Sunday 23 September 2012

Our 1 Year Anniversary!

It's exactly one year today since we swapped our city life in London for this 'ere life in the sticks.  Well OK, not the sticks but you know...it was quite a change!  But happily one that I love.  I don't pine for our old life at all - sure I miss London but if I'm feeling nostalgic I can hop on the train into town and be there within an hour.  And sure enough, within a few hours I'm ready to leave again!

Our life here is so very different to how it used to be, much more than I imagined.  I love that we spend most of our weekends at home now - in London, we were always looking to get out and do things with the kids but here we are content in our home.  The kids love helping out in the garden, where DH spends most of his spare time, and we have the space to just "be" a family.

DS on move day...the fun of cardboard boxes!

We shop and eat differently here too.  Most days in town would involve a trip to the High Street to buy that day's dinner but now I meal plan for the week.  I still shop for basics at the supermarket but I love picking up free-range meat at the butcher and fruit & veg at the farm shop (or even better, picking it ourselves!).  We eat so much better with less temptation for take-aways or cafe meals, a staple of our London life.

Of course there are still things I'm getting used to.  Like the fact that every village Post Office within the vicinity closes between 1-2pm, a fact I discovered only last month when trying to send an urgent package!  London is a 24 hour city, and I definitely took that for granted when we lived there.  On our move weekend, amongst the chaos of packing boxes with nothing useful yet filling our cupboards, we headed to the local village to pick up a take-away for supper and were amazed to discover most of them closed on a Sunday!  Little things like that are like stepping back in time but when I look out of my window in the morning to be surrounded by lush greenery and trees, I don't mind one little bit.  

Keep your take-aways and 24 hour shops London, we're here to stay!

No comments: