Trusting your instincts!

So I am getting pestered for new blog posts (you know who you are, Kelly Chase!) and all it is doing is tapping into my guilt complex.  You know when you ought to do something and you procrastinate.  Now if it was possible to stick a memory stick in my ear, download my thoughts and place them into a blog, then I would be sorted. MMMM - maybe I wouldn't actually, I am certain most of my thoughts are not fit or composed enough for public consumption, but you get my drift - it is the TYPING out part that is the biggest pallava!  So, for the record - I love my blog, I love writing things, but the blog posts - they come when they come - when the inspiration is there (or the guilt becomes so severe!) - no obligations!  And to be honest, I am certain that not all of you want to hear from me that regularly (oh yes - I assume that you dudes are even reading them!!)

When I decided that I wanted to move to the UK, I can tell you where I was and when it was.  It was an instinctual, "I-know-what-I-need-to-do-next" moment.  It was in October 2010, I was staying at Fever Tree Cottage for a few days of 'R&R' on my own.  From that moment on, I never doubted that this was the next move for me.  I had a one track mind - and that one track was playing "God save the Queen"!  And throughout all the ups and downs of visa issues, packing up belongings, resigning from my much loved job, negative talk about the weather, etc, I never lost sight of the prize - living in London.  My instinct was strong throughout - so strong that I never felt that it would not happen in some way or another. 

So - what has become instinctual in my life in London and what are some of the things that I just can't get?  What have I come to 'do' in my daily life that makes it feel so like home (and it really does feel like home - just without many of my favourite people there!). 

1 - I love that recycling is a way of life in the UK...and it is amazing - there really is like half the rubbish you need to toss out weekly if you recycle things!   I instinctually throw things into recycling now - no second thought!
2 - Instinctually, my life has become about bus and train timetables.  There is no way it cannot be.  And I am always focussed on how efficient my commute can be.  I think I might become TOTALLY boring at the dinner table one day - competing on the quickest way to get from A to Z!
3 - I cannot get over the need to look over my shoulder.  My ears are still finely tuned to Joburg noises behind me and I have to fight the instinct to cross over the road if there is someone on my side of the pavement on a lonely road at 10pm...can't help myself!
4 - I have to stop making comparisons.  It is in my 'way of being' - but it has to stop.  I instinctually convert into Rands, I notice how many people have tattoos in comparison to SA, I notice accents on the bus, I talk about the way we do things at home...and always my comparator is my beloved Africa.  I wonder if that will ever wear off?

These are just a random selection of following my instincts as they have always been!  Some of you have read this list and think I am truly the most idotic person you know - oh well, old news!

But through it all, I keep reminding myself.  Like a daily mantra.  My instinct was right on London.  I am loving my life here - pity I have to work to afford it! 

Toodles!