There Goes the Neighbourhood

What an Easter that was, moving house is no fun in the best of weather, but still, all went well and the kids are now warming themselves by the fire, looking forward to their new life in the Warwickshire countryside. It's much healther than the last place, Hackney, East London - we had to move from there because it was needed for the 2012 Olympics - but being good European citizens, it was the least we could do, the Olympics is for all of Britain, not just London - well, that's what they told us. However, I'm a little concerned about our new neighbours, and the effect that they might have on the kids. The jovial loose-lipped landlord of the pub was telling me that their lifestyle was a little "unusual" - to say the least. She's on her second husband, although she doesn't live with her latest - it's a "pretend" marriage. Their house is just where they conveniently bump into each other to exchange warm sweaty greetings, if you know what I mean. Apparently she's got a decent job in the city with lots of perks - and from the look of the house I can see where all the extras go - although it's a little bit too extravagant for my taste. He's a different kettle of fish altogether, much older, well connected and according to the landlord, over-friendly with some big Italian laundering business. He went on to say that the police were after him for sticky-fingered law-breaking and that he definitely deserves a stretch inside - and the depressing thing is that we moved here to get away from that sort of thing. I just hope that my kids don't get unduly influenced when they see them flaunting their materialistic trappings of dubious financial activities - they're good kids, they deserve a chance to grow up amongst law-abiding people in a decent Christian community.