In 2009, I began a countdown on my Dashboard, counting down the precious days until my exit from Australia.
I remember when the countdown read 111 days until departure.
I remember when it read 60 days since departure.
Now it reads 569 since departure…
But a new countdown has been counting down the days until I leave London for home.
Apparently I was offered this job straight away because I made the IT Director laugh in the first 5 minutes of the interview and I swore in the first 40 seconds.
Take note.. or not.
Bear with me/I’m working on it.
In no particular order.
Dear Sir James Paul McCartney,
When I was 8 years old I never thought I’d ever get to see you perform but it has always been a dream of mine.
Today that changed and my boyhood dream has come true.
See you in 10 days.
Yours always,
Matthew James Davies
I figure my 500th tumblr post should be something significant.
I just want to remind myself that what I’m doing right now in London is probably the most significant thing I’ve ever done and ever may do. It’s something that I will remember for the rest of my life.
I’ve said goodbye to many people I love back home and I haven’t seen any of them for 4 months. The scary thing is there may potentially be another 12 months before I see them again.
The fact that I will see them again in the future makes all of this incredibly worth while.
It’s time I realised, I am just like everybody else.
It’s not a submission, it’s a realisation.
I’ve got thoughts running through my head and have had for the past few days. I was going to take the time to write them down here but there’s no point singing the same song twice.
I’ll just lose myself in a book or a movie.
#InnerCityPressure
When David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary turned explorer, returned to England in May 1856 to peddle his book Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, Charles Dickens gave it an ecstatic review. Dickens reevaluated his own character and found he didn’t quite live up to his own expectations.
Since arriving in Europe and spending the last month or so in London, I too have found I don’t quite meet my own expectations. If I take Dickens’ review and omit a few lines, it quite literally sums up how I feel. I confess that…
the effect of it on me has been to lower my opinion of my own character in a most remarkable and most disastrous manner. I used to think I possessed the moral virtues of courage, patience, resolution and self control. Since […], I have been driven to the humiliating conclusion that, in forming my own opinion of myself, I have been imposed upon by a false and counterfeit article. […], I find that my much prized courage, patience resolution and self control turn out to be nothing but plated goods.
When will I ever learn?
The famous photo I mentioned of Saint Paul’s during the Blitz of late-December 1940.
Now, I’m not a Brit, nor am I a Londoner but if I ever find a job in this town and get properly settled, the first thing I will do is put a framed copy of this photo up on my wall.
It is not only a true testament to the London-spirit exhibited during the war, but I could use it’s symbology as a motto of sorts during my time here in London:
Stand tall. Carry on. Persevere.
Sparkadia - Jealousy
I stopped listening to Sparkadia early last year. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I threw out their album and deleted it from iTunes. They are a great band and play great music, but it was for personal reasons. I just got the album again. I feel strong enough to listen to it now.
Yesterday I wrote an email to my former boss asking if I could pass on his details to prospective employers here in the UK to use as a reference.
This was the response:
Hi Matt,
Let me get this right:
1. If I’m a good referee and you get a job, then you’ll stay in London.
2. If I’m a bad referee and you don’t get a job you’ll come back to Melbourne and could come back to work here.
What’s my motivation for 1 ????? I’ll have to resolve the moral dilemma.
I would be more than happy to be a referee.Best of luck,
Andrew
*humbled*
Peter Gabriel - Father, Son
I got an email from my dad today. Part of me thinks I’m over here in London for him. I hope that soon, he and mum will come over to the UK, and we can spend a couple of weeks travelling around, eating pork pies, Stilton cheese and covering our eggs & bacon with lots of HP sauce.
I miss everyone back home. But now, I just wanted to say, I miss my dad.
