Back in the City!

It's been almost five years since I moved out of London, but I'm back again. When I left, I was a single girl, off to do my Masters in Nottingham. That was September 2004, but now.... how things have changed :-)

We haven't even been in London one week yet and already our bike has been stolen! LOL.
We had padlocked it with a chain to the bike rack in the compound, and yesterday, hubby discovered that both the bike and the chain had vanished. I found it quite amusing, what a nice way for the reality to sink in - Welcome to London! We're now going to have to buy a new bike and a much stronger lock and chain! But apart from that, we are settling in quite fine. I've been unpacking our stuff gradually and I'm almost done now. We don't have our phone, cable and internet connection set up yet. I'm blogging with hubby's mobile broadband that he uses for work so I can't use it for ages. I'll be glad when we've got that sorted.

In the meantime, I'm carrying on with my work and I'm really pleased to be out of the funk I was in a couple of weeks ago. You wouldn't believe what I read in my Word for Today on this past Thursday the 2nd of July -(daily readings)

"So, choose to see it God's way. Let it go. Do what you've been called to do, and watch God vindicate you royally!"

Which was exactly what I had been trying to do since I wrote this post. It's amazing how God speaks into situations that we go through, reassruing and encouraging us to keep going. Otherwise it's easy to get discouraged and lose focus of what is really important, and allow other people to misguide us. Especially when it seems God's way doesn't conform to other people's accepted way of doing things. I just need to remember to trust God, that even when things are not going so smoothly, His plan for me is still the best, and it hasn't changed.

I can't believe it's July already! Like wow, the first half of 2009 has quietly slipped away and we are already in the second half! It sure makes me feel like I blinked and missed it. Anyhow, I'm enjoying the mini-heatwave going on at the moment, and I intend to make the most of it this weekend. I'll be at the South Bank - the London Literature Festival is happening there for the next two weeks. The Caine Prize readings are on Sunday evening (more info on the shortlisted stories and the writers can be found on their website here), and Helon Habila is making an appearance on Monday evening. It should be interesting!


Hope you have a great weekend whatever you do!

FG

Moving...

Thank you all for your encouraging comments on my last post. I do feel a lot better now, after venting, lol.

For most of last week, hubby and I have been packing and moving our stuff into boxes, tidying up, and clearing out our house. We are just about ready to move out tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to miss our house! I'm still not sure if I'm excited about living in London again, but time will tell :)

Our new flat is not connected to the internet yet, so I'll be offline for a while until we settle in. Hopefully it shouldn't take too long to unpack and get used to the new place. Till then, have a good week, and remain blessed!

FG

Mixed Gists

How's it going bloggers and readers? I hope you've had a great week, whether you've been at work or at school battling the approaching deadlines. Even if it hasn't been a particularly good one, at least it's over now and you can look forward to a happier, relaxing weekend. Plan something fun for yourself, or just unwind with your favourite pleasures - whether that is shoe shopping, a tub of ice-cream or a good book.

I've had quite an eventful week, starting last valentine weekend. Hubby and I usually go out for dinner on valentine's day but this time we decided to stay in instead. In the morning, we exchanged gifts, cards and kisses -and in the evening, I made us a nice home-cooked three course meal. Hubby loved it a lot and said my cooking was better than any restaurant meal he had eaten! That's great, cos that means I'll experiment a bit more and surprise him with another fancy meal soon. So that's how I spent my valentine's day and I couldn't have wished for anything better :)

I got back into the swing of things with my writing this week and made progress which I'm pleased about. I still feel like I'm going much slower than I want to so I've set myself a deadline of March 30th to finish the first draft of my novel. (By God's Grace!) There, now that I've put that date on this blog, I hope I'll have the added incentive to accomplish it!


I've been missing my baby sister all week. (She's not really a baby anymore, but I'm four years older than her - so even when she's 60 she'll still be my little sister). I really need to give her a call soon, I've run out of excuses and yahoo messenger just doesn't cut it anymore. Besides, I have this feeling that she needs to talk to me, just as much as I need to talk to her. Isn't it funny when you call someone for no reason, there's usually something important happening in their lives that they need to tell you?

Something else came up this week, hubby got a new job - yay! I'm really proud of him and thrilled with his progress. This new job is based in London though - so- you guessed it! We might have to move back into London soon. Now, me and London have a funny love/hate relationship. I moved out of London in 2004 and have quite happily settled into a cosy arrangement where I visit London once in a while to do what I need but don't have to deal with all the hassle of living there. It's a useful place - lots of friends and family live there, I can get access to Nigerian food shops, my writing class and most networking events happen in Central London, I used to work there, etc etc. But there are downsides too, which I'm not looking forward to. Anyway we'll see how it goes. Hubby doesn't start the job until the end of April so we've got time to sort ourselves out. Time enough for me to get over my reservations.

I'm planning to have a quiet and productive weekend, fingers crossed! I'm reading a book at the moment, The Evidence Against Her which is something very different from what I usually read, but it's interesting and I hope I learn lots of useful stuff from it. Have a great weekend too, whatever you do!