I turned 31 yesterday. Not a huge event, but for me an interesting one, none the less. Bizarrely enough, this year seems more of an important milestone in my life than last year, when I hit the big 30.
I find myself increasingly thinking about the future, and what it holds. In the short-term, we have the anxiety of Rosie's surgery to deal with. After that, at some point will come the huge change of moving to the UK. The all-important topic of the second child will rear it's (ugly for the first few days, then hopefully becoming cuter and cuter) head at some point. In the longer term, now I have both a wife and a child to provide for, I am becoming increasingly interested in pension details, life insurance, and lots of other mundane financial nonsense. No longer can I just go out and buy an iPod mini without thinking about it - I now have to save my pennies for a few months! And career concerns linger on. I am confident that I can find a job in the UK. But can I find a job which is fulfilling and where I can learn new skills, but still spend lots of time with my family and get paid enough to pay off a mortgage for a house in Britain?
With this dreaming/worrying/thinking about the future, comes a bit of nostalgia for the past. I have recently been thinking a lot about my friends (current and lapsed!) in the UK, university life, and special times spent with my family. If I have the choice of listening to a new song from 2004 or a 'classic' Pulp track from 1992 or a Style Council song from the mid-eighties, I increasingly find myself going for the 'classic' songs of my youth.
Do I just spend too much time on the train daydreaming, or am I becoming a character in a Nick Hornby novel?
Posted by Gary at June 30, 2004 11:45 AM