14 April to 28 April

It always surprises us just how close New York is from London. It sounds like a long way away, but actually the flight feels like a jump across a puddle. 

We took off, the kids found a car racing game on the inflight entertainment system, had some food and then the captain was on the PA telling us that we were descending into Heathrow.

Jessie’s head disappeared into her neck and she halved in size as her entire being wished that we were descending into Sydney. London was fast approaching, and she could no longer hide from this fact.

Even the kids had heard that London was synonymous with rain. We had invested a reasonable amount of time insisting that yes, it did rain, but it wasn’t as bad as everyone made out; and not to worry, because we were arriving into springtime and it wouldn’t be too cold. 

Unfortunately London was not kind to us on this one, and we descended through large cloud banks to the news that Friday night was 4 degrees and pouring it down. Delightful. 

We made our way to immigration, the kids being ‘welcomed back’ to their ‘home’ country as we flashed our newly minted UK passports (Sena even has a depressingly black British/non EU passport, rather than the pre-Brexit burgundy EU ones) – despite the fact that this was the first time (at least since they were babies) that they had set foot in the country. 

Jessie cringed even further, she did not want to be ‘home’ in the UK – regardless of how friendly the immigration officer was.

We gathered up our bags for the last time and made our way through customs and out to the UK. We had arrived. 

Arrivals at Terminal 5 still feels a bit like a scene from Love Actually (unfortunately this reference was lost on the kids as they haven’t seen the film, it’s a bit racy for them in parts) with the distinct UK signage, shops and people greeting new arrivals. Instead of being met by Hugh Grant or Keira Knightly, we were met by a slightly bumbling but very cheery overweight northerner who cheerfully welcomed us to the UK, made jokes about how terrible the weather was (and how we were crazy for moving here) and navigated the hour drive to our temporary home in Balham. The kids passed out on the drive in, more from stress than fatigue, as we meandered our way at 20 mph through southwest London. 

We arrived into our industrial flat right in the centre of Balham, unpacked, had a glass of wine and planned our attack on London for the weekend. 

We spent a fair bit of the weekend trying to orient ourselves around southeast London and work out how we were going to set up our lives. We also arrived late on a Friday and the girls started school Tuesday and Wednesday so we had minimal time to find school uniforms, books, bags etc so they didn’t feel awkward day one wearing their PJs.

We spent the first weekend driving around areas, trying to translate the maps that we had been pouring over for the last few months into reality. Areas that look close on the map are often not that close in reality – you forget how big London is, and how slow moving traffic is here! 

The girls also had the opportunity to meet some of the girls from the Dulwich Cricket Club on the Sunday, when an impromptu ‘getting to know you’ net was organised which was awesome – and meant that the girls would all know someone before they started school during the week. 

But the highlight of the weekend was seeing Claire, JM, Ysalis and Amael – our good friends from Aix who happened to be in London that weekend. We were lucky enough to go out for cocktails and dinner with Claire and JM on Saturday night, and the kids got to hang out for the first time in almost 3 years which was fantastic, and a great intro back into being in Europe.

The rest of the week was all about getting the kids settled in school and some kind of routine, finding somewhere to live and getting through some of the admin required to start our lives over here. 

An important step in the process was re-uniting our family. After 2 days of Liz aggressively following flight status and turbulence forecast websites we finally got the call that Bonnie had landed. After a month of camp back in Australia (and quality time with his new mate Barry) it was time to introduce him to his life in the UK. The pick up was seamless. He was a bit dazed and had lost some hair from his back (stress/heat) but knew who we were and looked pretty pleased to see us. The following days would be a little challenging with his jet lag! Yes it turns out dogs get jet lagged. He was up at 3am for his walk and breakfast and was not quiet about it. He also would protest with a bit of bin diving on occasion. But we love him and so glad to all be back together again.

On the house front, we had some broad stakes in the ground – school was in Sydenham (with Jessie at Broomwood in Clapham for the first 3 months) and work was in London Bridge. We understood that Honor Oak was a good place to live, and we knew we liked Dulwich and Balham areas; we wanted a house that was big enough to entertain and for the kids to have sleepovers; and we didn’t want the girls to be commuting too far from school. 

From a location perspective, whilst this small area of London doesn’t look that big on a map (Sydenham and Balham are only 5 miles apart), this can take some 45 minutes at busy times. Location, and sensible transport links, would be key.   

Another fun fact is that property sizes are remarkably consistent in particular areas – and often have similar floorplans. It’s almost like suburbs – or at least sections of suburbs – were master planned. So, if one house in an area is too small for a growing family of 5, then it’s likely that the others will be as well. This is somewhat similar to Sydney I guess, where we had progressively migrated from Rozelle to Drummoyne to Gladesville to Ryde over 15 years in search of more space. And the majority of areas we were looking in seemed overpopulated by prams and baby gates – an ominous sign that we were  going to struggle to get the space we wanted.

We also have the added complication of furniture. We had most of our house on a boat (which unfortunately has been sitting in Sydney for the last 6 weeks, and has only just left), so needed something furnished for the next 3 months, then unfurnished after that. 

Lastly (and unsurprisingly), the property market here moves fast – particularly for family homes. Most places online were already rented, and it wasn’t until we met with agents in all the areas that were looking that we started seeing properties before they were advertised. 

With the washup of all of this, we spent much of the first week going up the London property learning curve, translating theoretically promising areas on a map to a more definitive list of areas that we did or did not want to live; seeing a long line of less than perfect properties; and shamelessly trying to endear ourselves to seemingly every real estate agent in south London. Somewhat predictably (maybe we’re losing our charm?) the sum total of all this was that, by 4pm on Friday, we were still staring down the barrel of having to camp in 8 days’ time. 

