Somehow five years has passed and not one blog made it past the draft stage and into actuality…

It’s as if time stood still. Which it very much didn’t.

Though admittedly, it did include a horrendous lockdown experience like no other, so I do often find myself thinking in linear terms as BCS and ACS – Before/After Covid Shanghai. However, that’s a series of stories that can wait to be told, whilst I continue shaking off those shackles and continue reigniting my light. My father also sadly passed away within the time gap of my last posting, and again that is something that will take time to find it’s way to my written word.

Instead, here I am, four locations later, since I left my beloved Lagos. And yet it still rings through my veins, drums against my heart, and sneaks into my dreams…

That said, here I am, back into what was set to be my new series of glorious tropical sunsets.

It certainly started that way. Then El Nino got in the way, as did the burns from the South, and I’ve been encumbered by hazy days (not the good kind) and restricted activity. So there are some twists and turns that continue to pop up. As the old adage says, you can’t have it all…

Let’s move on however, and come to tell you how I landed over here in the Sing.

From Lagos I headed to Shanghai, for two years. Big job, good pay, small life (Shanghai lockdown, continued homesickness for Lagos, cold winters, struggled immensely to pick up the lingo, developed morbid fear of anyone in a white suit).

Next came a reprieve by way of the South of France. Another big job, shorter hours, back to regular warm days, tonnes of family and friends’ visits…dramatically reduced pay, and challenges with building a social network. Oh, and a broken leg courtesy of a ski accident. (Another tale for another time). Restrictions in my life in other ways therefore.

Cue the next round of life in China, this time up North, to check out life by the Great Wall. Smaller job, good pay, occasional bad air, good friendships developed, very cold winters, no real spark regained. So, on we move.

In a letter that my father had written to me before he passed, he wrote that his biggest regret in life was not spending enough of it with me. And that may continue to haunt me ongoing – not through my own situation of being overseas for so long by this point, but through knowing that someone wanted that so badly but didn’t make the moves to achieve it, across a whole lifetime, then health issues made it too late. Though this is not my driving force to keep switching countries, it certainly adds to it (not letting things I want to do get delayed and turn into lifelong regrets).

And so here I am. Three months into my newest chapter of life, over in Singapore.

I landed at the end of July and jumped straight into a whirlwind of meeting new colleagues, looking at new places to live, attending different work meetup events, setting up utilities and bank accounts and adding yet another phone number to my long list. So many of my long-term friends believe that I am a spy by this point. What are we on now, 10 numbers in ten years???

Anyhow, I digress. Once I got my beautiful baby safely into quarantine (which surmounted to his worst 31 days of life, and wasn’t exactly easy on my soul either), life racked up at great speed. The first two weeks saw me up til all hours, and then straight back at it the next day; a pure and utter blur. Why? Because I knew full-well that once work was underway, my amount of free-time would practically vanish, at least at the start. And oh how right I was!

And so, here we are. Work began early in August, and it is now halfway to Christmas! The new set of colleagues were all very friendly, with varied experiences between them, making the first few weeks full of interesting conversations and adventures.

Now that everyone has gotten into the swing of things, we have naturally all branched off towards our different pastimes, and for me, this means new friendships have begun to form outside of work…

Next blog – the power of a social club…and of the mind (wait til you hear about Team Ferrari!).