GenQ

We received a package today from my girlfriends mum in England and all it contained was chocolate. Now to most people that would sound totally odd, but English Cadburry’s just tastes different apparently. I still like the Australian version but there is something about getting something from ‘home’. So recently I lived in England for two years and I spent a lot of time wanting to come ‘home’ to Australia and wanting the things that Australia meant to me, like my friends and family, fantastic café’s, sushi, good cakes and eating out really cheaply, oh and a whole lot other lifestyle things including sunshine. However, now I see the good parts of England too and how much stuff can be missed.

We lived on a very meagre student existence in Norwich, simply because my girlfriend was at uni and that’s all we had. Still we managed to find our favourite places to eat, great friends (I guess you don’t really have to buy them) and we even managed to gain a whole lot of stuff especially from my favourite 99p store. It took a while to find those places, in the beginning it was like living in another world where I didn’t quite fit and wasn’t sure of where to go or what to do or how to be. It took a while before we found places that became ours or found things to do that just typified the memories I have of England. So what are those memories and what do I miss?

Well foremost I miss my friends; that goes without saying. However, there are lots of little physical things that I can’t have but would love to be sent to me on the other side of the world. Such as; I miss Pizza Express and its ice-cream, which really is the best ice-cream I have ever eaten in my life (sorry Pa); I miss Thornton’s English toffee covered in chocolate; I miss our smoothie café, Finnies; I miss the fudge from the posh shop in Norwich; I miss our Saturday lunch of chips and then cakes and I miss going to M&S an getting pannacotta or something rather yummy but expensive. Yes, these all revolve around food but when the weather is dire there isn’t much else to do.

If you had asked me 12 months ago if I would have missed any of England, I would have laughed at you. I was so ready to just be in Australia, to live the lifestyle that I had been missing. However, after being back for 10 months, I have started to miss those things in life that are only in England. One thing I will say is that I love living in Sydney where there are other gay/lesbian people, Norwich was a small country city and it really was a shock when there was someone else gay, kind of a bit like ‘the only gay in the village’, that I do not miss at all.

We are currently planning a trip back to see friends and family and do all the things I have listed above and more. To spend some time just going around places that became linked to our relationship, to go and eat at places that marked huge occasions for us and then also to go and wander around the streets that were so familiar, our home for two years. I surprise myself when I think about the trip, as to just how I excited I am to be going to my other home.