Leanne in london in 00’s

I saw an article in Vogue about Black Women on Life in London across the Decades and it made me want to add my version.

As a Brummie, London for me was the obvious destination. As soon as I was in sixth form, London was the word that was a constant mantra that went through my brain. I applied to LSE and Queen Mary’s University of London and the others (Newcastle, University of Leicester are the ones I can remember).

When I got my place at QMUL, I couldn’t believe it, that I was actually going to go to London. Even the drive down with my grandparents and my mum felt like a dream. A406 was my neighbour and the Waitrose opposite.

It was also the first time, I came out of my bubble. I met some girls who lived on my floor and they came to say hello and also met my mum and grandparents and as they left, they both said to me that they couldn’t understand my grandparents. I was so shocked. I didn’t get it. As far as I was concerned my grandparents spoke English, I didn’t the register the patois.

Patois is such bedrock in my life, it didn’t even cross my mind that it wasn’t “English”.

After that life went along in a blur. It was so much fun and it felt like I was living the dream. Going to clubs in '“central”, shopping on Oxford Street oh yes and the studying. The real reason I was there. Buying the most expensive books I had ever bought and worrying how far my student loan was going to go. I still have these books today. I am always attached too books,

Those university years really felt like the biggest moment at the time. Hip hop and R’n’B were the tone of the clubs, so being able to dance was instant currency.

When I look back though, it was an odd time, where everyone was allowed to say the N-word because of the music. There was no critical thinking to be had, just booty shaking and grinding in the club. I do wonder what the boys of this generation think about their time, when they affected living the hip hop lifestyle while really coming from a Home Counties household.

Looking back now, I realised that was the time when being a Black girl was highly festishised. We were the latest accessory and in the moment it didn’t feel like it. It felt as though we were at the top of the tree. How little we all knew back then! A lot of the young white boys, who had Black girlfriends, promptly gave them all up, when it got to real life. It was just the thing to do.

Wisdom comes with age for sure.

I worked through university, I got a transfer within Club 21, that owned Armani and also Mulberry at the time and I worked in Knightsbridge and it was the first time I came across real wealth. My eyes were wide open, as customers came in and bought 6 handbags at 2k a pop and going past Harrods at lunchtime.

There were several contrasts in life at the time, but it all felt like London. I felt safe, I felt happy and even though London most definitely wasn’t a university city when it came to costs, it still remains the only place I would have loved to have been.

I did get lost on the way and was taken with the current instead of being able to stand up through the waves, but with time, I find my way back to myself and it gave me great foundation.

I could have never lived without London. The city is firmly part of me and I would never trade it.