Christ, I can’t believe it’s four months since my last post. Things have been busy here in Italy. We’ve moved into our new house, unpacked and we’ve bought a car. But more of all that another time.

Yesterday we had some friends over to enjoy the glorious weather. We sat around in the sun, had a BBQ then had a lark about in the pool. All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. While sitting in the pool, a friend of mine from the UK who was visiting asked:

Regretting leaving London behind?

God, no! On a day like that? Nice weather, nice food, nice company, nice beer, nice pool. Regretting leaving London behind? Don’t make me laugh.

And then today for no apparent reason I felt terribly homesick. I think it was changing the calendar over at work that did it. This month’s picture is my wife & I with our son, sitting in our back garden in England – last autumn. Suddenly I find that I miss that little house. I miss the little garden. I miss autumn. I miss the glorious autumn colours in that garden. I miss the terrible mass of leaves that took ages to sweep up.

I miss those crisp, foggy English mornings. I miss the glorious, unexpected days of winter sunshine. I miss winter. I miss it starting to get dark by 3pm. I miss coming home and lighting a fire, not just because it’s cold but because it’s the only thing approximating sunlight I’ll see that day.

But then, I also miss getting up before my wife & son to go to work. I miss coming home after he’s gone to bed. I also miss spending 3 hours a day on public transport. Assuming it works. I also miss bitching about the useless excuse for a transport system on twitter. I miss the dismal, grey days. I miss the cloud being so low it feels like you’re inside even when you’re outside. I also miss drizzle. What a pointless excuse for weather – not wet enough to be rain, not dry enough to leave the umbrella at home. I also miss the wind. Typical isn’t it, only ever rains when it’s so windy you can’t use your umbrella. Horizontal rain. I miss horizontal rain. I miss having so much weather. I miss rain, sleet, snow, sunshine & drizzle all before breakfast.

If I went back to my old life – I’d miss my 20 minute commute to work. Christ, I’m gonna try cycling in tomorrow. I’d miss being close enough to work to cycle. And living in a country where I’m not guaranteed to get rained on every damned day – especially in June, especially on a bank holiday weekend and especially when the Queen is having a big shindig.

I’d miss our ridiculous outsized garden. I’d miss our gorgeous pool. I’d miss being able to eat outside all the time. I’d miss the wonderful Italian countryside. I’d miss the delicious Italian food. I’d have to import a lot of the delicious Italian wine. I’d miss the amazing people we’ve met out here. I’d even miss the crazy Italian driving. Hmm, ok maybe not that last one.

But you know what I do miss? I miss my family and friends.