One of the houses was renovated and rented out to Russians for £1,500 a week, more than our monthly rent. Property prices were booming so we were asked to leave. We were unwilling to live in a two-bedroom flat on some third floor again. Hallfield was still a threat, as St Mary Abbots had become so over-subscribed. We could not be sure of obtaining a place. "If we stay, the boys will go to the German school in Richmond later, won't they? We might as well move there now," my husband decided. In May 2007, a van with all our belongings left the mews. 

On the boys' last morning at St Peter's Nursery I was in tears. A month later, when we had just unpacked the last boxes in Richmond, the allocation of primary school places in Kensington & Chelsea came through. Our eldest son was invited to join reception at St Mary Abbots, "the most sought after primary school in England," as the Sunday Times gushed. A commute was out of the question. Richmond offered us a house with a garden, the park, the river, its very own intelligentsia — a relaxed set of people — and, last but not least, a place in reception at the brilliant Vineyard School. 

My husband took the decision as I was unable to. Richmond it was, there was no moving back. I confessed to Father Gillean and at least I knew that our decision made another family on the waiting list of St Mary Abbots very happy. We now have a lovely life in Richmond. Yet each time I pass St Mary Abbots, I slip inside for a quiet moment. I still feel that I belong. London has forever become a much better place — thank God.