Do I dare think it?

Is Winter almost over? Has the weather suddenly taken a turn? Will it be warmer and sunnier for the next five months? If you can use a 12-hour period of one day in early February then 'yes' could be your conclusion. I am tentatively prodding at my hopes, not quite raising them but getting them on standby.

Having a read of Lucas' post and I think to myself - My posts (of late) always seem to deal with what has happened (in a physical sense) and some controversial issue I've been pondering. I haven't really written much about what I'm thinking and how I'm dealing with life in London these days (plenty of references to how rubbish it is, I know). So if that isn't your idea of keeping up to date with my travels then tune out now....

To put it in context I'll quickly run through the last six months. I arrived in the UK after an indescribable journey through Latin America. I found myself between Oxford and Bury for the first month and a half as I enjoyed the summer and a relationship that I hoped would help to further distance myself from whatever it was I was running from. Emma then started University and my idle relaxation turned into fidgety frustration, I was bored with doing nothing and time was drifting by (and my debt was growing). So I moved to London and in a freak coincidence found a job at exactly the same time as Lucas, we moved into a house the following day and started work a day later. Three days had turned the English experience on it's head - for better and for worse. Our buddy George soon departed for Oz and we can't wait for her to get back. For two months we knuckled down and were diligent with our sandwich making, gym going and office sitting. Lucas's relationship with Farah blossomed while mine crumbled and a freezing November took hold - reports of the coldest winter in eons were everywhere.

Then a stroke of luck (and Lucas's previously personable bar tending) offered us a wonderful flat within a beret kick (another story) of Portobello Road and a new and diverse (and convenient) side of London. Christmas and New Years soon followed as did some snow, in England, France and Italy and the recent skiing holidays, which you will have read about.

So now I find myself with just less than two months before I need to find another apartment, another job and literally another lifestyle (such is life dominated by accommodation and employment in London - or everywhere?) for the remaining three months before we embark on the next adventure.

While I've been thinking a lot about this next trip and how we will approach it, there is a gnawing feeling that I'm still trying to ignore. When we start this next trip, it will eventually finish. And when it finishes I'll be in more or less the same situation I was 12 months ago (or 2 and a half years by that stage). What then? To be honest I don't really mind. I was brought up to be a team player, it is something that is driven deep into my soul now. I have limited motivation to achieve individual success. Only when I have a team mate relying on me do I feel truly motivated to strive. For the last 12 months (or longer if you include preparations) I've had Lucas as my team mate. Every mountain, dance floor, bus ride or city that we've 'conquered' has only felt like an achievement because the team did it, not because I did it - that would be pointless.

So while I look forward to this next trip with furious desire, I know that when I arrive back in Australia I won't be part of a team striving for a common goal. And while that is a concern, it is a fact of life and it makes me appreciate all my friends here in London all the more as we all strive together to survive this individually partitioned society and enjoy what it has to offer. Did any of that make sense to anyone?

Meanwhile, I've just written my 300th email today to Tracy discussing something random and trivial - yet amusing. About to leave work a bit early to watch Farah perform in an opera thing (it is like snippets from a full opera so you get the gist of what it's all about). Go Farah!