Settling in

I can’t believe it’s only been nine days since I got here. In some ways it feels like half a lifetime and memories of my London days are already turning to sepia. I can barely picture Oxford St...

Pre-empting the widespread assumption that I have spent the last nine days baking cakes and reading the paper by a roaring fire, here’s what I have been doing: I have re-decorated four rooms – 2 bedrooms, sitting room and ‘sun room’ (used to be a non-room), tamed the jungle outside into a relatively pretty garden, planted 40 bulbs, set up a propagator which is happily growing carrots, parsley and radishes (shoots already rising), hung most of my pictures and found homes for others, helped set up a dressage arena at a local horse trial, spent about 8 hours of the last 9 days walking the dog, 3 games of squash, two ten mile bike rides, catered for one house party and one dinner party, been to a meeting in Edinburgh & found some time to shop in the 50% Sales!, completed about 20 hours of freelancing and found a dry cleaners which is cleaning three suits as I type.

I now need to get a move on with fundraising for my expedition in January (Central America). I am going to do a lot of baking (lucky Hugo gets to be chief taster), I’m signing up to the Jedburgh half marathon at the end of October, and my new idea is to organise a wine tasting evening in Glasgow as well. I think perhaps I need to have some other ideas up my sleeve as well.

The freelancing is ongoing which is great, but I definitely need to get out more. I'm so used to being at the centre of things, interacting with lots of people, the hustle and bustle of the city - being here twenty minutes from the nearest town, is starting to drive me crazy. What I need now, is a couple of days per week work in an office. So, that's what I'll try to organise next week.

So, it’s Day 9 and the housemates are having a fantastic time. Nothing like cycling off to a gorgeous country pub by the river at the end of the day, dog racing about, pint in one hand and the paper in the other, enjoying the last of the evening sun together. So far, definitely so good.