Wrapping up 6 months of London with a trip to the seaside - Whitstable and Broadstairs.

Last Sunday I tagged along with my mate giving his new car a hoon to the east of London, to Whitstable and Broadstairs. These are popular holiday beach hotspots for the not no well-to-do of London, and were rather charming I thought!

We had a nice 'vege breakfast' at a cafe for very reasonable prices including bottomless tea, and then toodled along the esplanade or whatever they'd call it.

I played with the filters on these, because boy these came out bleak!

Vanilla boat club.

Great little beach shacks folks have - there were three tiers of these up the bank! You don't stay in them, they're just for hanging out in during summer n that.

So yes, prime time to go to the beach, had to push tourists out of the way in droves. I think it was roughly 6 degrees. Wandered out on a funny wee spit too since it was low tide. It was fun seeing the currents bumping into one another across the top:

And then on to Broadstairs, which was a rather charming cliffside town!

There were no broads using the stairs.

A lovely wee afternoon escape.

Lovely, but this is hardly worth noting is it? What is worth noting to me is that this is roughly the six month mark of my time over here! It feels a bit like I've done sweet FA! But I've done plenty more than I would've done in six months at home so there you go.

This is where London and I part ways, for the time being. Dave arrives next week, we're visiting some rallies up north then heading to the ski slopes of Europe for the rest of Feb. When I arrive back I shall jump in my motorhome and start toodling about this nation, chasing contracts and waiting for the summer.

As for life in London, my take is tainted by poor work and accommodation decisions on my part. I was a naive fool and ran before I found my feet, taking an awful job and trying to avoid Kiwis and Aussies.

With few and busy flatmates I haven't had that 'easy travel buddies' situation many Kiwis usually have with like-minded flatmates, and I've struggled to build up a collection of good, regular friends, cracking into other people's already established groups and that. It's something I've never had to do before, I've been spoilt with my life-long best buds. I'm overly considerate - 'if I have to invite them, they mustn't want to do it' - what a stupid way to think, but there you go. That didn't help things, and I just stopped trying eventually. Introductions get boring. Fuck 'em.

As things have panned out, at the end of six months I'm looking at my life in London and realising I haven't set down any roots whatsoever. I'm as mobile as I was when I got off that plane. No-one, professionally or personally, is actually going to notice my absence in any real sense. Stink au!

So, it's been absolutely fantastic having these six months to explore so much more of London than I ever thought I would. It's a fantastic city, there's so much going on - so much of everything. Part of me hopes to return some day and have another crack, in a way that isn't so desperate. Take time selecting a flat, take time selecting a job I'll enjoy. Don't set myself up to fail. I've seen a lot of London, but I've barely scratched the surface where others have their fondest memories - social stuff. Most likely I will not be back though, plenty of other places to have a new adventure, and the lessons I've learnt here will apply anywhere I resettle.

This isn't a sob story. I don't regret my move for a second - I just want to note down my particular challenges and why I'm able to just pick up and move on again so easily. The few friends I have made (and I have made a few) are some of the finest people I've ever met. I've also had the chance to reconnect with long-lost friends, and get to know others better too - it's been a real rewarding time for me personally. Having to just get on getting on by myself has been good too.

I've had some trouble with accommodation recently, and the kindness shown to me by my new friends who haven't known me long at all - it's been a really humbling experience. I've never been in such moments of despair and need in my life. I cannot ever convey my gratitude, but to pay it forward when I am in a position to help people. Because I now have a small appreciation of just how awful some situations can be, how powerless one can be, and in those moments, the true value of a small kindness. I've lived thinking 'live and let live' is an adequate way to conduct myself, that that made me a good person - but that's not good enough. A good person tries. And at the right time, so little can do so much.

That's my big take away from my move here, it's the kick up the arse to put some effort into being a better man. It's not some glittering memory of wild party-time London I'll have as a take home, but it's probably a more valuable one in the long run.

YOU BORING SHIT. GO MAKE A FRIEND.