On Sunday morning I had an epiphany, a simple hippy-like notion about this new adventure I’m on. I planned to keep it a secret until the closing of my first “life in London” blog… but it made a really good title!

I moved to London a month and a half ago, landing on Friday the 13^th of February. Who needs luck anyway? It seems that the challenge of moving across the world wasn’t daunting enough; job-hunting in a foreign city would be far more fun during a recession!

Oh how I love the “R” word! That’s all anyone goes on about here, the media has scared people into being complete scrooges… whether they have money or not. When people aren’t spending money businesses don’t make money and then they don’t hire people.

I knew that job-hunting would be difficult, but the most challenging part of this move is knowing what I’m capable of and being ignored despite a proven track record. I could have discovered Elvis and recruiters would find it irrelevant because I didn’t discover him in the UK!

So I find myself in a situation that is difficult at the best of times… only I find myself here in the worst of times. But you know me, every cloud (and jacket) has a silver lining! I’ve always been painfully positive and refuse to be beaten by the ignorance of others.

I’ve had very few adventures at all. I’ve caught up with a few good friends, but still have a lot of people to see. My family here have been absolutely wonderful, giving us a place to stay and offering constant encouragement… I’m very grateful to them.

I don’t think I could do this if it weren’t for Ana-Paula, the love of my life. We’ve really put our relationship through a trial by fire… moving in together, in a new city, without jobs, without a place… stress levels are high and yet we’re still very whipped. She definitely is worth it.

Everyone tells me that it takes some time to get your life in order here, even under normal circumstances. So I am quite glad that I have a photography job coming up, and Ana-Paula certainly has the recruiters interested. I think we’ll find a place to stay this week, and then everything else will follow. It has been frustrating that I can’t cross anything off my to-do list, its all work in progress.

So my epiphany is that it may feel like London hates me, but that’s just because she doesn’t know me. We’ve had such great times in the past but I’ve changed. I’ve been locked up in a flat, staring at a computer, applying for jobs and looking for places to stay. No wonder she hates me! London is a bully, she’s big and mean, but really she just needs to be loved. If I love her, tell her she’s beautiful and we spend enough time together I know she’ll learn to love me back.