5 years living here!

Oh how time flies and the last 5 years really has! This time 5 years ago we were getting ready to move from Northumberland in the North East of England down to near Scunthorpe. I still don't know how to describe where we live. Sometimes people say it's Yorkshire, sometimes the midlands and sometimes it's just North Lincolnshire but if you are reading from say London do you know where North Lincolnshire is? It's not the most well known areas. For people who aren't around here I just say we live over the bridge from Hull. lol

Next week is 5 years since we moved here and I can honestly say things have changed for the better. All of my family have changed, relaxed and feel so much happier here than we ever did in Northumberland. Yes, we had some good times there but in 5 years things have just been better! 

When we moved here both Stu and I couldn't sleep because it was so quiet! There was no drunken fools walking home from town, there was no one fighting on the street and there certainly have never been any drugs raids in the houses around us. In fact if we see a police car now we get shocked and wonder what is going on. 

A few days after moving here I wrote this blog post about how it felt like a whole new world and in some ways it still does. I still can't get used to all the green, grass, fields and flowers. I thought by now my body would have got used to it all but I am suffering with hay fever for another year it seems. That is the only negative I have about living here but I wouldn't change it. I love having a garden even if I am having a battle with weeds at the moment. There is nothing better than hanging washing out on the line!

When we first moved here I thought I would miss being in walking distance to the main high street but living where we do we have the best of both worlds. Scunthorpe is a short bus ride away and Hull not much further and with the £2 bus fares even if I did drive I still wouldn't drive to Hull with the bridge toll and parking costs. Yes, sometimes I miss being able to nip to McDonalds or Costa but in the long run it has saved us money! I rely on online shopping for the groceries and random things but that's fine. We do have a little Tesco and Co-op locally so it's not like we go without. Now when we go to town it feels like more of a treat than an every day thing.

I have seen the biggest changes in the girls. Yes, in 5 years they would have changed but I think if we had stayed in Northumberland Becky would be plodding along unhappily doing goodness knows what and Ellie, I don't know. There might have been a mental breakdown or two. I'd like to say I was exaggerating but she was not in a good place mentally when we left Northumberland. 

When we left Northumberland Ellie was suffering with social anxiety but now she is a totally different girl. I wouldn't say she is fully confident in everything but she has came out of her shell! She sailed through school doing well in her GCSE's and is almost finished her first year of Electrical Engineering in college.

Becky works full time, night shift in a care home. She loves her job and the residents. She said it's a job she could see herself staying in for life. It's close to home, the hours suit her and the money is good! Soon after moving here Becky came out to us as bisexual and over the last 5 years she has had a few girlfriends. She has been seeing her currant girlfriend for about a year now and is happy. She said if we still lived in Northumberland she would not have came out to us or anyone. Things were different there.

We live in a small town which has a village feel to it. Everyone knows everyone and I feel like we are getting there with the locals. We have had some moments when we have felt like outsiders but I just name drop my dad as he has lived here for almost 15 years and all is good. hehehe We have not had a good relationship with one of our neighbours, from the day we moved in she has hated us and I don't even know why? Well I have a fair idea, before we got this house a lot of local people were after it and I think she knew someone who wanted it. I just laugh at her now because everything she has done against us has backfired on her. Oops. In Northumberland if we had an argument with a neighbour I would worry about our windows being smashed or house set on fire. (It happened, our neighbours house was set on fire when we were in bed asleep) but here the worst that happens is she complains to everyone who will listen and refuses to take parcels in for us. lol

The best thing about living here is having my dad up the road! We see him a couple of times a week, he's a busy man but I still speak to him most nights on the phone. The girls have a great relationship with him and his partner. He is so proud of them both. Some people look down on carers but he thinks Becky is amazing for being one and he has really taken Ellie under his wing when it comes to her being an electrical engineer. He has had her doing wiring and has been buying her tools.

I think we moved at the best ever time! We moved here at the end of June and by early 2020 the world was in lockdown because of Coronavirus. I think if we were in Northumberland when that happened we would have fallen apart as a family. In the job Stu had in Northumberland he would have still been working during the lockdowns but here he had a few months at home as he wasn't an essential worker.

I have said this is my forever home! If the landlord ever wants to sell I will beg, borrow and steal to keep it! I couldn't imagine living anywhere else!