It’s far to say that I’ve suffered a fair amount of ‘cabin fever’ since moving to the UK. Although I wouldn’t say I am outdoorsy, I do enjoy being outside on occasion and have missed having a back yard. Unfortunately, we are one floor up and look down on the rubbish storage area. Now this isn’t altogether boring. The communal rubbish area has been an area of controversy in the past few weeks. We previously had dumpmaster bins that unfortunately became a dumping ground for any man and his dog’s rubbish. After 2 rubbish removal trucks came along to clear up the mess, and a few men in suits milled around, we were issued with wheelie bins instead. This somewhat improved the predicament for a few weeks, but it seems people in our block of flats are either just plain lazy/gross or people who don’t live here keep dumping their rubbish in and or on our bin. Last week this resulted in our bin becoming completely inaccessible and adorned by pooey nappies…..noice!
In addition to the view of the rubbish bins, we also have a poor forlorn soul, who either lives in one of the flats above us, or goes out with a girl who lives in the flat above us, who calls out to her from ground level about all of the ways she has done him wrong. From the sounds of it Amanda is a bit of a bitch and has yet to come down stairs and make amends. Poor soul.
Last weekend, suffering a chest infection and sounding like a pack a day smoker, Pete quarantined me to the flat (grocery shopping allowed). It is fair to say that although I was out of breath and nearly dying from walking up the stairs, I wanted to get out and went a bit stir crazy. We do have a fairly big flat, but there are only so many hours you can sit on your couch and watch TV on the internet. I think this is probably the hidden side of living overseas vs going on a holiday. There is a lot of sitting around waiting to go on another trip, without all of the normal catch ups with friends and family that would usually fill your life. Unfortunately for me, working at a school with small children, means that I have caught just about everything that is going around and have spent a large proportion of our time here unwell.
On a positive note, after 7 weeks of playing house husband, Pete finally started a new job this week. I managed to hold the fort at home whilst he was off learning the ropes, and I am sure we’ll soon be in our new routine of him working from home and then away during the week. It does mean that I get to watch Game of Thrones uninterrupted and sleep diagonally across the bed, which is by far my favourite sleeping position! Pete is happy to have a few nights of uninterrupted sleep (I am a menace - I even punched him in my sleep the other week!!) and to be gainfully employed in tasks other than washing the dishes and housework!
During his time off work, Pete undertook some half day hikes to keep him active. One included traversing across the downs (hills)….to the pub for lunch and then back into town to catch the train home. When we are both well, we do try and aim for a Sunday walk, so today I agreed to do the hill climb section. I’d been told it would be 45minutes each way and we’d need to stop to catch our breath at least once. To be fair, I did stop twice, but it was much more manageable than I’d imagined, it took us an hour all up and the view was beautiful. I do feel much happier about life when I can get out and about and don’t have to suffer cabin fever!
All in all, we’ve been lying fairly low of late. Other than a vintage train ride and a food festival, we’ve pretty much hung out at home and around our local area. Most weeks are pretty normal life for us. I’m just lucky to be in a job that has lots of holidays. Alas, Pete won’t be having a holiday for a while, but I am off to Italy next week and I definitely plan on enjoying the food and scenery!
Until next time,
Xoxo
Laura & Pete
Lately we have: enrolled to vote in the UK (How on earth did Pete get accepted for that?!), started a new job, had another chest infection, gone stir crazy indoors, worn jumpers even though we’re a week out from summer, hiked up the downs, watched several wine shows and have started to discuss what we like in our wine using wanky wine terms (oh yes Pete I can smell the cut grass), binged watched ‘baby faced brides’ on Now TV whilst Pete wasn’t here to stop me, ate Biltong at the Brighton Foodies Festival, rode on the Spa Valley Railway, booked a trip to Spain & Portugal for the summer.
