Life in Boxes. Living contracts.

The world of money will be bringing everything to its knees soon.

My story is not dramatic but I will share it anyway. I rent a home with my family in the outskirts of London. it is consdidered Greater London and on one of the furthest points of the underground train system that sprawls this great city.

We are in the suburbs. It is actually a far cry from where I grew up, which was not that far from here geographically but essentially a light years distance in demograph.

I was born in Burnt Oak to Irish immigrant parents. Both worked all their lives. When they came to London, my mum came to be a nurse at the age of 16, and my dad joined the RAF at age 17. Both from Ireland, they eventually met each other through the social life of the Irish community in London in the fifties. They married and settled in east London, where my sister was born. Being born in East London, near the sound of Bow Bells, means you are a cockney.

For other uses, see Cockney (disambiguation).

St Mary-le-Bow

The term cockney has had several distinct geographical, social, and linguistic associations. Originally a pejorative term applied to all city-dwellers, it was eventually restricted to Londoners and particularly to the "Bow-bell Cockneys":^[1] those born within earshot of Bow Bells, the bells of St Mary-le-Bow in the Cheapside district of the City of London. More recently, it is variously used to refer to those in London'sEast End, or to all working-class Londoners generally.

Linguistically, cockney English refers to the accent or dialect of English traditionally spoken by working-class Londoners. In recent years, many aspects of cockney English have become part of general South East English speech, producing a variant known as estuary English.

So my sister was born a Cockney in Lambeth. To Irish speaking parents from a totally  different culture and totally different demograph. What was happening at the time was that people were being moved out of East London to newly created Council housing estates in the north of London. Vast relocation of East londoners from war destroyed areas were soon living in North London, bringing their East London culture with them. Walking around what was then quite a pretty little town with three or four large parks and residential roads punctuated by many grassy   green verges and smaller park areas. Burnt oak had a bustling shopping area on the Watling Avenue which sold everything you needed really. My family was moved out to one of these council housing estates in Burnt oak which was in a relatively leafy area and near to Colindale, and not far from Hendon, Edgware or Barnet. I was born there soon after and then my brother was born a year later. There was a large of community of irish Catholics, 'London Irish' but predominantly it was mostly relocated 'London- English' and almost everywhere people were speaking in Cockney London dialect.

For many, it was home and most people had no thought of ever leaving. I had extended family in the area, an auntie and uncle and their five girls who also were relocated out of the East End. I grew up and moved through this part of London, it was my home and my origins but  we always had strong links with our family in Ireland, and still do, often visiting each other. My sister moved back there over 10 years ago.

An old photo of family from the late 80's. Guess where I am.

We eventually did move out of Burnt Oak.  My parents finally had the savings to buy a modest 3 bed semi in nearby Edgware. It was at a price that would cost us, there was never much spare cash for splashing out on anything, and as teenagers we just made do. In those days we just got on with what we had, and did without what we didn't have.

As a teenager while still at school  I was working part time at the first Tesco which opened in Burnt Oak.  When I left college I had a succession of jobs and I  eventually moved out of my parents home. Over the years I have lived in many different locations, in my early twenties I moved to Exeter in Devon for a year, and then moved back to London into a flat in Finsbury Park for a year or two before going travelling on a working Holiday visa.

In Australia I lived in several places, In Melbourne I lived in a huge backpackers hostel which was brilliant, in Sidney I lived in a shared house, three of us in our tiny apartment in a three floor house, and I lived in shack (really)  while I worked as a waitress for Marlins,  a Greek Fish Restaurant in the desert town of Coober Pedy. 

 Returning to my parents home in London, it was a few months later that  I moved to a small groundfloor flat in Barnet, with my partner, for two years while I completed a higher education college course. The next place we moved to was Leicester, where I did my degree as a mature student and worked as a formulation scientist.  My partner and I had two addresses In Leicester. Both were great areas to live in, one was above a shop in Ayleston, a leafy suburb not too far from the city centre, and then two years later we moved to a housing Association Flat for students and ex -students (professional i.e now working), it was slap bang in the centre, near to Demonfort University which was the university I graduated from, with Hons degree in Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science. It was a great place to live and we remained tenants there for a few years while I continued working in Leicester and in the surrounding areas of Loughborough and Melton Mowbray. We left there quite a few years later and only 1 month after I gave birth to my son, to return to London. 

