Thoughts

So many months have gone by and this poor little blog has been so neglected. Not really sure why. We're living life to the full. I somehow mangae to update my personal blog on a regular basis and now I feel kinda bad that I've let this blog go.

Steve's been working very hard earning enough money to keep us in a nice little lifestyle. Nothing major. Just enough to pay the bills and buy the odd luxury item such as books and we've also managed a couple of trips away since December.

What's in a name?

Over the years I have heard many variations of the name Pinchbeck. So after hearing two new ones just recently I thought it might be interesting to list some of those I have been called in the past.

Mr Pitchblack
Mr Pitchfork
Mr Pinchbeak
Mr Hinchback
Mr Frenchbread
Mr Pincuback
Mr Pinchbead

Here's our Heraldic Crest

We even have our own village located in south Lincolnshire

- Steve

London 20th Nov 2007

We were both really excited to go by train to London in November. It was a very grey day and the rain was very persistant, but it didn't dampen our spirits. We decided to be very cultured and make a visit to the National Gallery before meeting up with my brother Jimmy at 3ish to celebrate his birthday that was on the previous day.
We had thought the train would be arriving in Charing Cross, but surprise, surprise British Rail got all the details wrong and it went to Victoria instead. Now on the map this doesn't look too far away so brolly in hand we decided to go for a jolly down Whitehall and onto Trafalgar Square.
After many 'miles' we arrived at Trafalgar Square still excited and a lot wetter. We headed straight for the National Gallery and first stop was the in house Cafe, which had some nice sandwiches and some good wholesome Carrot cake. We then did some more 'miles' around the gallery, but it was very interesting and we both loved looking at the many fantastic paintings.
About 3.30pm we met Jimmy under Nelson's Column, which sounded like something out of a spy novel. We then walked some more into Soho for a really nice meal at place called Bar Soho, which actually turned out to be a gay bar. We didn't see any untoward activites thank goodness! but I must admit the place was very clean!
We parted ways with my bro a couple of hours later and then headed for home. It was just a brilliant day and we really want to go again, and this time take more photos.
- Steve

One of the Lions at Trafalgar Square

Di and Steve with a friend!

Di and Steve in front of the National Gallery

One of the many amazing sculptures in and around London, this one in a fountian in Trafalgar Square

One of our Neighbours!

This little guy likes to sit on the fence right outside our backdoor and play with his nuts!

Whitstable & Routine

I just thought I would tell you all a little about our daily routine here in Whitstable. As you can see from the photos Steve has added here, one of our fave things to do is going for walks down to the sea front. We try and remember to take the camera with us every time as we see so many amazing things to snap.

Ok - so yeah... Whitstable..first of all why Whitstable? Well, as much as we loved West Yorkshire, I had a strong need to be near my children (and new little granddaught) even though they are all grown up and have lives of their own. It's complicated. And those of you very close to Steve and I know how hard things have been for my kids and to some degree, continues to be so.

And so after a long chat and a kind offer from my parents to stay with them while we find somewhere to live, we moved down to Kent back at the beginning of April 2007 - the same day we got married! Cool eh? Married and moved on the same day! Yeah... don't do anything by halves..! Before we moved, Steve and I had pretty much decided we wanted to live near the coast and definitely not in my "hometown" of Ashford. We wanted to be reasonably close to my kids and family though.

We had gone for a drive on a visit to mum's and went to all the different places Steve had been when he was stationed down in Kent when he was in the RAF. And somehow we decided on Whitstable. And after just 2 short weeks looking we were very fortunate to find our little flat and it was affordable considering Whitstable is one of those "up and coming" coastal towns. Very popular "second home" town.

And so on April 27th we moved into our flat. My kids helped us to move in and we had a really good weekend and reasonable uneventful move. The kids were just fantastic. Us girls stayed here cleaning, painting and unpacking while the boys lugged and moved all the furniture and bits and pieces.

It's hard to believe that we've been here almost six months already! Where'd that go?

Our neighbours are mainly elderly so it's very quiet here which we both like. The only downside - and it's major - is there are 100's of cats round here. It's awful. We don't like cats and I'm horribly allergic to them. But having said that we cope and once we shut our front door, it's no longer an issue.

