Cruel cruel summer (now you’re gone)

I recently admitted on Twitter that my blogging mojo had been temporarily mislaid.

Somewhere in Hanoi’s long hot summer I’d run out of topics to blog about.  Then it dawned on me that perhaps it’s part of a wider malaise that’d be more interesting to analyse.

I wonder at how my life has changed in the 12 months since I left Cameroon.

Not so much: boy-meets-girl as: boy-moves-to-new-country-meets-girl-gets-engaged-pings-from-job-to-job-before-deciding-with-unpaid-for-wedding-fast-approaching-to-start-own-business.

As wonderful as it has been it’s left me yearning for the mythical “next year” when there’ll be such luxuries as money in our pockets and time for holidays.

The smart move, of course, would have been to start a business when people are actually in Hanoi. Sometimes it feels like you’re the last tay in town.

Expat schedules mean work gets done between September and the end of November and after Tet (February/March) and the beginning of July.  The rest of the time, a total of half a year, the expat population is liable to disappear.

They say foreigners should leave Hanoi every three months or risk going mad.  I’m well aware that it’s five months and counting.

Battling through the summer, my new business is punctuated by bouts of optimism.   During these times I’m genuinely searching through my mental Rolodex to work out who I might employ if all prospective new clients come through

But just as frequently it’s characterised by delays.

“They’re away, right now,” I’m told, when following up leads.

“They’re back September.  We’ll talk then.”

A matter of scheduling for them and of mild despair for me.

Once the summer is over there is huge reason for optimism.  By targeting mid-sized business with an international clientele and selling in both traditional and social media relations I think I’ve stumbled on a real gap in the market.

Yes, me and The Cart, we’re working right through.  The next stop will be the wedding then honeymoon in late October.

It’s never healthy to wish away your life but I’ll be glad when it’s September.

By then, hopefully it’ll be a couple of degrees cooler, I’ll be a couple of clients better off and we’ll be just a couple of months from the honeymoon.