Eight of the craziest
When everything happens at once, and your team pulls together
Writing this isn’t that hard. Now I’m doing it, it’s fairly…straight forward. But being able to start anything has proven tricky of late.
As I say, that’s not because of the difficulty of the thing, but because over the last (jeez, how long has it been?!) eight weeks or so so *many things* have happened. So I do apologise, but I at least feel I can write again now things are hopefully settled to a new vision.
When I started this newsletter, I’d already left my old job. But I’d also planned a few days in Cornwall with my brother, where I wouldn’t have a computer to type. That happened and explains one week of my absence.
It felt like football was coming home for a bit (sorry) and the photo below is from a seven mile walk we took along the coastline near Falmouth, towards Pendennis Castle (which you can just about make out if you squint).
I’d never been to Pendennis Point, where the castle sits, and I had no idea what to expect or what was beyond it. But I was willing to go there, trusted the guide (my brother), and as it turned out enjoyed a nice rum raisin ice cream and picturesque views. This was followed by a welcoming Falmouth town centre, Cornish pasty and a pint of Guinness. Good times.
It turned out that what was beyond the castle, the distance, and the coastline I could just about see in the photo, was a whole world of change, trepidation, stress and excitement.
But I didn’t know that yet.
Having returned from the south-west ready to kick-start my new work life, I found out H’s work was also undergoing a change. She left, but something else happened. H went for a new job, got it, and was offered it all in the space of a few days!
The new, very cool job, was elsewhere though. It was in the Bristol area.
A big decision was made. We only had weeks to find a place to live though…and one where we could move in with a dog. Three key problems with that:
We had a house in Kent.
Bristol is a University city where some students have to actually live in Newport as the rental market is ballistic in July. Seriously, letting agencies get so busy they don’t even call you to advise of new properties. They’re ringing off the hook themselves.
We had only a few weeks until we, H at least, had to move. But the idea of splitting ourselves up, and not finding a place where the boy (dog) could be with us was incredibly stressful. And yet pets-allowed properties are vanishingly rare.
Of course there were hundreds of other considerations and problems to sort out. Not forgetting, this is mere weeks after I left my stable, salaried job. There were other events besides going on in July too. Like: I was a little unwell for three weeks. Possibly COVID-19, but the tests said no.
Still it has quite probably been the most prolonged period of stress we’ll ever know. Hopefully at least.
But…we’re settling in now, finally, the three of us in a new home we found which is in a decent spot. We’re now in the south-west, Bristol area, so the move happened. We’re excited to be here - we popped over to Wales just this weekend for a cracking walk - but wow has it been a lot.
And that’s why I’ve not updated here for a while.
This newsletter is supposed to be about writing, inspiration and such. But I hope you can see I haven’t had much brain space for it. Still the fog of half-forgotten must-do items on the to do list is clearing. But we’re optimistic of what’s to come.
So *deep breath* I’m back. And I’ll be back again much sooner, maybe with more reflections and on the topics that are meant to be here and less of a brain dump.
Looking forwards,
~KP