I’ve been keeping this quiet for a little while because I really didn’t want to jinx it, but now I can finally say it because it’s done: I moved.

Today was moving day, and I’m writing this surrounded by bags, boxes and all the usual chaos of trying to work out where everything should go. I definitely underestimated how much stuff I own. You don’t really realise it until you have to physically pick up every single thing you possess and somehow move it from one home to another. Clothes are easy. Books are manageable. But then you discover the enormous category of random tiny objects that apparently belong nowhere and yet somehow make up half your life.

Moving also forces you to look at everything you own and make decisions about it. There were things I immediately knew I wanted to bring with me, things I had completely forgotten I owned and things that made me wonder why I had kept them for so long. I tried to use the move as an opportunity to get rid of some things instead of simply transporting everything from one place to another, although I am absolutely not going to pretend that I suddenly became a minimalist. That would require a completely different personality.

But now I’m here. Everything is still a mess, I have absolutely no intention of unpacking everything tonight, and I’m pretty sure it will take a while before this place starts feeling completely like mine. At the moment it still has that strange feeling of being somewhere new, where you haven’t yet developed all those automatic little habits that eventually turn a space into your home.

And that is probably the part I’m most curious about. I’m still in London, but my personal map of the city has changed. There will be different streets that become familiar, different routes I’ll walk without thinking, different places I’ll discover simply because they happen to be on my way somewhere. I already know how much I love exploring London on foot, so having a completely different starting point feels like getting a new little piece of the city to discover.

For tonight, though, exploration can wait. I think moving everything from one home to another is enough of an adventure for one day.

So, goodbye old home. It’s official now.

I moved.