When do you become a Londoner?
Despite having lived in London for an approximate three and a half years, I am reluctant to call it home. I have a signed a lease, have a phone plan, and a growing pile of books on my bedroom floor. Yet I still question whether I am settled quite enough to earn the moniker of a Londoner.
But what exactly are the qualifications being a Londoner? If you ask your average Reform voter – I don’t think I’d make the cut. However, if you ask one of my Pakistani aunties, they would say that I am a Londoner because I consider 10ºC a relatively warm day. Perhaps being a Londoner is based on duration. Will I one day wake up, with enough time having passed, and suddenly feel deserving of that title?
Every now and then I feel like I truly live here, whether it’s through my annoyance at the tourists who congregate in the middle of Exhibition Road, or because I am no longer being confused by tube lines (Circle line excluded), or when the man at my local corner shop knows me by name. While these moments may seem small, they make me feel more at home than any residence permit could.
I think the factors defining a Londoner are not only subjective but ever changing. It’s not restricted by birthplace, accent or how confidently you can say “Marylebone.” It seems more like an accumulation – of routines, irritations and favourite bus routes (the 430, obviously).
London can be expensive & exhausting – but also expansive and exhilarating. A city which can be equally unwelcoming to its locals as it is to its visitors – yet somehow it charms you into staying.
