10 year plan? I don't know what I am doing tomorrow

   

I have been saying that in 10 years I am moving to England.  Well I guess I have said that once too many times to Maureen, my stress therapist, as she announced this week that it is time to start planning it or I have to stop talking about it ~ well isn't that money well spent!

   Seriously I am not a plan the future type of gal.  Heck the most advance planning I do are meals for two weeks, though I am an early Christmas shopper.  I know some people who plan vacations a year in advance, so not me.  Even when we visited England and France last year I made all the arrangements in the 2 months before we left.  This whole concept of planning what it will take to move to London and what I'll do when I am there NOW just feels as weird as putting on a wet bathing suit~ blech.

     Part of the idea is to start to remove the "fantasy" of what living in England brings with it.  Me, fantasy surely she must be mistaken.  Whatever would lead her to believe that I have any fantasy life at all?  Ok maybe my pronouncing myself royalty was a bit fantastical but can you blame me for that one? I don’t think so.

     So once a month I have to actually make some sort of progress on this plan.  Again am I actually paying for this taskmaster?  Here's where you get to come in ~ you didn't actually think I was going to do this on my own with a glorious group of readers such as yourself at my beck and call  assistance did you?  What's the point of being royalty if I can't pass my drudgeries share my new experiences with you?

Task number one: Where do I actually want to live? 

 Right now I am more into ruling places out rather than pin-pointing the exact whereabouts. Choosing the exact place will happen as the date is more pressing.

I know that I don't want to live:

• In London~ too expensive
• In Scotland ~ too North
• More than 2 hours by train from London
• somewhere that doesn't have a rail station
• In an overwhelmingly ex-pat community ~ kind of defeats the purpose a bit
• In Ireland ~ it’s not England pretty simple
• In an overwhelmingly Muslim community (see church need below)

Things I am unsure about:

• Do I want to live by the water
• If I do live close to water should it be east coast or west coast
• how small a community I want to live in
• Wales an option

Things I do know I want:

• An active Anglican Church in community
• Community welcoming to Americans
• Must have good bus/rail access
• A reasonable cost of living
• A small rental apt in a home not apartment building

My plan is to find myself a wall map of England and put it up on the back of my bedroom door.  When I discover a place I don't want to live in I'll cross it off on the map so I’ll slowly start narrowing things down.

I think that's enough pre-planning for this week don't you agree? 

So readers of this royal court: Any and all inputs are gloriously welcome.  Ta-ta for now.