28 March 2009 – I landed in England, to start this adventure.
Period 1: Arriving
April – end November 2009
April – 18 May: Retirement
18 May: Start work in East London. Commuting, work place culture shock.
Living in Redhill, Surrey. The difficult period. Working out how to function in a new country, and the stress, confusion and isolation that goes with it. Working out how this relationship is going to work, both in a wonderfully happy way, but also questioning whether it was the right decision. Dealing with ingrained patterns and assumptions (for both of us). Learning to be a step-parent. Buying basic furniture. Buying the basics of clothing to get me through the winter. Realising that english weather is actually quite lovely for at least 9 months of the year, and I’ll be fine. Learning to deal with English humour and self-deprecation at the opposite end of the spectrum from my own. Finding my feet and confidence and place.
Weekly Updates will give you the thoughts for this period.
Photos of the area: Redhill & Reigate Flickr photoset An annotated map of Redhill. My opinions of the local pubs, and where the swan nest was.
Period 2: Settling
December 2009 – March 2010
Moving within the M25, living in Croydon. Enjoying the local shops and community, markets and life. A long, much needed breath out, which means that my ability to be social returned, mostly evidenced through the Friday beer gatherings after work.
Changing gears, realising that life has more to offer, career and livelihood wise, and that I have a valuable broad experience. SNOW! Cold, dreariness, the shut-down at the end of winter, incidentally the Finished with a 2 week trip to Australia for two weddings
Photos of the area: my Croydon Flickr photoset
Intermission: 2 weeks in Australia
Late March – Early April 2010
Two weddings, too much (good) food, many people, heat, sunlight, pub rants, wandered old haunts. Letting it all go. A punctuation point.
Period 3: Flowers, and plants and trees, oh my!
April 2010 – ??
It got warm again and spring arrived. A year later plants and trees seem more familiar, a grounding to place. Planting things in pots -flowers, ferns, veges. Watching birds and squirrels in the backyard.
Work got interesting, challenging and creative. Feeling appreciated and skilful again. Lots of information to absorb, concepts to master and plans to deliver. Autonomy, responsibility, with some support. Better. Still working out what the next plan will be.
Jed stops working in Redhill. He relaxes and home life generally improves. Finances get tight, but this just means that discipline and innovation is required.
Check out The Skimmington Castle it was in Reigate next suburb to Redhill. Ask for the owner and say your a friend of me, who were friends with Quinten and Fiona, who lived and worked there around 2000/01. Play the ring on the bulls horn game and see if they remember the incident with the old bedford and the parked car mirror.
Only just found your site, i’ll endeavour to read more when time permits.
Will do. We often go to Reigate, since it really is the same city.
So glad you found the blog, now I can stop feeling INCREDIBLY guilty for not getting in contact, or responding to your FB message. Sorry. For what it’s worth I have been very remiss in contacting anyone, and actually miss all you SPD people terribly (see the post on work ethic). I think it’s been hard/a bit shameful to not be able to say: I’ve fallen on my feet and am doing really exciting things work-wise. Crazy over-achieving types!