I didn’t move to London on a temporary basis. I moved – with all the certainty of a big mouthed, self important 22 year-old back in 2002 – FOREVER. Still, I’ve discovered, as many have before me, that forever is a very long time indeed and life… happens.
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I remember that on the flight over… I slept all the way through. I had spent so many months preparing, stressing, agonising. I had been so exhausted and excited that I went out like a light and woke up over London. I don’t even remember seeing the city from above. I think I still have the ticket somewhere – from an airline that doesn’t exist anymore, a charter outfit by Cyprus Airways if I’m not mistaken. The details… are hazy because I’m now an old(er) woman.
And yet, some things stick in the mind.
I’ve been tempted to leave London at least twice in these 20 years. Once when Greece proved a bit too tempting… until I learned once more the harsh lesson that my country teaches most people eventually: plus ça change. Once more before I got a job that flew me around the world, curing my restlessness and leading me to appreciate London once more.
I don’t think that this time I was actually tempted to leave. This time all I did was apply to jobs and somehow, most of the jobs I interviewed for over the summer were for other countries. I sort of half chose – half landed this one and it came with a perk attached. A move to Dubai. More on that later.
I’ve been saying for a number of years that I’ll blog again at some point in the future. It seems to me that we have arrived at that point.
I make sense of my world through writing – that much is clear. As I’ve gotten older I also realised that I make sense of and create my self through writing. That’s why my (Greek) blog was so much rooted in the here and now – an old blogger used to say I had an eye for the ephemeral.
But it’s the 8th of February and I have 20 more days to go in London, before I board a flight – which I have yet to book. And I think it’s time to look back, I think I have 20 London stories to tell.
Sit comfortably. After all, if I didn’t think I had something to say that is worth saying, I wouldn’t be writing at all – and that probably tells you more about scribblers than absolutely necessary.
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My #20LondonStories
- Grexit/ Brexit
- The way to anyone’s heart is through the stomach
- The night bus
- Words save our lives… sometimes
- The rest is noise
- How not to bite your nails in the Officials’ Box
- Always have a sister
- Greek London
- This green and pleasant land
- The bridge of aspiration
- The knight in well travelled armor
- Carpets in the toilet and other adventures in housing
- Moments in Art
- The NHS hunger games
- In nocte consilium
- The friends we found, the friends we lost
- Blogging tips for beginners
- Lord of Gondolin, Bane of Gothmog, mighty beater of his headboard, conqueror of the slide, aka our child
- γνῶθι σεαυτόν
- How to leave London
20 thoughts on “The London Years: 2002 – 2022”