As you might have guessed from the title, we have done it. We’ve moved back to the German speaking world. I’d like to point out though that the outskirts of Vienna aren’t exactly the “schnell, schnell” type of place. I just thought, not everyone might understand “Grüß Gott” and “Wiener Gemütlichkeit”.

Anyway, I am now trying to sort out my life. You know, crossroad, choosing which way to go, all that sort of stuff. Basically it is like being 18 again. Without the parties. And with grey hair instead. And a wobbly tummy. And three children (hence the wobbly tummy, nothing to do with chocolate). But apart from that exactly like being 18. Where was I? Oh yes, cross road. As Atelier Oursonne hasn’t been a global player just yet I have officially closed my business in the UK – you might have read about it in the Financial Times. The question now is, should I start again in Austria?Where would I get my supplies from? (Shepherds Bush is not quite in walking distance anymore.) Maybe with a more tailored range of products? Tailored to which target group? Maybe under a new name? One that people can actually pronounce and maybe even spell?

Plus, legally things aren’t so easy over here. Lots of regulations. You actually need to have proper education for lots of business types. Imagine, hairdressers are actually fully trained. As hairdressers! Obviously the downside of this is that I can not just start selling amazing handmade clothes only because I am incredibly talented if I do not own the right certificate proving that I have actually learned how to do this.

Plus the whole mother and housewife thing is suddenly much more time consuming. School starts at 8 and finishes at 1 or even worse 12. Which means I have to provide lunch and dinner. Oh, and snack for snack time. Just fruit is not acceptable apparently. I am suddenly spending lots of time in researching and producing healthy snacks. I might start a blog about that actually.

And you get much more living space for your money than in London (surprise, surprise) which also means more cleaning space. Something I hadn’t considered. Plus that garden! Not only does it need to be looked after (Apparently. I have only noticed that the neighbours have much nicer gardens) but nature is actually creeping into the house as well. And whilst the crawling baby is doing his best at eating all the dirt (and possibly some of the creepy crawlies too), somehow it makes me have to hoover on a daily basis. Sometimes even twice. Said baby is quite good at making dirt disappear but actually produces even more dirt when provided with real food. Anyway, all those issues mean less time for sewing.

So, should I go back into business? I would actually be overflowing with initially-brilliant-then-turning-into-nightmare-workload-ideas. I’ll show you next time. All I need to do is getting those pictures on the computer. Easy. So you just stay where you are and wait for me to come back with them.