Five Years in the Cotswolds

[Pauline]

Yesterday was our 5 year anniversary of arriving in the Cotswolds! We arrived on May 6 and Buddy (the cat) arrived a day earlier. Buddy almost made it to his 5 year anniversary (we had to put him to sleep in February - he was 15). It still feels strange to be here without him because he was so much part of our move here.

My dream was always to spend 5 years in the Cotswolds, exploring the area, doing lots of walking/hiking, and doing easy trips to Europe. Mission accomplished

When we arrived we had only planned to stay for 5 months, but we had a longer stay in the back of our minds. Then we thought 1 year. Then we just stayed.

The first two years were the most difficult - getting used to being here, getting set up to live here. Now it feels very natural being in England (even the driving). I feel less like a fish out of water now. It isn't perfect, but I have yet to find the perfect place. And it is pretty good.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

Congratulations!!! on your 5 year mark. And you may soon be on the move again. Will you get another cat? We are in the process of having to put down 1 of our dogs. Even tho I knew it was coming and felt I was prepared, I'm really not. The irony is it's not the one we expected to go first. So in the next few months we will probably be dogless and gutted.
I say, never again. I'm going petless!
The silver lining it will be easier to make travle plans. We can be more spontaneous.

 

[Pauline]

Yes, we hope to move this summer but just two hours south, near the Dorset coast. We will give it a year there and if we don't like it will move back to the Cotswolds but a little further from the incinerator that will be built near Painswick in the next couple of years. I don't like having to move. I feel like I worked hard to get settled here and now we are just moving on.

Childless, grandchildless and, yes, now petless I think. We had 24 years with cats - first Butch and Spike from kittens to 14 years, a break of 5 months, then Bud for 10 years. I would love to have Buddy with us still, but without him moving to Dorset will be much easier. If we can't find a house we like, we might just rent an apartment which would not have worked with him.

So sorry to hear about your dog. It has been over 3 months since we had Bud put to sleep and it feels like it was yesterday.