Many of you know our big news that we’re moving to London in October. Mike has a job with a UK international development organisation working as Environmental Sustainability Advisor. We are excited about it and think it is a great opportunity.
Joe seems to understand, and has started to say things like ‘Grandma is coming over tomorrow’ .. to which we say ‘We will be able to say that soon - hooray’. Tomorrow, of course, to Joe means any time in the future, in the same way that yesterday could be something that happened a year ago.
Since writing the last paragraph, I found Joe talking to some toy fish that we just picked up from a street vendor when we were out. He was saying … ‘Time to go to another home, you have lots of homes’ … it’s obviously sinking in. Joe’s just turned 3 and he’s had 3 homes. Will probably be in his 5th by the time he’s 4 (we’re planning on renting while we look to buy our shoebox house in London).
Joe's party was great, an English children's party with a few games and lots of fun
We are looking forward, at the moment, to:
- Family and friends being on the same strip of land
- Museums, libraries and wider selection of food
- Lack of mosquitoes, mosquito repellent and threat of mosquito borne diseases
- Play parks, and the boys digging in soil without worrying about weird worms, stray animals and snakes (Joe and Sarah saw our first rat snake at a playground last weekend – harmless to humans but not to rats)
- The slow, civilised, orderly, uncongested roads (yes, even the M25 seems like heaven compared to the dicey roads here … though we might not be saying that in a few months!)
- Double decker buses (Joe)
- Lake district and countryside and parks where you can walk and push a push chair without being excessively hot and covered in leeches
- Darker mornings as we hope (we hope not in vain) that the boys will not wake up at 5.45, when the sun comes up (this wasn’t the case when we moved here with Joe in 2006 – just after this a new President was elected and changed time back half an hour, just because he could – before that the sun came up and kids woke at 6.15 – which somehow makes all the difference!).
Joe had his third birthday which was great!
Joe and a friend, Spiderman and Batgirl
Our house has this great race track through our living room and hallway/kitchen - Joe's friends brought their cars to his party
We will miss:
- Our friends here
- Cross cultural experiences and adventures: life being never dull
- Joe’s school and friends, including Sarah’s Mummy friends at the school gate
- Avoiding UK winters and short dark days
- Our househelper (though not as much as you may think – it really is easier in UK to keep a house clean, do your shopping etc)
- Having a living room and bedrooms each the size of small playgrounds.
Joe received a crown made by his friends at school, and they sang Happy Birthday, and put lots of love into his cake!? (which Mummy brought in)Things might feel claustrophobic for a while. A small 3 bedroom terrace in the area where Mike’s office will be in London costs on average £670,000. Don’t invite us out to a restaurant for at least a year or two. Better a dry crust in a house of peace and quiet, than a rich house full of strife. Better a picnic with a flask in Richmond Park, than food we can’t afford in a pricey restaurant. Not that we’ll have our live in house helper to babysit anymore.
Mike’s work continues to go well. The office is shutting not long after we leave and his projects are completed or nearing completion. He’s working with other NGOs and Government Ministries to ensure his work is sustainable, continuing after we leave.
More friends at Joe's party
