Well here we are. It’s February 2023, a month of the New Year has already flown by and for Mrs. C and me, the start of a new chapter in life.
After 30 years of being amongst that breed know as “professional expatriates”, we took the momentous decision to give up that nomadic lifestyle and return to good old “Blighty”, so as to spend quality time with parents and as Mrs. C likes to say, be on the same continent and in the same time zone as our children.
So what awaits us in this new lifestyle………..
It would be an understatement to say that the past three years have been a challenge. As we laid out plans to spend our final years overseas traveling, the unforeseen occurred, COVID descended upon us and we were well and truly locked down.
However, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, the Chivs have a certain Churchillian spirit and so we stuck out our proverbial chins, gritted our teeth and made the best of it. For those that haven’t read about our COVID experience, have a look at my blog “Creativity in Adversity”.
As COVID retreated (well sort of) and we went back to a “new normal”, we were determined to share as much time as possible with our Dubai family, Seth, Claire and their wonderful boys. We love them all so much and during our final year we used our weekends and holidays to explore the Sharjah desert and the east coast of the UAE, culminating in a fantastic day trip to the Mussandam.
The tip of the Arabian Peninsular and one coast of the Straits of Hormuz, this Omani enclave is something to behold. We hired a Dhow and spent the day in amongst the fjords. What a way to cap our Middle East adventures. Here are a few memories of that epic trip.
We had decided to leave Dubai in Early December 2022 and as with most deadlines, it seemed an age away until it wasn’t. Then all of a sudden there was so much to do. Work carried on as usual but at home it seemed a non-stop process of sorting through 30 years of memories and sometimes painfully decluttering our lives.
We were moving from a Middle Eastern sized 4 bedroom villa (i.e. huge) to our beautiful apartment in Plymouth U.K. (not so huge). So it was a case of effectively fitting a pint into a half pint pot.
Well that was never going to work so everything was stripped back to what we really needed, used or representing our dearest memories. Everything else was going out the door!
We decided that we should make sure that all unwanted possessions went to a good cause and my ex-driver Bashir stepped up to the plate and offered to do a house clearance. In a style that only Bashir could pull off, he turned up to the house with three burly blokes, three trucks and took away everything we did not want. What a star!
The rest was collected by the shippers and on 12th December 2022 we handed our home of 22 years back to the landlord. I thought this would be emotional but instead I realized that whilst this home had witnessed both good times and bad, it was just bricks and mortar. So with the keys handed over to the ever helpful Abdullah we drove off to our serviced apartment, which would be home for our final ten days.
This final period was supposed to be a period of decompression but as expected it was a blur of doing all the admin required to correctly leave a country, say our goodbyes to our closest friends and of course, spend a few days wandering Dubai and reliving memories of old.
One thing I particularly enjoyed was a simple visit to The Dubai Mall by Metro. I had only ever travelled on the Metro once before as being very Dubai, I always preferred to drive. This time we did it in style, in the Gold Sector (it was actually like every other part of the train except it cost more), and I took the opportunity to take a few images of familiar scenes but form a different perspective.
Finally the day of our departure arrived and once again Bashir was there to make sure we left Dubai in the same manner that we had arrived all those years ago……./in style!
When I got out of the car at Emirates business class departure, Bashir turned and gave me a big hug. Strangely this was the only time that I cracked, my lip went and the enormity of our change in life dawned upon on me.
No time for that, quickly assuming a traditionally British stiiff upper lip, and whisking through immigration for the last time, we headed to the business class lounge and a glass of fizz before boarding our flight back to UK.
As the wheels left the runway I knew it was for real, it was really happening and I was so excited as to what life had in store.
Arriving at London Heathrow it was surprisingly efficient, nobody was on strike and we breezed through immigration to be met by our Limo driver and of course the rain! The limo took us to our hotel in Tooting (nothing grand just a Premier Inn) and finally we met up with our son for dinner. All was once again well in our world.
With Christmas approaching we were so excited. Our daughter and her boyfriend Matthew would be visiting to join us for Christmas along with my brother and his wife and of course Auntie Sarah (still in charge of family hydration!) and Mrs.C’s mum and dad (our next door neighbours). Yes I am living next door to my mother-in-law!
Then everything went “Pete Tong”. Mrs. C and her parents all tested positive for the dreaded COVID, swiftly followed by me, and once again COVID had struck and everyone had to change their plans…..Oh Bugger!
Fortunately, no one was really ill, just mild colds but being good citizens we did keep ourselves to ourselves, my brother and Auntie Sarah cancelled and our daughter spent Christmas and New Year in Scotland with Matthew and his family. We did have our son with us who manged to fend off COVID by drinking copious amounts of the local Korev larger. Why didn’t the NHS put that on the COVID remedy list! So we had a quiet Christmas with Mrs. C’s parents, which was very relaxing and perhaps was what we needed after the whirlwind of the previous month.
We took the opportunity to once again break out our COVID vocabulary, so we quarantined, donned our masks and took some socially distanced walks around the Plymouth Barbican and on to a bracing Plymouth Hoe, as we started to explore our new environs.
Eventually we got the all clear and normal life resumed. Having left Dubai we had returned to our homeland as veritable strangers and there was so much to do to get back in to the “system”. So we got our priorities in order and made our first post COVID stop a well-earned Martini at the Refectory, a wonderful cocktail lounge with a great vibe at the local Plymouth Gin Distillery. You know it makes sense!
Come mid January we jumped on a plane to spend a couple of weeks with Mudge (my mum) in Spain as we had not seen her for such a long time. Here are a few images of our breakfast walks along the Corniche at Los Alcazares and a visit to the local port of Cartegena.
There is something about being with your parents. Even though you are trying to look after them, they still appear to be looking after us! As I write this Blog, Mudge has just appeared with Manchego cheese, Jamon de Serrano and a cold San Miguel. Looks like I am well and truly home!
As a final note there are many people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for the past 30 years. I have said thanks to most of them and will catch up with the others in the coming months. However, I couldn’t have done any of it without the woman I love more than anyone else in the world, Mrs. C. (That’s my darling wife Kate for those that don’t already know). She has been my rock, stood by me in good and bad times (trust me as expatriates of 30 years we have had our moments), been a fantastic mother to our kids but above all has remained the love of my life. One of my better decisions, 36 years ago, the day I asked her to be my wife and soul mate!
In our “new normality” I want to try and get back to being a creative and continue creating memories with my Leica and writing regular blogs. So, please stay tuned and lets see what is in store for us as Mrs C and I explore this New Chapter!