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August 2022 – Brighton – Two house sits, Brighton Pride and A Happy birthday to me!

We completed two house sits during August. These were to be our fourth and fifth house sits since we arrived in Brighton back in June.

For the first one in August, the location was very important. We specifically wanted to be in the Preston Park area. The reason for this was that Brighton Pride was due to take place on the weekend of the 5th-7th of August. Christina Aguilera was to be the headline act. The venue was to be Preston Park – and we had tickets!

Luckily, Brighton is very popular for house sitting opportunities and I quickly spotted one advertised that looked like a good fit for us. I immediately sent in an application.

We could not have wished for a house sit to suit our needs better. One dog and one cat. August 1st to August 8th. Five minutes walk to Preston Park – Perfect!

Brighton House sit number FOUR of six

The Home

The property for this house sit was a huge four-bedroom family home. Again, totally different to the small one-bedroom flat that we had just left.

It was clean and really comfortable with a small enclosed back garden which was perfect as the weather during our stay was glorious.

The Location

This home was in the Fiveways area of Brighton.

There really is nothing not to like about Fiveways. It is predominantly large family homes (that probably cost a fortune). Situated high on a hill overlooking Preston Park below. A twenty-minute walk will get you to the train station and another ten minutes on top of that will easily get you to the seafront. With a couple of pubs, a decent mix of small, independent shops & cafes and plenty of green space it has the feel of a small, upmarket village.

If in the future we ever decided to settle in Brighton, Fiveways would definitely be high on our choice of preferred locations.

The Pets

During our Fiveways house sit we had two pets to care for. Boo the cat and Stoatie the dog.

Boo was a very independent black cat and was probably the easiest cat we have ever cared for. All that he needed us for was to be fed. Other than that, he was quite happy enjoying lying in the sunshine outside.

Stoatie was a real cutie. A springer spaniel that adored human company. She was six years old but tiny, so had the look and energy of a puppy. We absolutely loved her and the week we spent in her company was a joy!

Brighton Pride

The first weekend in August is always a big date in Brighton – It is the weekend of Brighton Pride. This year was extra special as it marked the 30th anniversary since Brighton hosted its first Pride event back in 1992.

After a two-year Covid-forced break, Pride was back. By the time the weekend arrived the city was awash with rainbow flags, the sun was shining, and everyone was in the mood to party.

Brighton Pride spans three days Friday – Sunday. For us, we decided to stick to the Saturday festivities only. The day certainly did not disappoint – Brighton certainly knows how to put on a Pride event!

Andres, a friend that lives in London came to visit us for the day. Our plan of action was for the three of us to go to watch the parade early afternoon. After that, we were to go to Preston park for a few hours. There, we could have a dance, enjoy some of the entertainment on offer and generally soak up the carnival atmosphere.

Following that, we planned to go back home to feed the pets and take Stoatie for a walk before returning to the park in the evening to see Christina Aguilera who was the headline act for the evening and the main reason we had bought our tickets.

The parade

I always like to watch Pride parades, they are brim full of colour, dance, fun and a general feeling of love and acceptance. Thousands of people are involved in creating the event. Hundreds of thousands turn up on the day to line the streets and enjoy the spectacle.

Brighton Pride certainly delivered this year! The amount of time and hard work put in by all involved is hard to imagine. Every section of the community seems to get involved in the parade. Public sector workers, small charities, well-known retail organisations and just about everyone else in between.

We bagged a position near Preston park to watch the parade go past. This was at the very end of the parade route. You would never have guessed that by the time the parade was passing us, many of those involved had been walking in the blazing heat of the day for over three hours. To their credit, everyone was still full of energy. Dancing and singing in the streets and on the floats. Fun is infectious. Pride participants and spectators alike clearly all enjoyed the parade immensely.

Brighton Pride 2022 was a great success.

Party in Preston park

After watching the parade we decided to go into Preston park. Over the previous week, we had watched the park slowly morph into a festival site.

The main stage had been erected. Dance tents went up. Numerous food trucks arrived and set up stalls. Bars were built. Toilets were put in position and the whole park had a solid fence built around it creating a safe and secure space for the weekend party-goers.

The festival part of the Pride event is ticket-only and, at £50 each, the tickets were not cheap. The work and organisation involved to stage an event like this are immense. As we walked in, it was clear to see that everything had been planned with military precision.

The queue to get in was long but kept moving and we arrived at the entrance very quickly. As is normal with these events a wrist band was put on our wrist as we entered for re-admission later in the day. Or so we thought!

We were really impressed with the organisation. Food and drink were expensive but that is always the case. There were lots of toilets and bars scattered around the park which meant that we hardly had to queue for anything which was great. We grabbed some lunch, bought a drink, and headed to the dance tent. It was time to party!!!

