Six month Sydniversary

Yep. Six whole months it has been since we left London.

The good news is, I’m still alive and didn’t die from misery like I thought I would.

My heart isn’t completely broken, although it did hurt a bit when Kate had her baby without me in the country (so inconsiderate of her to string it out like that) .. and I didn’t go for England in the Ashes.

I have a sun tan! Something I haven’t had since circa 2006 .. I even have flip flop lines, and because I don’t care how much Aussie blood is running through my veins, thongs are dead to me. They are flip flops … and when you spend enough time out of Australia, you will change your mind about that too I promise! (and as a quick exercise, google “thong tan lines” and see what you get.)

I miss my life in London. A lot. I spend a hell of a lot of time thinking about that but I don’t say much to people around me because hardly anyone gets it. Sometimes I lie in bed awake at night and I mentally trace my way from my old house in London, down to the park at the end of the street, around my favourite running routes and home again.

It’s a bit dumb really but I do it.

My kids are losing their lovely little English accents which kills me a bit each day, but I’m prepared to let that one slide to see them swimming at a beach with waves for the first time in their lives like we did at christmas. Tit for tat and all that.

Nobody has been taken to hospital with a funnel web spider bite yet either, as Luca was expecting. And he now knows that green flies are just flies and not green bumble bees that sting and eat you. So we aren’t going through litres of insect spray any longer as the kids don’t want to annihilate everything they see “in case it might kill you”.

<Note to self: Definitely over did it on the dangerous wildlife topic.>

I survived a christmas without Marks and Spencer. It was a close call I tell you but I pulled through. Even made Holly’s birthday cake rather than palm off one of M&S’s masterpieces as my own. Who even knew these things were possible?

So I think I’m doing okay. It’s a bit strange having family around again, not in a bad way at all – we just got so used to being on our own that I still forget I can ring my Mum and not have to worry about calling her and giving her a heart attack at 3am. Our parents are loving having all their grand babies home and the other day I watched Rob’s Mum very proudly showing off my Charlie and my heart went all fuzzy. I might have even leaked a tear.

In other major news, I’m struggling missing out on the new season of Downton Abbey which is running in the UK at the moment and I’m using all my might to not pay for it and download it. If only the bloody tennis would hurry up and be over I’d be out of my misery. Damn it. Bloody sport interfering in my life again. Isn’t the cricket wrecking christmas TV viewing enough?

Mostly, I miss my gorgeous, delightful, beautiful, funny, and often completely mental friends. I seem to gravitate towards English people and have managed to befriend all the British expats at Luca’s school. I even managed to find myself an English running coach so I feel right at home!

I miss the happiness I had in London. I’m not unhappy in Sydney, not by any means. But I’m not truly in love with my life here like I was in London. I hope that changes.

There is however one last test that remains. One thing that hasn’t happened in London since I left. The one time of the year I loved above all other.

It hasn’t snowed yet.

I check my weather app religiously and my heart does a little sigh of relief when I don’t see the snow symbol in London’s weather because I don’t want to miss out. But it’s only a matter of time with February looming.

I miss the winter school run, playing ‘find the frozen thing’ on the way there.

Maybe the weather gods will shine down on me and hold off on the snow until I get there for the London Marathon in April.

Imagine that .. a marathon in the snow. Guaranteed I’d be the only runner happy about that.