We managed to get a swap or transfer to another housing Association flat, this time not far from Harrow and so not far from where my parents live.  I decided I wanted to come back to London so that my son would know an extended family life and we could be a bigger part of my parents lives, who by now were getting on in years and needed much more support to continue living in their Home. The flat we moved into was fine, not great,  but we hadn't planned to stay that long there, it was just seen as a stepping stone. The flat was in an estate that was in decline but once had been a bustling residential estate for people living and working near  and on the Metropolitan line. We had our second child in that first flat, and then moved to a slightly larger flat on the same estate. As with all things in decline, there was increasing exposure to things that I did not want my children to think of as being normal in their experience. It was however very difficult to move out of this flat. Harrow, as with all boroughs of London, has overcrowding problems and no properties for people to move into. We looked into shared buying but prices in London had always been astronomically out of our reach.  Finally there were just too many problems living on the estate and I wanted to just get out.  I found a private property to rent in what is considered a "nicer" area, BUT the rent, even though the lowest by far for the Nicer area, was going to be problem. Somehow I managed to convince the estate agents that we were good for the rent. That was 10 years ago. So we managed to move out of the Estate when the youngest was 4 years old  and just starting school, and the oldest was 6 years old, completely inexhaustable  and always needed to be outside playing.

I/ we never owned a property, and we never became homeless, which was the only way a family now  can get housed by the council and be able to live in what is considered an affordable rented property.

 Private rent is a nightmare in London. We only got a housing association property, (affordable rent) in London because we transferred from a housing association in Leicester. I always knew it was difficult and it was a big risk to leave this affordable rent, that we had moved into,  to go back into private renting. The problems on the estate meant that whole estate, made of Asbestos, and after One block was set on fire (by a tenant hoping to get a move somewhere else), was being pulled down in planned  stages and being built up again, this time bigger in terms of increased numbers of homes, that is  higher rise flats as well as town houses.  But the whole process of pulling down, living alongside rubble, re building and decanting of families to new flats, was going to take at least 8 years of living in a building site. Other social problems on the estate were simply getting worse, put simply drugs and antisocial behaviour, and that was just the kids. Other children were kept locked inside in their flats because it was felt unsafe for them to be outside. I was the only parent, supervising my young children as they played out in the way I had as young child in sixties London. So allowing my children out, and being there to see I knew at first hand what was happening in and around the Estate.


The private rent house we moved into hadn't ever been modernised or refurbished, but it was in a peaceful suburb and had an amazing garden. The Low rent of £950 (10 years ago) reflected the state of repair and was lower by £300 per month than the next available price range, which for us was out of the question.

We have been here for 10 years. The garden has been the centre of life when the kids were small, and even now, from March to September its where I spend most of my free time. The lady who owns the house has decided she wants to sell, we had discussions about how she disagreed with the quotes from various workman and by March I knew she wasnt going to pay to maintain the house to even a minimum standard required for renting.  The house needs modernisation and the cost is not one she wants to pay. Without this modernisation, (i.e a new boiler, as the existing one is over 30 years old, double glazing, the old windows are metal framed and single glazed and the wrought iron bath needs to be replaced) it is not legal for her to continue to rent out the property through the estate agent. Instead of renovating and upkeeping the property she is going to sell. I can't remain in the property as the bills to keep it going in the winter are sky high. So we have to move out.


But For now,  we will need to stay within the area as they are both still at school and my son is going to sixth form at his school in September while my daughter has two years at least, maybe 4 if she goes onto 6th form.

 a photo of my family now in 2016.


 The rents in this area are so over the top.  I keep visiting estate agents and the bank to keep informed but I will probably have to get a loan to cover the difference in rent amount, between what we pay now to what we shall have to pay, and multiply that by 12 months to cover any discrepancy, or problems in rent paying for the entire year of the tenancy contract. We have to prove that we can do that before we can be accepted as  tenants anywhere else. So to cover the cost of moving we have to pay a lump sum (loan) of 12 x £600 (£700 or £750 etc) i.e the difference in rent from what we pay now to what we shall have to pay, plus, one month rent and one month deposit, plus £200 estate agency fees. So around, or just under £10,000.

Also we can't move until my son has finished his high school exams later this summer, and the landlady wants to sell by July.

 Heightened-but - low -level stress is abound.

I am going to miss my garden so much.

I am in a constant state of  boxing up and packing, getting rid of stuff and clearing out old papers from the past, It is a healing and cathartic process but overwhelmingly sad as I look at my life in boxes. Trying to move through the concrete jungle of paperwork and bank status, waiting for the lights to change and the contracts to come to their end .


 So many more boxes this time, and pots, and a cat .




As a foot note.

In other countries, people rent their homes, it is a natural way to live, in some countries it is a respectable and human way to live, they are not demonised for it and pay normal money for a place to live. In cities such as  London, Dublin, people are put under constant  pressure to get mortgages or pay extortionate rent, or get loans to get into a place to live. It's corrupt. fully.