Monday 6 January 2014

Pre-expat Panic and Kingy Cake

Time to dust off the ol' blog ready for our travels…

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A pre-expat panic hit at exactly 3.45pm this afternoon. About 15 minutes earlier I realised the following: (1) it was the 6th January; (2) I hadn’t made a galette des rois this year (traditional French pastry cake filled with frangipane, eaten on twelfth night); (3) I was kidding myself if I thought could be bothered to go to the shops to buy puff pastry just for that; because (4) I wasn’t sodding making puff pastry myself; and (5) there’s always next year to make it, he’s eaten enough over Christmas!

**Tum tum tee tum…. 15 minutes later…**

AAARGH. But what if I can’t FIND puff pastry this time next year?!!? That means Guillaume goes at least two years without his beloved galette des rois!! I am such a bad French wife!

**Whoops… cue a rush to the shop to buy puff pastry**

There will be a galette regally awaiting the Frenchman’s return when he gets home this evening. It’s a good thing it is easy to knock together, I don’t know if guilt would have gotten to me so badly had it been something more complicated….

And… that seems to be an accurate reflection of my day-to-day life at the moment.  No, I don’t usually wage daily battles with myself that I haven’t quite yet usurped Nigella’s domestic goddess crown, but rather, each day seems to bring little realisations that, in just 6 weeks’ time, everything will change once again.

We’re off to Singapore on February 18th and, whilst I’m sure I’ll be able to dig out my baking ingredients somewhere (panic not, Nigella!), I just can’t imagine that in a few weeks we’ll be living in another country so far away from our daily life in London.  The reality of it just hasn’t sunk in yet.  We’re still living in our lovely (albeit, bike-filled) flat and most of the moving malarkey can’t be done till the last minute. So everything seems completely normal, no indications that things are about to change, big time. 

Except for when the following happens: 

  • OH DAMMIT… what did I buy another jumper for? What am I going to use this for now?
  • Brrrrrrr, bring on Spring when I don’t have to wear quite so many layers to get on my bike… (blows on fingers to try and get feeling back)… HANG ON… in February I won’t be able to wear few enough layers, I’ll be too hot! Yey!.... I think??”
  • “Oh yey a wedding invitation!! … AH CRAP I’m guessing they won’t rearrange their wedding for when we’re coming back to visit?”
  • “We really must try this restaurant… ERROR! ERROR! DIARY SAYS NO: we’re fully booked before we leave.”
  • Mmm chocolate…nom nom nom… OH SH*T, bikini weather is not 6 months away anymore!” 
  • Look at all this alcohol, when are we ever going to drink this? Ah… LEAVING PARTY!”
  • And most stupidly… AH MERDE, as if I just renewed my phone contract for another 24 months…!

Just when we thought we would be free of spreadsheets and project planning for, oh I dunno, at least another few years (following the wedding I thought I might have a nervous breakdown if I ever saw another (very useful) spreadsheet that my (wonderful) husband had created), we’re back to lists, lists and more lists… moving formalities, people we need to inform, notices we need to send, stuff we need to clear out, stuff we need to buy to take with us, leaving party arrangements…. Safe to say I’ve chosen to work on the ‘fun’ things listed so far: find party venue for leaving drinks, restart blog, get an international driving licence…. Teehee. 

And obviously, most importantly, we’re very focussed on trying to see everyone we know and do everything we want to do ‘for the last time’ before we leave!  Yes, we may have only had about one free weekend since we got back from honeymoon, but it has been a brilliant excuse for eating and drinking FAR too much (see above comment re chocolate) in the post-wedding, post-honeymoon, pre-Christmas, Christmas, post-Christmas, New Year, post-New-Year-when-everyone-else-is-trying-to-be-good-periods….. You get the picture. 

SO January 2014 sees us trying to make it sink in that we’re moving in 6 weeks by re-attacking our moving to-do list, taking a reccie trip to Singapore (which will no doubt only add to the to-do list when we return!) and trying not to gloat too outrageously when we start discussing (read: complaining) about the AWFUL weather here in England at the moment… and then realising eternal summer is coming in a few weeks’ time :-) 

Bring on the warm rain!! 








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