Hitchin is 33 minutes to Kings Cross on Thameslink and I could definitely do my commute from Hitchin station in ~50 minutes, which is roughly 10 minutes more than it takes me from Zone 3, door to door, now.
If you look around on RightMove, 2 bed flats going near Hitchin station (Purwell) are ~£335K and a 20 minute walk away, so my commute would be up to 70 minutes.
Then factor in that you're dropping £5K/year for a season ticket (roughly the equivalent to adding ~£100K to your mortgage at current interest rates), giving up a lot socially, still don't have a garden, still have a pokey little flat, is it worth it?
I respect your life choices, but it's not for me.
> People seem to think they have some sort of God-given right to live in central London.
I think anyone earning in the top 2% should be able to do this, yes. After all, central London contains 2.3% of the UK population. If they're all at the top then by definition it should be possible.
In any case, I don't want to get too personal. My partner works all over London also so being in London makes sense for us. I also respect that this is a nationwide issue affecting a lot of people worse off than me.
Ok but if you're barely in the top 2% that would sound like you'd afford the worst in London - is it the worst you're going for or are you expecting to be the quality of what you'd get other places?
Obviously I don't know if you're barely or not, just since you said top 2% and not top 1% it might be you are just at the edge.
If they are all in the top, then you are in the bottom 11% of londoners.
For non-UK people: yes of course I'm joking, however Luton is the home of both a large immigrant population and the "English Defence League", the closest thing we have to the KKK.
Nice embedded class based bias by the stiff upper lip crowd.
Make the minority that hands itself free money subject to the same open market and you have a point.
It is not even a case of living where you want to, nor is it a case of supporting a particular lifestyle. It is a question of quality of life. If your commute is 30 minutes door-to-door, you are losing an hour a day. That hour could be better put to use to improving your skills, working paid hours, taking care of your personal well-being, or leisure. It is also worth noting that most people measure commute time as time in transit with a private vehicle, this incurs additional costs (meaning working additional hours) and the only way to get around it involves a significant tradeoff for time.
There are many people who do not want to live an elitist lifestyle and would be happy to live somewhere other than where the elites live. What they don't want to endure is a quantitative and qualitative diminishing in their quality of life.