Does no-one talk to each other in London, or has there been a zombie apocalypse?
I spent 3 weeks in Paris in '97 just before hip op No1. Walking stick in hand, the French were so accommodating to me - offering seats on the underground and giving me just a little bit more room etc etc. Helped that my French is slightly higher than tourist level and plenty of use of the vu and not tu respectively but I was still a foreigner.
The moment I got off the coach in Victoria on the way home, I got bundled over by some tw@t in a rush with a cursory 'sorry. but no assistance from anyone to help me up. I then crossed in pain to Paddington and the whole journey was just hell. No one offered assistance at any point. Me juggling a wheeled case and a walking stick, brown mark on my left side where I hit the grubby pavement in Victoria. I cannot imagine any city anywhere so bereft of understanding. I was a student and couldn't afford a taxi across 'town'.
I was in Barcelona and Bordeaux just after that after hip op No.3 and again (with walking stick), there were no issues. Treated so well.
Having also spent time in our Capital and surrounding areas from Hammersmith to Wandsworth to Clapham to Ilford to Seven Kings to Kentish Town to Hampton Hill, I have never felt endeared to the f*cking place.
Of all the major cities I have been in, it's low on the friendly/accommodating scale.
"...oh but there's so much you can do..." You can stuff your 'so much to do'. I would rather be somewhere where you can have a conversation easily, spontaneously.
Sorry. Rant over.