Two years!

It's hard to believe that it's two years since we moved up here.  The days have just flown by ~ all 733 of them!

We've now experienced two and a half winters, along with two springs, summers and autumns.  I confess that I was a little worried about how we might cope with the winters in particular as they can be pretty wild ~ we had heard a few tales of folk moving back south after their first Orkney winter experience!  But we were well aware (mentally at least) of what winter can bring here, as a storm took the roof off the house our daughter was living in during the first year she and the family she was working for moved up!  And whilst not wishing to tempt fate, St Abbs has weathered many winter storms since she was built back in 1903.

So Sharon, I hear you ask, do you have any regrets about making that massive move?  Well, I would be lying if I said we had no regrets ~ we do miss family and friends.  Phone calls and Facebook aren't the same as being nearby.  But there does come a point where you have to make the decision that's right for you, and often you find yourself at a stage where a now-or-never decision has to be made.  On the whole, though, we are very happy living here and are glad that we stepped out of our comfort zone to do what we had dreamed of and talked about for so long.

I truly don't believe that there is an absolutely "perfect" place to live but we have found that the plus points mightily outweigh the handful of negatives.  And if I'm being honest, it would be fairer to describe those so-called negative points more accurately as minor irritations really!  Surprisingly, it has taken a little while to adjust to the pace of life, but I like to think we are now at the stage where we just accept that more often than not life tends to run at a slightly different timescale here LOL

We are looking forward to many more years yet to come living in our new home and community 😊