London Journal - Christmas 2010

'In The Beginning' by Mike Chapman

And here it is, Christmas day. Two years ago, after watching 'Love Actually' for the umpteenth time I suggested to my parents that Christmas in London might be quite fun. My mum agreed and said she could see it as feasibly doable for 2010. I immediately began looking into the cost of such a trip so I knew how much to budget for. The more I looked into it the more it seemed silly to only go to London for Christmas. Sure, it would be great for my parents to come out for a holiday, but I could easily go for four or six months. It was something I'd wanted to do for ages and I had recently realised that life is for living and putting something off just isn't sensible when any one of us could be dead tomorrow. I plotted and planned and began to discover that four to six months was an impractical length of time for a trip to London. If I was going to go I should go to live and if I was going to live I'd need a visa and the minimum duration of a visa would be two years.

And then I went to Palm Springs and against all expectation I met someone I would soon fall in love with. The Universe is a lovely unpredictable and beautiful place and happenstantially this incredible person I'd met and fallen for lived in London. Things were in motion and it was obvious that my plans to go to the United Kingdom were meant to be.

A fateful car accident resulted in an unexpected insurance payment which covered several debts and shifted how soon I could move. And then it was January 7th, 2010 and I was on a plane, flying 4,000 miles from the city I'd been born and raised in. 4,000 miles from my friends and family to a new city and a very different life with different adventures and a new love.

And now it's Christmas 2010 and my parents are here, as planned. My partner cooked a delicious traditional English Christmas lunch which we have all just finished eating. Now we're continuing to work on the jigsaw puzzle of the 12 days of Christmas, after a brief skype session with my dear brother and sister-in-law in Canada.

This is what I love best about Christmas.

May your Christmas be full of warmth, love, good food and the best company.