How we got here...

So we arrived back in October '09, two weeks after the most amazing day of our lives only for the next 3 months of our "new life" with our two children to be spent sleeping in family's spare rooms, scrimping, saving, and being generally miserable! Note to self... NEVER STAY WITH FAMILY!

Here is a prime example of why: Sister-in-law wont give us a key which means we go out when they go out and we come back when they come back. She does her weeks worth of washing on one day and expects us to do it on the same day but after her (usually late into the night!). We spend £250 on food for the two families first week we get there with no contribuion from them or even a thank you, yet the two phone calls my husband made to prospective employers that cost a total of £3.56 is a MAJOR liberty apparently!

Needless to say we only lasted 4 weeks with her. I would just like to point out that She is married to Charlie's brother Michael and is not blood related to any of us thank the lord. She has a real chip on her shoulder and everything is a competition for her as our daughters were born 3 days appart (Molly Dolly is the younger of the two yet unsurprisingly more advanced :p)

From there it was onto Charlie's cousin's 2 bedroom flat in London... now for a Cornish country bumpkin like me this was a real eye opener! We were lucky that our relationship with Blue Eyes is so strong (I forgot to mention she's one of my best friends too!) as two months in a 2 bed flat with three adults and three kids created "cabin fever" at times! But we will be forever grateful to her and her cheeky monkey.

True friends and close family, I have realised, are as much a part of your social life as they are of your entire life. When you find true friends, keep hold of them, ring them (or skype them!), and think about them always... I know I do. This is the first time I have been "away" from my family, and I cannot begin to tell you how much of a culture shock and sense of aloneness (I dont think that's a word?!) it has brought me. I miss my family, but look forward to the many trips back and forth to Cyprus and France and Cornwall and Devon to see them this year. I am sure that my suitcase will be filled with goodies for the Cyprus Motley Crew; shopping lists on a postcard people!

And now we are back down in Ashford (where The sister-in-law lives) for some ungodly reason, living the next couple of months in a two bedroom apartment above a loud music loving pub. Great. :) x