The End of Chapter One

Last Saturday was my last day at work. Since then, I've been packing, getting lost at Heathrow, looking after my little cousins and trying to get some quality sleep on an air mattress!

Now, as I am getting ready to start my new job tomorrow, I've been looking back on the past 16 months. It has been an amazing experience and I was truly fortunate to be welcomed into the home and lives of such a great family. I will miss the kids a lot but I will still get to see them. It was certainly one of the best decisions I made to get out of the whole Monday to Friday 9-5.

So, on the eve of the next chapter, I am excited. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of the world and also the chance to be part of a new family. It's not like I'm moving to a new country. I think I'll like living in NW London.

Here I Go Again

The past few days, I have been sorting through all my stuff and starting to pack up my life once more, ready for my move to the wild frontier that is West Hampstead at the end of this month.

This month will also see the arrival of the replacement for my current position, which I'm actually looking forward to as she comes in the form of my friend, Hannah. Yep, Hannah, who was here last year for our trip to Paris, is coming to take over from me. It'll be great to have her here and I know I'll still get to see the kids. I am starting to get excited about my new job...and a bit scared at the same time. But I have to remember that they chose me to come and live with them and I know this is the right move for me at this stage of my new career.

So while Hannah packs up her life in New Orleans, I'm packing up mine here. Time to move on again. One day, I'm sure I'll be done with all the moving around and be more than happy to settle down in one place. As for when that day will come, I have no idea!

20 kgs!

With only three days to go before I fly out of Australia, I seem to have come down with the flu! This is quite possibly the worst time to feel sick! Not only will the flying be really uncomfortable for my poor ears, but with all the drama about swine flu that's going around, I keep having visions of myself stuck in quarantine for days on end and having my picture all over the news as the latest victim of the "pandemic". These visions usually come at night, when I really should be getting a good night sleep so I can feel my best. Add to that, the stress of realising that I won't be able to fit everything in my suitcase and will have to keep culling items so I can keep it below 20kgs!

Personally, I think 20kgs to move your life overseas is ridiculous! Even after shipping a second suitcase to the UK, seeing your life fit into two suitcases is pretty sad.

This has been an interesting week. On the happy side, I finished work and have had plenty of time to get stuff done, catch up with friends and get excited about the move. On a sadder note, I sold my car this week. That was hard. My little red car has been through a lot with me and it was difficult to let it go. While my car was a symbol of my freedom, selling my car was a symbol of the start of a new chapter in my life - stepping out and living the dream.

Today, I just need to make a trip to the bank for a final statement in case they quiz me at customs, meet some friends for lunch, buy my nana a Mother's Day present and clean my house. Tomorrow, the family are all out for a Mother's Day lunch and on Sunday, after my last Sunday at church, I have a wedding to go to.

Then Monday, I'm off!

I spoke to my friend in Abu Dhabi yesterday and now I'm really looking forward to my holiday in the UAE. It looks like we'll be spending some time in Dubai too. Very exciting!

OK. Time to get back to work on that suitcase. 20 kgs....!

One Last Week

I finished work yesterday and said farewell to my career in the 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, commute-to-work-in-over-crowded-trains-full-of-noisy-school-kids...I hope!

This is my last week in Australia for a while and it's going to be a tough one. Now the serious packing needs to start. On Sunday, my mum and my sister have organised a farewell / birthday party for me and while it will be great to catch up with everyone one last time, I'm really not good at big parties and especially not good with goodbyes.

Monday I need to get my car ready to be sold. Tuesday, I'm doing some final shopping for last minute items and meeting a friend for lunch. Wednesday, I'm getting my haircut and I have an appointment at the doctor to make sure there is no trace of swine flu! Thursday is my only free day so far and Friday, I'm meeting the girls from my last job for lunch in the city. Saturday is for cleaning and packing and trips to the dump and Sunday is Mother's Day and I have a wedding to go to in the afternoon. Then it'll be Monday...the day I leave. Oh, and I need to finish packing somewhere in there, too...

At least being busy will help to keep my mind off the fact that I'll be leaving everything I know (again!), moving somewhere new (again!) and starting over (again!!). But even though the thought of that is hard, I am excited. I get the chance to start fresh. The chance to do things differently and not be locked in to doing things the same way I have done them for years. That thought is liberating!

