It's farewell to Eastbourne - for now!

THE calm before the storm.....I'm sitting in a flat with boxes piled high ready for yet another move. I still can't get rid of those 1980s "Imagination" albums, the embarrassing photo albums, aging bottles of after shave and those well-worn running shoes!!

There was an advert on television this week which described how a person moves home on average eight times during their lifetime. Crikey! The folks conducting that survey didn't ask me. I've moved so many times this past decade that I've got a loyalty card from Pickfords!

This move, though, will be the last major one since I am heading back to the south coast to be closer to my family which will be great. I can't envisage ever moving out of the area again. A new job and a new start.

Mind you, it was a little strange at work yesterday. I am going to be home-working for the last two weeks of my contract at the newspaper before I begin my new career with the charity, Hearing Link.
When I handed in my resignation I told my boss I didn't want a fuss made about my last day in the office - no presents, no speeches - just to shake hands and leave.

I'm not quite sure whether he passed the message on because when everyone left the office on Friday afternoon nothing was said, just "have a good weekend" and that was it. It was one of those awkward moments. I don't think they realised that this was my last day in the office, but I wasn't going to correct them.

I'm going to miss this flat though. It sits right opposite the pier in Eastbourne with an ever-changing vista throughout the seasons which never fails to impress. The flat has been a place of extreme joy and supreme despair, a flat I've shared with my boss, Keith, whose hour-long morning bathroom routines will never be forgotten. But he too has been a great friend and fun to have around.

There have been times, mind, when I have been absolutely busting to go to the toilet in the morning but too embarrassed to knock on the bathroom door while he has been flossing away to ask. Once I fled to a nearby garage, another time a leftover Coca-Cola bottle had to do! Keith has two alarm clocks set outside his bedroom which go off at 5.45am, so I used these to race to the bathroom before he sets off on his daily constitutional!

But of all the homes I have shared, this flat for the past two years has been one of the best. To be able to walk out of the door and stroll along the seafront, or to set off on a run up towards Beachy Head and over the Downs is something I will miss.

And I have come to love Eastbourne. Before I came to East Sussex I had no idea what the town was like. I had perceptions that it was wrinkly-ville and dull. But Eastbourne is anything but. Give me Eastbourne ahead of Brighton or Hastings any day. It is unspoilt and charming. Stroll through the town centre and most days the pedestrianised area is filled with the music of buskers. Eastbourne is a great place to live and no wonder so many people choose to settle here because of the quality of life.

With my new job I get the best of both worlds. I will be able to home work, so it means I'll be close to family and friends, but I'll be visiting Eastbourne a couple of times a month to work from the charity's office at Sovereign Harbour.

I can't wait, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow (Sunday) when I am compering a variety show at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne for Hearing Link to demonstrate just how good the loop system works.

Twelve months ago my world had fallen apart and the view of the grey English Channel from the second floor flat was pretty bleak. But maybe actually living here helped me to work through those troubles. To be able to run along the seafront to clear my mind, or lie on the sofa at night with the window open and falling asleep to the sound of the waves was the medicine my troubled mind needed.

As I cycled along the seafront this morning, the air was still warm, the gardens along Grand Parade were looking as pretty as ever, and the sea lapped gently on the shore.  This was Eastbourne, an absolute gem of a town.