rhythmaning | Jul. 27th, 2012

It is thirty years since I first moved to Edinburgh: I came up to work on the fringe, and stayed to do a PhD (it had been previously arranged!). I have spent the last thirty years bouncing between Edinburgh and London, with brief periods in York and Brussels - but always drawn back to Edinburgh. Or London.

1982-1986 Edinburgh
1986-1987 York
1987-1994 London (including a year in Brussels - but even then I returned to London a couple of times a month)
1994-2009 Edinburgh
2009-2012 London
2012 - Edinburgh

There is a lot going for London; there is a lot going for Edinburgh. There is a lot against London; there are few things against Edinburgh (mostly that so many people I know are in, and so much stuff is going on in, London).

But the quality of life is way higher in Edinburgh: it has most things London has going for it, and much more accessible. For instance, in the last 3½ I spent in London, I went to the theatre once - largely because there is a lot of theatre going on in London, it is expensive, and one is spoilt for choice. Outside of the festival (which is about to start), there are three or four professional theatres in Edinburgh, all within walking distance and at prices that are reasonable.

Aside from people, I think what I will miss most is the amount of jazz going on in London: outside of festival season, there is a lot less going on in Edinburgh and, slightly further afield, Glasgow. (Maybe I'll just have to make my own...!)

Curiously, one of the best things about Edinburgh is how easy it is to get away from it: an hour from my flat in Edinburgh and you're in the Highlands - lots of mountains. An hour from my last residence in London and you're in ... London.

And Edinburgh has its own resident mountain!