The Accidental Immigrant
It’s the first working week of a whole new year....I have a mountain of things to do....and here I am writing my first ever blog entry. Call it displacement activity!
After living in Heswall, on the Wirral, for 25 happy years....my husband got a job in South Wales, and here we are. We decided as soon as he got the job that we’d bite the bullet and move house. We really didn’t want to live apart during the week for months or years on end....the five months before the move were quite enough.
The next few months passed in a blur of house hunting, legal paperwork and packing, and all while I was touring in a show (“Puck of Pook’s Hill” by Rudyard Kipling), in schools around the country).
Of course, everyone has to move house occasionally....what’s the big deal? Well, as well as all our domestic clutter, I’d run a theatre company from our house for over 20 years....and I’m still involved in theatre work....so a lot of that had to come with us...costumes, props, masks and so on. I currently work as a storyteller and puppeteer, so an entire room full of sacks of puppets had to move with us.....then there were the books....and the animals.
Our old dog, Minstrel, died just before the move, however, we did move our three cats, the fish tank, and several bats down to Wales with us (my husband and I are both licensed bat workers and do a lot of bat rescue). There was a moment on the day of the move when three large removal vans had set of for Wales with our stuff, and all the animals were boxed up and in the car, when our solicitor phoned to say our bank hadn’t released to money yet....and did we want to hold off on the sale and put everything back in the house. NO....We did not!!!! We set off for Wales in faith anyway, and it was all sorted by the time we arrived at the house.
Ah, yes, the house....or perhaps I should say The House! This is Some House. It’s a little on the large size....but rather wonderful. It was built by a mine owner in 1850, and it was built to last (we hope).
I find I keep apologising for how big it is....but it is the only house that could hold all my work materials and still have space to live in....and for friends to visit us.
The autumn was spent unpacking....did I get a little house obsessed? I fear I did. I was also trying to start up my business in a new area, and sell a theatre tour we’re trying to do in the summer....but mostly I was sorting The House.
You think when you move that you’ll live the same live, just in a different place....but it’s not quite like that.....there is a famous quote “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there”. (L. P. Hartley -The Go-Between)
Well, I’m learning that the same applies to South Wales.....they definitely do things differently here.
On the plus side, most people are really helpful and friendly....but on the down side.....they do things differently here! We knew we were moving, we knew we would be living in South Wales, we just didn’t realise at first how different it would be. Now we know.....We’ve Immigrated. We’ve Immigrated, and we barely even realised it, until now!
After living in Heswall, on the Wirral, for 25 happy years....my husband got a job in South Wales, and here we are. We decided as soon as he got the job that we’d bite the bullet and move house. We really didn’t want to live apart during the week for months or years on end....the five months before the move were quite enough.
The next few months passed in a blur of house hunting, legal paperwork and packing, and all while I was touring in a show (“Puck of Pook’s Hill” by Rudyard Kipling), in schools around the country).
Of course, everyone has to move house occasionally....what’s the big deal? Well, as well as all our domestic clutter, I’d run a theatre company from our house for over 20 years....and I’m still involved in theatre work....so a lot of that had to come with us...costumes, props, masks and so on. I currently work as a storyteller and puppeteer, so an entire room full of sacks of puppets had to move with us.....then there were the books....and the animals.
Our old dog, Minstrel, died just before the move, however, we did move our three cats, the fish tank, and several bats down to Wales with us (my husband and I are both licensed bat workers and do a lot of bat rescue). There was a moment on the day of the move when three large removal vans had set of for Wales with our stuff, and all the animals were boxed up and in the car, when our solicitor phoned to say our bank hadn’t released to money yet....and did we want to hold off on the sale and put everything back in the house. NO....We did not!!!! We set off for Wales in faith anyway, and it was all sorted by the time we arrived at the house.
Ah, yes, the house....or perhaps I should say The House! This is Some House. It’s a little on the large size....but rather wonderful. It was built by a mine owner in 1850, and it was built to last (we hope).
I find I keep apologising for how big it is....but it is the only house that could hold all my work materials and still have space to live in....and for friends to visit us.
The autumn was spent unpacking....did I get a little house obsessed? I fear I did. I was also trying to start up my business in a new area, and sell a theatre tour we’re trying to do in the summer....but mostly I was sorting The House.
You think when you move that you’ll live the same live, just in a different place....but it’s not quite like that.....there is a famous quote “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there”. (L. P. Hartley -The Go-Between)
Well, I’m learning that the same applies to South Wales.....they definitely do things differently here.
On the plus side, most people are really helpful and friendly....but on the down side.....they do things differently here! We knew we were moving, we knew we would be living in South Wales, we just didn’t realise at first how different it would be. Now we know.....We’ve Immigrated. We’ve Immigrated, and we barely even realised it, until now!
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