Moving stories

Lydia Robinson is moving out of our pretty little avenue. She says she no longer has a choice, especially since Love Rat Mike has informed that he will no longer be paying his half of the mortgage after this month. However sad I feel that I’ll be losing someone who has become a good friend, it was inevitable that Lydia would leave – living up the road from your estranged husband and his tart is a little too much for her to bear.

She broke the news to me this morning over a lovely latte and a slice of carrot cake. Mike had visited her on Saturday for a “talk”. The “talk” included asking her not to contest the divorce he is already seeing his solicitor about, showing her a scan of Robinson Junior and telling her he would be using his wages to help to pay Susan’s mortgage rather than “theirs”.
She’s remarkably calm about it all – I’d still be throwing things and kicking furniture. Matthew, she says, came up with all sorts of solutions for her including one in which he moves out of his flatshare and into her house. Sweet, she says, but she’s not ready to get that deep into another relationship. So, the estate agent is due at 12noon tomorrow and Lydia is on the mailing lists of several estate agents. Ideally, she says, she’d like to rent the house out and move somewhere fairly cheap for a while. She says she’s not looking to move too far out of the area but it depends on the cost of flats and so on. Her mother, she says, is already painting the bedroom of her childhood in Deepest Darkest Essex in readiness for her to move home. Lydia said that she’d rather stay living in the same street as B*stard and Tart than do that!

Cousin Janey, on the other hand, is looking into buying properties with her footballer boyfriend for after the wedding. Janey lives with her mother and Darren lives in a four bedroomed house with three other footballers (one of whom actually plays for a “proper” club apparently!) During our daily wedding update chat at lunchtime, Janey revealed that she’s looking at apartments in Surrey Quays, Gypsy Hill, Brockley and Sydenham. Or even in Nunhead or Dulwich, she said almost as an afterthought.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? It’s got to be fate hasn’t it? Do I help Lydia by introducing her to potential buyers/renters? Janey has often commented on how lovely our peaceful little avenue is and of course, having Bill Opposite’s Porsche parked outside is an added bonus for her. Or do I keep quiet? Could I cope with Cousin Janey dropping in every ten minutes to borrow sugar/update me on her latest drama. David would insist that we move rather than let that happen.

Decisions, decisions!