2013 has been a year of positive and welcome change on the job front. On the home front things have been less than straightforward, and since September I have been a weekly commuter living in Brighton during the week and returning to Southampton (and the family) at weekends. Currently the situation is complicated further as our proposed house purchase in East Sussex has either stalled or fallen through completely. We decided to go ahead with the sale of our house in Southampton and just before Christmas my wife and I and our two sons has temporarily moved in with my parents—they are still in the family the home and have space for us, but being further away from Brighton than I started was not exactly Plan A. The move all took place very quickly and I have had to apply for a school place for my eldest son in my parents’ village. Moving twice (or three times) was the thing I wanted to do least but it seems that the way it’s going to be.

I’m not a victim in this of course. I am fortunate to have loving parents who are both willing and able to take us in for a short time. I have a good job I enjoy and have the advantage of the house sale in Southampton having done through making us ‘chain-free’ in estate agent parlance. My main gripe of the past few months has been cursing the English house buying system which allows either party the opportunity to pull out until the last minute. Despite this, my mental health has vastly improved over the past few months.

I’ve just reached this third paragraph aware that this is more of update on my own situation than a useful post for anyone else. I won’t over analyse anything and just leave it here.