When Mitch got offered a job in Croydon I wasn’t jumping for joy. Sure, I was really happy he got his first job in journalism. But let’s be honest, getting a job in Croydon isn’t as exciting as jetting a job in New York, Paris, or somewhere else romantic and exciting.
Granted, my knowledge of the place was limited, but it wasn’t somewhere that I was enthralled to move to. Yet, I was a supportive fiancée and had a desire to also start looking for a new job, so off we went.
Living in Croydon
We’ve now been here for just over two years. We lucked out finding a flat in a really great location at a decent price. It’s rented, it isn’t new or fancy, and most of our furniture is second hand, but we’ve managed to make it home.
In the past two years, we’ve both grown fond of the borough (not technically a city even though the population is fairly close to Bristol).
In our initial exploration of Croydon we found lots of fantastic pubs, places to eat, parks and more. I soon easily found 10 things I love about Croydon. When I got my job in London, I think I started to enjoy Croydon even more. I was even quite fond of my commute (apart from when Thameslink and Southern have a bad day). It was great to come home from a busy day to somewhere a bit quieter…and cheaper to buy a glass of wine.
Lockdown in Croydon
I want to draw on something positive from this bizarre new reality. Lockdown in Croydon has, if anything, fuelled my love of this place even more. Who’d have thought, right?
After walking every inch of our two closest parks, we wanted to explore more. So, we looked at a Google maps to see what green spaces we hadn’t yet explored but were still in walking distance.
We found three new walking routes/parks/viewpoints which now makes me enjoy Croydon even more. One of which, has a view of London. Ah, London. I miss London. I can talk about that another time, though.
Croydon is full of more parks and green space than I first realised. It’s on the cusp of Surrey and Sutton, leading onto a handful of luscious green areas. If we had a car, we’d probably hop in and explore more of them. Alas, we are car-less, and avoiding public transport as per government guidelines.
Lockdown sucks, the current situation sucks, but it’s given me more time to appreciate Croydon, and if anything, fall a little more in love with it.