Live in London but love driving...

[freenote]

gtr_jonathan said:

They weren’t formal events as such, just random London-based PHers meeting up very early to go for a Sunday drive. Junkalus used to organise these drives but I suspect he has decided to retire from the role!

I’m happy to sort something out if there is enough interest? I’m also doing the following events / trips over the coming weeks and months if anyone wants to join in.

Sunday 25th August @ 9am - Surrey Car Meet, Buckmore Park Kart Circuit, Kent ME5 9QG

Sunday 8th September @ 10am - Low Collective, Stonham Barns Leisure & Shopping Village, Suffolk IP14 6AT

Friday - Sunday 13th to 15th September - Weekend roadtrip to Nürburgring via some nice driving roads. Full TF session on Saturday 14th September so I have booked a track car + instructor from Apex. My mate will also be going in his BMW 1M.

Sunday 6th October @ 9am - Sunday Scramble, Bicester Heritage, Oxfordshire OX26 5HA. Might combine it with a lunchtime visit to Caffeine & Machine near Stratford-upon-Avon.

Brilliant, thanks. I’ll see if I can make it down to one of the local ones.

[Cheib]

delta0 said:

London is fine for enjoying cars as long as you can get to a main road easily and travel out. Then it is no different to those that live outside of London as you can get to those country roads fairly quickly. You get the best of everything. I too can’t see myself moving outside of London.

I’m aware that people hire workshops to work on cars in London. Maybe something to look into.

Edited by delta0 on Saturday 17th August 08:49

It’s not the same. I lived in London for 21 years from 1994 until 2015,...lived in a nice part of NW London, could be on the M1 in 10 mins from my door and on country lanes in say 30 mins. Moved out of London in 2015...live in The Chilterns so reachable from where I used to live in 45 mins. I can now drive out of my driveway and enjoy great driving immediately. It’s nowhere near the same. I drove into London yesterday, since I have moved out 20 mph zones are all over the place, there are more and more average speed camera zones and the general level of traffic is just getting worse. On a suimmer’s evening I can put the kids to bed and then have two hours driving around pretty much deserted roads....every night of the week. You just can’t do that living in London.

OP...if you love driving in my opinion there’s only one choice

[freenote]

Cheib said:

It’s not the same. I lived in London for 21 years from 1994 until 2015,...lived in a nice part of NW London, could be on the M1 in 10 mins from my door and on country lanes in say 30 mins. Moved out of London in 2015...live in The Chilterns so reachable from where I used to live in 45 mins. I can now drive out of my driveway and enjoy great driving immediately. It’s nowhere near the same. I drove into London yesterday, since I have moved out 20 mph zones are all over the place, there are more and more average speed camera zones and the general level of traffic is just getting worse. On a suimmer’s evening I can put the kids to bed and then have two hours driving around pretty much deserted roads....every night of the week. You just can’t do that living in London.

OP...if you love driving in my opinion there’s only one choice

This was my original thought, but my concern is will I get bored? No kids, all our social life based around London and my office is in London and a long commute wouldn’t be attractive.

[Cheib]

freenote said:

Cheib said:

It’s not the same. I lived in London for 21 years from 1994 until 2015,...lived in a nice part of NW London, could be on the M1 in 10 mins from my door and on country lanes in say 30 mins. Moved out of London in 2015...live in The Chilterns so reachable from where I used to live in 45 mins. I can now drive out of my driveway and enjoy great driving immediately. It’s nowhere near the same. I drove into London yesterday, since I have moved out 20 mph zones are all over the place, there are more and more average speed camera zones and the general level of traffic is just getting worse. On a suimmer’s evening I can put the kids to bed and then have two hours driving around pretty much deserted roads....every night of the week. You just can’t do that living in London.

OP...if you love driving in my opinion there’s only one choice

This was my original thought, but my concern is will I get bored? No kids, all our social life based around London and my office is in London and a long commute wouldn’t be attractive.

Commuting is st that’s an absolute given...it’s really about where your priorities are I suppose. Anything over a half hour commute really starts eating into your day (more so in the evening) and driving in to London is a nightmare unless you aim to be at your destination before 7am.

I still go out in London once a week and commuted for four years but have recently quit full time work so only go into London once a week.

All in all for us moving out has been brilliant but we have kids of school age so there are other things that make it a huge plus for us.

[freenote]

Cheib said:

Commuting is st that’s an absolute given...it’s really about where your priorities are I suppose. Anything over a half hour commute really starts eating into your day (more so in the evening) and driving in to London is a nightmare unless you aim to be at your destination before 7am.

I still go out in London once a week and commuted for four years but have recently quit full time work so only go into London once a week.

All in all for us moving out has been brilliant but we have kids of school age so there are other things that make it a huge plus for us.

Appreciate the comments. Basically exactly as I thought - I think the commute would make life miserable so finding a way to step back from the biz would probably be the only way to make it work.

[Swifty0824]

freenote said:

Appreciate the comments. Basically exactly as I thought - I think the commute would make life miserable so finding a way to step back from the biz would probably be the only way to make it work.

OP I'm based in Finchley as well and I have a M140i - been daily it for a year and put 21k miles in it.

I'm feeling bored sometime when cruising on motorway so seriously considering a motorbike

[david-j8694]

swisstoni said:

When I moved out of London I had high hopes of all that. It was going to be like Harry’s Garage!

But you also find yourself standing on freezing mainline stations at stupid o’clock under starlit skies with fellow losers wondering what they are doing with their lives.

That’s the balance. Do you really like cars that much or could you have a bit of a car clear out, maybe rent some workshop time, and stay close to work.

One of the many reasons I can never see myself leaving London unless something completely unexpected happened.

34 now. Been here since 23. Will probably be here when I'm 70.

[sparta6]

swisstoni said:

When I moved out of London I had high hopes of all that. It was going to be like Harry’s Garage!

But you also find yourself standing on freezing mainline stations at stupid o’clock under starlit skies with fellow losers wondering what they are doing with their lives.

That’s the balance. Do you really like cars that much or could you have a bit of a car clear out, maybe rent some workshop time, and stay close to work.

A friend was commenting on the mainline station thing just the other day !
There are 101 reasons to live in London, but driving isn't one of them

The key to greater freedom is having plural cars with plural properties.
A healthy balance of town and country is good medicine.