As our moving date creeps closer and the adrenaline starts to build the anticipation of what we can expect when we arrive is making for some sweet daydreams.
There are many aspects to my lifestyle that I am hoping will change when we embark on our ‘adventure across Europe’ and I thought that I would spend some time today explaining what some of them are.
For me living in the UK feels like it has a very heavy energy attached to it. I think that a big part of that has to do with the fact that for many months of the year we are couped up inside simply because it is just too cold or wet to do anything else. I’m not a girl that enjoys being couped up. I love bare feet and sitting/lying in the grass. I love listening to the birds singing whilst eating my food al fresco – straight from the garden if possible. I love flinging the windows open and letting the fresh air flood through the house without running the risk of hyperthermia. I don’t enjoy being swaddled in hats and coats and scarves – don’t panic I’m not about to go all naturist on you – but do prefer to wear fewer rather than more clothes. I love the sun on my skin and generally living outside and I HATE BEING COLD……..
So for me a big part of moving to a warmer climate is so that I can spend more of my days outside than in. I love the ease that comes with living that kind of life. Being closer to nature has a calming effect on me. I have never been a city girl – I tried and gave it a good shot but as soon as we moved out of the city and into the country I knew that I had come home and that I would never live in a city/town again. Give me a view of trees, fields and open spaces and I am a happy bunny……
I also love travelling. Moving from place to place and having new experiences and new perspectives in each one is very refreshing to me. We have moved around a lot during our time together and although it is always fairly stressful moving (I suspect because of the vast collection of ‘stuff’ that we have to drag with us each time) it has become something of a pattern for us.
I’m not overly concerned with material things (am even letting go of my vast wardrobe of clothes!!) or with having the latest technology . My mobile phone is years old – and doesn’t take pictures, videos or make the tea, I have a MP3 player not an IPod or Blackberry or whatever else is the latest must have and gasps for effect we still have a tape deck…..Much of our furntiure that we are getting rid of has been with us since we first set up home together some 20 years ago. Of course we have special sentimental knick-knacks that we wont part with but on the whole we are preparing to travel light and the thought is very liberating.
So, to be able to travel and live with minimal stuff is very exciting and something I am really looking forward to. Being the masters of our own destiny – quite literally feels very empowering.
I am hoping that we can simplify most areas of our life and change some of the patterns that we have. For instance I am anticipating that we wont be shopping in big supermarkets quite so much if at all. One of the things I remember from living in France is going to the weekly markets for fruit and veggies. It was such an experience with stall after stall of vegetables, fruits, olive oil, cheeses and bread. You don’t see those sort of markets here and the whole shopping process was so much more fun than aimlessly walking up and down aisles pushing your trolley and feeling like you would rather be anyway but there. The markets were so much cheaper as well and that for sure will be a big plus. Food shopping here has become ridicously expensive over the last 12-18 months. It always astounds me how much I spend on seemingly so little. Also because we will have little storage space I am hoping to get out of the habit of buying things to pop in the cupboard – they invariably never make it out again for quite some time. I am convinved that there is a Narnia style world at the back of my food cupboard where things disappear only to reappear months later when I have forgotten all about them.
One of the biggest things I hope to change when we get to Spain is the amount of driving that I do. Although I love my job I certainly don’t love the driving that I do to and from clients. It is such a waste of my day and I can’t wait to not have to do it. Having all those hours free to be creative with my business and to do YOGA – I will literally have hours everyday just to do yoga……..bliss.
We will also get to immerse ourselves in another culture. Another way of doing things. People who live in hotter climates always seem to have such a ‘manyana’ attitude to life that I love. Relax, do it tomorrow, it will still be there. When we first moved to France it was infuriating to us that they took lunch breaks and actually closed shops, supermarkets, everything really. They actually sat and enjoyed lunch and each others company and then went and slept it off. I mean come on……but by the end of our stay we too were enjoying siestas and long lazy lunches and it was soooo much better than the rush that is a lunch break over here. That I am looking forward to getting used to again.
And lastly for now (although I am sure that I can think of many other changes that I want to make) I want to learn how to Flamenco dance……….pause for laughter.………seriously though I think that it would be really cool to actually learn how to dance properly and Flamenco always seems so strong and powerful to me – all stamping feet and swirling skirts – I could so do that……
Watch this space as they say and see how this all evolves……
Helen's European Journey 