We are moving.

Moving house.

Sometimes I have to say it out loud to actually believe it because it feels like such a strange thing to be doing. We’ve lived in our little flat for 8 years now and it’s home…

Most people move because they are upgrading. Borrowing a little more money from the bank and then getting somewhere bigger as their families grow. That’s what we thought we’d be able to do one day in the future when we first bought our two bed flat. It was, at the time, in a less deirable part of East London.

Before we bought our own place we’d been renting in Old Ford Lock, directly oppsite The Olympic stadium – only back then it was just a building site. When we decided that the time was right to get our feet on that infamous ladder we knew it couldn’t possibly be in Bow. Hackney had spread and the streets of Bow were turning into gold all around us. We definitely didn’t have that sort of money so we had to branch out.

We initially looked in Walthamstow, which in 2008, was on the up according to the estate agents but I didn’t like it. I really wanted to be on the Central Line; it was just a case of how far we’d have to go out to make that possible.

We got off the train at Leyton and immediately scrapped that idea… There was NO way I was going from beautiful Bow to what looked like the arm pit of London… I’m sorry Leyton-ers but back in 08 you just weren’t pretty and I didn’t have the foresight to see that one day you might be upped and comed…

I wasn’t hopeful for Leytonstone either because it’s just one stop away. But boy, one stop made a difference! I felt at home as soon as I got off the train and even though it was that East London type rough around the edges, I could totally see the potential here. The beautiful Wanstead flats which turned out to be the view from my living room window, a high street with bustling cafes and shops and a village feel even though it’s only 20 minutes to central. I loved it. I knew I wanted to make it home and I did.

I poured my energies into making our lives here and although we only had a flat, having chosen to buy in the best area of the Stone rather than get a house a way down the road, we planned on a move down that way once babies came along. It had been perfect for two and then fine for the three of us when we had Florence. My tiny girl had her own room, what more did we need? We made friends who became like family, fell in love with our area and grew our roots. I made us a part of the community and I loved it.

Then 2012 came and as London was born again in the halo of The Olympics, my baby boy was also born making us a family of four. A family of four in our two bedroom flat without a garden. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Julia Donaldson book ‘A Squash and A Squeeze’ but we started to feel like we were living in it. Only instead of a wise old man advising us to chuck out our cow we had a bank manager advising us we couldn’t possibly buy anywhere bigger.

The Olympics brought more than national pride to our little pocket, village if you will, of London. It brought wealth and affluent people. Investment in the area was happening fast and the getrification process had well and truly started. Not just Leytonstone but everywhere in London was the same. While the rest of the country sank into the depression when it came to property prices, London soared.

The ‘H’ people. The Hampstead, Highgate and Hackney lot could no longer sell their flats and upgrade in their own area so they started to move to mine pushing up the prices. This in turn meant that we, the people in flats here, could no longer afford to do what we’d planned… Make a bigger family, earn a bit more money and borrow for a bigger mortgage and a modest next size up property… The UK’s most expensive neighbourhoods live in London and being a poor relative of them in E11 still sees you more expensive than most places in the rest of the country!

The prices are crazy.

We felt like we were being pushed out.

We didn’t want to move so we stayed put. We thought about a loft conversion but the council said no. We could only put one room up there because we were a flat. If we’d been a house we wouldn’t have even needed permission… One extra bedroom wasn’t enough. We’d been foiled at every corner.

We made do. Exhausted every option. Became familiar with EVERY single one of IKEA’s storage solutions. All the while the prices got higher and higher and more and more unattainable. I remember looking at a 4 bed house and thinking that five hundred and fifty thousand pounds was beyond the realms of possibility. Then last year a three bed terraced house with a courtyard garden and the bathroom off the kitchen downstairs sold on the road adjacent to us for £750k. Suddenly £550 thou seemed positively cheap! We looked and looked but there was nothing we could afford. We’d made a mint on our flat value but of course it means nothing when you need to buy in the same area.

We finally had to face the truth, we were out. Hand folded.

Jonny was offered a job in Norwich, for more money with a company car. We can buy a four bedroom house and have money left over to convert the loft any which way we choose because hey, we’ll own the whole house! He started his job in the summer staying with his folks during the week and coming home at weekends while we sell our flat and we’ve found somewhere amazing. We are currently are in a chain so it’s all a bit precarious and I don’t want to jinx it but at the moment we’re on course to move mid January.

I’m leaving London and I’m so sad about it because I love it here. I may have grown up in Norfolk and in truth be ‘going home’ but honestly, I just feel like I’m leaving it.

I can’t do anything else though… Because I want for my children to have a house and a garden and another baby brother or sister and I need for my family to be able to breathe.

Where Central Line living and cafe culture meant so much to us years ago, these days it has to be about the children and the lifestyle we can’t afford here is one I want for them in Norfolk.

London rocks, it’s just you need a whole lot of rocks in your pocket to stay these days – even if it’s more of an East London Stone that you’re after – it’s all too pricey for us!