After my mum re-married in 1997, she understandably moved out from our home on Manor Road. There were a few months where my brother and I would live together without either parents but it wasn’t going to last and my dad moved in by the end of 1997. I often found it stressful with both of them.
By 2002, my brother knew of someone selling their house on the next street. Both him and I were working and together we would be able to afford a £70,000 mortgage. We moved into our new home in November 2002.
Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, my brother soon took advantage and moved his girlfriend in with us. I wasn’t too bothered and it wasn’t worth the grief. He also soon lost his job and he had also moved his ex-cellmate from jail in with us. I was probably unable to do much about it and I understood that any additional money would be much needed.
My dad had re-married in 2003 and he would go on to move in with his new wife. This would free up the Manor Road house and it gave an opportunity for me to get rid of my brother since neither he or his girlfriend were contributing anything to the mortgage payments at all. I was struggling and was having to rack up credit card debts. Although my brother and his girlfriend moved out, I was still sharing the house with an ex-convict whom I did not like. He would pay very little to stay there but it did help, so I put up with him. I didn’t need to interact with him much at all but his presence did irritate me.
By early 2004, I had arranged to travel to Australia for a month, so it was a good time to get the criminal out of my home. Fortunately, he went without fuss and I would have the house (and mortgage) to myself. It was the end of an unfortunate, undesirable and peculiar living arrangement.