This week, we’re in London, UK! I’ve teamed up with Elle to bring you the similarities and the differences between living in London, UK and Alicante, Spain.

Wednesday 13th January 2019:

It’s 8 o’clock and I’m already awake. I don’t actually remember going to bed last night, so I wake up in a bit of a daze. I’d had a pounding headache all day and spells of dizziness, and the next thing I know, the sun is starting to rise. On the positive side, I feel much better. Sometimes, a night of good sleep is all you need. Even if you don’t remember it exactly.

I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a book recently. I have all these ideas that came to me in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. I stare at the computer but decide today is still not the day to start it. I wouldn’t even know where to start. How does one go about trying to write a book? How do you even write a manuscript? A title? The characters? Sounds like a task for another day.

I make myself a cup of tea to start the morning, I’ve been avoiding the cappuccino’s recently and swapping it for a tea, I’m not really sure why but I suppose change is always nice. I never finish my tea though. A cup of tea isn’t complete without bourbons or custard creams and luckily I’ve got both of them in the house. Carrefour stock the English biscuits now, what a gamechanger.

I fire up the computer and get working. I’ve got a 1700 word dancer blog post to write for a dance company and then it’s freedom for the rest of the day until I go to work. I’m way ahead with my blog recently, with blog posts finished up until June, so I’m enjoying the free time away from the computer.

I finally finish after what feels like much longer than 90 minutes. Having a typing speed of 60 words per minute definitely comes in useful. People always wonder how I finish blogs so quickly, it’s the typing. I can type as I think. I never have to forget what my next sentence was because my fingers have kept up. A useful skill.

I have recently started using L’Occitane shower products and I’m loving them. They were left behind by one of mum’s friends when they came for the weekend and now I need to get my hands on the full-size products. I did notice that they have an L’Occitane in Zenia Boulevard though, so maybe we’ll have to take a trip!

I take Rio for a brief walk, it’s fairly cold out today so I keep it short. He’s so funny when he goes for a walk. He absolutely has to take a toy with him. He holds it his my mouth and doesn’t let go. It stays in his mouth the entire walk. He likes to show his toys the world I think. Or maybe they’re like a security blanket. I’m not sure.

I put on an old McFly album and sit in the sun on the balcony with Rio playing Brawl Stars. Once you’re in a sun trap, it’s lovely, but the wind is bitterly cold. Though, I have noticed it’s much warmer this February than it was the previous. That has been very much welcomed.

I head off to work and sit on the bustling tram. Somebody is playing music out loud but luckily I have my headphones to stifle it. I’m not sure why some people think everybody else wants to hear their racket? I notice the noise is coming from a teenage boy sitting in the priority seats for people with disabilities with his feet on the other chair, I can’t say I’m surprised.

I get to work and today we’re creating Valentine’s Day crafts. The kids make little flowers out of love hearts and take home a lollipop. We dance and sing to Disney love songs so the time passes by quickly.

Alex picks me up and we head straight home. We have pasta and chicken for dinner.

We head to bed around 22:30 and watch Valentine’s Day [the movie]. It’s not even that good of a movie so I’m not sure why I watch it each year. I’ve said I’m not sure a lot today, I guess it’s an uncertain day? We pay off more of our trip to America and it feels refreshing to know it’s nearly all paid for, once it’s paid for we can actually start saving for spending money and getting excited about going.

I annoy Alex at midnight asking him different questions from Pinterest that they say you should ask your partner. He didn’t find integration fun when he was trying to sleep. I can’t begin to think why not. 

I drift off to sleep sometime after midnight. Another day has ended. It’s time for bed.

Similarities and Differences

As we’ve already covered London in general in the past I wanted to keep this relatively short. For those of us who aren’t aware, London is on the South East of England. It’s not the entire country of England, neither is it next to Liverpool or Manchester – which I get asked a lot at work!

On the 13th February, the weather in London was pretty chilly, it was not bad for England reaching 10 degrees. It’s funny how the weather is so much warmer this year compared to the last.

The tube cannot even begin to compare to the tram here in Alicante. Travelling across the tram is truly a case of sardines in a tin at rush hour, our rush hour means that half a dozen people will need to stand rather than sit.

I loved the project Elle created for Valentine’s Day. It was on a much bigger scale than our arts and crafts. We had a lollipop with a heart shaped flower to sit on top, something simple and easy for the kids to do. It was amazing to see the crafts that Elle got up to and how ironic that we both made a craft on the same day.

The day in England finished much earlier for Elle than it did in Spain for us. Yet, even though we get up around the same time, I’m nowhere near as tired as I was in England doing the same hours. I’m convinced it’s the sun and the daylight that makes the changes. It probably has to do with the gentle walking I do now too.

Life in England and life in Spain is so different yet so similar at the same time. We used to always take Marley for a long walk on a Sunday and that was our outing, now we go out to a different place on Saturday and Sunday (though at the moment Río usually can’t come because of the processionary caterpillars!). It used to drag all week and the adventure the weekend before felt a lifetime ago, now the weekends speed by. Time flies when you’re having fun.

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Hasta luego,

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