This time in two weeks, I'll be in London, starting my new life and living my dream. I know it won't be easy but it will be an adventure.

And to use one of my favourite quotes by Jane Austen: "If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad".

One More Week

Only one more week at work and then I can burn all my "office worker" clothing...well, I could if it was legal to have a bonfire in the backyard!

Yep, only one more week as a Customer Service Agent at my call centre job, then a week in Brisbane, a week in Abu Dhabi and who knows how many weeks in London.

On Saturday, the people who had purchased my furniture came to collect it and in the space of two short hours, I went from living in a fully furnished one bedroom flat to living in a large and very echoey (is that even a word??) room. Only thing left to sell now is my fridge...any takers?

At the moment, I'm feeling OK about the move. It will probably be different tomorrow and then back to OK on Tuesday. I'm all over the place! But I guess that's to be expected. Looking forward to this week being over.

This week also sees the acting debut of my niece in her school play, which I am so looking forward to. Just another major event that I am happy to still be here for.

15 more sleeps...

This week...

This week, I only work two days, which when you're temping in a call centre, is always great news. Not so great for the old bank balance, but in my new "thinking positive" phase, I'm choosing not to focus on that point.

It's Easter weekend and so far I have dismantled my bed (ready for collection by the lady who will be purchasing it...if she ever gets in touch with me, that is (think positive, think positive!), polished and buffed my car to within an inch of it's life and managed to restore it back to (almost) it's former red glory, ready for sale...to my dad. I've sorted through my wardrobe and collected four large bags of clothes that I'll be donating to charity (and about four more bags to throw out that no one would seriously want!), packed a second suitcase to ship to myself in London and still found time to eat a few Easter eggs along the way!

After all that, I need a holiday! Good thing I'm off to Sydney on Thursday for my best friend's wedding. It'll be so great to catch up with her and her family and also our other family, the Clayton's (you know who you are!). I better sort out what I'm going to take for that - packing, packing, endless packing!

Tomorrow, it's movie day with the girls and we're off to see 17 Again with Zac Efron (oh, to be 17 again....), then work on Tuesday and Wednesday...12 days to go!

Let The Countdown Begin...I'm Ready (I Think!)

A lovely e-mail arrived today, containing the very message that I have been waiting (and not very patiently) for...my Ancestry Visa has been approved.

Yes, I know I've done it all the wrong way round and I really should have had my visa approved and in my hot, little hand before I booked and paid for my flights, before I accepted a job and definitely before I shipped a box of my stuff over to London (OK, I haven't actually sent the box yet, but it is packed!).

Now that that last hurdle is out of the way, my official countdown can begin. As of today, there 45 sleeps until I move to London. 45!! Is that all??

Now that it's almost here, and as much as I know I'll be ready (packed, shipped and queueing at the airport), will I really be READY? I have been planning this trip for over two years now and here I am in the final days, feeling scared and sad and out of control. This is the big one - the BIG move. This is the change of the country, the change of the career and most certainly, the change of myself. While I know it's normal to have these feeling when facing such a life-changing move, I want to spend these last few weeks making the most of my time left with friends and family, and that means leaving behind all the worry and the stress.

I'm just not too sure how to do that. Maybe there is something to be said for the whole "one day at a time" thing...I should give that a go.

"Mine!" ... "Mine!"

On Sunday, I packed up my car (and my sister's) with most of my household items, left home at 5.00am and headed off to set up a stall at our local market. This was the first time I have ever done a market...and I was not prepared for the "feeding frenzy" that occured.

We pulled up at the car park of the train station that is home to the market every Sunday. The sun was not even out and the cars not even unloaded, when the "seagulls" arrived! Out of nowhere, we were suddenly surrounded by shoppers we could barely make out in the dark dawn. All of a sudden, my boxes were unpacked at the speed of light and we had already sold about $40 worth of stuff by the time I had everything out of the car. Just as quick as they arrived, they disappeared. It reminded me of all the seagulls in Finding Nemo (hence the title of this blog! If you haven't seen the movie, where on Earth have you been??).

To say the least, I was overwhelmed. Even my sister, who is a market veteran, had never seen anything like it. I am happy to say, that although we stayed busy throughout the day and I made over $800, we didn't have a repeat of the first half hour.

