I was perhaps interested in the cities of brixton, hammersmih, coventry, essex, and surrey. thanks
Essex and Surrey are counties rather than cities. Surrey (where I was born and raised) is expensive and affluent. It combines beautiful countryside with nice small towns and wonderfully cute villages. Many towns are "dormitories", which means people mainly live there just to sleep whilst they commute to London to work by train. London workers living in Surrey generally prefer the more relaxed lifestyle and easy access to the countryside than they would have living in London. The Eastern fringes of Surrey are suburban and for all intents and purposes, parts of outer London.
Essex is similar to Surrey though not as affluent (but still well above average). The countryside in Essex is different: beautiful but much less hilly than Surrey. Villages in the rural parts of Essex simply have to be seen to be believed. They are so eyepoppingly pretty they almost bring tears to the eyes - a real treasure. Like Surrey, Essex is predominantly suburban to the South and contains a number of dormitory towns. Essex developed a completely undeserved bad-reputation during the 1980s. "Essex-boy" and "Essex-girl" are derogatory lables meaning you lack culture and education and you probably speak "estuary English" (an urban English dialect common in the Southern counties that many consider rough-sounding). According to the same view, Essex boys/girls are said to have a narrow, materialistic outlook on life and wear white socks. Essex boy/girl jokes are common, and whilst funny, they portray a view of the county that has no connection with reality. *(See example of an Essex girl joke below).
Hammersmith and Brixton are two parts of London. London in total has about 8 million people. Brixton is in the South of London, whilst Hammersmith is in the West. Again, all I know of these places is their reputation having never lived there. Hammersmith has the reputation of being civilised, affluent and very expensive. Brixton's reputation is the exact opposite being synonymous with racial violence, poverty, drugs, crime and police brutality. I understand that Brixton's reputation is outdated. In fact, its bad reputation has led to property prices that are quite reasonable by London standards which has made it the place of choice for young professional types.
Can't comment on Coventry - don't know much about it. Coventry is a city in its own right.
*Essex girl joke [for those of a sensitive nature, please replace "Essex" with any other name of your choice]. An Essex girl walks into the unemployment office to claim benefit. The man at the desk filling in the forms asks if she has any dependent children. She replies she has ten. The surprised clerk asks their names. She replies, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne and Wayne. The even more surprised clerk asks if this doesn't make life a little complicated. She says it's quite the opposite: all she needs to say is "Wayne your dinner's ready", "Wayne, bed-time", and "Wayne, come here" and they all come. Scratching his head, the clerk asks what she does if she wants to address one of them individually. She replies "Oh that's easy, I just use their surnames".
