Country Bumpkins

We are feeling a little discombobulated at the moment - going from one pet sit to another.

We took a long assignment in Surrey over Christmas and it catapulted us into this whole new world of noise. The constant hum of traffic from the M25 and M3, the planes continually flying to and from Heathrow, the busyness everywhere...so many people and so many dogs. There are no quiet retreats, unless you get lucky in the Surrey Hills maybe on a wet day in January. It was a shock to the system and we both felt it. The energy of the place just doesn't feel good. Woodland car parks are dogging hangouts and each time we thought we'd found a place off the beaten track - it would soon dawn on us that the same guys are turning up. 

The young pooch we were with also struggled when walks were busy, so we were constantly trying to find nice places to visit. On our last day we ventured into the Surrey Hills on a recommendation and discovered the Albury Estate and it was perfect for all of us. Trees, space, quiet. 

The sit really highlighted the gulf between us and those living in built up areas. The speed and the  grasping; the urgent desire for something bigger and better and to be the best. It's alien to us and feels false. Those folks seem to be living their lives to impress, it's not comfortable and what happens when they don't get it right? Does the constant noise create this way of life? A feeling of needing to be doing something all the time, striving, pushing. We cannot imagine that it's easy to switch off, especially in their "smart" houses with everything operating from their phones. This way of living is creeping into the lives of many and not just in Surrey. At some point with the weather causing so many power outages these days, folks will hopefully realise that it's not so great!

We returned home to Cornwall just as Storm Goretti hit and there were moments when we both wished we'd booked into a hotel, but as like many others - we didn't expect it to be so bad. We sat for over 4 hours with our coats on, our bag packed - everything of value ready to go. Flask and hot water bottles filled and torches charged and as we lost power and water early on, we were very glad we'd thought ahead. We had WhatsApp to keep in touch with the outside world until our phone died around 10pm. Our kidlets were urging us to leave the caravan, but the wind gusts were incredibly strong and flying debris hit us on several occasions which made us think it would be safer to stay...though a couple of times we did wonder whether we should bale; the caravan was rocking so much so that stuff was flying off the shelves, but then it would all die down again. We went to bed fully clothed just in case and barely slept, by the time morning dawned we were exhausted and quite shocked by the chunks of roof that had come off next door's outbuilding and hit the caravan - amazingly it hadn't caused any damage. Our power and water remained off for several days, but we were heading off to another pet sit in an area that had not really seen the full force of the storm. There is widespread devastation, so many trees have come down across Cornwall; particularly in the west. Roads have been blocked with fallen trees for days, thousands of houses lost power and water, the supermarkets were empty of fresh and frozen food, there wasn't any bottled water and it seemed to take a few days for the water company and council to kick into action. Strangely, we heard that barely any of this has been reported on national news and there have been no visiting bigwigs from the capital, but the people of Cornwall on the whole show great resilience and communities gathered and supported each other. 

Lucky for us, we are pet sitting as our power is off again at home due to rain water getting into the electrics. We have spent 10 days on a new assignment with quite a menagerie and now we are a couple of days into another pet sit on the Roseland. We were here in May last year, so it's nice to return and we all slip into life together again - which is lovely. Tomorrow another storm is due and no doubt we'll all be holding our breath; hoping that we won't lose any more trees or roofs across the county.

We are doing exactly what we wanted - lots more pet sits, exploring new places and enjoying spending time with so many beauties. Though maybe doing 3 on the trot with only a couple of days in between is a tad silly. We feel we should space the sits out a bit more and take some time to catch our breath. Saying that - our regular sits are pretty easy, we know what we are doing and where we are now is with two easy doggies, so we have some time to recuperate in a quiet village and go on some lovely walks with the chums. 

We like the peace and quiet of the Roseland which is wonderful in January.

Being in nature, away from the madding crowds is just perfect for us.

Just don't ask us to visit Surrey again...we truly are country bumpkins and will never change!😛😛

Hope this finds you well and 2026 is kind to everyone!

Love Kay and Sime xx