Member-only story
Choosing where to live
After years of returning nowhere
It all started with a ruler. A ruler that I placed on the map when I was trying to decide where to move to.
England was out of the picture. This was my third return to the motherland, and it had to be third time lucky for me. I knew I had to land with a plan to leave after the summer.
I was always happy to head back, to see family and friends, to enjoy some Britishness and whatever else I had missed. Yet there were other things that I knew meant it wasn’t my home, and would never feel that way.
Those dank, dark winters that would drag on, and on my lowest days would make me shed a tear or two as I queued up either to get on the motorway or get off it. The song “Fireflies” always seemed to trigger them, and I remember starting to indulge myself in the moment, hoping that Radio 1 would play it, and without fail that year they always did.
The funny thing about that, is that you’d think I was driving to a job I hated, but I wasn’t. My job was great, I had a fully supportive boss, the freedom to develop my ideas and saw improvements and challenges every month. But as I had to tell him time and time again, it was just in the wrong place for me.
With such winters, a lot of time is spent indoors. I had always had in my mind of…
