Yes, we returned to Brighton!
As I mentioned, this year we planned to spend the summer ‘sans’ car. With that in mind, we searched out pet sits in cities, cities we liked. London and Brighton! Pet sits in these locations were in high demand so we were super grateful when chosen for some good ones! We applied for over forty sits in all and were accepted for seven!
Anyway, I digress! We spent the summer ping-ponging between London and Brighton. This would be our second, and final as it turned out, visit to Brighton. Our stay would last six weeks and be in two locations – for a few days we were in dual locations as the dates overlapped. All good fun!
Pedro was our next host! He was a cool young dude with bags of character. He lived a way out of town on top of a hill in an area known as ‘ Fiveways’ – so called because of five converging roads. The hill, it turned out, was rather long and steep. Something we learned as we dragged our cases up it from the train station when we first arrived. Anyway, hot and sweaty we reached Pedro’s place!
This is Pedro!
Technically this was a two-cat pet sit. Pedro and Mila! However, the two did not get along. Mila had all but left home and moved in next door. We occasionally saw her but sightings were rare! Pedro had us all to himself!
We had a full month here. Bags of time to get settled and get fit! We did use the local bus a fair amount but we also walked the hill, both the down and the up, to and from the house. It was a little further out of town than we would have liked but the upside was fantastic nature on our doorstep. Great for morning running and walking as long as you dodged the incoming golf balls when crossing a corner of the golf course! With a mix of woodland and wide open spaces, we were treated to spectacular views across the downs and far out to sea where the wind farms sat on the horizon. Wow!
So, are you ready for another peek at Brighton?
Brighton sure is a creative place! It’s a living, breathing, ever-changing art gallery, and it’s free entry too!
But if you think this is colourful wait til you see the Pride parade!
The Pride parade is full-on energy and you certainly need some to keep up with the seemingly endless procession! It’s a fun event although a little commercialized IMO. The big brands have joined the party!
For something a little more sedate we walked the undercliff path to Rottingdean. Past Volks Electric Railway, the Naturist Beach, the Marina and onwards! It was a glorious day with hardly anyone else around!
Our reward on the return journey home, a Five Guys burger with the friendly neighbourhood seagull.
And a spectacular view at dusk!
The seafront is a buzz of activity – day and night! People gather to chill on the beach (sometimes with a bag of chips) or to get their endorphin fix!
There’s live music and a huge outdoor cinema on the beach but for damp, overcast days like this one there are plenty of places to hang out – even if you have a pooch!
You don’t have to stick to the coastline for entertainment either, Brighton has breathtaking views and interesting stuff going on in the town too.
If you’ve ever seen the film ‘Quadrophenia’ you’ll know Brighton features heavily. The location of one particular scene is now fondly known as Quadrophenia Alley. This year (2019) saw the 40th anniversary of the film and on August 25th many of the cast reunited in Brighton. Needless to say, there were many new comments left on the walls of Quadrophenia Alley. Mr Peters, who knew I’d be so good at history (my grades certainly didn’t reflect that)!
Our return trip to Brighton wouldn’t have been complete without a catch-up with our previous pet sit family. We were treated to a dinner fit for a magazine cover. As it turns out it was exactly that – the meal had been photographed earlier that evening and was to be featured in a foodie mag! We also got our Edie fix!
Not forgetting our current adorable host(s). Mila, who we saw but three times (she’s the first pic in this homage montage), and Pedro, who liked to sleep!
I think he wanted to come with us!
And so onto Ruby! We fell in love…again!
After a few days of living apart, me with Pedro and Olly with Ruby, I was treated to a special home-cooked dinner when I finally moved to Ruby’s place. The meal was from Olly, not Ruby – you get that, right?
Our new home was in an area called ‘Seven Dials’. It had a village atmosphere and was closer to the town and the seafront. It was ideally located close to a number of parks so we had plenty of choices for walking Ruby.
We bought Ruby a ball to liven up her walks. She was super excited to see the ball but sadly never motivated to run after it. It took us a few goes to realised we were the only ones playing ‘fetch’! We found out too that Ruby had a strong jaw and a powerful ‘chew’ so balls left lying around never lasted long anyway! Shredded!
Deciding to use the bus for more than just carrying groceries home, we took the hugely brave step (really not) to take a trip along the coast to Shoreham-by-Sea. We take having a car (or a motorcycle) for granted. You need a lot more time traveling anywhere by bus, but the front of the top deck is our most favourite place!
Shoreham-by-Sea is a cute place with a handful of small shops and restaurants and a long stretch of shingle beach. We spent a short afternoon walking the blustery beach and grabbed a waterside lunch with very attentive seagulls for company.
Closer to home Ruby showed us all the great parks and the best places for ‘walkies’. Fox!
Including Buckingham Place – no not Buckingham Palace!
And all the best places to eat. This amazing huge greek mezze was 6 quid!
Our routine revolved around Ruby with an early morning walk and then one in the evening before the sunset. Ruby was well behaved and we often took her with us when we were out and about during the day too. Including when we met up with a friend from Chiang Mai.
We had the best time with Ruby and I think she had some fun with us too!
We didn’t allow Ruby on the bed but some mornings we woke to this! Aw!
We only had two short weeks with Ruby but she was far and away a ‘winner’ with us!
Our time was nearly up with Ruby and available pet sits were starting to dwindle. After a flurry of applications, we lucked out with another invite to stay in a London flat. Result!
Dad
Another great blog Lulu x
Dejalu
Thanks Dad! xx