A change of scenery
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011Almost two months have gone by and still there are countless people who have little to no idea what I’m up to. Some don’t even know I’ve traded the peace and calm of the northwest of the Netherlands for the Big Smoke. I feel terribly ashamed, and will try to make up for it by first of all explaining where I am and what I do, and by keeping people informed and hopefully entertained on my dramatically redesigned blog.
Some day in February I received a job offer, which had been in the making for one and a half years, but I honestly didn’t expect I’d actually get it. I had to decide quickly, so I went over all the pros and cons and told myself to go. The offer was to become a Dutch listings writer for a media company residing in West London called Red Bee Media (see an introductory video here). It’s a position for which I’ve applied in 2009, and ended up not getting it. In the meantime I changed jobs, or rather: I went from employment to unemployment to self-employment and became a photographer. A dream I’ve been chasing for years. Just when I settled in nicely working several wonderful jobs and living comfortably in the centre of my hometown Leeuwarden I received an email. So why did I go?
It really wasn’t as difficult as it might appear to be. Having been born in Leeuwarden I knew I’d leave one day to try and find new roots somewhere else. For years I’ve traveled to metropolises and there’s always been a desire to be part of it. I’ve never lived anywhere else, I’ve never studied anywhere else, gap years and sabbaticals were never an option. So nothing could reasonably keep me from going to London.
The preparations were terribly stressful. Not knowing where I’d end up and leaving everything behind nearly got to me. But I knew it was the right choice to make so I kept on packing and pulling plugs. I left on a quiet Monday, took a nearly deserted ferry and arrived in London late in the evening. The first few weeks I spent in several hostels across town, which wasn’t always a fun experience as some of you might have noticed. Reading my frustrated tweets for days on end must’ve been so annoying. Apologies for that!
I was lucky enough to find a wonderful share house, eh, excuse me, share cottage, in a comfortably quiet area of London called Barnes (it has its own wiki page, check it out). I’ve been living here for a month now and life is good. A day at a time, trying to keep up with everything happening at work (next time you’ll watch the UPC descriptions on your tv you’ll think of me) and everywhere else. A big plus of course are the copious amounts of gigs to attend, I’ve got tickets lined up for The Music, The Jayhawks, Wild Beasts and Tori Amos. That and time spent with friends in London and the anticipation of hanging out with family and friends from home in this fabulous city is what keeps me going. Watch this space!
