This month marks 2 years since I set out for America and started my travels. So it's finally time to wrap this up and get on with a normal life. For now at least.
Bunny and I left Australia at the beginning of April and with a stopover in Singapore made it back to Heathrow the day before I had left. I can't describe how amazing it was to see my family, my dad especially, I'd missed him so much while I'd been away.
I spent a few weeks in the Midlands, catching up with old friends and family. And sleeping. Lots of sleeping. It was very strange to have a proper bed again after months sleeping on an inflatable mat in a tent! To have my own space again completely threw me, it was so quiet!
My wonderful grand poppa who turned 98 while I was away.
I was back just in time to help my big brother and his beautiful girlfriend move into their first house. I helped them move into their last place in Battersea so it was only right that I do the shuffle of goods down to Reading too. It's quite incredible that they have brought a house!! The biggest thing I owned was an inflatable sleeping mat!
And then because I had so much fun moving them, I helped move mom too. Since I left the country she painted my room, got a lodger, sold my car, quit her job, re-homed our cats, sold her house, went off to work in portugal, brought a new house, pulled it apart and put it back together again.
We drove to the storage lockup in Leicester and piled everything into a rented van for a long drive south to Bradpole in Dorset, just on the edge of Bridport.
We plonked everything into a house with no floors, no curtains (we're still using the lovely floral ones from the old lady who lived there before), no shower and no furniture as most of it had been sold at the last home. We've had carpets put in, the shower works now (mostly), we've painted the walls, spent HOURS building badly instructed flat-pack furniture, had a sofa delivered, and basically put the place together bit by bit.
Living in Dorset is stunningly beautiful. We're just a 10 minute drive to the sea. Unfortunately there's no waves, but i'm hopeful for spots round the coast. If you've seen Broadchurch, a hit BBC series with David Tennant and Oliva Coleman, you'll be able to see exactly where I live now.
It's a stunning place, but it's very isolated. Without a car I can't really get around. I brought a bike so I can get further than on foot, but heading back up to the Midlands isn't easy.
After a while more of sleeping I decided it was time to get a proper job.
So I found The Watch House, a cafe on the beachfront in West Bay.
It's mostly locally caught seafood, as well as wood-fired pizzas and a disgustingly large range of delicious looking cakes, made in our own bakery. In my first month I was promoted to supervisor, so now I'm in charge of things like ordering supplies and cashing up. I also get to tell people what to do, and they actually listen (!), sometimes. There's some great people working there and we have a lot of fun. I'm learning a lot. Ask me to make you a double shot skinny macchiato and I'll see you right =]
It's a great place to be with a great vibe, so for now I'm pretty happy and feeling all at peace.
If I could just stop those itchy feet….
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