Well...

March is supposed to be the end of the sick season, isn't it? For us, it definitely wasn't. It's been a rough few weeks around here - made worse by illness. Picked E up from school with a vomiting bug, which he then passed to C several days later (fortunately not passed to the adults as well, although I'll admit we have better hand-washing habits etc). Then a bad cold, passed to everyone.

On top of that... it looks certain the landlady is going to raise the rent. OK - we can deal with a rise... but then she had an agent come around to "revalue" the property. I did a bit of research and... well, London private rents have gone up a lot in the past few years. Two bedroom places in this area are renting for prices that, for us, are unaffordable. So God knows what our rent is going to be raised to, but I'm really hoping we can afford it.

If not, I don't know where we'll go. We have a ballpark area - anywhere with good transport links to both Brighton and London. Nothing hums to us. Nothing feels like home. We've been here for just under five years now and the thought of relocating makes me feel sick to my stomach. The thought of telling E, who is so excited about going to "big school" just down the road, that he can't go there, makes me feel awful. I love the school run, I love this area, I love seeing and chatting to the same people - the nice librarian who has known E since he was 4 months old, the friendly childminders in the area, the other mothers.

So, just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will the rent increase be affordable? Will she be merciful, wanting to keep known tenants, or take a gamble on the unknown? We've expressed our interest in staying... there's nothing we can do at this point but wait, and hope she doesn't ask for £300 extra per month.

It sucks being a taxpayer in the UK who has to support a family on one income. A worker supporting a wife and two young children is taxed at the same rate as a childless, single taxpayer. There are so many good aspects to this country but this particular point is tough to swallow. It's not the principle of the thing - it's the fact that I love this area, I love this flat, my children have spent their entire (albeit short) lives in this area... and we're on the cusp of being priced out entirely. I knew we'd never be able to afford to buy here (or anywhere, really, at this rate), but I thought we might have a few more years here.

It'd be easier if we had somewhere else in mind. But... we don't. And actually, even areas further out in London are more expensive than I'd expected. Just... ouch. Reality bites, and all.

It'd also be easier if B's job wasn't up in the air. His company is... well, restructuring. He's not in the line of fire, but he will be in a few months, when some department takes a look at his role and decides whether it's essential or not. And his boss has just taken another job, so he's getting a new one. Another unknown... way too many for me.

Well... reality bites.

So let's look at the positives. We're off to Suffolk to stay with friends this weekend. And this Sunday was Mother's Day in the UK. I woke up to chocolates and a balloon....

We all went to Wimbledon Common for a walk.

Note the horses just through the trees in the last pic. We saw lots of people out riding. After our walk we went for lunch and then had a browse in a local independent bookstore. It was a good day.

Now that we're all healthy again, the warmer weather is luring us into the garden. C is too precarious to leave on the large trampoline (especially with E on it) so I've dragged the little one out and she's loving it.

Can't do anything for one these days without the other one wanting it... "Take a picture of me, Mama!"


Ok - am off to attempt to regain my natural optimism. Probably through sleep (if C lets me, she's been awful the last week) and maybe possibly through having a bit of chocolate and reading a trashy romance. Tomorrow is another day, and all that jazz.

EDITED TO ADD: If anyone has emailed me lately and not received a reply... email me again, please (katcoll AT yahoo DOT c.om is the one I check - write it the normal way with the @ and . - am foxing the spambots by not writing it out properly, this is a public blog, after all). I've lost some messages to spam, according to a friend, and may have straight up just not received email. V. annoying. And now off to bed.

November

First, a mini-rant.

What is it with failures of parents/nannies who can't discipline their children? An older child went for E today when he dared clamber onto the same structure he was on top of, and all the mother could manage was a weak "oh, sorry..." as she continued to reward the child by helping him climb higher. Nice one, must be taking lessons from the general "softly softly" approach that Europe has toward criminals.

I'll start putting some money aside for Muay Thai lessons for E when he's older, I suppose.

On a more pleasant note, we enjoyed the crisp autumn weather today, although E got a little bit too cold after being out for 45 minutes or so. And we met a very nice girl who spun him around on the children's merry-go-round thing, saying, "We have to keep it slow because he is just a little baby!" Almost restored my faith in humanity.

Oh yes, pictures:

Burritos

We've been back two weeks now, and I keep finding myself craving Lucinda's burritos at around 5pm. The chicken kind, with black beans and medium salsa.

Also on that list are:

-Space. There's some lady with a grating laugh talking in one of the nearby gardens and I can clearly hear every whinny she emits. I miss being removed from the neighbors in a completely detached house with acreage.

-Sunshine. It's raining now. 'Nuff said.

-Nearby beaches, forest, mountain.

-Being able to walk somewhere without seeing 30 other people. I miss walking on the marsh path at 11pm and not seeing another soul.

-Cheap baby stuff.

-Cheap food and clothes, too.

(The above two items on the list shouldn't be misconstrued: I mean 'cheap' as in a U.S. item costing less money than the same or similar item in the U.K.)

I miss the people more than I miss the other stuff, though!

Anyway, this isn't a pity me post (much) so I've disabled comments. Hah. View it more as a plea to some entrepreneur to open up a takeaway burrito shop in SW London, at least until I earn enough money to split our time between CA and London.

And so this post doesn't end up being a wall of text, here's Elijah at his god-grandma's house, with my godsister and one of his favorite toys: the chimes.