The time has come for me to move out and move on. When my nephew was told I’m moving to Johannesburg, he’s only reaction was “Again?”. Nice.

Aside from the ten months in 2010/11 that I lived in a Twitter acquaintance’s spare room, I’ve been living with my mom since being retrenched (the first time) in 2004. It was meant to only be for a couple of months, but every time I thought I was ready to look at a place of my own again, something derailed my plans, and it was usually something work-related (or out-of-work-related, to be more accurate).

In a sense, my moving this time around is work-related too. I absolutely love what I do; I have the best, craziest colleagues (they can even make me look well-adjusted some days :)). But the daily commute between Pretoria and Johannesburg every day is becoming very tedious. There are accidents and delays on the highways daily, not to mention the impending e-tolls that will tax my broken budget even more.

So with the help of someone incredibly special I’m moving just down the road from my office – kind of. And I’m moving this weekend! I’m so excited. I won’t be able to move all my books but have already chosen the few that will come with (all local authors, a few reference books, and a couple of others). I also realised this morning, that while I’ve kept clothes out to wear to work today and tomorrow,  with my clothes being the easiest thing to pack I’ve already started with that, and now I have to get creative with what I’ve not packed for Friday and Saturday. At least I’ve still got a load of laundry to do before I go, so it should be fine. Or I’ll just do the rumpled hobo look.

While I don’t have to move any furniture, and I’m only moving about one box of books (as soon as I can find a decent-sized box for the task), I’m going to have to make at least two, if not three trips to move everything – mostly shoes it seems 😛

The good news is that once everything is relocated, I will be able to make the Pretoria-Joh’burg commute on weekends, at leisure, using back roads. The majority of my friends live in Johannesburg, so I’m hoping that I’ll be more social also. Jozi-town also has a lot more free wifi spots (McDonald’s anyone?), and just stuff in general to do. Sure, Pretoria has stuff too, but having lived there practically my whole life, I’ve probably been there and done that.

I’m excited for this new part of my journey – this will be the closest to well-balanced, well-rounded happy Syll I’ve been in a long time: happy in my work, content in my own space; I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation where all aspects of my life were this good.

I’m incredibly grateful to my family, particularly my mother and brother, who were there for me when I needed them most, and who will continue to support me as I will them, from our independent locations. I’d be nothing without their love and help, and I’m not discounting the possibility that I might move back. But I need this, and I think it will do us all good.

Related articles

• Plans to turn Johannesburg into Africa’s ‘New York’ (capitalfm.co.ke)
• Planning Your Move: Packing (cubesmart.com)
• How to Tackle the Packing Process (apartmentguide.com)