Our last day in London: the good, the bad and the A&E
I wrote this post at the end of January but I am posting it now as it took a few weeks to get our lives and tech set up in Tokyo!
I moved to London on 19 September 2010 and it was where I had started my adult life. Fast forward to 24 January 2018 - I'd spent thousands of hours on the tube, enjoyed 8 different jobs, lived in three different flats, had even acquired a husband along the way and it was now my last day in London before moving to Tokyo. But it was no time for sentiment as there was a to-do list waiting!
Wil and I got up and our morning started with eating cereal out of disposable plastic glasses - not even plastic bowls as we were really living like savages by this point. After some last minute packing we took one final van load of possessions, that we were leaving in London, to a storage unit that had been getting fuller and fuller over the past few weeks. Anyone who had visited our flat will know that packing up and emptying our home was no mean feat. When it came to interior design, it was as if though we hadn't heard of the concept of minimalism.
All went to plan at the storage unit and I even managed to find my favourite passport cover that had accidentally been put away in there. Yes, I am aware of the absurdity of the last sentence and my mum has already pointed out the extent of my first world problems but I can’t be the only person with more than one passport cover?!
Exhibit A: my favourite passport cover
On the way home from the storage unit we drove through ridiculously heavy rain and got drenched as we walked back to the flat. Hopefully there would be better weather awaiting us in Tokyo.
My mum arrived in London about noon to spend the day with us. Mama had got us lovely cards and little leaving presents. She had also bought an awesome card from my sister.
Our best friend Sarah popped over and bought us an awesome bag of presents and a card. Well I am calling it “awesome” just based on appearance as she said that we should unwrap the presents once we got to Tokyo so it could be a bag of junk for all I know. But knowing Sarah it will be a bag of awesomeness.
I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Sarah and my mum. I had some mother-daughter bonding time with Mama who gave me some good life advice. All in all it had been a good afternoon except for the cleaning I had to squeeze in amongst the fun. While vacuuming around clumsily in haste, the vacuum cleaner fell on my foot but I didn’t think much of it or mention it to anyone.
Wil was out in the afternoon for a final trip to his office to drop off some things and was heading home after 6pm. By this time, however, my foot had started to feel sore as I walked so I sent him advance warning of my latest malady.
Symptoms for bruised or fractured bones can be quite similar (according to my manic Googling) and given the impending move to other side of the world I didn’t want to take any chances. So, we thought it would be best to get my foot checked out before getting on a 12 hour flight and we’d have enough to do when we landed in Tokyo without needing to worry about getting me to a doctor! During my time in London I had fortunately never needed a trip to A&E. Come to think of it, I have never needed to go to A&E in my life. But on our last day in London, I thought it was time for me to taste some of that A&E drama.
We still wanted to enjoy our last evening in London and have a nice meal with my mum and Sarah before heading to the airport hotel so we ordered in delicious grub from the Chinese takeaway opposite our flat which had become a real favourite of ours! At times the evening felt more surreal than the serene evening I had imagined as we tried not to let on to my mum that we were planning a trip to the hospital. I was having secret conversations with Sarah about my foot, wriggling my toes and keeping my foot elevated under the dining table, worrying about rescheduling the taxi to the airport hotel as I was unsure how long the trip to A&E would take - all while trying not show any stress and be lovely and calm as possible. If I’d let on that I was hurt my mum would have insisted on coming to the hospital with me rather than getting her train back to Birmingham.
Exhibit B: A delighted daughter
None the wiser Mama said goodbye and set off for Birmingham.
And here you can see me waving off my Mum with a massive smile on my face not knowing when I'd see her again just because her departure meant I could now get some medical attention.
As soon as Mama left, I got into a taxi to go to the A&E department at St Thomas’ Hospital and left Wil at home to finish the final packing.
Two hours in A&E, by myself, was not how I had planned to spend my final night in London but I was so grateful for the NHS! I was spoken to and seen by various lovely medical professionals and fortunately given the all clear on my X-ray - hurrah!!!
With a huge sense of relief and excitement that the adventure that lay ahead of us could now begin, I dashed back home for our taxi to the hotel which was now coming at 11pm (only two and a half hours later than planned but totally worth the peace of mind). After one final hug (and last minute supply of Ibuprofen) from Sarah we were off to our hotel and called my mum to update her on what had happened since she left! Needless to say she was aghast!
Moving all seven suitcases, two hand carry bags, two back packs, a bag of snacks and a bag of presents into our hotel room was something that we could have done without at that time of night!
Exhibit C: Me with all the possessions we thought necessary to start our life in Japan
But as I got into bed that night, I was full of anticipation at what lay ahead and it was one of the few occasions I have been happy to set an alarm.
Setting the scene for as I wrote this post:
Location: on a plane bound for Tokyo, somewhere over Russia, zooming at 920km/h at 11,887m above ground
Weather: Temperature -76°C
Soundtrack: Reputation, Taylor Swift
Bonus detail: My good A&E record is in stark contrast to Wil's, who racked up several visits to A&E during his first 10 years and once again in his 20s
