Yes, it is our story.

We as a family first came to the UK in 2003. We live in an enclosed University owned accomodation in Norwich. All of our neighbours were postgraduate students. We made good friendships with our neighbours, people from different nationalities.

Our next door neighbours was an Egyptian Family. Mahmoud and his wife was very nice and we helped each other. When he finished his study, we helped them packup, cleaned out his house, and put their belongings in the car bound for Heathrow airport. Our other neighbours were Malaysians, Japanese, Israelis, Nigerians, Mexicans, Germans, Finnish, and British. Our best friends were the Talib’s family from Malaysia. They shared our sadness and also happiness.

Unfortunately, near the end of the year 2004, we had to move on. I got a job offer in Hertfordshire and we need to move closer to the area. After a tireless house hunting, we opted to rent the cheapest house available close to my office. It was a two bedroom flat in St Albans, about 15 minutes drive to my office in Hatfield. The house was very cold (no carpet on first floor, heavily worn and very filthy carpet on second floor, and no double glazed windows), we literally have to use thick clothing indoors. But we had to move in, and fortunately, our children accepted and did not complain about anything. That was our second house move.

We only lived in that flat for 8 months. I then got a mortgage offer to buy a house for a 25 year period from a national bank, and as the area we live at that time was so expensive, we decided to buy the house in Sandy, about 32 miles (more than 50 kms) from St Albans. We then moved there.

What a beautiful feeling we had when we moved in into our own house. It was literally empty house though as we did not have any furniture at all at that time. Mainly through E-bay then we bought our household contents - from chairs to fridge. We also attended an auction house in St Albans to get bargain goods. We collected and transported everything ourselves. I rent a van for several weekends and collected the bunk bed near Colchester (Essex), the sofa in Baldock (Hertfordshire), and the Fridge and Washing Machine in Daventry, near Coventry.

We commuted every day, all of us. We deliberately did not move our children education near home. They continued their schooling in St Albans. I worked in Hatfield, and my wife worked in Welwyn Garden City. All within 10 miles distance or so. Hence, each morning we left home together, I drove and we chatted all the way down to St Albans area. In the afternoon, my wife would take our children from school and later took me from my office.

We lived in that house for only one and a half years. Our fourth house move was required when I got a chance to step into my next professional career. The choice was to move directly closer to my new job location or I temporarily rent a room over there. We decided to sell the house and rent a house back in St Albans to get close to our children school and my wife’s place of work. We planned to stay in St Albans for 6 months or so.

I rented a room in Wolverhampton, just next to the Mollyneux Stadium (Wolverhampton City FC), and a 10 minutes walk to my new office. I use the room from Monday to Friday, and I go back to St Albans every weekends.

Now it’s almost the time to move closer to my office. It would be summer, hence school transfer to my children would be easier. I’ve been looking for a house to rent in Wolverhampton and have some ideas already on which one to rent.

If we are successfully moving house to Wolverhampton, it would be our fifth house in the five years we’ve been here in the UK. However, the move to Wolverhampton would be subjected to one particular thing that still on the pipeline. Please wait for a further news.