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» Features
| EXPATS DIARY Abu Dhabi to London Renay Pattinson In August 2003 the UK Government modified the Working Holiday-Makers visa requirements, making it more appealing to young professionals as opposed to aimed at students taking a gap-year. And as we are closing in on the age 30 restriction it seemed like a limited opportunity not to be missed. So at the end of last year in Abu Dhabi, we joined a long queue of visa-seeking-hopefuls outside the UK embassy. Three days later we triumphantly exited with our visas. Just before Christmas, we were on the plane to Heathrow Airport. London, Baby! And the start of a whole new adventure! After a family Christmas in south-West England we headed off to the centre of London to see in the New Year. While others had their pockets laden with tiny bottles of spirits and big bottles of wine we joined the happy hordes fortified with tissue packs, cough mixture and throat lozenges. Unable to decide where exactly we wanted to wheeze in the stroke of midnight, we moved between Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the London Eye. The first minutes of 2004 found us at Trafalgar Square catching glimpses of fireworks lighting up the ancient heart of London. A more sentimental start to a new life seemed hard to beat.
Reality bites A month later and we are living in Reading; a 25-minute train-ride north-west of London from Paddington Station. Okay, so that has skipped over a lot of details, but that’s basically how it happens. The hours and days of uncertainty seem to gape in front of you for ages, and then all of a sudden you look back and it’s all behind you. You’ve found a job (um, well my husband did), signed up a year’s lease agreement and Pickfords have come and gone in a morning. Not quite settled, but it now seems possible that it will one day happen.
Highlights Squirrel Feeding in Hyde Park — having a squirrel rest his icy cold paw on your hand while gingerly sniffing out the nuts is a must-do experience. It can be quite a time-consuming task if you decide to regulate who gets how many nuts and of what variety. By the end of the packet, you get tired of offering one nut at a time and offer a handful, which seems to encourage gluttony! It’s quite something to see a small squirrel squeeze two Brazil nuts into his mouth and then try to cram a Hazelnut in there as well! Walnuts are irresistible and instead of immediate burial, they get munched on the spot. Peanuts are awfully small, so be careful holding them out one by one – or carry plasters around. Country Life — while staying for a few weeks in a country village we saw an amazing amount of nature walking through their back garden: Pied Wagtails, Robins, Thrushes, Pheasant, a Green Woodpecker and even two deer!
Choice — there is a seemingly endless range of choice here; you can even choose who will be your telecoms supplier, gas, and electricity providers. Some areas even offer you a choice of water suppliers! The High Street Sales — forget about any Dubai Shopping Festivals. The sales that start the day after Christmas continue well into the new year and by the end of January the massive sales in every store are hard to beat and with up to 70 percent off, are irresistible to pass by. Walking — everybody does a lot of walking here and you need a pair of comfortable, waterproof shoes wherever you go. The term ‘within walking distance’ can mean anything from two blocks away to a brisk 20-minute walk. And don’t be surprised when a sprightly granny overtakes you on the up-hills. Food — this should really fall into two categories of ‘eating out’ and ‘eating in’. Eating out, and that’s not just meals out a restaurant, is unbelievably expensive. To buy lunch on the go, can easily cost £5 per person for a sandwich, cool drink and packet of chips. We were dismayed to find our Nandos order of two peri-peri chicken livers and two steak rolls with chips came to £23 — that’s over R250! A meal in a steakhouse can easily be double that. In comparison groceries, even in the up-market food halls are reasonably priced – for £5 you can buy a ready-to-roast roast (beef, lamb, chicken, gammon etc), vegetables and pudding which can serve 3-4 people.
Money matters
Still, with all these pros and cons (which I am sure we will keep discovering on a daily basis) and even with the added wisdom of hindsight, I’m happy to be here! We have a packed year ahead of us to explore and discover the treasures of this Muddy Island…
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Snow — after a disappointingly mild Christmas and New Year, a mid-January snowstorm was greeted with much excitement! The snowflakes quietly drifted down and within half an hour had turned the countryside into an anonymous blanket of white. The pristine whiteness doesn’t last long however, and soon the powdery snow had been scooped up to make snowballs, snowmen and snow angels. Snowman-making is quite an art, as I learnt the next day. Firstly, you cannot attempt this with woollen
gloves — the wool sticks to the snow, which then melts and it’s like dipping your hands into a bucket of ice water — so you need to get water-proof gloves. Kitchen rubber gloves will do the trick if you are desperate enough, and I was. Secondly, snow can be stubbornly soft and refuse to make a ball. Hard work and perseverance produced a 40 centimetre high snowman…