Jul
13
So ends my first week in the UK and the reality of a life in a new land starts to set in. The holiday feeling is fast subsiding, and I am glad for that, because we are not here on holiday, we are here to live and the sooner we accept that and begin to live within that frame of mind, the sooner we will settle and everyday life can become a reality.
There are still so many beautiful things to see and we have only but scratched the surface.
Yesterday we took a walk through a wooded area with deer and foxes, the woods are just like Hogsback, but they are everywhere. On the walk we came across a large pond where people were sitting under huge trees, fishing. It was like being in another world yet you are strangely aware that you are still almost in a residential area.
Today I took the children to see the Tonbridge Swimming Centre which has a heated indoor and outdoor swimming area, pools for babies, pools for toddlers, a lovely little caffeteria, saunas, showers, etc… Just outside the swimming pool complex is a miniture train (we have dubbed it, “The Smartie Train” for obvious reasons, but I will still have to try and convince them to paint it like a box of smarties). We stopped along the way to feed the ducks and the swans. This all takes place at the foot of the Tonbridge Castle. (you can google Tonbridge Castle, if you like).
Mike started work in London today so it was his first day of commuting and this was one of the very things that brought home the reality of our move, getting up and going to work! He will not be travelling into London everyday as his offices will be out here in our area, but the training academy and headoffice are in London, so for starters he will commute for the next few days. I think he quite likes it and we will have to wait and see how long it takes before the novelty wears off.
The kids have embraced everything about this place. This move has taught me more about the resilience of young children than anything else. Jenna misses her dogs the most and asks me every day if I can reconsider the decision not to bring them over here. I feel desperately sorry for her as she was so close to her animals and they were her everything.
Mitchell, strangely enough, enjoys doing chores around the house here. He knows it is the only way he is going to earn that premier league soccer ball that he has his eye on.
I still have not felt a sense of being homesick, but for those of you back in SA it does not mean that I don’t think of you often and miss you a lot. It just means that I have embraced this change a little more easily than even I thought I might.
Someone told me today that there is already a noticeable difference in the length of the days, as we slide towards winter, but we have not been here long enough to notice and with the sun still setting so late at night, it is still all very strange.
So far the only edible thing that I miss from SA is Lipton Yellow Label Tea Bags (the triangle ones).
PS. If any of my friends in the UK know where I can get some – please advise! URGENTLY! If anyone from SA is coming over here, pack some in your bags… please!
Today I put fuel in the car!!! I swore I was not going to do it over here. I was going to sit in my car and wait for someone to do it for me, but when the push came to the shove, it was top up or walk home in the heat. The petrol station owner laughed at me and said: “Oh you must be from SA”? Well, who cares? It’s a badge I wear with pride. 
Anyway, I guess from now on fuel will not be a big issue for me.
I am just starting to get to grips with the recycling system over here. I must admit that in the first week I really didn’t give a damn, as everything in my life was upside down and saving the planet one aluminum can at a time, just wasn’t high on my agenda, but now the kids are into it and Jenna is even in charge of the compost system for the garden. I think she just enjoys the worms in the tub. Hahaha.
There is a 3-wheel car in my street. Exactly like the one that torments Mr Bean and everytime we go out now I have to take the kids past that house so they can see it. Who would have known that a 3-wheeled car could be that entertaining.
For the rest of it, it’s pretty much learn and do. I am getting around more without the GPS system now and learning to drive with conviction on the narrow country roads.
Watch out for the next instalment….
This is Kerry Wright!
