Living in London
Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
Interviewer: Hi, Luke. Thanks for talking to me today.
Luke: Hi, Jo. Nice to meet you.
Interviewer: Erm, what would you like to talk about?
Luke: I'm going to talk about living in London, erm, and the kind of love–hate relationship I have with it – and I assume most people do. I've been living in London for about 15 years, maybe a bit longer. And I've lived kind of mostly in kind of north and east London. So I moved to Camden originally and now I live in Hackney, which is probably the kind of trendiest area of London, and that's not necessarily why I live there, but it's a nice area of London. And most people that come to London, visit London, think that central London is London. And, but, where – generally people don't live in central London. Erm, people don't spend too much time in central London. They might work there, but they don't visit there. So, you might come to London as a tourist and go to somewhere like Leicester Square, er, Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street, Regent Street, that kind of area. And I'm very rarely in that area. Erm, so, I live, erm, slightly on the outskirts but it's not really on the outskirts 'cause it's kind of Zone 2, Zone 3, which for most people that live in London, that's quite close to the centre. So, it takes me about half an hour to get into town. And when you live in London you say 'town' as in 'central London'. And things I love about London is that I've got two children that live in London. Well, my oldest is nine and there's so many things to do, constantly, and so many events every weekend. Erm, you go somewhere like the South Bank and there's always something happening throughout the year. You can always go to the theatre, go to the cinema, there's amazing restaurants and cafés. Erm, there's lots of things to experience but there's also … the downside is it's, there's a kind of lack of stillness and quietness that you might get if you live outside the city. But of course you can always go to Royal Parks which are amazing. Erm, I think my favourite thing about living in London is, erm, the kind of, well, where I live particularly there's a bit of a local community, it's kind of like a small village. It's called Stoke Newington, which everyone that lives in London has heard of but tourists haven't necessarily heard of and it's actually quite a nice place to visit.
Interviewer: What's the worst thing about living in London for you?
Luke: Erm, the Underground's pretty horrific, erm, and what I find is, I used to come up to London when my dad worked in London when I was a kid, sort of 20, 30 years ago. Maybe even longer. And there was, there was rush hour, and rush hour was the morning and the evening or the early afternoon, and now London is just one constant rush hour. Doesn't matter what time you get on the Tube or what time you get a bus, it's packed. It's always packed, and if you drive in London as well it's the same thing. It just takes forever to get anywhere. Erm, so, I, my worst thing is how busy it is. It's hectic.
Interviewer: OK. Thanks so much for talking to me.
Luke: Pleasure!
I live in a city. In Athens, a city in Greece. The best thing about the place is the climate. We have sunshine most days of the year.
I think the blue sky and light have a beneficial effect on our psychological mood, inspiration and energy.
Another reason is that someone can easily find a job, have many more opportunities for studies, and a multitude of events, concerts, theaters, and major sporting events.
On the other hand, I live on a busy street that is very noisy.
The atmosphere is definitely not the best with the exhaust fumes that often pollute from car traffic.
If you ask me where I would prefer to live, in the countryside or in the city, as an elderly person I would prefer to spend most days of the year in the countryside.
I live on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The best part of living here is the quietness. In contrast to D.C, which is always busy and sirens from the police cars never stop, our place is very peaceful. In terms of the crime rate, it is much better than in the city. Therefore, it is a good place for families to live. The downside is that you cannot live without a car. Transportation has not been developed, and you have to drive for shopping and to the park, etc.. In addition, Gasoline is not cheap. Therefore, the cost of living here is relatively high.
Hello. I live in a small village , less than three hundred inhabitants in the north of France. The life here is very quiet, but they aren't any shop, even not a bakery. What you need, day after day, you have to come to Saint-Quentin or Chauny to find it. And when you are older, that's a problem. In the other hand, for retired people like us, we can have a garden and and the silent in night is complete. We appreciate these opportunities even if we have to get out the village to see a doctor for example. After thirty five years in a town, we woulnd't return to this town now.
Hi
I would like to know why the speaker says "my oldest is 9" since he has only 2 children shouldn't he has used a comparative?
Thank you
Hello Maghi123,
It's OK to use a superlative when comparing two children's ages, though you are right in thinking that in most contexts we'd normally use a comparative form. I'm not sure why it's different with children's ages, but it is.
All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi,
I live in a small town in France of 7000 inhabitants, called Grabels, near Montpellier, a larger city in the south of France.
Life is very pleasant here because it is surrounded by pine trees and wild vegetation called "garrigue" in which you can find rosemary, thyme, lavender and all the specific plants of the south of France, and, of course, sunshine almost all year round.
People, both local and from other origins, are very sociable and kind.
You can find excellent fruits and vegetables, as well as excellent meats and fish, and the famous French bread, needless to say.
It takes 30 minutes to reach Montpellier.
Montpellier is a beautiful city of about 500,000 inhabitants, which is worth visiting: it is famous for its medical tradition since the Middle Ages, its beaches and its large pedestrian streets...
Im Ana and im from of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The bad things that living here its a Juarez has a lot of Potholes, the weather its very extreme and sometimes we have insecurity, but Juarez has a lot goog thing like the food called burrito, the people its very sociable and nice, its a border with USA and has a lot jobs opportunities.
I would say a very small town with a lifestyle that resembles more of a village with everyone know each other and welcome everybody into their homes especially during events like weddings and festive celebrations. The local community would generally lend a helping hand to set up tents and serve foods to guests during these occasions. The least comfortable about living in a close-knit community like mine is the inability to form new relationships or friendships as everyone seem to grow up together in a way it's like we have known each other a lifetime. It could be quite dull if you're a sociable and love networking as it's quite nearly impossible to form new ones.
I live in Odesa, Ukraine. It's a city with more than 1 million inhabitants. Odesa is located on the Black Sea and this is what I love about my city. I can go to the sea at any time and the way will take me no more that 1 hours. The worst thing in Odesa is the rush hours in the morning when everyone goes to work and in the evening when they go home.
I live in Montblanc which is a town near Barcelona ( Catalonia ). There are 7000 inhabitans, it's surraunded by mountains and it has a fantastic mediaval wall. The best thing if you live in a town is the stillness, because there isn't the same population as in a city. And the worst is that there aren't many shops to go shopping but it's not important bacause we live near a big city or we can shop online.