Well I've been in London for two weeks now and can't wait to get back to BA. Quite frankly from a Brit point of view, I don't know what you guys are complaining about. I'm not going to dwell on the gang culture and riots that closed London down for my first week. However below are a few points about what makes BA great in my opinion, and may well be applicable comparisons to other first world cities.
BA is open - try getting a meal after 10.30 or a drink after 11.00 in London, everything is closed or closing.
An equivalent trip by public transport in London is around 20 times the price.
Unless you have got a lot of money there is not much to do in London. BA has a multitude of very high quality free, or incredibly cheap, events every night of the week.
In BA you never have to go to the supermarket. Your butcher is 4 blocks away, your bolivian greengrocer is 1 or 2, and your chino has all the other basics including a great wine selection and is as cheap as chips.
If you cook, the ingredients are wonderful and fresh as the packaging, transportation and storage system is not so sophisticated - things are either ripe and fresh or dead. Compare that with UK supermarket produce.
The weather is marvellous.
People don't talk about money all the fucking time!
People don"t talk about the value of their cars or houses all the fucking time!!!
You are not considered "unclean" if you smoke.
People have time for lunch and then everything is open later.
Rock music is considered of national importance and 3 generations of the same family will turn up to see the same band.
People don't assume you are gay if you want to see a ballet or opera.
THE PORTENOS ARE VERY FRIENDLY - This is the one you all seem to have a lot of difficulty with and the thing I don't understand. I rarely meet someone who is rude, generally receive great service, and don't recognise your depiction of BA (and I have spent a month or two here for the last 15 years and lived here for two now). My only explanation is that maybe they don't like yanquis, though given we had the last war against them there is no logical reason why they should like Brits more.
Where else would your taxi driver run round to buy you a car thus putting himself out of a job - certainly not in the UK
Where else can you afford to send your taxi driver to go off to do your tramites!!!
I know a lot of long term expats ( though not yanquis) who love it here and would sooner cut off their arms than leave.
I could bang on for ages about BA being the most culturally accessible capital of the world at the moment with the greatest quality of life, but will probably just get replies about lack of peanut butter and dog shit on the streets.
dog shit means there are lots of dogs - I like dogs, though I would prefer more horse shit.
Anyway, I write this for the purpose of balance. I would personally be more than happy to spend the rest of my life in BA.
Just need to work out how to make some money......