Leytonstone

Right at the fork of the eastern Central Line lies a village that should, by all accounts, be nice. The place is next to Epping Forest, and has a very well functioning tube connection (considering it is located at the border of zones 3 & 4, the connections are outright spectacular).

But as any statistican or computer engineer will attest, real-world data rarely conforms to an ideal model. The place is not scary, but it is quite run-down. The high street is dominated by betting and pawn shops, interleaved with pound stores. Geographically thinking, the place has every reason to be prosperous, but from the looks of it, the only people prospering from the neighbourhood may be slumlords.

And even then, that is not quite true. There is an almost schizophrenic geographical division in the outlooks of both the properties and the people living in them. The houses right next to Epping Forest or Bush Wood are airier and very well kept. But walk just half a block away from the green spaces, and you could have entered a different town altogether. At least the general air of being cramped remains constant..

The final argument against living with a family in Leytonstone comes from how the houses are kept. While many of the plots have their small gardens, the standard accessory for garden walls is nothing less than a spool of freaking razor wire. People don't tend to fake things like that.

The pub near the tube station is nice though. I can't shake a suspicion that given a chance, people merely opt to visit the place. It's not scary, but it's not really inviting either.