Sometimes piecing together your new life — applying for jobs, figuring out the rental market, picking a phone provider, finding out which bars to avoid — goes as well as one Paddington Bear trying to fix a phone book with sellotape. .

But while you’re trying to unravel yourself from your sticky peril, it’s the will to succeed that gets you through a huge life change like moving — and you probably won’t be simultaneously hunted from the ceiling by a crazed taxidermist.

If you've ever moved cities, or are planning to one day, I can thoroughly recommend watching Paddington, as well as its offensively delightful sequel.

The story of an overtly polite Peruvian bear who fumbles his way through adorable moments of slapstick comedy to finding happiness in his new home of London, these movies capture the anxiety, excitement, loneliness, and sense of independence that comes with finding your feet somewhere new.

I've moved cities overseas twice, moving from Sydney to New York and back again, and most recently moving to London, like our marmalade-addicted, duffled-coated hero.

And, like all journeys, things have found a way of working out — albeit with all the waterlogged grace of Paddington "using the facilities.".

From his first interaction with the Browns, his future family, he pours hot tea all over a cafe table, gets his foot stuck in a cup, squirts ketchup over fellow diners, and finds himself inexplicably covered in whipped cream — all of which is pretty much how my first few months of living in New York City went, give or take a few details. .

“They will not have forgotten how to treat a stranger,” Aunt Lucy tells Paddington, giving him an optimistic last piece of advice before he ships out.

Like would-be travellers with their noses plunged into a Lonely Planet guide, Paddington and his family meticulously study London etiquette from records — what to say, how to say it, how many ways there are to talk about the weather.

Arriving in his namesake station, Paddington immediately puts all his ‘training’ to use, politely greeting the morning rush hour of commuters, wielding his well-rehearsed one-liners about the weather.

Paddington pretty quickly finds himself somewhere to stay that isn't a dingy hostel or the station itself.

Of course, Paddington is a distant fairy tale to many who have been displaced or relocated to a new city, those who haven’t found loving, generous families headed by a benevolent Sally Hawkins and a curmudgeonly Hugh Bonneville to scoop them up and give them a home — sadly, Paddington’s plight is the best case scenario.

When I moved to London, I was lucky enough to be scooped up by dear friends who’d already made the long voyage to the city from Sydney (Australians in London? Who knew?) or who'd grown up in the UK and could teach me the ways.

Spoiler alert, Paddington finally finds his feet, just like you will or already have.

But while you'll probably miss your friends and family terribly (I can't actually put into words how much I do) it's about finding rhythm in your new realm, as Paddington tells his Aunt Lucy in a letter, “I do miss our old home, but I’m beginning to understand life in London." .

By Paddington 2, our hero has “really got to grips with how things work” in London, primarily that electric toothbrushes work as ear cleaners much more effectively than regular ones, but also how the city works.

Paddington’s pivot into an independent window-washing business is a much better fit, which allows him to develop new skills and find his independence — like my stints in dog-walking and working at a radio station in Manhattan made a lot more sense than my run at a glossy fashion magazine

But aside from finding his way around the city and all its physical landmarks, Paddington’s happiness in his new home truly develops in getting to know his new friends, their quirks, their habits, and what makes them different

Gruber tells Paddington of his own experience emigrating to England