Cheerio guv'nor, g'day mate

Since the Brexit vote, I haven't felt totally settled in London England.  While the level of angst has waxed and waned with the passing of time and Prime Ministers, there's always been an undercurrent of What's next? in my emotional state.  But in recent years, as I have seriously and unseriously considered hypothetical new homes in my travels,  I've come to realise that, despite its faults and the political aneurysm of 2016, the UK is still a pretty good place to be.  And my paradigm within it - as a Londoner - is still top of the global urban heap.

Still, I've had that itch for change, for at least one more big life adventure before I am - seriously this time - too old to take such a big leap.  And I am going to have one: Sushil and I will be moving to Sydney next month.

While we put the plan into motion after our visit two years ago, the bureaucratic wheels turned very, very slowly, and our visas were only granted in April.  We, however, have not been slow.  Within days, we handed in our notices at work, bought our tickets, and started sharing the news.  We will fly out of London on 09 July, have a sojourn in San Diego en route, and arrive in Sydney on 17 July.  I am excited for the adventure, but terrified of pulling up the roots I've grown here; I didn't realise how deep they were until leaving stopped being hypothetical.  But as the date approaches, I am getting more excited than scared.

Our plan is to stay in Sydney for 2-3 years and travel around that part of the world.  So, please accept this as my invitation to visit us Down Under.  Or if you will be travelling somewhere in South/Southeast/East Asia, let us know and we can try to overlap with you.  If we don't love it, we'll be back sooner rather than later, so don't hang about, OK?  We're gonna be really far away from those we love - we're gonna need to see some friendly faces.

Cheerio,

Shaun

Despite the short timeframe to pack up our lives, we had a few trips already on the books.  One was to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.  Despite its Caucasian location, it definitely feels European, and most of it is prettier than one might suppose of an ex-Soviet capital.

But much of it is also as unpretty as one might suppose of an ex-Soviet capital.

A Soviet capital wouldn't be a Soviet capital without a grandiose monument or two, now would it?

Lara, Pops and I went to Málaga and Seville for Pops' birthday.  This was the view from our place.  ¡Muy bonita!

Salud from an Irish pub - how very Costa of us.

Seville was stunning.  Beautiful, sophisticated, interesting.  Despite the 40º, I wish we'd had more time there.

As we were in Seville, of course Pops had to go to...the barber. (Ba dum dum)

Pops spiffed up and classed up - ¡olé!

Shaun H. Coley ~ Archway ~ Islington ~ London N19 ~ UK