The Raw Chef Blog

So I’ve been in Cambridgeshire nearly 2 months now and I’m feeling a little ‘ungrounded’.  By that I mean I’ve been feeling that there aren’t many things around me that are permanent, I feel ‘in limbo’.  There’s a number of reasons for this, firstly it’s the terrain..it’s so open, flat and a little disconcerting if I’m honest.  It’s very different from the suburbia that I’m used to in Sussex.  Where I came from is very built up, with major cities like Brighton and Portsmouth very near, you really don’t have to travel far until your in the next town.  Of course, Cambridge is only 20 minutes away, but it seems like further sometimes.  I’m not used to not being able to pop out to the local retail park for stationary or DIY stuff, the funny thing is, I never really did that very often but now I haven’t got the option to, it seems to really matter.

Then there’s the sea…I miss the sea.  But again, I didn’t really go to the seafront very often and when I would drive past it several times a day I didn’t really appreciate it.  Add this to the fact that the village I’m living in is very different to what I had expected, if you’re going to live out in the country you expect it to be quiet!

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I finally made it!  I’ve moved to Cambridgeshire and i’m pretty much settled in my new flat.  What an ordeal moving house is though! 

I’m sitting in a rather interesting internet cafe in Cambridge at the moment, listening to some soothing guitar music that they’re playing and drinking my cranberry & vanilla tea.  There’s lots of books on shelves and a wooden floor, it’s also full of very interesting looking people!  Seems like i’m back in ‘ye olde times’, all very English! 

So my life during and since the move…I feel like my right arm has been cut with not having internet at home (hence the reason for not blogging for a while).  How did I ever manage before the internet was invented?  My phone line gets put in on Thursday and I feel like things can return to normal.

The move itself wasn’t without it’s challenges.  Firstly, Paul, who was going to drive the van up for me is under 25 so they wouldn’t insure him and I had to drive it.  That meant that I had to also drive it back and then drive my car back up, bearing in mind that it’s 160 miles each way!!!  Then there was the small matter of nearly taking the roof off the van on the low bridge in Ely.  Luckily they’ve got big signs that flash up when your vehicle is too tall because I missed all the massive signs and stopped just before the bridge.  Karen and Lel had to get out and stop the traffic behind me to allow me to reverse back up the slope - very embarrassing, but also quite amusing.

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All but 2 of the references are in, the van is booked, the army of helpers are assembled (so grateful for friends that are willing to help) and the work is waiting. It’s now less than a week until I move from the Sussex coast up to Cambridgeshire and i’m starting to get excited.

I’ve moved house so many times in the last few years that i’m getting a bit of a pro at it but that doesn’t mean it’s enjoyable!  The only thing that will keep me going is the thought of the end result, which is the same with any goal, sometimes it’s painful but if you know you’re ‘why’ the ‘how’ becomes easy.

The last time I moved to an area that I didn’t know was when I moved to Manchester in 2002.  That was such a great adventure.  I didn’t know a single person there but found the people so welcoming, even though I am a ‘Southerner’.  Although it wasn’t without copious amounts of ‘ribbing’ for my strange accent.  It was while I was in Manchester that I started to find out about juicing and detoxing.  I can remember watching a TV program on detoxing featuring Spa Samui in Thailand and thinking, "I wonder if that would help clear my skin?"  I went, and it did!  Seeing that program changed my life (who says TV can’t have a positive effect ;-)) because on that trip I found raw foods.

You’ll have to excuse my reminiscing, I get very reflective at times of change.  I like to take stock of what has brought me to any certain point in my life.  I marvel and give thanks to all those things that have enabled me to be at this point, right here and now.

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