So, here it is, my very first entry in my very first blog. How exciting! Only it's not looking too exciting right now, just an empty page with alot of white space. But, in the words of one great fantasy writer - 'the longest journey starts with the smallest step.'. So. Here I go. I wonder what will end up getting written here?
I have been inspired to start my own blog by some of the very fine specimens that I have encountered, chanced upon by listening to a number of really good podcasts - namely Cast On, Chubb Creek and Quirky Nomads, which all have blogs (of sorts) attached to them. And through them I came onto several others - The Panopticon and the blog running off the Stash Yarns website. I'm so impressed that these people have set them up to share their thoughts and activities and hobbies and dreams and sometimes to just plain sound off and that other people have started to read them often and comment on them, and moreover, that I have become one of those people who check Brenda Dayne's blog every day, just to see what she's been up to.
Perhaps I should explain why this seems so appealing to me right now. I've just moved to London, after nearly 26 years of living at home in the bosom of my family. The move has been a fab thing - I've moved in with the boyf after longer than I care to mention of painfully living apart and so far that's all working great. I've started a new job which is certainly challenging, which is certainly what I needed after almost 5 years in my first job. But boy oh boy, has it been a scary journey so far. I've been coping pretty well with the whole thing, but moving to a big city after 13 years of living (and loving living) in rural Oxfordshire is sure some eye opener. Beyond the marvels of entertainment at all hours and constantly available public transport (I sure know how to live, right?), I'm still getting used to this whole urban thing. Like I'm finding it hard to sleep cos of the traffic and street lights all night, and I miss having my family about me all the time.
Anyway...why the blogs and podcasts? Cos when I'm feeling uneasy and lonely (and who doesn't when they change their home and their job?), I don't like to listen to music to fill the empty spaces, I like to listen to voices. Hence why I'm building up the world's biggest collection of audio books on my iPod, and why I as so thrilled to find out that people might record a weekly dose of just the kind of thing I like to listen to in the mornings on my way through urban sprawl after urban sprawl, from packed commuter train to crowded streets on the way to my office. Right now, they're so important to me, cos they help me remember who I am(and who I'm determined to remain, despite how Londonised everything else is around me)and they also help me have a private world all the way from my front door, to my office door, when my day starts proper. I've always had a stupid ambition to leave something behind me that people might read, and be, I don't know, altered by somehow. And if it isn't going to be a book, who knows, maybe it will be this. Because all those podcasts and blog I've been reading are affecting me, even if nobody else.
So, the aim of this blog - to see things in a way that other people here don't - to keep my eyes open in a situation where most people are closing their eyes because all they see is hustle and bustle and too many people. Sounds corny, but I want to keep on seeing beauty every day. It's easy to do right now, because I am excited about living in London and I'm still enthusiastic enough to do that.
Today's beautiful thing - skiving off work 10 minutes early. The feeling of freedom walking down to corridor on my way home to cook a really nice dinner and watch the Sopranos with boyf. It felt so good! It's so much nicer a feeling to be walking home across the Golden Jubilee Bridge, rather than walking towards another tricky day negotiating a new job. Long live that feeling!
