Weather 0 - Me 1

Today was the first time I've been tempted to take the bus home instead of walking. For reasons that will I think be mostly self-evident, but I should add that my 'to and from work' clothes today were jeans and a thin t-shirt as the morning was so warm and sunny.

To mitigate the wet and the cold, I jogged part of the way home. I felt like I'd really won a battle - haha! Yes! The weather thought it had me beat, but no! Not even the British weather can stop me getting my walks.

(It's strangely addictive, this walking to work stuff. I promise I'm not normally like this!)

The value of being able to say no

I've been reminded this week of the importace of something referred to on some blogs as "FU money". It's pretty self-explanatory - it's about not living paycheck to paycheck, but having an emergency fund that means you are able to step back from a job when you need to.

A friend of mine is struggling at work. The long hours and unreasonable demands are pushing them to their limits, leaving them stressed, sleep deprived and utterly drained. It's a vaguely familiar spectre, reminding me of my time in consultancy where - however interesting the work and fun the colleagues - I felt like work had to take precedence over everything else. This is not ideal. Work is good for us, but no job is worth getting burn out.

I am extremely lucky to work where I do. I adore my job - I wake up and I look forward to getting into the office. Some of that is because the work I do is so interesting, varied and challenging - but a lot is because I work for a supportive employer who wants me to do well. My boss tells me to go home when I'm in late, instead of reprimanding me for coming in late. My extra hours are logged and I can take them as time off in lieu. I get a good day's work done and then I go home, and then I repeat the cycle. When something happens - my mother's surgery, for instance - my team recognise that anyone can answer the email, but only I can sit in A&E, so they tell me to be where I need to be, and not to worry about papers and deadlines. This is worth more than a top-drawer salary to me.

But I do remember - and see - what it is like to work somewhere that has to squeeze you like a lemon for the business model to function. I don't want to take my current circumstances for granted - I want the choice to be able to say "FU" if I find myself there again. I already have the comfort of a good savings cushion, and the confidence of being able to live on a low income. This gives me a peace of mind, and today I am really valuing that.

Walking the long way around

For a while, I've been trying to psych myself up to cycling to work. It ticks so many boxes - being physically active, reducing emissions, saving money. But cycling in London is TERRIFYING. There are loads more bikes than a couple of years ago, but I'm a wuss.

After a while of feeling bad for lazily resorting to the bus, it finally occurred to me that there's another way for me to get to work under my own steam - walking.

It's about an hour's walk each way. It's a walk that takes me across and along the River Thames for part of my walk, and I feel connected with this city in a totally new way. Yes, it's a longer travel time than the bus - but I arrive at work feeling energised and fully awake, ready to start the day. I've already achieved something and I haven't even switched on my laptop. 

It's a really good feeling, and it's kind of surprised me. I thought the long walks would feel like a chore, but they are a real joy, especially compared to the bus. It's time to think, time to listen to music or to podcasts, time to breathe and look around me. I pass through different faces of this city - through areas of great wealth and areas of social housing, through areas of business and areas of luxury residence, through parks and along busy roads.

I'm trying to walk more travelling to other parts of the city too - a hospital appointment this week became an unexpected joy when I realised I could take a train part of the way, and then have a 45-minute walk along the Southbank - possibly the best walk in London. Shakespeare's Globe, St Paul's Cathedral, the Golden Hines ship, the Tate Modern, Southwark Cathedral...

But my favourite bit is definitely the river. I always knew the Thames was tidal, but never quite realised that meant you can hear the wash of the tides lapping against sand, the croak of seagulls... Guys, it's like walking by the beach. But, y'know, not.

The re-return

So helloooo blogosphere! I'm back. Again. Again.

Life seems to go in these cycles where I go off and discover new terrain, and then want to 'come home', make lemonade and knit stuff. Perhaps it's a good moment to reflect on what's the same and what's different.

So what is the same? Not much. Just me. Everything around me is different. Different job, different city, different home, different rhythm of life. I'm having so much fun with my life. I have a job I am excited to get to in the mornings, and that's very precious.

Because of that, my work has been my primary focus over the last months or years even, but I think the urge to knit things is perhaps an indicator that I need to slow down a bit more and savour this journey. Take more time just to be, to reflect, and to recharge. I feel a bit like I've climbed the first peak in the Himalayas and it feels awesome, but maybe I should take a break before I hit the second.

And you? What's new?

Slow but mobile?

After a year in the UK, I'm now back in Brussels for a brief stint. It feels really good to be back! 

I don't know if it's the time of year or something about Brussels, but here I am, reviving the blog and seeking some slowness again. I think you feel you can have a slow life in Brussels, while London doesn't allow for that possibility. Here, there are more parks. You can walk to work. There are farmers' markets in every square. The main thing though is the size - it no longer takes forever to get from A to B, and you can genuinely ring up some friends on Saturday evening to propose a dinner party and be sitting down together within the hour.

There are some aspects of this life I can dive straight back into. Seasonal cooking! I've been squashing (see what I did there) as many different variants of pumpkin into my recipes as I can, and discovering new types along the way. (Spaghetti pumpkin - so easy, so yummy, so versatile...)

But many other aspects are harder to embrace when you find yourself changing jobs, home and even country every 6 to 12 months, which is the situation I am currently in. I absolutely love my job, both what I am doing now and the future prospects it offers, but the scheme I am on gives me no control over where I go and no ability to plan ahead. I get rotated every six months, and I am told 6-8 weeks beforehand where I will go next.

 

This means that things involving long time-periods (like brewing fruit wine), or space for storage (like homemade jam) or equipment (like a sewing machine) or bulky ingredients (like soap-making) are pretty much out. It does not make sense logistically, financially or for my sanity to lug large quantities of oil and lye around.

The one thing I have brought with me is my knitting. Needles do not take up much space, and I no longer have a stash of wool. 

 

But all the oh so many things I really want to do - and which I could very feasibly do in terms of time if I were living here longer - just don't make sense. A fruit tree in a pot - what do I do with it when I leave? Build a small worm-compost box - ditto.

How do you manage this compromise? Any ideas for more mobile simplicity?

Where have you been all my life?

My efforts at simple living 'last time around', before I left for London, now seem to be to involve huge amounts of research and effort for small things. Where - WHERE - could one buy a bottle brush? Or fuller's earth? Or a handy basket? Or a cheesecloth? 

The basic equipment and ingredients were so hard to find. But in the time I was gone, dear Brussels, you went and got yourself not one but two branches of Dille & Kamille.

I mostly know the brand because their cloth bags seem the latest hipster accessory. They are EVERYWHERE here. Which put me off slightly, but then I ended up on their website (I forget why) and I realised that I HAD to come at my earliest opportunity.

I went today. There's shelves and shelves of different kinds of brushes. Liquid and hard soaps, candles, cooking implements, jam jars and bottles... I was in paradise. 

The things that matter

My mother is in hospital recovering from open-heart surgery. It's been a long, long week, most of it spent at the hospital.

I am grateful that my mother is doing well.

I am grateful to her fabulous surgeons.

I am grateful for the hospital cafe providing injections of tea and sugar.

I am grateful I have my sister with me, that neither of us has to walk this path alone.

I am grateful for the people I love who flood me with texts and calls.

I am grateful for home, a place to come back to and rest at the end of each day.

I am grateful to work for someone who urges me to work from home, take the day off, go to the hospital and don't worry about the deadlines.