From scraping by in Scotland to owning a creative residency in France
How did we change from thinking that being able to afford a fried egg sandwich in a café on the East Coast of Scotland was ‘Living the Dream’ … to realising that living in a mansion in the South of France was ‘Living the Dream’?
The grass is actually greener over here!
We’d managed to find a gorgeous wee cottage to rent in the countryside, about a half-hour drive from Edinburgh, and had welcomed a couple of Labradors into our family. We were happily adjusting to the rural life, but, to be brutally honest, every month was a huge financial challenge.
I was working from home as an artist, web designer and administrator for an arts society. All of my clients were self-employed artists, which meant that they paid on time (most of them being in the same boat, they understood how crucial it was for cash flow to be predictable). My husband, Colin, on the other hand, was working for corporate clients, and he was constantly having to chase to get an invoice paid. It seemed to be a game to these businessmen to delay payment for as long as possible.
‘You’re on a what? A ski holiday?’ I heard Colin ask on the phone one day to the (self-titled) CEO. ‘A ski holiday? A ski holiday?! I can’t even afford a f***ing ski yoghurt!’
A change was needed.
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