My Love/Hate Relationship with London

I loved yet hated my time living in the U.K

I had good and bad days over the three years. I missed my family in South Africa terribly. The first year was the most difficult. I found birthdays, anniversaries and special holidays depressing. I missed my Dad's 60th, my gran passed away and I could not get to the funeral, I missed weddings, bachelorettes and births.

I found creating an initial support system very hard. The first year was one of the most rocky. I had to learn to adapt to British culture and even though I am English speaking, I found many words had different meanings. 'Just now' in England means now. In S.A, 'just now' means later, 'cheers' in the U.K means thank you and in S.A meant 'bye'.

The Brits are wonderful people but it does take time to build a relationship with them. I am very friendly and open but it did take me time to make good friends. I had heard the saying that it takes time to make friends with Brits but once you have gained their friendship, it is for life. I found this very true and made some fab friends.

My year as a yummy mummy was probably my best year in the U.K. I travelled with my hubby and baby, met many kind, caring new and old mums and attended wonderful baby groups with my daughter. The new bond that I created with my daughter coupled with the amazing mummy friendships that I made definitely made me love the U.K even more.

When it was time to say goodbye, I once again found myself sad. I had created a family in London. I had so many memories with my husband, friends and my daughter stored in this vibrant city. I had created our first home and our family here.

The days leading up to the move were filled with memories and sad goodbyes. We had a farewell party the week before the move. I honestly didn't expect to be as sad as I felt. I believed that the worst was over. I had said goodbye to my parents, brother, sister in law and my two sausage dogs in Johannesburg. Surely I was immune to goodbyes?

The day the movers packed up our first home felt like the last episode of friends. That morning we had a home filled with our possessions and by the end of the day when the container had been and gone, we had empty space filled with only memories.

My advice to you is go with professional packers especially if you have kids. It definitely does make your life that much easier. I spring cleaned but hardly packed anything! The local charity shops were very grateful and I was thrilled to see one of my gorgeous dresses in the window of Cancer Research.

If you are living in the U.K then I have another very good tip for you! Australia is expensive!
Buy what you need before you leave. Think carefully what you will need in the next year and shove it into your container. We bought new linen, towels, a microwave, a double fridge/freezer, a forward facing car seat and loads of toys etc. I also bought make up, skin and hair products and books before we left because everything is marked up in Oz.

We literally stuffed the container until it was overflowing like a a fat roll in skinny jeans. We used toilet paper and kitchen towel to fill the container where we could.

At least you have an excuse to shop. Just tell the hubby that you are actually saving money by shopping! This is one of the only times that it may be true!

Spring clean and shop away!!!!

C x