My Mint Home

It's been exactly a month since my last post. I'm finally back from traveling Southeast Asia, barely escaping earthquakes that rattled me to the bone, volcano eruptions that delayed millions of flights and typhoons which incidentally forced me to stay in gorgeous 5 star hotels for three nights. It was... an experience! Filled with ups and downs that I soaked up in my sun-kissed, freckled skin. Being back home in South Africa, I have learnt to appreciate the hygiene and cleanliness of a bathroom. A warm shower, a flushable toilet... it's the tiny things we so often overlook that condition our lives. That being said, I'm starting yet another new chapter in life... today! Never a dull moment. I'm really excited to announce that as of today, I am officially renting my first flat. That's right, I'm moving out of my parents place finally! It's taken me a lot longer than I thought it would - but I've finally gotten there.

About three and a half years ago or so I moved out of the cottage I rented with my ex and moved back in with my parents. It was wonderful at first to be back at home, mothers cooking and laundry done for me and all that... but as time went on, living back at home after having my own place took strain on my relationship with my parents. I felt like I had to tiptoe around them. I couldn't have people over, I couldn't talk on the phone late at night... and I drank, a lot. It became habit to enjoy not just a glass of wine a night but more often than not, a bottle. By living back home I managed to save up a lot of money and live luxuriously - but after a couple of recent events I've realised I need to bite the bullet and move on with my life. I'll be sacrificing a lot. Everyone who knows me knows that travel is my life, my love, my everything... now that I'll be having to pay rent each month, that means there's a huge chunk of money I could have saved for that next plane ticket, gone. But after Asia, my priorities have changed. I need to grow up. I need my own space. I need that independence I've been lacking for far too long. 

So today, I move. 

I have found the cutest little mint green flat on the lagoon with an arched roof and pure white windows. You walk up a flight of steps along the side of the house to get to my wooden stable front door. You enter into this quaint entrance where I'll be putting my white-washed bookshelf and full-length mirror that is also a lockable cabinet to hang all of your jewellery inside. There isn't a kitchen (which I'm disappointed about because everyone knows how much I love to cook,) but there's space for a mini-fridge which is all I need being alone. I can just squeeze in a counter where I can put my two-plate hot stove and a kettle and make do with that as my kitchen. The bathroom has a small shower, a toilet and a sink in which I'll be doing my dishes in too (yes, it will be cramped but it's what I can afford!). Then onto my bedroom. It's just big enough to fit a bed and a bedside table in. There's a built-in cupboard which won't even fit half of my clothes in so I'm going to have to be sensible and pack clothing only necessary for the current season: winter. There's a communal barbeque area and a big patch of grass overlooking the water and I can already picture myself with my steaming cup of morning coffee, enjoying a brisk morning walk around the garden before work. The best part??? India, my cat, can come too. So technically I won't be living alone. I'll have her... and together we'll make this new chapter work. 

What I expect from this new start is peace and quiet. Some time to myself to reflect on life and to write my little heart out. I want to read books in that comforting silence I've never had before. I know so many people say that living alone is a lonely debacle - but I've never had my own space. I've never had an evening purely to myself, to do what I want, when I want. To walk around naked if I so wish! I am so looking forward to not having to shut a door to try and muffle the blaring sounds of my parents television on some mindless channel that I don't understand why they watch. I am so looking forward to being able to just look after myself and not worry about anyone else for a change. I don't have to stir in the middle of the night because someone else is walking around or coughing or still up at all hours talking.
(God... I've just realised I sound like such a grumpy old Grandma.....)

It's finally time for me to lay down some roots. I'm almost half way to 50 and so far my life has been all travel and fun which I wouldn't take back for the world -- but it is time to grow up. Living alone is going to make me shine and it is going to do wonders for my writing. I've deleted Facebook which is a huge distraction for just about anyone I know. I don't need it anymore. I started to realise that I was probably just annoying everyone with some stupid status update that no one really cares about but the most random of people would 'like' it anyway. Who really CARES about all the photo's and updates I post? Facebook is invasive and consuming and I just don't have time for it anymore. I hate getting emails from random people asking how I am. Do you really care??? I hate that I can't end a relationship or start one without advertising it online for the world to see - like somehow if it's published online then it's more real than otherwise. I'm so over it! I'm over the politics. I'm over the procrastination. I'm over it. Perhaps I'm also in a slight bitter stage of my life too which is making me feel this way. My grandmother just passed away and I've lost someone, something, I put everything into. So I guess I've just decided to hit the reset button... and deleting Facebook among other things was just one of the many repercussions.

Living alone, I won't say I won't get lonely sometimes, I'm positive I will... but it's a loneliness I've never felt, even though right now to be honest I feel more alone than ever before. A lot of changes have been happening in my life. There's been some seriously unexpected turns but it's helping me get motivated to DO something more with my life other than living with my parents and saving up like a bloody Jew for my next plane ticket. Things had to change at some point - and they finally did.

I have to be out of my flat in December, so it's about a three and half month stay there... but it's a start. All it takes is one foot out of the door.... and then the first step. That's the milestone I'm taking today... and because it's such a tiny place I can still afford to save away some cash at the end of each month so that hopefully by December I can scrape enough together to pay a deposit for a bigger and better place and take out a longer lease... (oh.. and invest in my first sofa. Golly they're expensive!) on a place I can call home.