Friday(ish) figments and photos

Ironically for someone who prides herself on defying the blog niche perogative, I seem to thrive creatively in a set, defined challenge. Bizarre, yes. Very Emma, yes. With my set scheme of 6 topics, I could plan ahead, knew what I needed to get for the next few posts and could feel like I was cheating when I defied the system and spent an entire week writing about Harry Potter and Doctor Who.

I think I've just solved my blogger's block. *facepalm*

This entire week has been rather surreal and rather moving. With a 3am start on ANZAC day, we made our way to the incredibly busy corner of Hyde Park (there were literally thousands of sleepy antipodeans all rugged up, listened to the remembrance service intently. I do always wonder what the local hotel guests think!?) and joined Princess Anne commemorating the fallen soldiers of World War One.

Communication and the redefinition of home to expats

I blearily cracked open an eyelid, my proper first view of a London morning framed by the bright red struts of a dorm room bunkbed. Blinking, I peeped out the window over the sleepily setting up Borough High Street. The sky was overcast with the promise of rain, but I was simply too excited to care as the realisation dawned that it was my first full day on the other side of the world. 28 hours of flying (broken with a long stopover in Singapore) had taken me away from my family, but headlong into the biggest, scarily amazing adventure I could imagine.

Rolling over, I realised that my dorm mates were beginning to stir as well. Heads began to pop up from blue duvets and limbs began to stretch as I rubbed my eyes in utter disbelief. Here I was 11,659 miles from home, and across the room from me were 3 girls I had sat exams with in a small Auckland town; we had shared a few house parties and High School common room gossip, but over the ensuing years lethargy meant we had lost touch. Once the shock had worn off, we celebrated over cornflakes and mugs of coffee before we parted once again. They were off to Scotland on a week long bus tour, but I set about establishing a life here in the capital. 

 

What is with all of these musings? It's coming up to my 9th anniversary of stepping onto London Tarmac, and when serendipitiously Lebara contacted me about working together on a post about the joys of expat communication, it seemed like a nice excuse to look back with a few musings on my first few months in a strange country.

ANZAC Day - Lest We Forget

As you slept this morning, thousands of Kiwis and Australians have spent the pre-dawn hours shivering in their coats - an insignificant hardship as we remember brave servicemen of our countries who gave their all to help the Allied Forces in World War One and Two to protect our right to the freedom of slumbering safely in our beds.

My great-uncle (once removed) who left for war under a false name and age. He survived the war but returned with injuries. 

Slowly in the darkness the crowd begins to thicken, take shape, many around weatherworn memorials thousands of miles away from their birthplaces. A lone speaker takes the podium, and begins to capture rapt attention with sombre words on this chill morning. It is ANZAC day, and we are here to remember.

Friday figments and photos

Thank you for listening, and so kindly empathising with my blabberings a few days ago about blog muses. It's a strange thing but so comforting to know I'm not the only one fretting slightly irrationally about our wonderful hobby!

This week was mainly spent soaking in the sunshine - along with most of the rest of the UK I suspect. If much work got done nationally, I would be very, very surprised. 

Blogging #firstworldproblems.

I have a very strange problem. I’m finding it weirdly hard to settle into the less frenetic groove of 3 posts a week (plus Fridays). When I was publishing a 6 posts a week it seemed like a fairground train ride that just kept chugging along happily; I had a pattern and variety of posts that I loved to put up – an organiser by nature I felt grounded in my routine: Monday – London, Tuesday – Books, Wednesday – Foodie something, Thursday – Travel, Friday – Figments and photos, Saturday – anything that took my fancy.

...just another brick in the wall...

Like so many of the blogging folk*, for me blogging is a creative outlet to make up for a pedestrian 9-5 <insert a good ole bit of Dolly Parton here>. It’s been a wonderful way to make friends in the London expat community, find out a few insane secrets of my adopted city, bring a bit of creativity into the day and a fantastic excuse for making brunch dates.