Yes, Amis (London Fields) and Zadie Smith (White Teeth) have both tried to nail modern London in their fiction, but I don't think either have come close. Theirs is too much a broadsheet-friendly vision of the city, with no real eye for its more subtle aspects (and, because of Britain's strange political and social structuring - a sort of welfare capitalism, of sorts - London is a very subtle, and finely balanced city, I think.)

limey bastard = mi amante

Amis' tries hard to nail London in Success (albeit from the perspective of two heartless males) - it shows it from both ends of the class system, and has lots of brilliant descriptions of the place, and the routines of its workers (getting the train to work is a highlight).

Obviously its vision is too Amis-y, in the same way that even when he tries to write from the perspective of Muhammed Atta - he just writes like Martin Amis. Good though...

Hmmm. "Welfare capitalism", I think that's a pretty good summing up of my political outlook. Reward the strong, protect the weak.

What you describe is 'Keynesian' economics, which was ultimately destroyed by Thatcherism, although traces of it remain in the nation's cities, where a total market economy is impossible due to mass unemployment, council housing, etc.

he's not your amante, he's your novio-- since neither of you is married and you planned to inflict yourselves upon each other in some sort of official way.

though since you've been shacking up he's properly speaking your conviviente.

Just looking that up. Looks interesting. I also like the 'culture of poverty's' sociological group's ideas of fighting poverty which is a kind of a middle ground between Marxist and Capitalist views.

Thatcher was a cunt. And that is that!

thanks for the lesson, but he is not my novio. shit's called off.

what's interesting is i lived in london in '99 for six months. moved there by myself, didn't know a soul, didn't actually know a thing about london. i ended up getting a decent flat right across from the highbury/islington station, which i learned through this thread crack addicts apparently frequent. i walked a lot to the area where the angel stop is off the northern line to eat, go to the movies, record store, etc. i didn't find it soul-less at all; in fact, quite enjoyed it.

my last week before i moved, my mom came and stayed with me and whoever lived above me was on some sort of binge and was screaming at his girlfriend and throwing things all night long - first time my whole stay there that anything like that happened. scared the crap out of us - we called the cops and everything. the next day when i was moving out, on the way to the airport, i told the cab driver the story, who said "that's what you get for living in council flats." so, i was paying 165/week for public housing and never knew it.

but i loved my apartment and loved my neighborhood and, whether it was ignorance or not, i always felt safe, even at night and by myself.

then he's your machucante. ha!

so anyway
i looked around and i've discovered that islington and camden are far less expensive than east london. i like north london as well though which is extremely expensive even by my standards but not out of the question.

i'm going to have to learn how to drive on the left side of the road...i can see that turning into something of a disaster

my boyfriend really wants to move back to the UK which i would love to once i get all the financial shit sorted out properly and all of that boring business. i'll be so happy to be able to let my cats outside which is not happening in new york for obvious reasons, and have room for a doggie (and who knows, maybe a little cantankerous)

I was pretty worried about that too when I first moved to this backasswards wrong side of the road country, but in truth it takes just about ANYBODY all of ten minutes to get used to. The only thing that's really difficult is remembering which lever is the turn signal and which is the windshield wiper.

oh are the turn signal and wiper levers reversed?

the only reason i'm worried about it is because i'm a terrible driver anyway. oh and my license is expired.

so late 70s

instead, nowadays...

Yes, they're reversed, which is annoying as fuck for the first month or so, but on the whole you'll be no worse on the left side of the road than you are on the right.

well that's reassuring. thank you.
note to self: must work on reckless driving.

2 weeks ago you wanted your uterus surgically removed.

shall i quote, or are you considering adoption?

or is a little cantankerous some kind of pet monkey?

yeah the uterus removal thing. go ahead and quote me on that because it gives me trouble ie terrible cramps and back pain and sore boobs. but that's only every once in awhile.
well i don't rule out children entirely. but they are a lot of work and not something i need or want to be dealing with at the moment. if i decide on children i would definitely adopt one, there are so many kids in other countries (and even at home in the US and in the UK) who need a good home and a mommy to take care of them and i would totally be willing.

ps monkeys are dirty. no.

Nobody gets to know a place well unless they get out of their house and meet people on a regular basis.