My Cultural Awakening: I moved across the world after watching a Billy Connolly documentary

3 days ago

I was 23 and thought I had found my path in life,I’d always wanted to work with animals, and I had just landed a job as a vet nurse in Melbourne,I was still learning the ropes, but I imagined I would stay there for years, building a life around the work,Then, five months in, the vet called me into his office and told me it wasn’t working out,“It’s not you,” he said, “I just really hate training people.

” His previous nurse had been with him for decades; she knew his every move.I didn’t.And just like that, I was out of a job.I drove home crying, feeling utterly adrift.I wasn’t sure whether to try again at another vet clinic or rip up the plan entirely and do something else.

After spending a few days floating around aimlessly, trying to recalibrate my life, I turned on the TV, needing something to take my mind off things.And there he was: Billy Connolly, striding across a windswept Scottish landscape in his World Tour of Scotland documentary.I had always liked Billy: I’d watched plenty of his standup shows on TV, laughing at his stories about growing up in Glasgow.But this was different.The programme, which had come out a few years previously, in 1994, was a love letter to Scotland, full of history, humour and stunning scenery.

I had never studied British or Irish history at school, so everything he was talking about – the castles, the battles, the wild coastlines – was brand new to me.I found myself completely transfixed.It wasn’t one joke or moment that got me, it was the combination of it all: his warmth, his irreverent humour and the rugged beauty of the country.I thought: I have to go there.Six months later I had saved enough money to book a trip.

I flew into Edinburgh, and as soon as I stepped outside the airport I felt a jolt of recognition, as though something had clicked into place,It was like I had grown up in the wrong country,I spent the first week on a coach tour of the Highlands, then hired a car and drove around the south,I got hopelessly lost more than once – this was pre-GPS – but I loved every moment,When I returned to Melbourne, I knew I hadn’t had my fill.

Two years later I applied for a UK work visa, signed up for a live-in pub job in London, and flew back across the world.The plan was to stay in London for a few months, then head up to Scotland to work and explore.Things didn’t go exactly to plan.A bar job in Scotland fell through, and I ended up following a friend to Belfast on a whim.I thought I’d stay a couple of months.

I’ve now been here for 26 years.There was something about Belfast that drew me in.It was a smaller, more approachable place to build a life, and I felt people were willing to give me a chance in a way I hadn’t experienced before.I worked in a bar, and it was there that I met my future husband, who was also working there at the time.We got engaged a year later, and eventually fought a long, hard battle with the Home Office to get permanent residency, which I finally received in 2018.

My parents were supportive of my decision to come here, although I think they assumed I’d be back after two years.I sometimes wonder how different my life would be if I hadn’t turned on the TV that day; if I’d just stayed home feeling sorry for myself instead of being inspired by a mouthy Glaswegian wandering around Scotland.Thanks to that chance moment 28 years ago, I have a life I love: a home, cat, a husband, and a deep connection to the UK.Without meaning to be, it was a real sliding doors moment, and a fork in the road.And I’m so glad I chose this path.

Sign up to Inside SaturdayThe only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine,Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend,after newsletter promotionYou can tell us how a cultural moment has prompted you to make a major life change by filling in the form below or emailing us on cultural,awakening@theguardian,com.

Please include as much detail as possiblePlease note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB.Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information.They will only be seen by the Guardian.Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information.

They will only be seen by the Guardian.If you include other people's names please ask them first.

foodSee all

‘Simple, well-crafted and excellent’: supermarket chutneys, tasted and rated | The food filter

Our resident taster dipped, spread and dolloped his way through 10 chutneys in time for Christmas, so you don’t get in a pickle choosing one for yourself The fair price for 14 everyday items, from cleaning spray to olive oilThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Chutney is a heritage recipe that’s been largely unchanged for a century, and some of the best versions are the simplest and most traditional. That said, even when it’s made on an industrial scale, chutney usually features just fruit, sugar, vinegar and perhaps some pectin

2 days ago

It’s not all about roasting on an open fire – there’s so much more you can do with chestnuts

If I’d ever spared a thought for how chestnuts – the sweet, edible kind, not the combative horsey sort – were harvested, I would probably have conjured rosy-cheeked peasants bent low in ancient forests and filling rough-hewn hessian sacks by hand. Back-breaking labour, sure, but so picturesque!I was delighted, therefore, while on a writing retreat in Umbria last month, to get the opportunity to watch an elderly couple manoeuvre a giant vacuum around their haphazard orchard, followed by their furious sheepdog. The fallen crop was sucked into a giant fan that spat their bristly jackets back out on to the ground, and the nuts then went to be sorted by other family members on a conveyor belt in the barn – the good ones to be sold in the shell, the less perfect specimens swiftly dropped into a bucket for processing.Later in the week, a lorry turned up in the village square to pick up bags from other small local producers, and that evening I roasted a pan of chestnuts on the fire with new appreciation, while loudly bemoaning the disappearance from the streets of London of the chestnut sellers of my childhood (though this makes me sound positively Dickensian, I can confirm that I’m talking about this century. Note also that Nigel Slater is less starry-eyed on the subject

3 days ago

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple, brown butter and oat loaf | The sweet spot

I adore a good loaf cake. There’s something about them that’s just inherently cosy and wholesome, and this one in particular is perfect for the colder months, not least because it’s simple and sturdy in the very best way. It’d be right at home with a coffee for breakfast, as well as gently warmed in a pan with butter and served with hot custard on a rainy evening. A real all-rounder.Prep 5 min Cook 1 hr 25 min Serves 8180g unsalted butter 200g light muscovado sugar 2 large eggs 50g soured cream 210g plain flour ½ tsp cinnamon 40g porridge oats, plus extra to finish1½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 2 eating apples 2 tbsp demerara sugarHeat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin

4 days ago

Kids have a wobble in the face of rabbit jelly | Brief letters

I sympathise with Tim Dowling and the challenges of releasing blancmange from a rabbit mould (Jelly’s back! Here are three worth making – and three that should wobble off to the bin, 12 November). My mistake was adding chopped pineapple to the jelly mix, with the resulting jelly looking as though we were seeing the undigested contents of a rabbit’s stomach. My children refused to eat it.Dee ReidTwyford, Berkshire Tim Dowling has missed out one important ingredient from his otherwise commendable recipe for blancmange rabbit: the two sultanas you stick on for the eyes.Jane GregoryEmsworth, Hampshire Regarding concerns over Epstein Road in Thamesmead (Letters, 12 November), spare a thought for those unfortunate residents of Savile Row in central London

4 days ago

Think autumn, think Piedmont – wine from ‘the foot of the mountain’

By the time this column comes out, it will be Big Coat weather, so those collars will be getting higher and the scarves thicker. And, when there’s a chill in the air, I like to eat food than leans towards smoky and earthy flavours: charred vegetables, stews, sausages and mushroom everything.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more

4 days ago

‘I’m now a one-issue voter’: US shoppers fear Italian pasta tariff will cause shortage

On Monday night, Kelly planned to make dinner and spend the night inside with her family. Instead, she told her husband to put the kids to bed so she could get in the car, drive to Wegmans and “panic buy” $100 worth of Rummo pasta.Kelly, a 42-year-old product manager who lives outside Philadelphia, has celiac disease, which means that eating gluten triggers an immune response that leads to digestive issues. She saw fellow gluten-free people on Reddit and TikTok freaking out over the fact that the US is mulling a 107% tariff on Italian pasta imports. According to the Wall Street Journal, the hike could lead to those companies withdrawing from the US market as early as January

4 days ago

recentSee all