In early September I returned to the UK for 5 days to see family. It was an interesting exercise as I felt like I was going on holiday and certainly had a lovely time in weather that wasn't too bad all things considered. Whilst there I compiled a little list of "Things I Like About Living in the UK" which is as follows:
1) No frizzy hair.
2) Marks & Spencer (I mean, it's not just underwear - it's M&S underwear).
3) Tailgating is the exception to the rule as opposed to the norm.
4) You never get parallel parked in so tightly that you actually cannot move your car.
5) Did I mention no frizzy hair?
6) Snuggling under a duvet which I haven't done since about mid May.
7) Understanding everything with zero effort (although in my defence Catalan is the local language as opposed to Castellano so cut me some slack here).
8) Fast internet/wifi, my god I'd forgotten how a good service makes using the internet a thing of joy and beauty (not to mention no stressy husband measuring the near death internet speed and registering a complaint to Movistar for the eleventy thousandth time).
9) Tesco Finest meal deals
10) Proper English breakfast tea in all cafes etc
11) Not sure if I mentioned it but my hair didn't frizz.
12) Historical properties/gardens etc - just a personal thing but I love a wander round a stately home/historic property/garden with a guidebook just soaking up the history, there's far less opportunity here in Mallorca.
13) Fried halloumi - delicious and quite the thing in the UK now it seems.
14) Most(ish) people scoop their dog's poop.
15) Sky TV packages.
However, despite all the above I still looked forward to coming home and home is now here 😊 The UK felt familiar and actually very nice and very comfortable but the only way I can describe it is that for me it is no longer enough. That is not knocking the UK in any way, just a personal view. So it seems we have successfully made the transition although Ian has yet to visit to UK so it will be interesting to see if he also feels that sense of 'home' when he gets on a flight back here.
In other news.....we have acquired another boat. For it seems that size does indeed matter 😉 Both in length, width and ahem! power. We will sell the first one in due course but in the meantime the new acquisition is keeping Ian out of mischief. Which is nice.
We have met so many lovely people since moving out here. Some live here, some visit a few times a year and some are here so often it almost feels like they live here. And some we already knew but have had the opportunity to get to know better since we moved here. So we have widened our horizons in more ways than just geographical - and it's been a blast.
Here's to our second year here being as successful, although perhaps a little less exhausting, than our first - salud! 🍻
