Eight weeks ago I quit my job as a gossip columnist on a whim to find a new, rural life away from glitz, glamour and endless champagne knees-ups.
There’s only so many times a girl can fly to the Oscars, the Cannes Film festival and attend glossy red carpet events without getting a bit bored of it all. I know, I know, I hate myself a little bit too. But that’s the truth.
So we (my husband and I) handed in the notice on our lovely north London flat, chucked our worldly possessions into boxes, dropped them off a self-storage unit and moved into a caravan in Hertfordshire. Stick with me…
We weren’t planning to completely check out of society - to shirk council tax, a TV license, gas, water and electricity bills and, er, reality. But we were a tad confused with what we wanted in life.
As the Dalai Lama believed: “The very purpose of our life is to seek happiness.”
Without wanting to get all philosophical we were a bit lost and weren’t sure what direction our lives were moving in. We seemed to be stuck on that flipping Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham. You know the road, the one off the M6 which gets millions of drivers frustrated and puzzled every day. It leads everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Well, that pretty much sums up our lives a few weeks ago. Baffled.
After a hectic and decadent six years in London, the thought of chilling out, kicking back with nature and seeing where the wind takes us was, to put it mildly, bloody exciting.
Anyone who lives in London knows all about the rental market burn. And the frustration of handing over nearly £1500 every month. Such a payday buzz kill.
We, like many Londoners, got caught up living a life of excess. We’d eat out most nights, in local pubs, quirky bars, restaurants in town. There’s no such thing as a ‘school night’ in the Big Smoke. Every night has the potential to accidentally turn into full-blown, drunken Saturday night stupidity.
A new restaurant would pop up and we’d “just have” to try it out. After all, London has it all, and in turn you feel compelled to try it all. As quickly as possible, before something new and even more intriguing comes along.
With this level of excess deeply denting our pockets and bank balance, we decided to spend a few months, or longer (eeeek) in a caravan. With a plan to seriously try and save some cash. And hopefully, one way or another, try and figure out what the hell we want to do with our lives.
