A (realistic) day in the life | Canadian in England

About two hours of my day went into cleaning and labelling roughly 200 perfume samples. Before that, I’d edited a video and gone out for a cold but sunny walk, returning with a bakery loaf and a lemon-curd doughnut. This was my realistic day in England. A lot of work, a few treats, and no great drama.

In the vlog published in spring 2024, I’d been here for eight years, but my days hadn’t always looked like this. I thought of the different stages as eras, and this was a good one. I worked from home, mostly on Adventures and Naps, and felt very lucky to be able to arrange my own day.

Coffee, puzzles and getting dressed

My mum had recently introduced me to Connections over FaceTime. Before we could catch up, she needed to tell me about the puzzle. It joined Wordle and the mini crossword in my morning coffee routine, provided there wasn’t an emergency going on. On this morning, I rushed Connections as usual and kept being one answer off.

My first job in the UK had involved data entry and analysis at a college, with two buses to get there. Later, I drove to a different business and had my own office, before lockdowns moved the work home. By this vlog, I still did some work for that company, but most of my time went into content creation. There was no commute beyond going to my desk.

Getting dressed mattered to me. I’d had stretches of working from home in pyjamas and sweatpants, and staying that way didn’t make me feel particularly productive. Most days, I put on real clothes. They didn’t need to be business clothes, and the rest of the morning routine was quite simple. I wasn’t presenting myself as a skincare or makeup expert.

There was a temporary bed behind my desk too. My partner and I had been ill for nearly four weeks, and I’d been sleeping on a blow-up bed in the office. It was surprisingly comfortable, but I was over the arrangement by then. This was the actual room I was working in, with the inconvenience included.

Most of the morning happened at the computer

A separate desk was something I appreciated. In our old, very small flat, I’d worked at the kitchen table in the living room and felt as though I was always in my workspace. Here, I had a room for work and livestreaming, even if it had temporarily become a bedroom as well.

That day’s job was a second edit of an exclusive questions-and-answers video. Sometimes editing reveals that a video can’t be used, which is stressful, but this one worked out. I also got the following week’s upload scheduled, tagged and organised, with its chapters ready. By the check-in, my eyes felt as though they were going cross-eyed.

I moved the planned afternoon walk earlier so I could use the sunshine. Apparently it was only seven degrees outside. I’d thought we were in spring, but at least it wasn’t raining. After being ill, this was my first proper outdoor walk, and I came back a little out of breath as well as cold.

The bakery purchases helped. I planned to have the fresh loaf with avocado and egg for lunch, and the doughnut turned out to contain lemon curd, which was perfectly all right with me. I love buying things in bakeries when I don’t quite know what they are. Being able to walk around town and try cafes and bakeries was one of my favourite parts of living here, very different from the places I’d lived in Canada.

Then the work changed

Before lunch, I switched away from the computer. My partner and I ran Edenbridge, making hand-blended fragrances inspired by famous people and places. The little bottles for our sample packs needed cleaning and labels, so I sat down to do a batch while listening to Hilary Duff’s Metamorphosis. She’d been one of my first concerts, when I was around fifteen.

The batch took about two hours, longer than I’d expected, and came to roughly 200 samples. A sample pack used five or six, so we got through them fairly quickly. I liked getting a big batch done. Lunch had been good too, although it wasn’t always a lovely bakery lunch; sometimes I just threw something together.

Back upstairs, I could use the little walking pad under my desk while watching a final edit or doing basic admin. Serious editing was different: my hands moved too much while walking. Later, dinner was a chicken-and-orzo tray bake from Sorted Food that I made often because it was simple, filling and tasty, finished with feta and basil. I’d still need to do laundry, and planned to find a movie and make popcorn. I was grateful for a boring day like this.

Watch the full working-day vlog, including the bakery treats and sample labelling.