Bye, Bye Brighton

I was awake at 6am and checked the tide timetable as we’re having some really low tides at the moment. It was a very low tide (0.3m) at 6.45am so I got up, grabbed my camera and had to break into one of the packing boxes to get my waterproof boots, and headed into Brighton for one final time.

It was lovely and quiet down there, although the sea swimmers were heading for their early morning swim - crazy people lol! I didn’t stay long as the removal guys were due to arrive at 8.30am, but I’m pleased that my final Brighton Blip is of both piers.

On my home I filled the car up with fuel and went to the McDonalds drive through to get Bacon & Egg McMuffins for breakfast - we rarely eat McDonalds, but somehow it seems to be something we do when moving house, it’s just convenient I guess.

The guys arrived on time and filled our road with the truck, but we’d forewarned the neighbours and everyone had moved their cars so they didn’t get blocked in.

At 9am Alan dropped the boys off at Charlotte’s as they were booked in for grooming - it wasn’t planned that way, but after lockdown, that was the first chance she had to fit them in. As it happens it worked well though as it meant they were out of the way.

There were 4 guys today and it was like a military operation, the downside was the weather, it stated raining very heavily! Alan and I managed a brief walk along the Undercliff and went to Molly’s for a hot chocolate, but it was so cold and windy, it wasn’t very pleasant walking back. Such a change from yesterday when I got a bit sunburnt in the garden!

We picked up chicken & chorizo pasties from Whitecliffs Cafe to have for lunch and headed back to the house. The guys finished loading just before 1pm and at about the same time, we heard from the solicitor that we’d completed on the sale. We had one last tidy round and it was time to leave - it felt a bit strange but not sad.

Having two cars, we both had to drive so went in convoy, stopping to pick the boys up on the way. There’s no way we would have made it to Wales before the estate agent closed, so we arranged to stay at Rachel’s tonight. Although you’re still not ‘allowed’ overnight stays, moving house is classed as ‘essential’.

We arrived at 6.30pm, dinner was cooked and there was a celebratory bottle of Prosecco in the fridge. We were tired, but it was lovely to be here - we’re looking forward to being able to spend a lot more time with our family!

Next stop, Wales - the truck will arrive between 9-10am tomorrow, so we have an early start to collect they keys. See you in Old Colwyn for the start of the next chapter!