Blog

We arrived in Brighton last month and were enjoying our stay.

We have been doing one long, six-week house sit that has taken us well into January.

That is not to say the last month has been busy. The house we had been caring for was one we knew well having been here on not one, not two, but three previous occasions!

With no pets to care for, we spent our time generally enjoying the city. The only difference this time was that we were visiting Brighton during the winter months which was a new experience for us.

With few tourists at this time of the year and many students leaving the city to visit family and friends over the holiday period, we had been expecting the city to be much quieter than during our previous visits.

This, however, wasn’t the case. To our surprise and delight, Brighton is almost as lively during winter as it is during the summer!

Our Christmas Good Deed

Even though we are fully booked for a few months ahead, Whilst Karyo is working, I still spend far too much time looking through advertised listings from home hosts looking for sitters – It is addictive!

About a week before Christmas I spotted an advertisement from a family who lived in a location that I recognised to be very close to where we were staying.

When I say advertisement, it was more of a desperate appeal for help!

The family were due to go on holiday for Christmas and had been let down at the last minute by the people who had offered to care for their cats – could anyone help?

As they lived less than a ten-minute walk from where we were, we currently had no pets to care for, and we felt sorry for them in their predicament, I contacted them to offer our help. To say they were relieved to hear from us would be the understatement of the year!

Fast forward a few days and we found ourselves starting an unexpected Christmas pet and house sit.

As we now had two homes to care for, we decided to spend all day together with the cats. Then at night, we split up. I stayed with the cats in house sit number two, and Karyo went to stay in our original house to be sure that home remained occupied and secure during the hours of darkness.

The Cats

For our unexpected Christmas sit, we had two cats to care for, Otis and Ronnie.

Otis was a beautiful, black, independent indoor/outdoor cat who came and went as he pleased. He was very easy to look after. Calm-natured. Not particularly a lap cat.

All Otis asked of us was to be fed and entertained occasionally with his favourite toy, a feather on a stick – Easy Peasy!

Ronnie was still a kitten. He still was not allowed to venture outside alone so we had to supervise his garden visits with the aid of a makeshift lead to stop him from disappearing up a tree.

As you would expect from a kitten, Ronnie was full of energy, into absolutely everything, and as cute as a button. He had a mountain of shop-bought toys to choose from, but his favourite was an old cardboard box with a couple of holes cut into it!

Ronnie often disappeared, but there was no need for us to panic. We soon discovered his favourite hiding place was to bury himself deep inside the recycling basket 😂

We had been hesitant about taking on this second sit. It was extra work for us that we didn’t have to do. In hindsight though, we are delighted that we were able to help out.

When the home hosts returned home and left our review, it became clear how grateful they were that we had offered to help at such short notice.

The Review

“Karyo & Colin have been wonderful pet & house sitters. We were let down by another couple quite late & didn’t think we were going to be able to get away, but Karyo & Colin saved our Christmas! “

Not all heroes wear capes!

January 2024

With our long six-week Brighton house sit taking up most of January, we had time to squeeze in just one more before jetting off on our holidays.

For our final house sit of January, we took a short journey along the coast to Hove, the second of the two main parts of the city of ‘Brighton and Hove’.

Brighton and its next-door neighbour, Hove used to be two separate towns. However, in 1997 they joined as one local authority. Then four years later in 2001, ‘Brighton and Hove’ was granted city status. 

The House Sit

Hove is a much quieter, less touristy area than Brighton.

Within the town, is a residential area where many streets are named after British poets.

This area is known as ‘Poets’ Corner’. It is a great location, very close to the beach and the train station, and where we were lucky enough to be invited to stay for our January house sit.

The Pet

On this house sit, we were asked to care for Pippin, a one-year-old, very photogenic, rescue dog.

Pippin was a nervous dog, but with a little patience and lots of treats she soon took to us and we really enjoyed our time with her.

She was a people watcher and would happily spend hours fixated on the window watching the world go by.

Having not had the best start, it was a joy to see Pippin loving her new life!

Meeting another sitter, and another Pippin!

During our stay in Hove, we were contacted by another sitter, Belinda. She was also sitting in Hove. Coincidentally, she was also caring for a dog named Pippin!

Belinda was from the USA, travelling with her husband. They were currently halfway through their European house & pet sitting adventure.

Unfortunately, Belinda’s husband was not well so we did not get to meet him. However, we took our Pippin and met up in a local pub with Belinda and her Pippin for an enjoyable afternoon of Guinness & gossip.

..and that was that! Before we knew it our time in Brighton and Hove had come to an end. Once again we were packing our bags ready to head off to our next destination.

Where Next?

Next Stop, we are having a month off and treating ourselves to some much-needed sunshine, but more on that next month.

Until then, as always, thanks for reading.

Hugs, Colin & Karyo