Living away from home - round three

Hello again,

this has been on my mind now for some time and it is only today i sat down and articulated what I wanted to write about. For my reckoning, I have left home now 3 times...

1. Going to Uni
2. Moving in with JC and CMK in Belfast
3. Moving to London (randomly with MA)

Each of these have had their own experiences and all that jazz, but I wanted to reflect on my third move / attempt at moving. So, without further adieu...

1. Whats different?

There are a number of things different with this move than the other two. For a start, I was moving for a job - I had never done that before, but this in itself though up its own challenges initially. What if I hated the job? being the principal question. Fortunately, I did not, I actually rather enjoyed it, but more importantly never has me living somewhere been so inexorably linked to work. If I lost my job, I would almost certainly have to move home as I am totally reliant on the job to allow me to stay in London. Previously, I have never had that tie - as a student, you can pretty much do nothing for a year (or 4 if you are really smart) and still live free in a city (no council tax & and you get a student loan!).

This has totally changed my attitude to work - I know absolutely have to do it if i want to stay in London. Big deal you are probably thinking, but what this effectively means is that I am tied to a job so long as I want to live here. And this is something I swore i'd never become - tied to my work. In true Robert deNiro style I always aimed to have "nothing you couldn't walk away from in 30 seconds". That may work if you are a professional thief, but is surprisingly a difficult philosophy to live / love to. Turns out I couldn't have my cake and eat it. Big whoop.

2. My 2 year plan

In September 2010 I will have lived in London for 2 years, and my two year plan will have been complete. See, I had always said, when I was a student, if I ever got the chance, I would move to London, try get a chelsea season ticket for two seasons and then decide what to do with the rest of my life after that. Turns out thats happened, and I have about 8 months to work out what to do next. I never, for one second, thought that time could move so quickly. I think the saying is the "best laid plans of mice and men..." Well, my well laid plan some how came through, but this has created its own set of problems - that was the only plan I had. Sure , it was a damned good one but what next?

I have a hell'uva lot of thinking to do. The next 8.5 month's will be interesting. God knows what it'll look like after that.

3. Home?

My mum spent half of Christmas trying to convince me that 'home' was where ever her and my dad happened to be living at any one point. Convenient that. I mean, I've not had a proper bedroom in Belfast for at least 6 years - i get shoved into the small guest room (albeit mainly because i refuse to sleep in a huge room that is empty) and stay there for about 20 days per year. Is that really home?

Then again, I have moved house once since being in London. Moving from the most annoying landlord of all time into quite a nice house. But it is hardly as if I have "put down roots". I guess that the key is that I probably have 2 or 3 temporary homes on the go at any one time. Usually, when in Belfast I refer to 'home' as London and vice versa. The one anomaly in all this is edinburgh. When i visited JC up there I felt like i was back home. Nothing had changed (for better and worse), but it felt great to be back. Can a guy have 3 homes and only live in one of them? Possibly, but it is all a bit confusing.


Conclusion

Again, another slightly confused post, but it is my first in several months... I think the main thing for me is that I've a plan and a few places to go, but with September rushing at me in breakneck speed (time has a habit of lurching uncontrollably), it feels like I have a few 'big' decisions to make in the next 6 months. Maybe I'll make a plan - worked out okay the last time? But then, no guarantees of success this time