Monday 29 April 2013

Everywhere else

This Laura Marling interview blew my mind a bit, well that's strong, I was surprised certainly. It made me think about places we live, again.

That a person like Laura Marling could love LA in the way she clearly does was the shock to me- because aside from the hotel I stayed in- which I must say was lovely- I really didn't like LA (beyond thinking the shopping was quite fun and pretending to be in Pretty Woman for the afternoon on Rodeo Drive). You have to get in a taxi to go everywhere, or wait for a bus for a really long time; there are miles and miles of boring roads with traffic jams, life is just films and shops- but not good films, big blockbuster films that they clearly take very seriously. I'm sure my experience shows the difference between being a tourist somewhere and living there, I hear there are great gigs and bars but I didn't find them. I can see the weather would lift the mood- but I even found that a bit relentlessly pleasant.

I have often suspected that what Marling has clearly found to be true though- that we might find a happier or easier version of ourselves somewhere else. Or perhaps more accurately we would be a different person somewhere else. Is it losing the burden of people knowing things about you that makes that so? When you move to University it's a chance to reinvent the you from school, even if you liked that you, it's a chance for change- any kind of move is like that I suppose- be it from East London to West London or London to California.

I occasionally think about moving, I love London and I always knew I wanted to move here as a little girl. For the most part I absolutely love my life here and it would break my heart to have to leave- but I do find more and more when I leave London to go elsewhere in the UK it feels like I'm visiting a different country, I love both countries, or all of them if I'm visiting Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland- but there is an increasing gap. I think finding love anywhere but London is easier, I think you will work less anywhere else. People are very demanding in London in some ways, not considering you to be interesting if you don't have a certain handbag or live in a certain post code on the one hand- then on the other it's perhaps the most tolerant part of the UK and embraces all manner of glorious eccentricities. London is hard but I wouldn't be without it. Sometimes though, I just wonder, what would my life be like somewhere else? What if when I graduated I'd headed off to Brighton, or Scotland- or another country completely.




3 comments:

That's Not My Age said...

Haven't read the interview yet but I do like Laura Marling - oh and I haven't been to LA either so I'm probably not qualified to comment! My brother lives in New York though & I could definitely live there. He doesn't like LA much either.

Metropolitan Mum said...

"relentlessly pleasant"? Oh Rose, you really do crack me up. I am away this weekend and the two weekends after that, but would love to see you end of May. I'd even consider getting down to the wrong post code side of town ;-) Dxx

Elke said...

This post resonates so much with me. I am constantly thinking 'who would I be if I lived in New York, or London, or Paris, or Rome, or in some little village in the South of France'. I love those kind of daydreams. But I always try to be careful of 'Golden Age thinking' (or in this case 'Golden Place thinking?). A sunnier climate would be nice though.