It’s almost a week since we moved to Brighton. The house move itself was absolutely seamless, but even without any hiccups, the whole experience was utterly exhausting. Once we had a few days to recover it was right back into it, trying out the commute to London for a few days.
Looking forward to having my broadband finally installed so I can start working from home.
Having experienced a week as a London worker living in and commuting from Brighton, here are the highlights of my new life so far:
- Routine – I’m actually really enjoying the discipline and routine commuting from Brighton to London has brought to my working day. I’m up much earlier, consequently in the office earlier and of course that means I can leave earlier. Being in earlier than almost everyone else I feel ahead of everyone for most of the day, as I’ve all my admin and email catchup done before people arrive and start getting down to work. I also love the fact that I can get so much leisure reading done on the journey to and from work
- Outdoors – moving from an apartment complex to a street of houses, gardens and trees, I have so much more of an awareness of the seasons. This evening when I got home I walked my daughter to the local park just two minutes walk away on the level – no car, bus or tube required to get to the local green space. It was lovely.
- Security – in a week I haven’t seen any dog breeds of dubious legality (a daily occurrence at our London location), nor have I heard any police sirens piercing the night air (okay, I did see one ambulance)
- Pace of life – Brighton is an exciting and fast-moving place. But having said that people are understanding if you are a little slower pulling out on the road, or turning the car around – this is a sense of perspective you don’t get in London, with no slip-ups or microscopic delays forgiven by the ever-ready car horn and irate driver
The Brighton festival is still running through the weekend, and there’s a champagne festival on the Hove lawns in two weeks time, so we’ve plenty to keep us occupied in the weekends ahead.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
One of us went for acupuncture that morning and were under strict instructions to avoid alcohol for 24 hours as a result. We won’t make that mistake again! Maybe next year…it did look very good. Still, with a small baby or toddler there’s probably a limit on how much champagne we could have enjoyed as a couple.