Goodbye, ol' Broughton Road

Just over a year ago, we decided to leave Kensington and venture off west to Ealing, just a few minutes away from Ealing Broadway station.  The plan was simple: I finish off my Ph.D. and, come early 2013, we head back to Malta, while living away from Zone 1 would pay off in terms of rent savings.  Fast forward a year on and things had changed drastically: we were both at Imperial again and, what more, we were 'stuck' there for at least another 2 years.  Only one option made sense: move back close to Imperial.

Initially, I had thought that living like a true Londoner - commuting daily, reading the paper on the way, working in the city centre but living away from it - would work out handsomely.  Alas, I was wrong: being used to living on a rock where anything in excess of 20 minutes' worth of travel time is considered "too far away", the 50 minute door-to-door commute proved to be too much.  Ealing had its pluses: lots of very good restaurants - particularly Persian - and a self-contained shopping centre which meant not needing to visit the dreaded Oxford Street at all.  But getting the 207/427/83 bus every morning to the station, then the Central Line to Notting Hill and then 52/70/452 to Uni (and all the way back in the evening) meant that I was wasting more than 8 hours a week just travelling.  Life is too short for that.

And then another blessing crossed our way: my wife was offered a position of subwarden in one of the Imperial halls, literally across the road from the campus meant that we were to start living in very close proximity to Uni...and for free...in exchange for organising activities for hall residents, taking care of students and being on-call once a week or so.  Not bad, at all.

Moving is always a bit of a nightmare, especially if you have more than 200kg worth of stuff, but somehow it was all done in 7 trips to and fro from Ealing to Gloucester Road, with relative ease and with no hiccups.  Except that that particular Saturday was the first day of London 2012.  Ah yes, that event going on in Stratford.

And now?  I write this post whilst facing the peaceful Evelyn Gardens from our living room in Fisher Hall, enjoying a sunny afternoon and a nice cup of tea.