A tale of new beginnings

This is one of my rarer life posts. I have detoured from my usual topics of communications and leadership to mark a significant milestone in my life, and I hope readers will be patient with me.

Almost six years ago, I met my husband and we got married a few months later. That started my journey of relocation as a diplomatic spouse – first to New Delhi which was a cultural leap from India’s commercial capital Mumbai which was my home base. 2 years later, it was time to relocate countries to Saudi Arabia, a known ‘hardship post’. I found a wonderful community of expatriates and locals and joined the Board of a fabulous community organisation – Women’s Skill Bureau. Two years later, the pandemic hit, the department my spouse worked for was closed and it was time to relocate to the UK – a planned move that needed to be expedited due to the pandemic. We were asked to leave with 24 hours’ notice and were booked onto one of the last flights out of Riyadh to UK. Fortunately, I had moved my beloved dogs a few weeks before we left. 

UK was in the first lockdown; Heathrow was a ghost town with the majority of transit hotels closed. We found one which fortunately was open, stayed overnight before we flew to Manchester and then found an Uber to Bradford. Again, we had to find a self-catering accommodation to self-isolate for 8 days before we moved in with my pensioner in-laws and our three dogs while we waited for my husband’s tenant to vacate the property he owned in Manchester. She refused to move out and government rules prevented evictions during the pandemic. I started looking around for seaside self-catering accommodation for a few months while we explored our options. I found a cosy place in Filey (near Scarborough) on the North-East coast and we ended up spending over 10 months there while we got our finances in order and started house-hunting. We loved living by the seaside and wildlife though longed for our own home. In January 2021, we finally found a house we liked in Manchester and made an offer. Like all things in the pandemic, we had delays as one of the sellers was ill and subsequently passed away. Finally early May, we had completion and could get the renovations started. Meanwhile, we had notice to leave our accommodation in Filey so we spent a couple of months in the Lake District and then in Rivington in charming 18th-century cottages.

Last weekend, we could finally move into our home. Loads of unpacking and assembling of furniture ahead, a few bits still to fix up, and some very busy weeks ahead to make it our own. But 6 years of wandering globally and 14 months of moving around the UK is finally behind us. I am looking forward to new beginnings in Manchester. I am still very new to the UK and courtesy of the pandemic, have met very few people in person – a few contractors, real estate agents, a couple of new neighbours.  My interim role, the MBA, Trustee meetings for TOLFA (the animal charity I support), attending communications and business networking events - all of it has been online. 

I look forward to finding my tribe in Manchester and in the broader UK – interesting people I can talk to, learn from, collaborate with or hang out with… If you had the patience to read this long personal post and would like to have a virtual cuppa, do get in touch regardless of where you are in the world. I also look forward to meeting you in real life, as soon as it is safe to do so. (To help that day come sooner, do get jabbed when you get a chance to do so – my Covid vaccine plug). In the meantime, stay safe, healthy and happy wherever your home may be.