If you’re reading this, hoping for witty observations on Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers, striking out against modern society, and in particular, neighbour Margo, I’d hit the Back button now, otherwise you’re in for a disappointment.
I recently heard a comment regarding my public output as documenting a “happy middle-class life”. The commenter stopped just shy of branding me a “smug married”.
I’m glad they didn’t, because that would be inaccurate. Smug Marrieds spend their time preaching to single people about how good their lives are, and how incomplete the singleton’s life must be, being, well, single.
If my tweeting, blogging and/or Facebook-ing of the day-to-day good things about life is trying to say anything, it’s saying, “Finally, I feel like life is nearing the normality and stability that most people take for granted”. That’s not exactly the same sentiment as “Look how good my life is…why isn’t yours as good?”
Why do I do it? Why do I celebrate life finally approaching a comfortable existence? Simply put, because for the past decade it hasn’t.
The 10 years have seen me go from owning a house, down to renting a room in a flat, and very slowly back up again to (any day now) owning a house once more. They’ve seen me go from a well-paid, permanent, professional job, to long-term unemployment, voluntary work, badly paid but career-changing work, and back slowly, to a reasonably well-paid professional role. At the same time, I’ve gone from a long-term relationship, to singledom, several disastrous relationships, and the dating scene until finally, meeting my soulmate in the most unlikely of places.
The last three years of this decade of recovery have had me battling with immigration, wedding planning, more immigration, house hunting and mortgages – all the while keeping it together in a job that demands impossibly long hours.
So yes, I am a bit pleased that I have a beautiful and loving wife, who’s from a different and fascinating culture. Yes, I do love going to China, seeing the family, and exploring the Far East. It’s true I’m thrilled that I have faster broadband than most, and that our computers are all shiny new Macs. Of course, I’m excited at finally getting back onto the property ladder after so long away. I make no apology for any of this.
I’ve been away from this kind of domestic normality and sense of security for 10 years. Just like my 18 months being unemployed in the US made me glad to have a job every day since it ended, and my living in the States for nearly six years made me truly appreciate the positive things about living in the UK, so this past decade has made me utterly grateful for what I now have. Not just grateful, but full of joy, positivity, and let’s face it, relief, which I guess sometimes bubbles over into what I write.
If that annoys a few people, then I guess they’ve misunderstood.
