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!