It has been just over a year since I returned to London, and a bit longer than that since I took a break from living in NZ. A lot has happened. I’ve traveled – on my own: to New York for a training course at Fordham University – and with Kate to Paris, Calais, Stockholm, Amsterdam (x2), New York, Boston, Cape Cod, LA, and even back to NZ too.
I have bought a flat in London, bought a house in Wellington. Kate and I have got engaged and married, and we have a baby on the way. Kate has managed to find a locum job that has kept her going until she handed her notice in today – no mean feat in today’s employment environment – and I have worked three roles as a UK civil servant; swine flu vaccine policy coordinator, general health policy manager, and now as a private secretary for the Minister of State for Health.
By anyone’s reckoning, that is quite a lot to happen in just one year. I wish I’d seen my friends a little more – both here and in NZ – and worked a little less. But economic times being what they are, and family responsibilities creeping upon us means that we have to hunker down for now. Who knows what next year will bring, but I hope to be back in NZ before too long. Or at least, away from London. The commuting lifestyle is just unsustainable and we aren’t the sorts of people who can afford to live a Central London life.
But still, we are happy in our little flat and our routing little lives for now. Until the baby appears at the end of December. Then I suspect that nothing will feel routine ever again.
Run on Wed, Sep 01
11.57 km (05:08 min/km)
HR 146 bpm - Burned 941 C
Cadence 86 spm
