The Cow of Wisdom

Whenever you’re uncertain
And you don’t know what to do
The Cow of Wisdom always answers
“Just chill out… and MOO”

*From “How to be Happy” desktop calendar

January has been tough. Missing family as I always do after returning to London after a visit home, financial woe, a general unsettled feeling in life as my visa runs out in September– what next?

So I guess I’ll give it a go… MOO!

Ch-ch-ch-changes.

My, how life changes in a year. Last Christmas I was home for the holidays, feeling a bit sad because I thought I wouldn’t be returning to Canada for Christmas this year. Now here I am, happily ensconced in my mom’s lounge surrounded by family.

There have been a couple of other changes in the past year. A tiny baby named Sydney has joined the festivities, born November 28th she is the newest member of my family and I couldn’t be a prouder auntie. Not only that, but last year I was very much single whereas this year I am very much in love and fortunate enough to have brought my British boyfriend home with me to meet the family.

I wonder what changes the next year will bring?

Ho, ho, ho.

I feel very Christmas-y this morning.

Must have something to do with sipping a cinnamon latte while listening to classical music a teacher is playing in a classroom nearby.

That and it is Friday! A busy and fun weekend ahead with dinner and Peter Pan at the O2 tonight, Christmas shopping in Central London tomorrow, ugly Christmas jumper party tomorrow night, and Hyde Park Winter Wonderland Sunday afternoon/night.

I ♥ Christmas.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

This is how I know it’s Christmas (without the calendar telling me, that is.)

- I’m once again attached to my red scarf, while all my other scarves are ignored.

- The Christmas playlist on my iPod is on repeat.

- I have a cold.

- My sweet tooth has morphed into sweet teeth.

- I only want to drink red wine or, even better, mulled wine.

- Christmas carols are sang in assembly at every school I go to.

- I’m incredibly homesick, but that might have something to do with my niece FINALLY arriving and wanting to hold and kiss her!

I fly out on the 13th, can’t wait!

Joyful.

Oh HI blog. Long time no type. No longer having a laptop is a pain. Dirty rotten thieves. However, in only 3 weeks time (!!) I will be back in Canada for Christmas and will purchase a lovely new computer then, as laptops are basically given away for free in terms of price comparison between home and here in the UK. Believe me.

Anyway. I am supposed to be writing a term paper for my online class right now, but as I am the Queen of Procrastination this seemed like a much better idea.

I bet you’re wondering “What’s new pussycat!?” Well, let me tell you.

October can rot in the fiery pits of hell. Seriously. What I didn’t mention in my last post is that the lovely break-in experienced at the beginning of the month led my housemates and I to learn via the Crime Prevention team that our house wasn’t secure, which then led us to discover that our contract and lease were actually illegal. Our dodgy landlord did not comply with many safety regulations and not only that, had made handwritten changes to our contract without our consent. Fun! So we wrote a lovely letter detailing our reasons for hightailing out of the property and gave our notice.

Thus began The Great Flat Hunt of 2009. Which was a whole lot of “not fun” mixed with a bunch of “lame”. I spent two weeks scouring classifieds for places to live, then worked all day and flat hunted all night. As this is London, one of the most expensive cities in the world, of course I can’t afford to live on my own so was looking to move into an existing houseshare. Slim pickings is all I can say. I viewed flats to share with 6+ people, with a pole dancer and a stage manager who asked my views on drug use, flats with painted concrete floors, flats miles away from public transport, flats with postage stamp sized bedrooms, flats with no communal areas yet atrocious rental rates, and flats that were lovely but as soon as I said “out of town boyfriend” were magically no longer available.

Closer to the end of the month I went to Wales with the new man to meet his family. Which was a lot of fun except I? Was stressed to the max over imminent homelessness, lack of computer and thus falling behind in my online class, and having to plan for a week of teaching Year 6. This culminated in a mini-breakdown and a sobbing call home one night while in Wales. Yay.

