Happy New Year Everyone!

Huge changes in my life – I am now living in Melbourne, Australia. Last year I applied for, and after many months was granted, residence in Australia. I arrived here on the 6^th November. I came on an immigrant visa category known as “last remaining relative”. At the time of application I was the only member of my immediate family who did not live in Australia. My parents, brothers and sister, and a growing collection of in-laws are all either Australian residents or citizens. I had held out for as long as I could.

Lemon Tree and Bottle Brush

Melbourne is a city of close to 4 million inhabitants. Aside from an academic year in London a long time ago, I’ve never lived in a big city. I’m a small-town gal at heart, and feel lost in the sprawling, anonymous suburbs of this place. Only the unusual warbling calls of the indigenous birds and the occasional scent of eucalyptus on a warm day hint that this is a very different continent. The suburbs of Melbourne feel just as far from the more evocative Alice or Darwin, Kakadu or the Great Barrier Reef as a suburb of London or L.A.

White picket fence in the suburbs

Next on the agenda: doing the rounds of doctors in the hope of finding answers. At least here there are a few doctors who are willing and interested in treating ME – even if they do not yet appear to distinguish between those with neurological ME, and others with a variety of illnesses that are mistakenly diagnosed as “CFS”.

I have not made any New Year’s resolution to keep the blog going. Either I will or I won’t. To find out, keep checking back!