The Kindness Of Locals

My spare bedroom felt smaller every day

Having grown up in Greenville, South Carolina and lived there my entire life, I always had family and friends around. Networks that had developed naturally through family relationships, school, and work. When I arrived in London as a remote worker, for the first time in my life, I was lonely.

I wouldn’t say my emotional IQ is incredibly high (but I'm working on it!), so I didn’t immediately realise I was lonely. But I did realize my home office spare bedroom felt smaller every day and the silence between Zoom calls kept getting louder. I became less productive so I tried to find a better place to work.

The library was too quiet and too lonely. Cafés were nice, they had a certain buzz and I would occasionally have a nice chat with a stranger. But I never knew if there would be a seat available. The Wi-Fi wasn’t always great. And they could get too loud, sending me off to buy another coffee at a quieter café or back home just after I’d gotten all set up for a call. Finally, I turned to a coworking space near my house in Queen’s Park. It was exactly what I needed.

Like a cafe, but not a cafe

It was a bit like a café, but also a bit different. It was a 10-minute walk from my flat. There was a buzz, but not too much. There was always a place to take calls and a seat to work and unlimited coffee. And at first, there were those same occasional chats with strangers as we crossed paths in the workspace. I was more productive and just felt better.

The difference between the coworking space and the café, however, was those occasional chats with strangers. They slowly turned into chats with acquaintances as we crossed paths in the workspace. And then they became chats with friends over a pint after work. And eventually deeper conversations over a couple pints. And I slowly realised while I came to the workspace to work, I ended up finding what I didn’t even realise I needed. Friends. Real, authentic community.

THE KINDNESS OF LOCALS

To avoid community simply feeling like a buzz word I needed to use, let me illustrate how this played out for me.

The decision to join a workspace focussed on community meant we didn’t spend our first Christmas Eve in London alone.

Around Christmas 2021, chatting with a friend in Good Space, they realised my wife and I were away from friends and family with no plans for Christmas Eve. They invited us over and we spent the entire evening jabbering away over a great meal. We left quite late and I was exhausted, but buzzing. The decision to join a workspace focussed on community meant we didn’t spend our first Christmas Eve in London alone. We spent it with such kind friends who invited us into their family Christmas celebration - despite being strangers a few months prior. That is unique. That type of community is hard to find.

London has it’s fair share of loneliness. My vision for Hanbury Hall is that it would be a home away from home for people in East London. Providing the kind of community that turns strangers into acquaintances, acquaintances into friends, and friends into Christmas dinner invitations.