T -9

It’s Friday. In 9 days time I will be spending my first evening as an official London resident. In 7 days time I will have finished my final day at my current workplace and will be starting 2 days of unemployment.

So, how do I feel ? - Nervous, excited, scared (a bit), happy and sad.

I’ve been in my current job for just under 6 years and, at the time I started there, I was just beginning to crawl back up from a pretty horrendous year (Paul had died in February that year). Emotionally I was very unstable and, I suppose, I was still very raw from everything that had been happening. The support of my close family and friends was continuing to be absolutely fantastic throughout and I honestly don’t think I would still be around now if it hadn’t been for their tremendous support (and some additional help from CRUSE).

In 6 years a hell of a lot has happened to me. I’ve had 3 jobs, worked as a Helpliner for the Leicester LLGBT Centre, rediscovered and been amazed by some truly special friends, got engaged and then been taken for a mug (boy was that a mistake and, thankfully, a lucky escape, but I learned some valuable lessons from it), been a regular member of a pub quiz team, said goodbye to my local pub (RIP Pump & Tap), started travelling abroad again and regularly attending theatre shows.

Then, very importantly, I met this guy who waited around for 3 hours for our first date (traffic - he’s never forgiven me) and, because of that date, I am now about to begin a new adventure. He’s turned my life back around and given me strength and purpose, along with a hell of a lot of fun times.

So here I am, trying to decide what the hell I’m going to take to London, looking forward to a new job and an (almost) new city. I can’t wait to get there and settle with Lee but I’m also sad to be leaving my hometown and my friends & family. The flat hunting was a total disaster a few weeks ago (and caused a lot of stress) and we’re now staying put in Sydenham, although still looking into getting a bigger place so that we can fulfil our plan of having a guest room so people can visit and crash whenever they want.

The good thing is that I’m not really saying goodbye, I’m keeping the house so that we can travel up regularly to see everyone.

This is just “see you soon” really.