This time 4 years ago this was us –
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Waiting to
board our flight from Durban to London, via Dubai. We had made it very clear that we didn’t want
anyone to come to see us off at the airport (a very good decision) so it was
just us, with such a weird mix of emotions going on. On the one hand, we were so relieved that the
big day was finally here and that the goodbyes and final “things to do” were
over. For over 4 months, since booking
our tickets, we had been waiting for the 22 November, everything we did was
somehow connected to that date and now the day had arrived, nothing left to do,
nothing more to be said, just get on the plane and get going; the relief was
enormous! We were also really excited;
we couldn’t wait to start our new life in England! (and I couldn’t wait to get my arms around my
grandkids again!) But then, on the other
hand, we were utterly terrified – Grant and I knew that emigrating in our mid-50s
was taking a big chance and, frankly, a rather dumb move financially. A number of people had told us in no uncertain
terms that we were nuts and in the early hours of most mornings, staring at the
ceiling, I was inclined to agree with them.
With all of that going on inside me, by the time I stepped on that plane
I felt completely numb. Also exhausted. Very, very exhausted.
Looking
back on it all now, I wish I could go and give that 2018 version of myself a
hug and tell her it was all going to work out just fine. Not exactly as she was envisioning, but fine nonetheless.
I have to
chuckle when I think of my big worries at that time – apart from our financial situation,
my biggest fears were The Weather, the “unfriendly British people who don’t like
foreigners” and doing my own housework without Gogo to help me (ironing
featured strongly in this concern!)
Other than the finances which, it has to be said, took a heavy knock, I
needn’t have worried about any of those things.
We genuinely don’t have a problem with the weather at all and both Grant
and I agree that if we had to choose, we hand-on-heart prefer the English
weather to South African weather overall.
Back in 2018, I would NEVER have
thought that would be the case! As far
as the fallacy of the “unfriendly British people” goes, nothing could be
further from the truth! The people in
our little town are so friendly and community-minded, we have honestly met some
of the loveliest people living here. We
are on first-name terms with the majority of people who live around us (and if
we aren’t on first name terms with them, then we are most definitely on first-name
terms with their dogs!) I’m still blown
away by how people will stop and chat when we are out walking the dog or buying
something in the shop, it’s taken a bit of getting used to and is definitely not
what we expected! The housework
situation has been a breeze, our flat is so tiny that I can whip around it in a
matter of minutes and ironing is a pleasure when I switch on my audio book and
have a listen. To be honest, I barely
iron anything anyway! I was worrying for
nothing. Gosh, to think of all the hours
of sleep I missed out on, over those silly things!
What has
surprised me is the things that I have found difficult. Grant and I knew we would have to downsize;
it was quite obvious that we would not be able to afford a house and garden in
England the size of the one we had in SA.
The thing is, it’s very easy to sit on your verandah in Kloof, looking
out over your garden and say “I won’t mind living in a much smaller house.” When you are sitting in your very, VERY, VERY
much smaller flat, with no garden at all, it’s not quite as easy. That for me has been the single most
difficult thing. BUT, I can cross the
road and walk directly into the woods, all on my own, with nothing to fear, and
walk for miles… that is definitely some consolation. To be
fair, the longer we live in this flat, the more I find to like about it (I was
VERY negative about it to begin with!)
The other
thing that I really struggled with a LOT was that we didn’t have a pet when we
got here. (Our little dog, Becca, was
meant to come over with us - she’d had her blood tests, we had her Pet Passport
and crate, we’d booked her travel and then she passed away very unexpectedly a
few weeks before we left.) We have
always had dogs and cats and we should have realised that we would
struggle without a pet, but for some reason we thought that we were ready to embrace
the “lock-up and go” lifestyle, without a pet.
How wrong we were! When I started
getting tears in my eyes every single time I saw our neighbour and her little
pug walking down the road it became clear that something had to be done. Enter Molly!
While living in a flat with a dog was a steep learning curve and there
were days when we wondered why on Earth we had thought this was a good idea,
having our Moll has most definitely been a wonderful thing. She is the craziest dog you could imagine,
but in our family we do well with crazy.
