Page 197 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

Here I found that I was truly forced into a corner as I had to supply details of my job,
employer, income and prospects. All my business mail was still being redirected to a
delightful little old lady who ran the sub post office close to my old ECYB address.
Hurdle one, my “employer” had an address.
Hurdle two was, “my employer” did have a business established and business stationery.
There was somewhere the building society could write to and obtain details of my
employment.

I did not truly set out to deceive, it was just all there and I really needed that mortgage.
Without it I was sunk without trace. My family would not have a home and my life would be
unbelievably difficult.
I went ahead and applied for my mortgage. The building society letter arrived in my
business post and I replied giving all the details they required about myself.
I was making best use of what was at hand!

Picture of Great Steeping village.

After all, I felt that our family had
gone through hell in the last few
months. I was still going through
huge difficulties that Ruth did not
know about, we needed some luck!
The mortgage went through and we
made plans to move.
But how to move the result of 14
years living in one place was the
next problem?

THE MOVE
I still had access to some of the old ECYB assets that my former “driver adversaries”
thought useless and of no value. They were, a working 16 ton Leyland Mastiff rigid lorry
with no tax or insurance, together with several large demountable container boxes that the
lorry could pick up off the ground and take to another location. They were all on a plot of
land close to the old business address. My landlord there was Alan Rundle’s eldest
brother. He and I did not always see eye to eye and he was pressurising me to move the
old “junk”.

During the Second World War, “Northcote” had been on the very edge of RAF Spilsby, a
Lancaster Bomber base and was the actual site for the WAAF accommodation unit. There
was ample space for this “junk” on a concrete area at the far side of the property.
I made plans to move the lorry and its boxes one by one but on the way filling them with all
our remaining worldly goods from Ivy House. My plan was that the boxes could hold the
furniture etc and we could dig it all out at the new home bit by bit. The boxes would provide
storage for us and give us time to think!

A grand plan indeed!
I had to choose my travel time carefully.
Not wishing to be caught breaking the law intentionally, but I had no chance of being able
to make the Leyland lorry road legal. I could not even access its paperwork.

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