Our saving grace arrived by text on Friday at 4.15pm, when a lovely landlord who was hurriedly packing for a move with the Foreign Office to Belgrade agreed to let us have her lovely furnished house in Honor Oak for a couple of months to buy us some time and tied us over until our furniture arrived. 

Relieved that we weren’t going to have to camp in Tooting Common from the following week, we immediately went out for a celebratory drink. 

On the school front, by Friday afternoon the girls were shattered, but had survived their first (short) week at school. 

Jessie started on Tuesday, although had the opportunity to meet a few of the girls at a well-timed school cricket practice on Monday afternoon. Of all three of the girls, Jessie was the one more outwardly concerned about the transition, and nervous about the change (or at least the one the most willing and able to externalise it to us). Whilst all of us were feeling nervous about the transition, it was Jess who most often externalised it and verbalised her concerns, and there was no doubt that Sena took her lead from Jess’s emotions.

On Tuesday morning, Jess bravely walked into the school, clothed entirely from what we’d managed to raid from the lost property bin the day before. She bravely waved goodbye at the front gate at 8am in the morning, fortunately spying some of the girls that she’d met the day before at cricket practice. 

Suddenly with time on our hands, we took Ellie and Sena for tea and scones. We were in London after all (Ellie is a big tick for scones, Sena not so much). 

At 5.20 (yes, that is when Jess’s school finishes) we walked Bonnie down to pick her up, hoping and praying that the day had been a success. 

She bounded out of school looking tired but happy, and on the way home regaled us with stories of friendly kids, interesting teachers, varied timetables, dedicated tutors, tasty hot lunches and (most importantly) ‘tea of the day’. 

The day had been a (great) success, and her London schooling experience had started. 

The following day it was Ellie and Sena’s turn.

We dropped Jess at a new friend’s house (we are finding that we’ve had to very quickly find our ‘village’ here, just to make everything work… and so far we’ve been very lucky to have found people who are more than happy to help out), and drove down to Sydenham – quickly learning why no one drives their kids across London in the morning. 

We dropped the girls off at the prep and high school respectively, and they were whisked away by both teachers and buddies. Sena looked happy, Ellie looked a bit like she was going to be sick. 

We left to explore the local area, crossing our fingers that today would be as successful as yesterday. 

At 3.40 we were back to pick up the girls – this time vowing that school pick ups by car would be ‘by exception only’. 

Sena’s report was positive. Her buddy Ettie was delivering on her role, the food was tasty (and she didn’t have to make her school lunch anymore) and her class was fascinated by her explanation of an emu. She was away. 

Ellie was a bit more reserved, probably as we expected. Transitioning at 13 was always going to be more challenging than 8, or even 10, and she was feeling the pressure of needing to adapt to how other girls looked, acted and communicated. She put on a brave face, but we knew her mind was racing. Having said that outside the school gates she was swapping numbers with a gaggle of giggling girls.

First days done, we quickly got into some kind of a routine. 

By the end of the week, Ellie understood enough about the transport links to be taking Sena to school by herself, thereby freeing us up to have a life. The girls started to make friends and navigate their way through different and sometimes challenging social situations. They continued to marvel at the hot meals that were served at lunchtime, and Jessie at the ‘tea of the day’ each afternoon. 

By Friday afternoon they were exhausted, but we were still in the game. We had got over first day and first week nerves, we had line of sight of a house (at least until summer), we had a car on the way, and had made progress towards having an all important local bank account. We were by no means sorted, but we were getting there. 

The weekend was spent with the cousins in Carshalton, letting the kids hang out for the first time in over 3 years. There was some initial nervousness on both sides – 3 years is a long time when you a kid – but they mostly got into the swing of things by the end of our time down there, and we had plenty more time to deepen those relationships. 

We also caught up with Ben and Jen (Ellies mum group) who were in town from Sydney. Ellie got to wander around Oxford street with Abby like real teenagers. We also got to have our first Wagamama’s since we were here last time. Didn’t disappoint. 

Sunday was Ellie and Jessie’s first cricket game in the UK, and hour’s drive away near Epsom. Somewhat fittingly, it was 10 degrees and drizzling, and they played in fleeces, rain coats and very concerned expressions. We huddled under a marquee, for rain protection now rather than sun and questioned the merits of trying to play cricket in April. Still, it was great for the girls to get a first game in before the start of the league competitions in May. 

Then the weekend was over, and it was time to start the whole routine over again, this time with the added complexity of Ant being at work. This meant that Ellie needed to apply her new found skills to navigate the train system and not lose her sister whilst Liz walked Jess to and from school. The second week also brought with it the addition of school ‘clubs’ (extra curricula activities before, during and after school) and club cricket training: read back to our normal busy, over scheduled lives, but with the added complication of having kids in two quite different areas of London. 

Liz picked up the lion’s share of this support during the week, as Ant navigated through being the ‘new kid on the block’ at work for the first time in quite a while, but was quickly reminded of how large and interesting the market is over here. Working in Australia is fun, but London can still feel like the centre of the world for certain things. 

So, we’re now two weeks in. We have have had some wonderful reunions with old friends (Hi Rosie and Krista) and had a visit from cousin Judith.

We have so many exciting things on the horizon – the kings coronation, trips to Bath, school trips to France and so many friends popping by. 

But most of all the cousins being all together again….

Are we settled? 

No – we still have frequent bouts of uncertainty and tears, and not knowing where we’re going to be living long term is quite dis-settling for the girls. 

But we are getting there. Everyone we have met here has been incredibly friendly. The schools have been wonderful. The cricket club too. The transition to work has started smoothly. The girls are learning to navigate through our little part of south London (although they haven’t even seen the centre yet). We are loving catching up with our old friends here, and are starting to make new ones. The spring flowers are beautiful and the weather has not been terrible, and has moments of loveliness.