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Comment by kinnth | Hacker News Reader

I currently live in London and have never lived in SF but have travelled every year for GDC (games developer conf) for 1 week a year.

I tend to agree with the author. The place is lovely, it's almost like a heaven on earth with almost all ameneties, temperatures and people within a 3h driving time from SF, but for some reason London with it's grey grimey and dirty history has more appeal. Perhaps it's the fact that you can explore and get lost down a back alley, or that your friends tell you about this new bar which started up but is in zone 4 and you just have to see it.

I also like the fact that Tech is an asside and people are key. I don't want to live in a bubble but I love what I do. I admire mingling with the theatre crowd or simply watching the tourists navigate the bus timetables.

I think everyone has their preference, but both are fun for different reasons.

Now if you want a real up and coming tech city, I would suggest Berlin.

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People generally agree that it rains between 140 and 160 days a year on average, in London.

Do you ever get acclimated to the constant soggyness / dampness, the mugginess & the lack of steady bright sunlight even if you were born & raised there ?

Especially when you have to live in such small quarters without ample backyards, which are puny even by SF standards.

I don't know if Seattle gets such frequent rainfall although the total rainfall might actually be higher [1]. But I couldn't live in a place enveloped with constant dampness. It just drives me nuts. Dryness is something I've to have.

[1] https://www.quora.com/Why-does-it-rain-so-often-in-London/an...

I mean, I wasn't born and raised in London but in England. I honestly don't know what any other weather would be like. Anything short of downpour is just wetness, a little drizzle is completely fine.

Also. As if people in London have back yards...

Summers can be very hot and dry (not guaranteed!) - 30-35c is not unheard of - with crisp blue skies, 15-16 hours of sunlight etc. There are a lot parks and green spaces in London so its easy to find space - there is a LOT of green/coast/sea etc near London as well so very easy to get out. The jet stream means although we're fairly north we get mild weather considering.

The statistics are probably misleading - it is not raining every other day (although sometimes it is). Its not constantly soggy, but certainly damper than California. Winters can get dark really early though which is a bit annoying.

The main problem is that people don't have air conditioning, so although it sometimes gets hotter than Egypt etc in the summer, you cant cool down apart form sit in your car or go and hang out in the supermarket in the chiller sections!

The soggyness and lack of sunlight is common in Europe, even as far South as Northern Spain: My hometown averages 130+ days of rain, and everyone lives in a condo: Backyards just don't exist. I currently live in the middle of the US, and have done so for almost two decades. I have over half an acre of yard, a house that would be considered a small palace in Spain, and average precipitation days is under 100, and a good 10 of those are snow.

And yet, if the job market was even remotely close, I'd move to northern Spain in a millisecond, because quality of living is more about low stress and making what you want to do convenient, rather than about rain and backyards.

> constant

Nothing about the weather in England is especially constant. On average, it rains more than some places. But mostly people appreciate the change — it's nice to have a week of clear blue skies in the winter, but it wouldn't be appreciated if the whole month was like that.

And, of course people are acclimatized to it. People are born and used to living in Greenland, or the Sahara. London is easy!

San Francisco is actually more humid in the mornings than London, year round.

Look at the bottom for average conditions (humidity etc):

http://www.bbc.com/weather/2643743

http://www.bbc.com/weather/5391959

for me one of the best things in London is the weather, as it never gets too hot, It's sunny but not too much, and it doesn't rain as much as you would expect. But I have to say that I really hate too much sun and heat.

> Do you ever get acclimated to the constant soggyness / dampness, the mugginess & the lack of steady bright sunlight even if you were born & raised there ?

I think you have to be born to it. I'm of mostly West Country and Bavarian stock; growing up in the American South, where the cooking's from Scotland and the weather's from India, was hellish for me. I'm in Seattle now, and absolutely loving the cold and damp. I expect I'd enjoy Britain still more, when and if I get the chance to visit or maybe move there, since it offers cold, damp, and history; but I wouldn't want to live in a dry, hot climate any more than a wet, hot one.

What's the fascination with bars? I'd much rather be atop a hill with a view of the ocean and clear sunny skies over me than sitting in a dark room filled with drunks that looks like all the other dark rooms filled with drunks around the city.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon sure - and there's a great park culture in London under those circumstances. But after work, in bad weather and/or winter? I want a room, a "third place" for socializing (and I want alcohol available there, because I'm bad at socializing without it). Americans tend to call such places bars (as a Brit I wouldn't generally think of them as that). They're certainly not all dark rooms that look alike.

You should try Lisbon - it's not quite there yet in the tech and startup scene, but it's getting there.

Awesome weather with nearby beach's, rich history and culture, really cheap when compared to London, it's way smaller and therefore more "cozy" - the only problem is the hills if you want to ride bikes.

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