The set up
It is an ordinary Tuesday in all other senses apart from the fact that nothing has felt ordinary to me in the last three weeks. There is BBC Four in the background with a documentary about Hemingway which gives me the subtle comfort of hearing a human subtle voice. It is quite late, and I am feeling a bit sleepy but my inner dialogue and reflection of my current affairs and experiences is giving me the will to stay awake to write about my wonderful walks in my new London life.
There’s so much that has been crammed in these last three weeks which is probably a very similar experience to everyone as life after the lockdown has started resuming to some shape and form. For me it feels a step further than the pandemic, as finally leaving the countryside and being a city woman again has liberated me and given me a world of opportunities. I was thinking of how much I long to write about everything and anything and debated about how long this blog might turn out if I write extensively about everything. So in the end I decided I will opt for a themed summary for now. Perhaps I will delve into full details in subsequent blogs.
The location
How does one begin to describe how beautiful Highgate is? Despite the fact that I have been going backwards and forwards from Hertford into my new flat since January, each time I reach the plateau at the top of Hillway Road that leads into my street I stand breathless in front of the view. I take each time a few seconds and drive the car slowly so that I can take it all in and pinch myself to check that I am not dreaming. The same happens each morning that I start my morning walk.
The view of London city that unravels before me from that particular spot feels that if I walk a bit further, I will be right in the heart of it, yet I am quite far apart from it. After so many years of longing and trying to live in London it has finally become a reality. I suspect it might take me a while to get over the wow factor each time I see the view. I personally hope that I will never become blasé about it or take it for granted and I will work hard to keep it that way.
Other than a breath-taking view my new home is right next to the Heath. A park that I really love even though the first time I visited it, it was a bitter-sweet introduction to it. It is versatile, it is green, it is hilly, it has ponds, it has so many people and animals walking through it and so many stories are being unravelled through its various pathways.
The daily life
Everyday life at Highgate is considerably different. Starting from my morning walk which has changed from a lazy, straight pathway walk along the canal side into a power booster up and down the hilly pathways of the Heath. So far I have been doing my best to keep up with the super uber fit visitors of the Heath who are either running or cycling uphill as if it is easy-peasy. But I forget that they’ve been doing this for a long time and it will take me a bit more than three weeks to get to a decent level of comparison.
Seeing them run is such a poised and confident manner it has made me want to do it as well. There have been times while doing my power booster walk to do so, as I felt like liberating my mind and body with a run. And I did try it once…for 2 minutes and that was it. The effort nearly finished me!!! I was too hard though on poor little me as when I attempted to do it, I hadn’t eaten anything, wasn’t wearing proper shoes and since I’m not a morning person the timing was just terrible for my poor unprepared body. For now therefore, I am just building stamina through my power walk and I keep fingers crossed that with determination and hard work, soon I will built the energy to go for the run at perhaps a time that suits my body better.
Moving on to my shopping, I have finally registered and started doing online grocery shopping as it is simply not practical at all to be climbing up my street fully loaded with bags. A very late adopter into this, I am well aware, but necessity has conquered me. Besides, I never liked my trips to the supermarket so this new way of grocery shopping suits me quite well. I am also quite delighted to have discovered that down my road I have a green grocer, a butcher, a fishmonger and a delicatessen all of which have some lovely goods and treats which have filled my cupboards and fridge. They are tiny a bit more expensive but as the quality is very good they are well worth that little extra. This little community shops so close to me make the area so much cosy and remind me a bit of my neighbourhood in Athens.
It also still hits me as a surprise that I can hop into the underground and be in the centre of London within 15 to 20 minutes. Each time I go on the tube, I have flash backs of when I used it for commuting or for visiting and feel that it will take me ages to reach somewhere. So when I see my central station coming up, I blink twice and do a mental check until I realise that I’ve arrived and it has not taken me 2 hours to get there. This is where it has dawned to me how much an ex-city girl has become accustomed to being a country bumpkin at such an extent that it feels unfamiliar to her to be a city girl again.
The new job
Although one is normally advised not to move house and change jobs at the same time, I seem to have done this more or less. Luckily though I’ve done quite a bit of the admin prep before I started my new job, so it was more about the moving of the final parts of my belongings from Hertford and the interior decoration touches into each room that was left to do when I started my new London job. Still, an induction period took place both at my new home and at my new workplace.
I’ve joined my new job remotely and it was a bit awkward to do so in lieu of walking into an office space. When I joined Queen Mary a couple of year ago, I had an excuse to get a new outfit to mark my new beginning in the new office. This time I did think of buying at least a new top, which is the only thing that one can see in our virtual meetings but somehow my realistic side of my brain presided and I didn’t make the expense.
Instead, I decided to invest finally into getting a proper monitor to put on my petite office desk as my eyesight has gone so bad from working on a small laptop screen that I could no longer ignore it. Not a new top or dress then, but a new office set up. At the end of a day, what kind of a change would it be without something new.
As I’m going through all the changes that are taking place, I cannot neglect to mention the new way of working which I’ve not experienced before. I am actually working on a 9-5 basis as this is a contract job and if I need to work beyond these hours it has to be agreed first. This is a major shift for me and it took me a couple of days to do it without feeling guilty for almost punching a card in the morning and in the afternoon. Luckily, the content of the work is just right for these hours and haven’t felt the need to stay on for more so far, but I cannot remember myself doing this apart from the first week of every job that I’ve been to until now. I am not sure how long this will last but it is a nice experience and it has given me a good work and life balance so far. It has also helped me settle smoothly with all these changes that are taking place.
Seeing friends again
The combination of the lifting of the lockdown and my moving into London has also given me the joy of seeing my friends again easily and hosting some lovely home warming dinners. My sweet friend is now my neighbour and is within five-minute walk from my flat, so we can spontaneously just pop-by the local café for a flat white or bump into each other in our morning exercise (he runs, I sleep walk). He has also been my rock of support in helping me with the tough DIY jobs that I’ve not got the muscle for, in exchange for some nice homemade dinners prepared by me to say thank you and show off my cooking.
My dearest friend Negin and my tango partner are only half an hour away and I’m also close to all of my other London acquaintances. So, my first few weeks have been quite full on with social gatherings. When my friend Becky came over to visit for the weekend from up north, it was so easy for us to have a late night evening in town without worrying about hurrying up to get the last train to home that it felt the epitome of the benefits of my London home.
Epilogue
New beginnings are supposed to be shiny and rejuvenating. They are supposed to take time to adjust and settle but the spark you get from a new beginning is just a wonderful feeling. London for me is my new love that gives me butterflies in my stomach every time I step into my street and look at the view. Like a new lover, I’m excited with each new discovery that I make about it and at the same time there is a small fear of getting something wrong and upsetting the relationship. For those of you who are unsure about making a new beginning my advice is go for it!
Walks and Smiles 