No More!

Yesterday marked the end of an era. For the past three years I have lived with my friend, Chloe, and worked part time at Clayhill Halls of Residence as a receptionist around University. When I got up yesterday at 6am, I left the house that contained a sleeping Chloe and made my way to work for my last twelve hour shift. At 7pm, I returned home to an empty house and realised I was now unemployed and alone. Of course, I didn't let the morbid thought overtake me and I went out and met friends for drinks. This is an end, but also the beginning of the next chapter of my life. No more weekends will be planned around what shift I am working at Clayhill and I won't have to give up anymore Christmases or New Years to sit on my own all day behind a desk waiting for the day to end.

Not living with Chloe is going to be strange and take some getting used to, but it's all in the name of progression. I'm leaving Kingston to work and pay off debts and save which will enable me so much more freedom than I currently have. I have learned over the past few years that I am not ready to settle down in one place yet. The longing to have a homely base came about because my Mum moved out of our family home and relocated to Hull at the same time that I first came to Kingston. Although I am all up for change, this meant that I had to always be renting in Kingston and always have a room big enough for all my worldly possessions. By moving back in with my Mum after all these years, I will have a permanent UK base for my belongings and they can live there for as long as I need them to. I don't intend to try and build my own home from home within the next few years. I want to to travel and live and work in as many different places as I possibly can. I have nothing tying me down and I am going to embrace that to the full.

Clayhill has represented a lot of great times and a lot of bad. I lived there for a year in 2007-8 and had one of the most... dramatic years of my life there. I met some wonderful people who I will always treasure, like Chloe and Lucy, but I also became very close to a group of people that had no interest in Uni and every intention of getting fucked on drugs every night possible. The result of the year was some very important lessons. I learned to be independent, what my priorities were, how and when to recognise when the people around me are impacting negatively on me, and I also realised that I should be studying Creative Writing and not Sociology. So with the bad, ultimately came good. As a work place, there have also been some wonderful friendships as a result- Zoe, Jemma and Sharon and many more. I couldn't have afforded to live and study in Kingston for the past three years without it, so it has been a blessing. I am glad it has come to a close now, however. Time to move on. I can't wait.