I returned to London after a few days in Wales and continued on flat hunting. I was feeling pretty dejected about the whole thing. Not only had I not found a place to live yet, but the landlord for my current and illegal home had taken to randomly stopping by and being a big ole bully. I won’t get into the argument I had with him over the letter and our reasons for leaving. Let’s just say I’m very happy my boyfriend was over, because two of my housemates had already moved out and one was away traveling. A bit scary.

Finally I went to look in North West London and fell in love with both the area and a flat. Luckily, the people in the flat also appeared to like me and invited me to move in! Two days later I did.

I live off Abbey Road in the London Borough of Camden, bordering on City of Westminster. My new flatmates are lovely and friendly. I live with a young English and young Australian couple which means they are okay with the boyfriend staying over whenever (yippee!) The rent is very reasonable and I now live in Zone 2 instead of Zone 4 which is much more convenient for a whole host of reasons. Although I am not a die hard Beatles fan or anything, I have to admit it is pretty cool that I walked over a certain famous zebra crossing on my way to view the flat.

And that’s where my life is at. November has been one thousand times better than October and December looks like it’ll be a bright, shiny, happy month as well. At the end of this month I return to Wales for an early Christmas as I’m stealing my man away from his family to spend Christmas in Canada with me. I’m sure I’ll be much better, more stress-free company this time around. Then December is chock full of Christmasy happenings both in London and back home in Saskatoon. Not to mention that the much anticipated arrival of my first neice or nephew should be happening in the next week or so! That’s right, my sister-in-law’s due date is exactly a week from today! To think that when I arrive home December 13th I can hold a sweet bundle of joy that will one day know me as “Auntie Bea”. Bizarre.

So yes, life? Much better, thanks.

Girls’ night out.

October hasn’t been the best month for me. It kicked off with a break-in at my house: bye laptop which means bye music and photos. Considering my financial situation as of late, the timing could’ve been better… I really can’t afford a brand new laptop! Things since then feel like they have gotten steadily worse. I haven’t been feeling very positive about life and I don’t like that.

Tonight, thankfully, is dancin’ time with some of my favourite ladies. I’m getting gussied up in a new frock and high heels which is sort of a big deal as I have a huge aversion to heels– I’m a flats kind of girl. I’ve curled my hair and am about to paint my nails. And I am going to have fun and cheer up!

I think I deserve it.

Autumn in the city.

This afternoon I walked home through a park, going out of my way and zig-zagging back and forth on the pavement to crunch newly fallen leaves. As I was doing so, an older woman out walking her dog stopped me and said “I always do that too!” I laughingly replied that I just couldn’t seem to grow out of it.

I love autumn, this city, life.

“London is a roost for every bird.” (Benjamin D’Israeli)

A year of living in London has come and gone. This brings on many mixed emotions– awe when I look at how fast this past year has went, sentimental feelings over all that has happened, pure sadness because I only have a year left in the UK.

I think I have grown and changed so much in the past year. Like my blog title says, London really is a roost for every bird and I can’t help but feel I truly have come into my own and learned to (mostly) feel comfortable just being me.

I don’t know what else to say except I will never, ever regret moving here. This life I’ve led here? It was meant to be.

Dictionary Freudian slip?

I was trying to think of a word but coming up with nothing and so I visited a reverse dictionary where you can describe the concept in a search engine and see various word suggestions. The concept I described was “defeat the purpose” and the 36th word suggestion was “husband”…. other words suggested included “frustrate”, “skunk” and “disappointment”.

I find this hilarious.

Homesickness is a funny disease.

It’s my last evening in Canada and for the past hour I’ve been walking around with a huge lump in my throat, fighting back tears while I slowly pack my bags.

I don’t get it. I love the UK, I love my life there. I have so much to look forward to when I get back. Not only that but I’ll be home again in four months to meet my new niece or nephew. There is absolutely zero reason why I should feel even remotely homesick– especially since I haven’t even left yet!

Like my blog title says, homesickness is a funny disease. There’s always something or someone to miss no matter where you are.

It’s overwhelmingly sad to realize that.