For many years (12 years I calculate) Andrea and I have been trying to live in the east end of London. We wanted to do this as we had been part of a church that had been working in the area for most of that time.
We had been living in Bermondsey and the only option open to us was home swap (mutual exchange in other words).
For innumerable times we’d place adverts in shops and housing offices to see if people would like to swap to our property. Many came and had a look. - We had a three bedroom property that the council had given us 25 years ago. But, either the Thames river was too much of a divide, or if people did accept then the council would refuse because too many wanted to come into the small flat or the people were in rent arrears. We could not buy either because of our age and could not get a mortgage.
I lost heart after too many disappointments.
I kept trying the only option open to us - swapping and felt I should explore the Chrisp Street market area of Poplar. We had a look around and I loved the vibrancy and dynamic of the people there.
I did not know how to proceed, I was stuck. If I advertised again I feared I would be disappointed. Then one of the church leaders (Mark) told me he felt from God I should try once more. “Had you any idea where you think you should try?”, he asked. I told him of my thoughts on Chrisp Street Market.
Hearing his encouragement it spurred me to put cards and posters in the shops of that area hoping people would ring up to swap. Most were very willing at no charge to have posters up. One newsagent however said it cost £1 per week to place a card in the window. I duly paid for one week and waited for the responses.
Indeed quite a lot of people did ring offering many different types of properties. One did look promising. It was a 3 bedroom maisonette on the first floor. It was OK and I got a bit excited about it. Andrea was concerned for the cats that would be able to get out. She had visions of me chucking the cats out of the window to let them out.
Because of her lack of enthusiasm I tended to drag my feet and the lady whose flat it was got impatient and dropped out. I think she was quite justified to do so. So, back to square one.
Meanwhile the card in the newsagent that I had paid a £1 for was still there ten weeks later. It was this card the lady of our new address had seen when she was visiting Chrisp Street market seeking to swap herself. Her husband rang saying they had seen the card.
By now the church I attend was in the middle of deciding to change locations and move further west. And although properties around Chrisp Street would have been OK for my work I felt it was no longer where God wanted us.
He mentioned he had seen the card in Chrisp Street Market and was interested in swapping. I quickly dismissed him say we no longer wished to live near Chrisp Street. “Oh no” he said “this is further west in Stepney” “Hmm OK,” I thought, and listened further.
He explained how his wife wanted to live near her sister and the girl there wanted to move to Bermondsey where we lived. This sounded complicated. We arranged a visit and loved the place. It was a ground floor maisonette with a garden in the heart of Stepney. In fact, it was right opposite where our good friend Alison had lived but she had recently got married and moved to Leicester. So we all agreed. The girl who was to move to ours was happy with our place too but she was effectively moving to a smaller place - still three bedrooms but smaller. The Council threw a few obstacles in our way, but after we over came them they agreed for it to go through.
We met the couple who’s house we were moving to go to the housing association offices to sign tenancies. The forms and questions were phenomenal. We were not used to it as we had not moved for over 25 years. After signing I knew it was for real and was irreversible.
All was completed and we agreed a moving date. The moving date was a bit later than we had originally thought as the couple was going on a barge holiday to Norfolk. This put it back a little but allowed us to pack and sort things out in the flat we were leaving. The girl moving to ours had already packed and left her place empty and went to her caravan in Clacton for the summer so wasn’t in a hurry to get to ours.
So moving day arrived. We had heard a neighbour was a removal man so the quote he gave us was quite reasonable. He had got the contract for the couple in Stepney too. The trouble was because they had gone away just prior to moving the had not packed and so were quite unprepared for the moving day. This gave us quite a good time to clear and sort things out and not feel rushed or pressurised. But the problem was about to get worse. The did not finish moving the others until gone 7pm. This meant the removers could only start with the larger items from our flat. The poor lads, they had started quite early and had many problems with the couples stuff. By 9:30 in the eveneing they were ready to take our second load but they look so tired and washed out I told the to come back another day. Again it all seemed fine in the hands of God as it allowed us to get a bit settled in before all the fiddly stuff came. We had placed a lot of stuff like books and our camping gear into storage, so when that comes out there will be even more uproar!
We are so happy at this new place. We feel really blessed by God. At time of writing we have the decorators in. Our daughter was able to get some paint from council refuse department. Trade painters pass on to the council any they don’t finish. We are very pleased with the colours and seem to have just been waiting for us to use. It’s a shame though we were just getting settled and the uproar. And then, when that is all over, we have to get what we placed into storage. More boxes to unpack!
God has provided and has blessed us and seems to be involved in every aspect of our move. We are so grateful.
