London, UK
London is a cosmopolitan mixture of the Third and
First worlds, of chauffeurs and beggars, of the
establishment, the avowedly working class and the avant-garde.
Unlike comparable European cities, much of London looks
unplanned and grubby, but that is part of its appeal.
Visiting London is like being let loose on a
giant-sized Monopoly board clogged with traffic. Even though
you probably won't know where the hell you are, at least
the names will look reassuringly familiar. The city is
so enormous, visitors will need to make maximum use of
the underground train system: unfortunately, this
dislocates the city's geography and makes it hard to get
your bearings.
weather
The weather is famously unpredictable, but rarely
extreme. That said, recent summers have featured a run of
hot weather (up to the 90s), which is hard to take in
a city in which air conditioning is exotic. Rain,
famously, happens anytime, so bring rain gear, and an
umbrella if your hotel isn't luxe enough to provide one.
November through to New Year's is festive, starting
with fireworks on Guy Fawkes day, November 5th and
building up toward Christmas, which is a big deal
here—though if you stay over the Christmas-New Years period
itself—everyone takes up to two weeks off work—expect the
city to be dead. Spring, from April to early June, is
lovely, with flowers in all the many parks and a
tangible atmosphere of relief and renewal. Since Londoners
can't count on sun in summer, when the weather turns
agreeable, everyone's spirits get a lift—packing the
sidewalk tables, spilling out of pubs, and laying out in
the parks on their lunch hours. It's a good time all
around. Lastly, in defiance of the weather forecast,
there are a lot of outdoor summer events, musical,
theatrical and participatory, many of them free.
Employers
London produces 19.5% of the UK's GDP, and is one of
the world's major business, political and cultural
centres. London is a leader in international finance [2],
politics, communications, entertainment, fashion and
the arts and has considerable influence worldwide.
Along with New York, Tokyo and Paris, it is widely
regarded as one of the world's major global cities . A second
financial district is developing at Canary Wharf to
the east of central London. This is smaller than City of
London, but has equally prestigious occupants,
including the global headquarters of HSBC, Reuters, Barclays
and the largest law firm in the world, Clifford
Chance. Non-financial business headquarters are located
throughout central London. Some are in City of London, but
more are located further west, in and around Mayfair,
St. James's, the Strand and elsewhere. More than half
of the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE) are
headquartered in central London,Tourism is one of the
UK's largest industries, and in 2003 employed the
equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in London .
colleges
London has some of the most pretigious colleges in
United kingdom including :-
University College London (UCL)
Imperial College, King's College London
Queen Mary
University of London
London School of Economics
while smaller schools and institutes include the
population
London is one of the world’s largest cities
1 in 8 of the population of the UK lives in London
48.6 % of the population of London are in the 16 – 44
age group. London's population according to the census
of 2001 is 7,172,000 .
cost of living
London is not a cheap place to live. House prices are
high and it even costs you more to rent a room or
house there.
Here are the average cost of renting in London:
Self-contained bedsit or studio flat - £110-£160 per
week
1 bedroom flat flat with a lounge, kitchen and
bathroom £150-£180 per week
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