Well having finally settled in mid Wales, New Quay to be exact we are developing a whole new lifestyle.

Things we do now that we never did before

• Live according to the tide times – we plan the whole day around the tides being unable to walk along the beach at high tides we need to go when it is low tide J What a shock to go doggie walking and to find water up past the entry point to the beach because I was not watching the tide tables!
• Do almost all of our shopping online! I used to live about 4 miles form a big, well known supermarket and dropped in most days to pick up odds and ends or do a proper shop.  Now, to get anything close to a big supermarket, and the term big is somewhat exaggerated here, we have to drive over 20 miles! When we do approach one of the two slightly larger towns, Aberystwyth or Cardigan we have a mile long list of bits and pieces to pick up.
• Drink less coffee – I still can’t get used to the taste of coffee made with soft water
• Wash hair less – again a soft water issue
• I am still trying to perfect the art of drying and utilising seaweed – I know it is good for us, just not getting it right, yet!
• Getting really good at remembering to take bags shopping – I get cross at having to pay for carrier bags but it is against the law for bags to be given out freely in Wales

Things I wish were better:

·         Bandwidth!  That and the hills will be the two reasons that we leave here in a couple of years. Every day without fail my internet drops – enough to put the router out and create the need for a full restart – it drives me crazy. One very famous internet provider say we should get better when I complain – then, two weeks later send me a text saying they hope my problem is over now – I ask why it would be – they can’t answer!

Things that we love:

• Waking up to see the sea
• Walking through the woods and on the beach
• The people

Things we don’t love:

•  Sandy, salty windows after a storm
• Mud
• The poor workmanship in the house meaning it is almost being rebuilt to get it into good order despite having a great report from the surveyor! 
• Local Time – Pembroke time / Cardigan times / Welsh time etc – tomorrow often does not mean tomorrow, it is a term related loosely to some point in the future. This afternoon is not necessarily referring to any time today - just guess!
• The nearest train station being more than 20 miles away

We will stay here for a while, we are too far away from out family really, have very mixed feelings about where we belong still talking about where our kids are as "home" but it is a complete change and mostly great :-)