Wagga Wagga to Worcestershire & back again
In the last week it feels like autumn truly arrived in my part of Australia… even though winter is technically only a day away!
Suddenly everywhere I looked there were trees with vibrant crowns of red, yellow and orange leaves. I realised the sun was taking its time to rise in the morning and by late afternoon the day’s glow was quickly disappearing into the night sky.
I’ve waited so long for this change in season and now it’s here, I’m making the most of it before it disappears…
I’ve been in Sydney this week for work and while I’ve loved the hustle and bustle of the city for a few days I’m looking forward to getting home and waking to the sound of birdsong, rather than traffic.
Whenever I travel for work I often cocoon myself in the comfort of my hotel, preferring to get meals to go, or room service. This trip I’ve had particularly unsociable working hours, so instead of vegging out in my room I’ve been trying to get out during my downtime to really appreciate the pleasure of a ‘table for one’…
The other week I found myself in the unenviable position of not being able to ‘switch off’.
I’d had an exhausting day at work, both emotionally and mentally, and I was still digesting some heartbreaking news involving some friends in the U.K.
My mind just wouldn’t shut down. I couldn’t concentrate, I felt twitchy and knew I needed to eat, but didn’t feel hungry. After an evening of TLC by wonderful fiancé and a deep, uninterrupted sleep I felt 100 times better.
So starting from last weekend, I’ve been trying really hard to look after my soul and I’ve found one thing that’s helped me…
It’s a little over six months until Adam and I get married and planning for the big day is slowly, but surely progressing.
We whizzed through a heap of wedding tasks before we moved from England back to Australia and then we sort of hit a bit of a standstill while we got our lives back in order after a year and a half abroad.
Over the last week or so though, it feels like we’ve got refocused…
There’s nothing quite like a few days spent in the sunshine. Where the breeze is warm, the air is tainted with the slightest hint of sea salt and it’s warm enough to pad around morning, noon and night in bare feet.
Adam and I are back in Wagga Wagga now, where the autumn weather has finally arrived. Although it’s my favourite season, the last week I’ve spent in Queensland in all it’s year-round summery glory has been magnificent…
I’ve always been able to fall asleep of a night-time fairly easily, but a few weeks ago I started waking up in the early hours of the morning. I’d toss and turn and doze off occasionally, but never go back into a proper sleep and would be jerked into a hazy reality when my alarm went off at 4:45am.
After a week or so of wandering around in a trance I decided I needed to take action…
Continue reading “The phone app that’s helping me sleep at night”
It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was only starting to find my feet in England. I finally knew my way around our town in Worcestershire, was starting to develop an appreciation for ales and could slip in the odd ‘British-ism’ into everyday conversation.
Last week I touched on a few aspects of Australian life that I’m thoroughly enjoying now Adam and I are back Down Under. Today, it’s all about England and what I’m missing about life on the other side of the world…
The other day while flipping through my diary to write myself a reminder I realised that Adam and I have been back in Australia for just over two months. I was flabbergasted. It feels like so much longer than that, probably because we’ve been slowly but surely doing jobs around the house and in the garden to transform both spaces into ‘our home’.
It also made me think about what I’m enjoying about my return to Australia…
Sometimes you just have ‘one of those weeks’. For me, nothing bad has really happened, it’s just been a long week (literally – I’m on my seventh working day straight!) and I’ve had a challenging story taking up much of my time at work.
It’s left me feeling a little weighed down, but instead of getting angry or upset I’m trying to switch off outside of work hours to find the joy in everyday moments…
Last November Adam and I spent a few days sorting through all of English belongings, trying to work out what we wanted to bring back to Australia with us. Although I hadn’t really acquired all that much, Adam still had a lot of household things that he’d left in Worcestershire, which we inherited back when we moved to England in 2016.
In the end we whittled it down to four big boxes and a suitcase. Our English life packed up neatly. We farewelled our things and, at the time, found it hard to believe that when we’d be reunited with our stuff again, we’d back in Australia…
Wattle and Ash 