It has been a month or so since my last blog (it was not meant to be so long, I assure you) but since then, life as I know it really has changed.
I left Scotland in a furore of goodbyes, good lucks and nights that involved too much alcohol but yet provided so many memories. I feel blessed to have such amazing friends and family but feel a little aggrieved it sometimes takes an upheaval to be reminded of this. I suppose it is one of those things you take for granted when you have it and realise, when you're heading into the unknown alone, it is more important than anything else. I guess what I'm saying is thank you, all of you, for being there when I needed you and, if I didn't, just being a cracking good laugh in the meantime!
I'm not going to lie, leaving was hard. I couldn't, and still can't, work out if it is exactly what I want but, despite everything, I'm glad I've done it. Like I said in my last blog, life can get easy. In many ways, I wish I could be satisfied with that but, for some reason, I'm not built that way. I want more, I want bigger and I want better. It's a pain in the ass to be perfectly honest but I can't settle for easy. Unfortunately, it's not me.
Luckily I had a friendly face to call upon in London who has been so generous in offering his home to me and providing companionship in a time that could have been a lot harder than it turned out to be, a lot of which has been down to him. A mutual love of the Gunners has helped!
The job itself has so far been what I expected in a lot of ways which is good. I've always believed that I've got by because Scotland is a close nit community, once you're in you're ok and it's not a place where criticism, positive or otherwise, is commonplace. But to move to such a huge company and realise that I can do what they ask of me is reassuring.
London itself intrigues me. It's so sprawling and so vast and every corner you visit offers something new and different.
I work in Chiswick, a beautiful, quiet, leafy village within London. House after house of neatly kept gardens, quirky little red brick houses and al fresco dining the mainland Europeans would be proud of. You can feel a million miles away from the bedlam that is central London but be there in less than 30 minutes by train or tube.
I currently reside in Vauxhall. So different in it's community feel, probably due to the fact that there is no town centre. A huge commuters cross-section where you can get a bus, train or tube to all corners of the city. It is without a doubt a perfect location. From Vauxhall you can go anywhere. It is a 15 minute walk along the Thames to Westminster, 10 minutes further to Embankment, add another 5 and you're in Charing Cross and Trafalger Square, another 5 and it's Covent Garden. After Glasgow the ability to walk around any city is amazing, never mind the fact that it is London which, if you can find a break in the crowds, is architecturally beautiful.
I have come to notice some interesting facts about London. Number one being that it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most exhausting city I have ever lived in. I should probably take into account that the inability to walk around Glasgow, whether it is logistically or for safety reasons, has left me pretty unfit, but there are some tube stations that take 10 minutes of walking and three flights of stairs to even get to the platform. This has also led me to notice that there are very few overweight people in London. It is a city of very healthy looking people (if you disagree, spend a week in Glasgow).
Secondly, there are very few old people wandering around, catching the tube or on the buses. Where do they all go? Is there a certain age where London becomes too much and you have to call it quits? Or have I just not ventured into that corner of the city? Perhaps one day I'll get off at a tube stop and be faced with a sea of purple rinses, ankle biting zimmer frames and Werther's Originals.
Then again, perhaps it is the reason for all those well kept lawns in Chiswick.....
I left Scotland in a furore of goodbyes, good lucks and nights that involved too much alcohol but yet provided so many memories. I feel blessed to have such amazing friends and family but feel a little aggrieved it sometimes takes an upheaval to be reminded of this. I suppose it is one of those things you take for granted when you have it and realise, when you're heading into the unknown alone, it is more important than anything else. I guess what I'm saying is thank you, all of you, for being there when I needed you and, if I didn't, just being a cracking good laugh in the meantime!
I'm not going to lie, leaving was hard. I couldn't, and still can't, work out if it is exactly what I want but, despite everything, I'm glad I've done it. Like I said in my last blog, life can get easy. In many ways, I wish I could be satisfied with that but, for some reason, I'm not built that way. I want more, I want bigger and I want better. It's a pain in the ass to be perfectly honest but I can't settle for easy. Unfortunately, it's not me.
Luckily I had a friendly face to call upon in London who has been so generous in offering his home to me and providing companionship in a time that could have been a lot harder than it turned out to be, a lot of which has been down to him. A mutual love of the Gunners has helped!
The job itself has so far been what I expected in a lot of ways which is good. I've always believed that I've got by because Scotland is a close nit community, once you're in you're ok and it's not a place where criticism, positive or otherwise, is commonplace. But to move to such a huge company and realise that I can do what they ask of me is reassuring.
London itself intrigues me. It's so sprawling and so vast and every corner you visit offers something new and different.
I work in Chiswick, a beautiful, quiet, leafy village within London. House after house of neatly kept gardens, quirky little red brick houses and al fresco dining the mainland Europeans would be proud of. You can feel a million miles away from the bedlam that is central London but be there in less than 30 minutes by train or tube.
I currently reside in Vauxhall. So different in it's community feel, probably due to the fact that there is no town centre. A huge commuters cross-section where you can get a bus, train or tube to all corners of the city. It is without a doubt a perfect location. From Vauxhall you can go anywhere. It is a 15 minute walk along the Thames to Westminster, 10 minutes further to Embankment, add another 5 and you're in Charing Cross and Trafalger Square, another 5 and it's Covent Garden. After Glasgow the ability to walk around any city is amazing, never mind the fact that it is London which, if you can find a break in the crowds, is architecturally beautiful.
I have come to notice some interesting facts about London. Number one being that it is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most exhausting city I have ever lived in. I should probably take into account that the inability to walk around Glasgow, whether it is logistically or for safety reasons, has left me pretty unfit, but there are some tube stations that take 10 minutes of walking and three flights of stairs to even get to the platform. This has also led me to notice that there are very few overweight people in London. It is a city of very healthy looking people (if you disagree, spend a week in Glasgow).
Secondly, there are very few old people wandering around, catching the tube or on the buses. Where do they all go? Is there a certain age where London becomes too much and you have to call it quits? Or have I just not ventured into that corner of the city? Perhaps one day I'll get off at a tube stop and be faced with a sea of purple rinses, ankle biting zimmer frames and Werther's Originals.
Then again, perhaps it is the reason for all those well kept lawns in Chiswick.....
