good bye august and good ridance

I cant wait for August to be over. Being homeless is a nightmare during the month of August. It is so expensive to stay at hotels and short term rental accommodation during August. We have managed to duck and dive through August what with the housesitting etc but staying with people is not really my thing, I NEED MY SPACE AND PRIVACY.

And so I look forward to September, when the kids go back to school, the adults go back to work :) and everything again is calm. And I cant wait to get off to Mallorca to begin our new life.

I am still enjoying the escape, although sometimes I get the feeling that I should do something to be productive or I should be doing something to earn money. DH and I have lots of ideas to start a small business. But that will have to come later when we decide how and where we will live.

Its great to be free

We have now left the housesitting gig. It was nice to have a few weeks of rest and relaxation. We are now staying with a relative. We are certainly paying for our keep as we are doing some backbraking decorating work for a relative. 7 hour days of painting and decorating, phew.

But, it is still wonderful to be free. Today we gave ourselves a day off and went walking in the valley and Forest, the scenery is quite spectacular and the green green grass of home is strangely comforting but also reminiscent of the ghosts of the past.

I do feel different having escaped the grind. As DH and I drove into the area I became overwhelmed by how green the area was, I had forgotten that there were so many mountains or perhaps I never really saw them before. I was also struck by the colour of it all, as opposed to the concrete greyness of the city. Also the roads and streets are clean, in fact spotless.

Sometimes you have to go to come back.

Country living

We are now house and dog sitting for friends in Cheshire.

It is so quiet and peaceful here. We are in a large detached house. Just across the road is beautiful countryside where we walk everyday. There is a river that we walk along. The water is clean and clear and not black liquid as it was in the city. It is so nice not to have to get in the car for an hour to drive to the countryside. DH and I have noticed that we are both sleeping through the night. I have an annoying sleep walking habit. Another thing I notice is that my acid reflux is much better.

The Lady of the house organised for us to receive an organic fruit and veg box and the stuff tastes fabulous. We have been making fresh soup. Lady also has a herb garden and we have been told to help ourselves. Lady has a cleaner who comes twice a week. I told Lady that there was no need for the cleaner to come whilst she was away as I was happy to keep things tidy etc but Lady insisted. Lady also insisted on ordering us fresh milk everyday from the milkman. Lady has been very kind and left us goodies like wine, chocolates and champagne etc.

I told DH that we cant get used to living like this because now we cant afford it!

This is so much better than city living. I feel far more chilled. Fresh air, I cant believe it. I feel like I am on holiday.

Now the dog, well he is a handful. He is not very old but he needs constant attention and he is very excitable, honestly it feels like a full time job looking after him. Its a good job that he is cute. I hadn't realised what a responsibility dogs are especially puppies.

I must admit that sitting in the family room watching the trees in the breeze made me wonder whether DH and I could have afforded to live like this. Well we could have perhaps just about but we cant anymore. I cant believe I thought that. No, we would both have to work like dogs for the rest of our lives.

We have made the right decision.

I escaped the 9 - 5 !!

I have now escaped the 9 -5 office grind, forever.

Yes, no more office grind for me. I will make it work no matter what it takes. I am never going back. Furthermore, I am NEVER going to live in a city again.

What a great fracking relief!

More tomorrow.