A SIMPLE LIFE

Whenever I get overwhelmed with work - and life in general, I start looking up seaside cottages for sale. Ones in the middle of nowhere, down the country. I used to have a dream of running a little bakery/secondhand bookshop. I think it sounds just so beautiful and idyllic. No other distractions. Imagine what that would be like... I'm sure it would have its own set of problems but it just seems like such a calm and peaceful life. 

Things can be so hard living in Dublin at the moment. We work non stop and yet we're still renting and seem to be going nowhere fast. Now, I know we (and by we, I mean me) are being fussy about where we would like to buy - but I'm not from Dublin and if I'm settling down here and not beside my family, then I want it to be somewhere really beautiful. When I open my door in the morning, I want to be able to look around and think to myself that, yes, I made the right decision - but maybe it's time we realised that it might not happen for us. Unless someone actually just gave us a house in let's say Ranelagh, Portobello, even Malahide, Monkstown? See, I told you I was fussy, not to mention completely unrealistic. 

Our parent's generation just didn't seem to have that problem. Things seemed so much more simple. We had no money in the 80's but then again NO ONE had money, so we were all in the same boat. Maybe it's a case of rose tinted glasses but I just had the best childhood ever. We were so spoiled - but with love, not stuff. Ah, I remember the fights on a Sunday when the block of ice-cream would come out after dinner, her bit is bigger than my bit etc, etc. Don't get me started on the rows over the cherries in the tins of fruit. Kids didn't get everything, they didn't need it. They still don't but we just seem to have this obsession with "things" (myself included!) People's houses were nothing fancy back then (well, none of the ones I remember anyway) it was a place where families gathered to eat, laugh, comfort and sing (badly, I might add). Now we seem to have these beautiful homes but we're so busy working to pay for them, that we don't get to enjoy them. I'm starting to think to myself.. what's the point? 

Life now just seems to be a non-stop battle of keeping up with the Joneses, constant comparisons. I'm so, so guilty of it too, it's all too easy to get sucked in - but I'm just really craving change at the moment. Maybe I would get bored stuck in a small place in the country but right now I'm tired, I'm tired of working so hard, tired of missing my family and friends and lately all I can think about is that cottage in Clare and my little bookshop. 

Jx