Village Life

Merrit wanted me to take his picture leaning against the

village clock tower.

I knew I'd love the pedestrian lifestyle. When you turn right out of our front gate and walk about half a block, you get to Park View, one of the three main streets in our village of Whitley Bay.

At that corner is a busy cafe called Sugarloaf, which serves breakfast, lunch, and coffee. Kristi, the boys, and I ate there last week. I had carrot bisque and fresh baked bread and K and the boys had BLTs. All delicious. Even though we asked for tap water, it came chilled in an old-fashioned blue bottle. Charming.

Turn right, and the next two blocks have a couple of charity shops (what we'd call thrift shops or second-hand stores), a dry cleaners, a butcher shop, a produce stand, a wine shop, a barber shop, Hound Dog Guitars (Ollie insists we stop and at least look in the windows each time we go by...we've met the owner, who has a Greyhound), a store selling from-the-farm eggs, milk, cheese, and honey, and a small office supply store (stopped in here to send a fax back to the U.S. and buy some paper and pencils).

Keep going straight for another block or two, past a bank and some more cafes, boutiques, and charity shops. Then turn left and you're getting into the center of the village. Here there are a bunch more small stores, independent shops, restaurants, and three small groceries: Tesco Express, Sainsbury's, and The Co-Operative. All three are chains with larger branches elsewhere but the ones here are more like glorified convenience stores. I've been getting pantry staples at the grocery store, but getting fresh foods--meat, dairy, eggs, veggies, fruits--from the independent shops.

I bought this wheeled shopping bag at Ikea. Packed with
groceries, here it is parked by our front gate.

Walking everywhere has been a so much fun. The kids have been asking for it. "Let's go for a walk, Mom." Merrit is becoming a better listener as we navigate crosswalks and busy sidewalks. And Ollie is becoming more agreeable to hand-holding and keeping up. As long as we stop at linger outside the guitar shop.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad.