Lately I have been growing more and more restless with the way things are. I still love my job but hate the 60+ hours and no overtime pay. It was depressing to think of what my salary really was if broken down to hourly pay.
Because I work so much, my spare time has become very precious. I cherish my weekends and have become almost violently angry when my boss has told me to come in on Saturday, especially when it could have been avoided with better time management.
The change in my free time has got me looking critically at SB and my little shoebox in the valley. I like the shoebox a lot. There are a lot of things going for it; it is wonderfully conveniently located so that I have only 10 minutes of a bus ride from the office, 25 minutes to walk to the office, 20 minutes to walk to rugby training, and five minutes to stroll to the track for a jog. There are a lot of tasty food options here and we have a friendly relationship with quite a few people whose businesses we frequent. We need walk only a few blocks on weekends before running into a friend, albeit a friend who is an athlete. Almost all the people we meet are those who play sports like us.
So here is the dilemma. I am unhappy with our immediate surroundings. When I look out of any of our abundant windows, all I see is concrete. We hardly ever have the blinds open anymore because there is no direct sunlight to bask in and no view of anything blue or green. I can only look out into someone else's flat. I tried to make up for this by amassing a very large collection of plants. But reality is setting in. I need more nature in my life. Sure, I hardly get to enjoy any daylight with my work schedule, but when I go home, I feel like I cannot unwind. I can only walk in circles around Happy Valley's sports ground so many times before it gets old.
SB and I are making a huge change this month. We are subletting a flat in Shek O. I am going to see how feasible it is to live at the other side of the island in a village on a beach, and still work the hours that I do. The commute will be longer than I would like, possibly taking a full hour, but we are going to try it out. I am not optimistic but I do want it to work out. Otherwise I don't know what I am going to do about this longing for green things.
As I was packing up a bag I looked around the Happy Valley flat and felt sad. There is so much about this place that I love and if I do leave, I will leave behind casual friends and neighbors that I have enjoyed during my time here.
Because I work so much, my spare time has become very precious. I cherish my weekends and have become almost violently angry when my boss has told me to come in on Saturday, especially when it could have been avoided with better time management.
The change in my free time has got me looking critically at SB and my little shoebox in the valley. I like the shoebox a lot. There are a lot of things going for it; it is wonderfully conveniently located so that I have only 10 minutes of a bus ride from the office, 25 minutes to walk to the office, 20 minutes to walk to rugby training, and five minutes to stroll to the track for a jog. There are a lot of tasty food options here and we have a friendly relationship with quite a few people whose businesses we frequent. We need walk only a few blocks on weekends before running into a friend, albeit a friend who is an athlete. Almost all the people we meet are those who play sports like us.
So here is the dilemma. I am unhappy with our immediate surroundings. When I look out of any of our abundant windows, all I see is concrete. We hardly ever have the blinds open anymore because there is no direct sunlight to bask in and no view of anything blue or green. I can only look out into someone else's flat. I tried to make up for this by amassing a very large collection of plants. But reality is setting in. I need more nature in my life. Sure, I hardly get to enjoy any daylight with my work schedule, but when I go home, I feel like I cannot unwind. I can only walk in circles around Happy Valley's sports ground so many times before it gets old.
SB and I are making a huge change this month. We are subletting a flat in Shek O. I am going to see how feasible it is to live at the other side of the island in a village on a beach, and still work the hours that I do. The commute will be longer than I would like, possibly taking a full hour, but we are going to try it out. I am not optimistic but I do want it to work out. Otherwise I don't know what I am going to do about this longing for green things.
As I was packing up a bag I looked around the Happy Valley flat and felt sad. There is so much about this place that I love and if I do leave, I will leave behind casual friends and neighbors that I have enjoyed during my time here.
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