We have been close before, but I think this time it is going happen. The exchange of contracts for my new house should take place tomorrow, and we will be moving on 25th November to Harrow Weald.
We have bought a house on what was an original 1950's council estate, where all have been sold on many years ago. It is surrounded with green spaces, and has a local library and swimming pool in walking distance.
We still have access to the inner city through the Overground line and there are enough bus services to keep me happy too.
But it has needed a change of mindset to accept the notion of becoming suburban again after so many years. When I was 18 and leaving home I declared I would not live in a semi-detached house ever again, because I always associated the "semi in the suburbs" as representing the values I most despised. Small-mindedness, inward looking, patronising attitudes and a kind of British arrogance borne from complacency and self-righteousness.
But now I have been convinced to find a semi-detached house to make a new beginning with some space to breathe, out in zone 5 no less, away from the bustle of the inner city.
I suppose what I am worried about most is becoming content. People who are content with their lives have really declared they are done, spent, with no more to do, no more ambitions, ready to fall into a gentle decline through retirement to an inevitable end.
I think I have insured against that by having a wife who will never let me settle, and who has driving ambitions of her own, which should keep me active for a long while yet. And yes the possibility of becoming a father in my 60's is still on the agenda. Being an old Dad on the school run (or school walk in my case) is still part of the plan.
So if you see me in the coming years, please ask whether I am content in my new house, and pull me up if I say I am.
