The last post

I wrote most of this in a local library, the same one in which I did all my A-level revision some 30 years ago. I chose a table in Crime, an appropriate area to sit in since I’d come to the library to escape the chaos of our patio being dug up to make way for our house renovation.

Libraries are serene places of refuge and I can see myself visiting a lot. They’re also good places to work in; when we move into our temporary home for work to be done, I think this library will be my office. After writing this entry I started work on a new blog and edited my CV, a first step in ensuring I don’t spend the rest of my life hanging out in such places.

Of all the things I miss about Singapore, and there are many, work is a big one. I look out for office dresses in warmer fabrics, forgetting that I don’t need them at the moment. I don’t have a business card and I don’t write up events any more and even if I did, who would want to know about the amazing meal I just had? (apart from Mr PC, who always wants to know about amazing meals). You can always network, though, even without a card, and while in the library I drew up a list of all the new women I had met that week at a social I’d attended.

When we lived here before, there was a formidable local ladies’ group, membership of which approximated to work for many of the expat friends I knew. Most knew the group as a settling resource but to me, a Londoner from birth, the club seemed wholly alien, full of dynamic women racing around Doing Things. There was also quite a lot of yoga, something I’ve only lately realised is neither a threat or a social benchmark (just a nice way of stretching, says my new OverseasSelf to my former Londoner).

I wasn’t part of the group but I sieved out a selection who shared my slightly lax approach to mothering. We did ‘Wine Before Pickup’, gathered on Friday afternoons to unlock the patio doors and let the five-year-olds go feral as we ate Kettle Chips around a kitchen table. Most of this crowd had club membership, but I resisted joining. What was the point when I was local to the core, and had enough trouble juggling the friends I already had?

Now I’m the expat outsider, ‘home’ to an alien land and reaching out for new contacts. And so it was that I joined a welcome coffee morning with the club in a nearby pub. Any nerves about attendance were minimised by the thought of my son having to do his own networking every day in a class of strangers, having to ask all over again for directions, and work out who to hang out with at break. In comparison to his tough new schedule, my morning coffee was a breeze.

It was also what I hope will be a positive new start, and I know I’ll soon be exploring my old town with fresh eyes – Singapore behind me and new lands ahead. I had no idea what was in store five years ago and now I’m none the wiser, but trips to the local library and networking groups are just the beginning.

As for Partly Cloudy, a blog about life as an expat family in Asia, it’s probably time to park up and make way for new stories, though it pains me to say it. Thanks to family and friends old and new for the loyalty, encouragement and lovely words in response to mine. It has been so much fun. May the adventures always lead me to your doors.

This little elephant tucked into a red-brick London garden reminded me of the ones in Singapore. Home from home…