T-Minus 17 Days

Welcome to my first blog post. Thanks for sticking with it to this point! I’m currently struggling to get to sleep due to the amount of stuff going through my head. In 17 days Mr BND and I are moving to Italy. It’s all starting to seem very real. Much more real than when we started talking about the possibility of it months ago; much more real than when his job was confirmed and much more real than when we bought the recent purchase of a camper van, to maximise our adventure possibilities.

It’s been a whirlwind of a year. Without boring (or depressing) you too much a lot has changed. Our world was thrown in to turmoil in April when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, treatment consisted of chemotherapy, surgery and then finished in January with radiotherapy. The good news finally came that I was cancer free one morning at the end of October. However that afternoon we had to say goodbye to our gorgeous little dog Charlie. He’d also had a tumour and it all finally got a bit too much for him. He’d done his job of keeping me company through the bad times so it was time to go. The coincidence that both of us had tumours far too young (him 5, me 31) hasn’t escaped me!

Until July, my Mum and I ran a business together, a lovely little shop in Stamford, Lincolnshire. Which we’d decided to close, partly because of Mum retiring, partly the cancer and partly the imminent move to Italy. So it was all change in 2019!

I’ve always quite liked writing and now seems a good opportunity to give it a go. Even if it is just my Mum reading it back home! I don’t particularly like the word ‘blog’, I think I prefer journal or adventure writing. Is that a bit weird? Whatever this is though I want to write my experiences, my thoughts, my favourite foods to eat, the best wine I’ve drunk, the exciting places we visit and things we see. If it inspires, interests, helps you in some way, even better. I’d like to keep a focus on independent, family run businesses. Whether they’re restaurants, cafes, outdoor adventure companies or places to stay. I feel passionately that these businesses need our support. They won’t be there forever unless we help them.

I’d also love to hear from you too! If you’ve got any recommendations for must-do’s in Italy then please get in touch, we’ll be based in Ferrara.

Perhaps you’ve recently been diagnosed with cancer and just want to speak to someone who’s been there, then please reach out, I’m happy to talk about it.

So that’s it for now. Only 17 days to go. Good job there’s not too much to do….like start to pack, finish decorating the house, throw a party for 120 of our family and friends! What have we let ourselves in for?!