A long, long time ago I decided to do something different, to escape the small town I came from (where everyone knows everyone as well as knowing everyone else's business). The decision to go was made a long time before the opportunity to leave actually arose. Please don't get me wrong, I love home but at few years ago as each day turned into Groundhog day, all my friends began to settle and the only men left on the scene were not worth the effort. I recall hysterically crying to a certain ex who had left to go travelling and returned but with no intention of staying and begging him to take me with him the next time he went. Of course random ex agreed to this only for me to find out a few weeks later from this obnoxious group of mates, that he had left for Thailand without me. I was devastated, not to lose him (trust me, he was not worth any tears and none were shed) but to lose the chance to get away from home.
I got over it pretty quickly and resigned myself to a life in Wales. I began looking at the cost of property and the realisation dawned that I had been priced out of the market. The small town I had been brought up in had had the largest price increase in property in the UK and the chances of me buying a place on my own were slim to nil. I was working over 50 hours a week in a poorly paid, but well respected job and living with my parents. The future looked bleak unless I pulled myself out of this nightmare.
With that I decided to make some changes. I made the utmost effort to go out every Friday with the girls from work, extending my social life beyond the borders of Barry and entering into the slightly bigger scene in Cardiff. My Saturday nights remained the same; drinks at my oldest friend's house with the girls, followed by a short taxi ride to Eze bar and then another short taxi ride to 2Eze. Shots of Sambuca were used to drown out the dullness of the night and we watched as the same people did the same things. In short my home town is not a nice place, fights would start, girls would cry, people would cheat as well as the same girl arguing with the same guy, same old, same old. I didn't realise then just how comforting this unchangeable routine would later become.
In the summer of 2005 on one of my night's in Cardiff, the dizzy blonde receptionist I worked with told me for the millionth time she was going to move to London at Christmas. I had been working with the dizzy blonde for nearly 2 years now, and since we had met she had told me she was moving to London every six months. Her boyfriend lived there and she would take the long journey to see him every weekend. The boyfriend would never make the effort to come to Wales to see her and would not, despite the fact they had been together for six years, entertain the idea that it might be a good idea for them to move in together. I looked at the dizzy blonde with pity, we both knew unless she found someone to go with her she, like me, would remain in Wales.
As time drudged on I began to feel discontent with my job. I loved my job, marketing for a top 100 law firm, was fast paced and busy but I was being paid very little, was getting no direction from my manager and saw no chance of career progression. The dizzy blonde started talking to me about her London dream again and suddenly the bright lights of London started to draw me in. I quickly suggested that if dizzy blonde wanted to move to London then I would go with her and with that a weekend of job and flat hunting was booked. The life outside Wales was about to start.
I got over it pretty quickly and resigned myself to a life in Wales. I began looking at the cost of property and the realisation dawned that I had been priced out of the market. The small town I had been brought up in had had the largest price increase in property in the UK and the chances of me buying a place on my own were slim to nil. I was working over 50 hours a week in a poorly paid, but well respected job and living with my parents. The future looked bleak unless I pulled myself out of this nightmare.
With that I decided to make some changes. I made the utmost effort to go out every Friday with the girls from work, extending my social life beyond the borders of Barry and entering into the slightly bigger scene in Cardiff. My Saturday nights remained the same; drinks at my oldest friend's house with the girls, followed by a short taxi ride to Eze bar and then another short taxi ride to 2Eze. Shots of Sambuca were used to drown out the dullness of the night and we watched as the same people did the same things. In short my home town is not a nice place, fights would start, girls would cry, people would cheat as well as the same girl arguing with the same guy, same old, same old. I didn't realise then just how comforting this unchangeable routine would later become.
In the summer of 2005 on one of my night's in Cardiff, the dizzy blonde receptionist I worked with told me for the millionth time she was going to move to London at Christmas. I had been working with the dizzy blonde for nearly 2 years now, and since we had met she had told me she was moving to London every six months. Her boyfriend lived there and she would take the long journey to see him every weekend. The boyfriend would never make the effort to come to Wales to see her and would not, despite the fact they had been together for six years, entertain the idea that it might be a good idea for them to move in together. I looked at the dizzy blonde with pity, we both knew unless she found someone to go with her she, like me, would remain in Wales.
As time drudged on I began to feel discontent with my job. I loved my job, marketing for a top 100 law firm, was fast paced and busy but I was being paid very little, was getting no direction from my manager and saw no chance of career progression. The dizzy blonde started talking to me about her London dream again and suddenly the bright lights of London started to draw me in. I quickly suggested that if dizzy blonde wanted to move to London then I would go with her and with that a weekend of job and flat hunting was booked. The life outside Wales was about to start.
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