Moore Please! is a monthly Friday series where I can just chat about what’s been on my mind lately. From what I’ve been eyeing & buying, to personal updates, to weekend plans – you can read all about my current favorites here!
Covent Garden, London, 23 June 2020
Happy Friday and happy July! How are we possibly halfway through the year already? 2020 has definitely shaken up the world, in a lot of ways for the better. So much has happened since I last posted, and I felt like the right thing for me to do was to take a step back to better process everything. But I’m back with a few life updates, and will return to regular posting moving forward!
MOORE SCHOOL
As you may know, I’m back in school at London Metropolitan University to get my masters in education. My final papers were due the week of 5th June, and it was certainly a stressful time for me. I had three essays due in total, with each word count being between 5-6k. It felt so good to turn them in! I now have a nice long summer break, as they’ve pushed back the start date of the autumn term until 15th October due to the virus. We still don’t know for sure if courses will be held in person or online, but as of right now they are planning to have us back on campus this fall. This could of course change, and London Met has said they will comply with whatever government guidelines are in place come October. I will definitely update you when I learn more, as I know many have been curious about studying abroad during this unprecedented time.
MOORE MOVING
The pandemic has changed everyone’s life in one way or another, and a big loss for me has been my vibrant city of London. I live in Notting Hill, and I spend an above average amount of money each month to live right in the heart of London. Normally I don’t complain about the cost of rent at all – the convenience of living near friends, the best shopping, restaurants / pubs, etc is worth the price. It’s just an accepted fact of city living that you pay more and get less, but the exciting city life makes up for it. However, London is of course not the exciting city it normally is (I don’t think any city is!). Things are starting to slowly re-open – shops opened two weeks ago and we just got confirmation that restaurants and pubs can open tomorrow (0n 4th July) but it’s just not quite the same for right now. I have hope that shopping and eating out can become more enjoyable again in the future, but I completely understand why the safety measures in place at the moment are important. While I’ve enjoyed living in Notting Hill, I think it’s time for a change.
I’ve decided that the best thing to do for now is to move just outside of central London to Richmond. If you’ve never heard of Richmond, it’s one of the most beautiful areas of London. It truly feels like a bit of country living, even though you’re still easily connected to central London via the tube. By doing this I can save a considerable amount of money (I have a unique situation that came up that I’m incredibly grateful for – don’t get me wrong, I know that Richmond is not a cheap place to live!) and have a bit more space at home during a time when I’m spending most of my time at home! My new flat has a beautiful back garden area (I want to get a paddling pool for the summer) and is just a ten minute walk from the massive Richmond Park. I think I’ll also feel safer from the virus in Richmond as there’s just more space to spread out. Portobello Road, which I have to walk down to access my current flat, has gotten increasingly crowded, and the parks in central London are rammed every weekend. Having a bit more space to breathe will be such a treat!
If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen that I used Fantastic Services for my move. I truly can not recommend their moving services enough! Everything was completely stress-free from start to finish (which is really saying something because moving is STRESSFUL!). I had two men and a van, and they quickly and efficiently got all of items out of my flat and into the truck, including bubble wrapping my more delicate pieces like my big mirror. They also have wardrobe boxes available for use, which is such a game changer if you have a lot of hanging items in your closet. From the time they arrived at 8am to the time I was completely moved into my new flat in Richmond was not more than 2 hours. I am so impressed with Fantastic Services and will certainly be using them for my next move!
MOORE ACTIVELY ANTI-RACIST
Unless you live under a rock, you’re well aware that a string of tragic events from late May have sparked what may be the largest global civil rights movement in modern history. In the past I’ve tried to keep my social media a place of positivity, and was honestly just too afraid to speak up about “controversial” topics. I didn’t feel I was the best source of knowledge, so I remained silent. However, the recent events have changed my outlook, and if you follow me on social media, then you know I’ve been a passionate supporter the past few weeks (I even went to the Black Lives Matter protests here in London). I have a post coming next week on how to be an ally offline, which I feel is especially important now that the social media storm has died down. Be sure to check back for that next week.
That’s it for me today, I hope you have a lovely weekend!
*** Thank you to Fantastic Services for partnering with me on my move. ***
xx Mollie
Best of luck with the move – can’t wait to follow along as always!