So apart from the sunburn (yes...again!) and the emotional breakdown in the middle of the car park at the end of the morning, it was a good day! I had been so good at seperating myself from all the stuff that I had to sell before I move overseas, telling myself that "it's only stuff", and "I can't take it with me", but once most of it had been sold and I was packing away the remaining few things that I could give away, it hit me that, yes, it is only stuff, but it's my stuff. It all has a story, memories that make up my story. So, looking around my place at the moment, it looks a bit bare, but then to cheer myself up, I look at my bank balance and start to feel a bit better!

It was a full-on weekend. On Saturday, I woke up at 4.30am to call the family that I'll be working for in London, then I couldn't get back to sleep. The night before, I was babysitting my niece until about 12.30am and I had her all day Saturday as well. We went shopping to look for a dress for me to wear to my best friend's wedding in Sydney next month and came home with a pair of jeans and a jumper...as you do! I can justify the purchase...I had jeans and a jumper on my list of stuff to buy before I move to the UK, so I've just bought them a little earlier than planned! I actually wanted to go and see Trinny and Susannah who I thought were appearing at Westfield that day, but they'll actually be there next saturday...maybe they can help me find something to wear...or what not to wear!

And to today...today I may just have done something crazy! I have accepted an extension to my contract at the Government call centre until 1 May - 5 weeks away! Can I do it? I hope so. Before I accepted, I called all my recruitment companies just to see if they had anything else for me and sadly, they did not! On the upside, it's guaranteed work until I leave, I have made friends there and I know the job, so i'm pretty sure I can last another 5 weeks. But in this "Current Financial Crisis" (sorry to have to use the tired, old cliche!), it seems that beggars cannot be choosers!

So it looks like I'll be a Call Centre Customer Service Agent for a little bit longer. I can handle that. Soon it will all be behind me. I'll be a nanny. I'll be living the dream.

I'll be in London!

P.S Update on whereabouts of British Ancestry Visa...who knows?? I am getting a bit nervous, but I still have plenty of time yet. I just need to stop checking the tracking page on the Australia Post website EVERY...SINGLE...DAY!!

Homeless

The builders have finally given me a date. They will be here on Tuesday to tear out all my walls.

I'll be homeless. Sort of.

I will be moving in with the landlords upstairs (also known as my sister and brother-in-law) until all the work is done.

So, I am packing and moving - again. Having been back in my place for a week and a half and un-packing all my stuff, I now need to pack it all back up and cover everything with plastic sheets. What a fun way to spend the weekend!

It actually gives me the opportunity to throw out a whole lot of stuff. I have been putting it off for too long and it needs to be done. Each time I have started though, I end up moving stuff from one place to another and never throwing things away. I need to get tough and just do it. I have never been a big hoarder, but with this move to London, I am selling most of my stuff and won't have any place to store anything beyond one box or so (one box will be OK in your garage won't it, mum?). This means throwing out a whole lot of stuff that I haven't been able to part with before.

I keep thinking to myself, do I really need it? The answer: probably not, but I want it.

I'm going to need to have a massive garage sale....

Moving...sort of

OK, so things are not moving fast on the BIG move, but they are certainly happening at home.

Several weeks ago, Brisbane was hit with some really severe storms and while I thought I had managed to get off fairly lightly in regards to damage, it turns out it was not to be.

Apparently, most of my interior walls need to be ripped out and refitted due to quite a bit of moisture and water trapped inside. This is not good. It means I will have to move out for a few weeks while to work is being done.

Fortunately, I am due to housesit for the next three weeks as my sister, brother-in-law and niece are off to the States for Christmas, so all we need to do is find a builder who can do the work now...three weeks out from Christmas. Hmmm. Should be easy, right?

I'll find out tomorrow if they can fix it now, so I have spend most of today packing and moving, but with no exciting move to London at the end of it. Oh, well. Gives me a chance to sort through stuff and throw things out. Well, it would if I could be bothered!

It's hot today and I would much rather sit here and blog with my fan on high, than face all those decisions on what to keep, what to throw away, what to give away and what I'll need between now and when I do finally pack up and move for real. It's too hard. It's too hot. It'll all wait until tomorrow....

Oh yeah, did I mention that I am a procrastinator as well as being extremely impatient?