Leaving London

It's the beginning of February 2009 and a very special day has arrived. After over 10 years of living in London I have quit my job, packed my bags, said goodbye to my friends and am all set to begin a completely new life in the countryside. The plan is to head southwest to Cornwall where home will be with the Strawbridge clan on their beautiful eco farm. My aim is to live the 'good life' - fresh air, home grown food, loads of mud and digging - and learn bucket loads about sustainable living in the process. I’m very excited, and a little bit nervous, but simply cannot wait to get started.

Yet as we all know, the best laid plans of mice and men often go wrong. All my organisation and planning couldn't prepare me for one final surprise the city had in store. Snow. And lots of it! The heaviest snowfall in goodness knows how long decided to descend on London the very night before I was due to leave. Now, as anyone who has ever lived in London knows, even a few snowflakes can cause chaos in the big smoke. I woke up to a blanket of snow 18cm thick that caused London to come to a standstill. No buses, no taxis, very few trains… mayhem. I could see no way of getting my heavy suitcases to the station. Maybe I wasn’t leaving London after all.

However all was not lost. Thanks to 2 intrepid friends and the only taxi driver who’d ventured out in the snow, I managed to board a train and escape the snow-clogged city. “Ha ha!” I thought to myself, as the train left the station, “I’ve done it, I’ve left! No more sirens. No more orange night skies. No more being crammed like sardines in the Tube next to gloomy faced people during the morning rush hour. No more sitting behind a computer day in day out. I’m leaving all that behind me, and I’m not sure whether I intend to come back.”

As the train left suburbia and slid through the white snow-clad countryside my thoughts turned to Cornwall and what was to come. It was then the exciting revelation hit me – I had very little idea of what could possibly be in store!