I’ve been back in Ireland three days now. Not even the full 72 hours yet and I already miss it so much. I’ve left my house once to get storage bits so that I could unpack and that’s about the height of it. Now that I can finally watch Netflix on a flat screen TV and not my 11-inch laptop might also have something to do with me turning into a hermit.
But I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, there’s nowhere quite like Liverpool. You can read my Leaving of Liverpool post here or even my Love Letter to Liverpool that I wrote back when I was living in London. It’s going to be a very hard next few months of not returning, that I can assure you.
Now that I know what I’m doing with the next year of my life, I had already said that I wouldn’t be returning to Liverpool until 2020 because I want to give myself the time to miss it and maybe some time for it to miss me too. But now it seems that I won’t be returning until the end of 2020 which is causing me a lot of heartache but I also can’t wait to see how much the city has changed within the next 16 months.
In the meantime, here are five things that I found hardest to leave behind in Liverpool.
1. My flat
My lovely Seel Street penthouse. It wasn’t actually a penthouse, it was a very nice studio apartment with a balcony that I was never able to step foot on – for the entire year, it was still yet to be passed off as safe by the council.
But my flat was my haven, my solace and my little home. It was in the best location possible, the prime spot for pre-drinks before a night out and also easily to fall back into once 6am came around.
I had made it my little home with all my bits and bobs (which was not so great come move-out time) and it was where I spent the majority of my time. It was my first home with a great view, something that I’ve always envisioned for myself (you can see that on my Pinterest boards). It wasn’t the New York skyline, but it was city lights by night and on a clear day you could wake up and see boats sailing along the Mersey. It was perfect.
I had always wanted my own space, and I didn’t really know how I would get on living by myself for the first time but I loved it. I like my own space at the best of times so it suited me down to the ground. The kitchen didn’t take much cleaning when I moved out since I didn’t happen to spend much time in that part of my flat. But I will always have fond memories of the place, that’s for sure.
2. Lanigans
You might be starting to think that I’m actually sponsored by this place but I can assure you, I’m not. However, when anyone that I know goes to Liverpool for a weekend, they always know to try out Lanigans thanks to my many Snapchat and Instagram stories, so really, they should be paying me in free gins for providing some great PR.
I spent a lot of my final year in the Irish pub. Starting from August when I first moved back, right through to my final weekend an entire year later. I made so many friends, met so many people that were just holidaying and made so many great memories in that place that I will always cherish.
I’d say I could definitely call myself a regular of the place and the profits might take a small dip in the first few weeks that I’m not there, but I can’t wait to go back in a year’s time and see what’s changed and whether they’ve eventually got around to putting my picture on the wall alongside all the other Irish legends. Surely Kieran McGeeney isn’t the only legend to come out of Armagh.
3. My friends
Well this is an obvious one, but it’s weird to think that people you spent every day with for the past three years, might not be seen again for another few years. Since we all go off in our own separate directions after graduation, it could be five years before I cross paths with people again – who knows?
It’s just a good thing we have social media apps to follow their every move, so it doesn’t feel like you’re ever actually apart. We’re all only a Facetime away these days.
4. My independence
Well this is a big one. As I said above, I like my own space and liked living by myself but now I’m back living with my parents in the middle of nowhere with no car and no public transport and no Uber.
One thing I really miss the most is just being able to get up and go when I pleased. I could get up in the morning and walk to the gym (this rarely happened), or walk to Starbucks (happened too many times), or walked to my local café to do some work, walked to Tesco, or just walked anywhere to get out and about and see some people and run some errands.
But now, I walk outside and I’m greeted to endless green fields, cows and tractors. Even being able to go out in the evening and walk/run down at the Docks was such a luxury. I can’t leave my house without swallowing about ten flies.
I just miss when I could cook my own food at my own time, come and go when I wanted, did my own chores when I wanted, wasn’t depending on others to get about – things like that.
5. City life
The hustle and bustle, the Scousers, the tourists, the students, the busyness – I miss it all. A cow could get loose from one of the fields near my house and it will probably be the most exciting thing to happen that day.
I just miss the constant buzz that a city gives. I’m not a person that likes to stay still, I get too restless. I always think that when I come home that it will give me plenty of time to write, but it usually has the opposite effect. Because everything’s so slow and relaxed, I become slow and relaxed.
I’ve been reading more than usual which isn’t a bad thing, but I haven’t had much motivation to do any writing and I still haven’t fully unpacked. I miss constantly being on the go and doing around 15,000 steps every day. Now I’m lucky if I do even 500 steps per day since walking from the couch to the kitchen isn’t very far.
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