We have communal gardens and they are just beautiful and it was nice sitting out there back in the Summer catching some rays, reading and listening to my iPod. Always armed with a big cup of water to chuck at unwanted cats wandering past!!

So yeah... where was I? Oh yeah.. routine.

Ok - bear in my mind, both Steve and I work from home. So most days we wake up between 8:30am - 10:30am depending on how late we went to bed the night before. We have breakfast together which is usually a time to talk about work and our plans for the day. Then it's shower, change and straight to work.

Work is fantastic. It's hard sometimes as the money isn't too great but it's getting better - early days still for both of us re: new business and freelancing... getting out names "out there" to get more commissions. It means we have to really put the hours in. Fortunately we both love our work. Our office is in the front of the flat and we have a fab big window that overlooks the cul-de-sac and so we can have a really good nosey and see all the comings and goings of the folks round here. It's very interesting actually!

At different points during the day we pop out for a walk to the shops - we buy most of our shopping locally - and then late afternoon we go out for our long walk down to the beach. We usually sit and watch some dvd - West Wing, X-Files, Lord of The Rings -during our lunch hour and then back to work.

Dinner is usually about 7 - 8pm and then we watch tv for an hour or so. Steve always goes back to work then but I usually stay watching tv or doing some kind of craft - my crocheting for another couple of hours. I will then go back to work round about 11pm and then we go to bed between 1 - 2am.

So there you have it! Cool eh? Our life. I bet you wanted to know all that eh? What I haven't really mentioned in that routine is how fantastic it is for us both. Every day is a real joy for us both. We are so incredibly lucky to be together. I don't want to sound boringly romantic or mushy but we both sense that we were always meant to be together. Now is the time for us. Every day we laugh together... sometimes hysterically - well, me anyway.. Steve is just so funny and makes me laugh so much. I've never smiled or laughed so much in my life. We also spend a lot of time talking... we talk and talk... about everything.. absolutely everything. And when we talk about work.. it's just awesome. We seem to inspire each other. Brainstorming product ideas together is fantastic.

Yeah.. so that's our routine..! And Whitstable. Next I will try and get photos of the flat and our office!

What's With Whistable!!!

About time to add some photos of Whitstable. We both really love it here, it's such a fantastic town. One particular area we just love to go is down to the beach, and it only takes about 10 mins to walk there.
This great sunset was taken by Di and I just love it. You can see in the distance the Isle of Sheppey.

Here we are again on the beach.

We see some amazing light and clouds down on the beach, which is why we say to each other we should always carry a camera. There was such a gloom around this day and off in the distance there was a tiny glimmer of light that appeared on the water, so we waited and the sun slowly poked it's head around the clouds. It was great to see the change.

Still haven't managed to get out for a seafood meal, but this restuarant looks really good. Di took this at about 7.30am on one of those very rare mornings when either of us are up this early!!

A Whole Year Gone

Well it's now over a year since both Di and I got together, and what a fantastic year it has been. I thought perhaps it might be a good idea to have a look at some of the photos we have taken in the last 12 months and post them here.

Below is a nice image of the Broadbottom lock in Mytholmroyd that we often walked past. It was not too far away from the flat.

This is the same canal but this time it's taken in the next town called Hedben Bridge. It was a really nice place to visit.

Below is another image of Hebden Bridge, but further in the town.
We had a fantastic day out at Bolton Abbey. Di had been to a Craft Show in Harrogate earlier in the day and we decided afterwards to do a bit of exploring, so we ended up at Bolton Abbey. I think it'll look really good once they get the roof finished!!

We only really had a couple of days of snow when we lived in Mytholmroyd and that wasn't too much to write home about. But we did manage to get up the hill that over looked the village and take some good photos. Here's Di getting a little windblown, it was very cold up there in the Yorkshire hills!

And this was the view looking down over Mytholmroyd.

We tried to get out when we could and took a few car journeys over the surrounding moorland. Here's Di looking very cold on one particular moor. You can see in the background a monument that was a place called Mankinholes.

Here's a view directly behind the flat and looking down the tow path to the Rochdale Canal.

A view at the top of the hill that stood at the back of our flat.

This is a view of our block. You can see our flat on the left on the first floor just above that bush.

Well that's that for now. I'll try and get some more uploaded soon.
- Steve