As fast as the world is spinning is as fast as I’ve been moving lately. There has been so much going on that every time I grab a few minutes to myself is to mindlessly sit, lay or stand staring at my phone aimlessly.

I’ve been low on energy for anything other than what’s been directly essential, in other words, I’ve been focusing on my actual work, all the other happenings on the side and not much else.

Surely this is one of my “happenings on the side”? Well, that was the plan. Or the plan three months ago or whenever it was that I opted to begin this little journey of sharing my world with you lovely strangers.

Let me just tell ya, a lot can happen in a short time and that’s been the case over here. All of a sudden my world started spinning at what felt like three times it’s normal pace and in an instant, my relatively relaxed job that I spoke of in the beginning began filled with a lot of serious adulting on the outside.

When taking this particular job back in March of this year, we knew that it was only the means to an end and was, initially, just a temporary thing. Until the day we started and we were asked to stay permanently, which we agreed we would address when the time came. The time came. Whatever that time was, but it came, and we agreed to stay… “for now”.

One morning, out of nowhere, my husband suggested to me that we look at property in the UK. I shrugged my shoulders and gave him little interest while I was busy doing something else that seemed of actual importance at the time – like work.

It was only a matter of hours before I overheard him on the phone to first a mortgage company, next an estate agent and thirdly the bank. It appeared he was serious.

Whilst my days were busy with tending to people on board, cooking meals and keeping everything clean and in order, I was also looking at a few bits on the side related to this new idea, though I must admit my efforts in this were somewhat minimal.

It wasn’t until we knew we had a break from guests for a few days and had booked flights to London that I realised all of this was getting serious and I therefore started getting excited, knowing not to get my hopes up.

We lined up appointments to visit a few suitors, but had definitely picked one place we were keeping an eye on.

Fast forward a few days and we were on the plane with an appointment at our number one choice of house lined up directly from the airport. Landed, out the airport, rental car collected and we were on our way. We shook hands with the estate agent as he greeted us at the front door and we made our way inside.

Run down isn’t the word, because everything was intact and well kept as far as it could’ve been, it merely smelt like a retirement home (why do they always have such a distinct odour, but the way?) and looked like it hadn’t been decorated since the 70s. Then I walked into the bathroom and noticed that the toilet had a special seat for mobility assistance. The agent confirmed that this property had been that of an elderly lady who had now moved into a care facility and the family were selling on her behalf.

We stepped out into the back garden and couldn’t believe the size. It went on for what felt like miles and we gave each other that look. Back inside, we started getting butterflies thinking about what we would do, which walls we could take down and where the bed would go in the bedroom.

The location was perfect, right in the town we’d fallen in love with, the house was perfect – as we wanted a “doer-upper” project we could pour our personalities into and the mass of garden was an added bonus.

Back in the car, we cancelled all the other viewings we had lined up and tried to play it cool with the estate agent but struggled to contain our excitement. We put in an offer, two days later came to an agreement with the seller and our offer was accepted.

This past weekend we had a flying visit back to London for a friend’s wedding and in turn signed all the final documents for completion on the house. We have a date set of next Wednesday to complete, but are standing by and hoping that the dear lady hangs on for a few more days to avoid complications in completion.

In a few short days, we should have the first puzzle piece in place for our future and things are looking bright.

And then, we found a coffee shop/deli for sale in the same town and the rest is still to be written…