Home Again

well, our second home really!

Our UnFrench adventures maybe over, those blogs have been relegated to the archives but Donna lives on and it's time to very much get back to business!

The business of blogging!

I've missed this!

Still the break was very much needed to reset and move forward.

Can't stop a writer writing can you?

I'm writing to you today, from a downtown airbnb apartment building, in summer smoggy Toronto, the city which has become a second home to us, since living here for a year in 2019! It really only seems like a year or so ago that we left, but it is in fact 6 years ago already!

Our 'one year only' adventure was over in a flash and the rest is history. It's hard to believe now that we thought heading back to France, to beat the Brexit deadline was a good move but it is what it is now and we cannot go back in time.

Regrets? There have been a few.

It's high summer in Toronto, overcast and warm enough. Smoggy, love that word. The city has grey skies but it warm and thankfully there's a little rain here and there. City life is rather a bold move for this county bumpkin, the opposite of who I am and what I like but I'm all for an alter ego occasionally. It does me good to get out of my comfort zone once in a while.

Toronto is always an assault on my senses like most Metropoli.........sky scrapers, noise pollution, people everywhere but here we have a very nice city, friendly as one would expect in Canada, not so much rush, rush but we will get there when we can with a smile.

Their collective shame is in the housing crisis and the amount of homeless folks on their streets. It's very sad to see. Same in every large western city I suppose but I do feel that a renters law is missing to stop pusing up the prices of homes folks desperately need.

When we lived here, I did say to my husband, that at some point the housing here was already way past affordable. It's still true today and double the rents we paid! Of course wages haven't kept up with the cost of living crisis which isn't just a Canada issue, it's the whole of the western world. I'd still say that Toronto property is madly expensive now and the point of crashing is nigh. Food also seems to be twice the price and despite spending 400 dollars yesterday on basics we can hardly make a meal yet!

One take out pizza was 33 dollars! No it wasn't huge!

I had a gluten free bagel the other day and it was 18 dollars!

Eye watering prices. Unsustainable.

We've decided to do a month here together as Phil's client is here and it's good for him to be seen, even though his job is UK remote. Also we have friends here we like to catch up with and as I said being in Canada is easy.

We do hope to squeeze in some R&R for sure and it's doing me good to get away from the usual humdrum. My mental health hasn't been great recently and I believe that the isolation on the farm is possibly too much a year on. I'm so ready to d stuff again! Farm life was a great antidote to the crazy renovation period in France but I think I need to rejoin society already and live a little. A village situation perhaps?

We can do a little more living here and then we need to rethink our UK living arrangements going forward.

It's not good to move all the time, no, but it's equally not good to stick with something that doesn't work. What to do? I guess we need a long conversation about the pro's and cons and what this stage of life means to us both?

He and I are not Brit bound by nature and I don't think ageing is changing our adventurous spirits. However, we do have to take age in to account and we realise that at some stage a move to where ever we deem fits, might be the last move/adventure. I'm just two years out from 60 now but it's highly possible we could wander for another decade, who knows?

Do we have to conform?

I'm not sure? There's no ten year plan, I don't see the point really. Life can change in a second and then what? Eternal disappointment?

Anyway, right now we are here to enjoy ourselves so thats what we will do.

The lakes are inviting us to swim and we have great amenities wrapped all around us. It's what to do first that is the issue! We are still struggling to adjust time wise and so far I've done a 5.30pm, 6.30pm and 7.30pm bed time and we are both awake early, him at 3am and eventually he wakes me up with his shuffling! We get there in the end. It usually takes a couple of nights out at the pub and the body clock starts to play ball!

It's a long old day when your body clock is out of sync! At Christmas we did two weeks and it took ten days for me to stop living on UK time!

It feels like lunch time to me right now buts it's only just gone breakfast time!

The noise element is interesting, the air conditioning drowning out most of the city chatter but the early hours are always accompanied by sirens! It's a city that never sleeps. Although trying to find a coffee in the early hours the other day was tough! Never wanted a city to wake up so badly. Loved walking around empty streets though. I highly recommend it!

The apartment is okay. Slightly lacking here and there but I've resolved most of those issues. Spending a month anywhere you've not seen in advance is in the lap of the gods, I suppose. I'm always grateful when the airbnb is at least clean! This one is.

I remember the first airbnb we booked in late 2018 on our exploratory visit, we didn't stay! We ended up in an airport hotel whilst we found something better! I was horified. The airbnb was in a ropey area and you had to walk through what looked like a dodgy factory of sorts, but it was also really grim inside! No thanks!

I do always wonder why airbnb's aren't checked for condition occasionally! I mean mostly the photos used are from years ago and the furniture and decoration has suffered greatly since!

This place lacked reviews so I contacted the chap directly for answers before booking! When we got here it was really clean but the sofa wasn't? His answer was 'theres a steam cleaner in the cupboard'..........sure mate, I travelled thousands of miles to clean your sofa!

Where's the coffee machine or at least a coffee pot? He said 'we don't drink coffee'.

No kettle, no toaster and no iron.

So we've been to Walmart and sorted it all out! I then went to Home Sense and bought a sofa cover!

Honestly!

We will be fine here but I need to take my milk bottle pale body out into the sunshine at some point. Having been ill recently I need to download some Vitamin D pronto!

Yesterday, was supply up day and today is my self appointed rest day! I do feel a little travel worn!

I'm much better at resting when needed these days!

The rest of today will be spent in the rather wonderful olympic sized pool on the roof of this building and then dinner with friends later. It's not a summer vacation in the traditional sense but it's a good get away from the routine and mundane. It will certainly do. Although P & I did wish we were heading somewhere exotic, when we were on the way to Gatwick, to mooch by a pool with little to do other than order another cocktail or read a book! Maybe next time eh!

I think life is what we make it and so far I think we have been very good at making it a hot mess! If we ever are blessed with Grandchildren, we will have many stories to tell them!

The thing is......over a year on from the French farce, I'm very grateful to be moving forward, one foot in front of the other and one day at a time.

More soon!

Good to be back!

Love and gumption eh!

D x