live and work there. If anyone has any doubt that there are good points to the city just go down to Blackfriars bridge at dawn or around Christmas when they have the lights on. It truly is one of the amazing sites in the world. You can see St Paul's and the city one way and the Houses of Parliment in the other direction.

Here's a pic I took a few years ago from the office where I worked near The Savoy

I'll be visiting London again soon(ish) so I can get some more pics of the place.
There's some lovely places to see in London.

Mark

My experience of London, in a nutshell -
Nice place to visit, not sure I'd want to live there.
Unless, of course, I was earning the astonishing sums of money you require to live there with the similar amount of space and comfort you get anywhere else in the country.
And even then, as I type this, I'm looking across a beautiful bay, sky's blue, a few fluffy white clouds, some yachts on the water with beautiful red sand stone cliffs and green trees and spaces on top of that.

And you're saying a bridge is nicer?

Sure is Mark. If like Paola you're in to graffiti too get down Shoreditch / Old Street. I can't walk to the station without passing a crew out making their mark. One of them has even become quite famous and now sells his work. He panted the alphabet on all the shop and business shutters (he's not selling the shutters obviously lol)

We had to show an American round recently and started off at the Tower of London (one of our sites if you want free tickets) and walked along the Thames, across the wobbly bridge at Tate Modern and down to Gabriels Wharf near the Oxo Tower. Was quite a long walk but worth it as you can miss so much otherwise. Only took me 41 years to get round to it!

Who's that aimed at? I certainly never said a bridge is nicer than what you just described. Then again, there's bridges and then there's bridges. It's all relative to what it is you want from life.
Right now I've no problem with London, Devon or anywhere else.

Mark