Bye, Streatham

Today we sold our flat in south London. It has taken forever due to a sluggish market, roof repairs, the freeholder selling up, planning permission sought (and later withdrawn) for the extension of a neighbouring Islamic Centre (!), you name it... 
We only lived there for a few months in between overseas posts. It was a nice enough flat and Tooting Common was lovely, but we never really warmed to Streatham itself. We bought it in the hope that it would 'come up'. It was going to be the new Clapham... or OK, the new Balham... or at least the new Tooting, but it still hasn't happened. Streatham High Road was voted Worst Street in Britain in a poll organised by the BBC in 2002 and remains an eyesore, there's no tube, the long-promised Tesco still hasn't come and there's not even a Starbucks - a double whammy of deprivation. Even its most famous former residents were hardly pillars of society: step forward satanist Aleister Crowley, Afghan warlord Zardad Khan, and 70s madame Cynthia Payne whose infamous brothel was just round the corner from us. So, farewell Streatham, we wish you all the best.