I have a good friend who lives in a large house in the heart of Hampstead village.  He is a high earner and has a good standard of living. I love him although our values are quite different.

 

I was recently offered the chance to move from my smallish flat in Archway to a spacious flat in Hampstead overlooking the Heath. I declined. When my friend heard the news he was shocked. His exact words were: “I don’t get it. Why would you choose rain when you can have sunshine?”

 

Perhaps he didn’t know that my “rain” was a place where there is a disproportionate amount of celebrities and bankers for such a small area and where the soul of a place is hidden behind too much wealth. My “sunshine” is a place where there is still a strong sense of community, where all walks of life move together in the same space, where there are shops that sell a bowl of avocados for a pound and where fresh olives come from a local Turkish shop not a designer deli.

 

I guess we all experience the weather differently.