The next few hours flew by, We were having a great time. However, we did not want to peak too early. It was now about 5 pm and as Christina Aguilara was due on stage later in the evening we decided the best plan would be to go back home, feed the pets, freshen up and return at 9 pm to watch the show.

What could possibly go wrong?

Preston park is huge and the entrance we used to get in was, typically, at the opposite side of the park than suited us to get out. As we were ready to leave, I decided to ask a security guy whether or not there were exit gates at the other end of the park.

He informed us that there were. Then added, did we know that there is a no re-entry rule? I couldn’t believe what he was telling us!

We needed to leave to feed and walk the pets but also had paid £50 for tickets as we wanted to see Christina Aguilera later.

I asked what the wristbands’ point was if there was no re-entry. To which he shrugged his shoulders and told us he had no idea.

We just could not believe what we were hearing. In all the years of attending clubs and festivals, the whole point of issuing wristbands was to show door staff that you had previously paid so were now free to come and go as you pleased.

Suddenly, the day was starting to look like it may turn into a disaster. We started to ask different staff members for advice. All gave us the same answer. “It is in the small print on the ticket”.

Just when we were starting to give up hope, a glimmer of hope was given to us. I was arguing our case to a lady at the ticket booth and she told us that a guy at another exit had re-entry tickets. He could give them to people with a good reason to have to exit. However, she added, these are usually reserved for people that need to leave for medical reasons so she could not promise it would apply to us.

Off we all trotted to find the man with the golden re-entry tickets! We eventually found him and explained that we were pet sitters so we had to leave but really wanted to come back later.

To our delight, the man with the golden-entry tickets was also a pet lover! He totally understood our predicament and gave us three of his prized re-entry tickets that enabled us to return to see the show later.

We had been really lucky. Had we just left the park without asking about the exit, we would not have known about the no re-entry rule and would not have been allowed back into the park later in the day. That really would have ruined what until then had been a fantastic day.

Thanks to the kindness and understanding of the re-entry man the day was saved. We were able to see to the pets, have forty winks, and then go back to the park later to watch Christina Aguilera perform. She was amazing and her performance ended up being the icing on the cake of our Brighton pride 2022 experience.

Brighton House sit number FIVE of six

After Pride, we had a few more days to spend with Stoatie and Boo before it was time to pack our bags once more and head to our next house sit. This was the fifth of the six Brighton house sits we had booked. We can not believe how quickly our time here is going.

This house sit was about five miles from the centre of Brighton. This time in an area called Portslade old Village.

The home hosts here had their own sailing boat and were off on a six-week sailing honeymoon. They had eventually managed to get married after having their big day Covid-cancelled twice. First in 2020 and then again in 2021!

Compared to Brighton, Portslade old village was much quieter and more suburban.

Having said that, it had a rich history and there were some lovely historical buildings dotted around the village. The town of Portslade, with the train station, shops and gym etc was a twenty-minute walk and Shoreham beach no more than a half-hour walk away.

The best thing about the location was that the beautiful South Downs were on the doorstep which meant that there was always a new countryside trail to discover.

The added bonus was that our stay happened to be whilst all the wild fruit and berries had started to ripen so on each walk we always took a Tupperware box out to ensure our return home would be laden with freshly picked produce!

The Pet

During our stay in Portslade, we had Lulu the dog to care for.

Lulu is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier crossed with a Husky and is a really lovely dog. She loves human interaction and her favourite game was ‘tug of war. A close second favourite was ‘hide and seek’ which consisted of me hiding treats around the house for her to sniff out.

Her only negative was that she had inherited the coat of a husky which meant that she shed her hair – A LOT. I have never known a dog shed so much hair. It dropped off her in the same way that a dried-out Christmas tree sheds its pine needles.

Thankfully, all the flooring in the house was wood. She was not allowed on the furniture, nor upstairs which meant that my twice-daily hoovering managed to keep us from disappearing beneath a sea of dog hair!

When we arrived, we were worried that six weeks in Portslade would be too long. However, Lulu was such a lovely dog to be around that time flew by.

Admittedly, we are quite fickle about which is our favourite ever pet and the top spot changes frequently. For now, though – Lulu holds the trophy.

A Big Birthday!

August also saw the arrival of a big birthday.

To my delight….and dismay, I turned 60!

To celebrate I went to the optician for a FREE eye test. I may be losing my hair, my teeth, my eyesight and my marbles. But FREE eye tests! – don’t let anyone ever tell you that getting old is all bad.

Where next?

For September, we have one last house sit to do in Brighton. After that, we will be leaving the UK for a while – but more on that next time… Thanks for reading

Colin & Karyo x