In driving terms, this puts it a good 2+ hours away from the nearest major city ...in the summer!    Driving to Toronto or Detroit can easily take up to twice that long during the 5 months of winter weather, provided heavy snow storms don't actually rule out driving altogether!    Thanks to Lake Erie, driving to Cleveland is not much of an alternative :-)

This geographical placement exerts an interesting, but poorly-understood, influence on the residents (and businesses) of this city.    For at least some aspects of it's social and economic life, London is 'functionally isolated'.

It's one thing to drive 2+ hours to attend day-time functions (meetings, events, shopping) in Toronto or Detroit when you have most of that evening for the 2+ hour return trip.    Hey, for a big or 'special', non-recurring event -- particularly a day-time one that leaves you that evening to get back home -- no problem!

But would you consider a weekly 2-hr drive (in the winter?) to participate in an optional social or recreation activity, such as taking mid-week classes, attending a weekly dance, etc. (substitute your own interests here) when, at the end of these evenings, you'd face the increased time and costs of a hotel room (wise if alcohol is involved) OR of not getting home until 1, 2 or 3 am?    London residents are not impressed with these choices, and they opt to 'stay put' for quite practical reasons.    And what do they do with their time?

In what amounts to a form of 'survivor psychology', most of London's adult population tends to 'cocoon' almost religiously, and/or accept as "normal" the limited recreational and social activities that have taken root here.    Indeed, most people over 25 don't even question what they're missing in comparison to other places ("out-of-sight/out-of-mind"?).

So, when it comes to something like partnered niteclub dancing, the majority of adult London neither does it, nor even realizes it's an option.    And with very few exceptions, they really don't care.