London as a haven?

A few months ago I met a Spanish guy living in London who had an interesting explanation for why sooo many people from the rest of the UK, Europe and the whole world decide to come to live in London.

According to his theory, the vast majority of people who come to London give to others (and to themselves) one of the following two reasons. The first one is that they come to learn the language (this is invariably expressed by us Spaniards with the formula “tu imprúf mai ínglis”). The second reason to go living here is that people want to earn more money.

That's rubbish.

Reality is: people come to London just to run away from things. To run away from a job, from a relationship, from a past. From their family, from their environment. From other people. From themselves.

This guy put the high number of gay people in London as an example. Many gays from around the world who feel oppressed in their conservative countries and small towns discover with delight Londoner's open-minded, quasi-indifferent attitude towards them. Massive, anonymous, heterogeneous and vanguardist, no other city takes in people like London.

Now I wonder what I'm running from?