Liz Moody’s Dulwich Life is written by Anna Sayburn, inspired by Gainsborough’s portrait “Mrs Elizabeth Moody and Her Two Sons”. It imagines how Mrs Moody might live today.
Friday 30 May
Mr M out of bed, but shuffling round house in dressing gown, eating cornflakes. So it was just me at the building society. Wore the only suit that didn’t sell on eBay and marched into the mortgage advisor’s office. He was about 14, and didn’t quite know what to do when I handed him an envelope full of eBay cash, paying off our arrears to date. I don’t think they see cash very often.
Anyway, I’ve arranged a payment holiday, which is all very well but we still have to repay sometime. So I popped next-door to the estate agent. He was thrilled to see someone looking solvent coming through the door. But less thrilled when I asked about the prospect of selling.
‘Thing is, Mrs Moody, there’s plenty of appetite for family homes at the higher end of the market, but no-one can release the equity to buy. Probably not the best time to sell.’
Hm. Will have to give this more thought.
Sunday 1 June
Got a phone call from the school at 9am. Due to an outbreak of measles (that’ll teach the homeopathic trendies to boycott MMR), half the cricket first 11 is unfit to play. So Sam and Tom both made the team!
The boys were delirious with excitement. Even Mr M looked pleased. He shaved for the first time in days. But then he skulked behind a tree for most of the match, avoiding city fathers.
Ozias Linley, umpiring, looked very suave in his cricket whites. He came over for a chat, and said he was a bit worried about an essay Sam wrote last week. Uh-oh. Arranged to go in after school on Thursday to find out more.
Chatted to the parents of Tom’s Philippino friend Ranjeel. Ranjeel’s dad is a lawyer for a big city firm, on secondment to London. Ranjeel’s mum is pregnant again and they want to rent a big family house for a couple of years. ‘You can only get six month leases – and the houses are so small!’ she moaned. I spy a possibility.
Photo: Thanks to Angus Stuart on Flickr.com (with CCL)
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