”The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.”

Sometimes, though, it can be tough to see the ‘best’. 20 months in, and still a long way to go, I’m still struggling at times with these new constraints. From a world that was as wide as my imagination and ambition to the limits now imposed by the pandemic and politics, by COVID and Brexit.

When lockdown started in March last year, it was a novel challenge to ‘make the best of’. My introvert self was actually quite happy to stay put for a while, make lists, get things done, learn new skills, catch up with friends and family via Zoom. We’re fortunate to live in a small town surrounded by plenty of wide open space for walks and rides, and I loved my (very) early morning rides around the county. We even got to grips with a few issues that we’d put off for a long time because we were either working or travelling; Chris had his worsening cataracts fixed, and I had surgery on both feet to remove increasingly painful neuromas.

Spring arrived, vaccinations were gratefully received, and things began to relax just a little. How to make the best of this? We weren’t ready to embark on international travels, but after a great deal of thought we reckoned that a few pet-sitting gigs would help us start to venture a little further. We’d done a number of pet and house sits back in 2019, and loved the ethos of the whole set-up. The home owners have their home and pets looked after whilst we score free accommodation in interesting places in return for looking after said home and pets. No money changes hands, and it’s all organised on a trust basis with reviews and feedback via the website.

When we first joined up, we thought that it would be something that would fit well with our long-distance bike touring; a while on the road, interspersed with a week or two in one place to look after home and pets. As the long-distance touring is off the table just now – at least in the way we were doing it – we’ve been organising ‘sits’ in the UK. We use bike, bus or train to get to the location, and to travel from one to another.

It’s a different lifestyle, interesting, challenging, and rewarding. We’ve met some wonderful people, we’ve made new friends. We’ve learned new skills, stayed in lovely homes, pottered in several gardens. We’ve had the chance to step into a part someone else’s life for a little while. We’ve been charged with the care of all kinds of pets, from fish and hamsters to Irish Wolfhounds and ex-racehorses. Not to mention the orange and lemon trees. We’ve learned the flexibility of travelling with our Brompton folding bikes, and have now got them well set up to carry the small amount of stuff we need to take with us. We’ve explored places that were completely new to us, and others that we’ve got to know much better.

We’d love to recover the freedom of our previous lives. Meanwhile, we’re thankful for what we can do, and we’re doing our best to “make the best of what happens”.

‘Trusted Housesitters’ is the site that we use. If you’re interested, you can get discounted membership here, and we get a couple of free months of membership if you join.