2 Years since our house move.

It is 2 years later this week since we moved house from Northumberland to Scunthorpe and I can still say it is the best thing we've ever done. I wrote a blog post shortly after moving here saying how it was like a whole new world and it still is. If it wasn't for Coronavirus we would have had a stress free couple of years. lol

We have just about got the house how we want it. At the start of 2020 I wrote about our DIY plans and how they should take a year or more to do but we got everything done by the end of the summer thanks to Stu being off work because of the pandemic and lockdowns. I think all we are missing now is a shower. We only have a bath and it's at this time of year we really miss being able to jump in the shower when we are all sweaty. It is in the pipeline and hopefully this will be our last summer without one.

I can't imagine living in Northumberland now. As beautiful as the county is, we lived in a not so nice area, Ashington. The last year or so cemented the fact that we need to live near my dad. He caught Covid in November and it was such a scary time. Obviously I couldn't go and see him but I did make sure he had supplies dropped off. I worried a lot and I was only 10 minutes away, I dread to think what I would have been like if I lived hours away.

We all have a better life here. Like I have said we are all more relaxed and we don't have the stresses we had in Northumberland. It seemed like I used to get a phone call from school at least once a week with issues at school now I can't remember the last time the school rang. Stu hated the job he used to have, he loved the people he worked with but not the shop he worked at and most of the people who would shop there. When the virus hit he was so glad to be no longer working in retail.

Our move has impacted the girls the most, in a good way of course. They are not the same girls they were a couple of years ago.

Becky is doing well at college despite only being there one day a week at the moment. She has one more day left until September and then she is free for the summer. Becky has fallen in love and has been with her girlfriend for coming on a year and a half. She has had part time jobs, had days out without me and has grown in confidence.

Ellie has had the biggest changes in her life over the last couple of years. She went from suffering from social anxiety, being bullied relentlessly and hating school to the opposite. She has grown in confidence, has a fantastic bunch of friends, doesn't get bullied and loves school. She starts her GCSE's in September and can't wait. She already has her life planned out which is amazing.

I didn't dare let the girls go out to play when we lived in Ashington unless I knew every detail of where they were, who they were with and when they would be back. Now I am more relaxed about them going out. They're obviously older but it feels safer here and like there is less trouble to get into. Ellie went out to play with her friends a couple of weeks ago and was supposed to be coming in at 7pm as one of her friends was getting picked up then. At 7pm I rang her and asked where she was and she was in the next village over at their park. I wasn't worried about her, I was more worried about her friends grandad having to wait around.

I left a few good friends in Northumberland and was so worried about making friends here but I've had no problems in doing so. I now have people I can turn to in a crisis and just last week when I got the news of my Aunty Jean passing away within an hour a friend was here with pastries and takeaway coffee to cheer me up.

People will still say to me so and so street and I will have to go to Google Maps to find out where it is. Considering we live in quite a small town there is still lots of it that we haven't explored. I think the girls have explored more than me when they have been out with their friends.

We still haven't had many days out here thanks to the virus but fingers crossed this year we can actually get to some of the places we've had on our list of places we want to visit. Top of our list is The Deep, the aquarium in Hull. 

I am happy we made the move and have never regretted it. Well apart from when we fancy a McDonalds. I've only had one in the last 2 years. lol