Michael, thanks for your kind words. You're absolutely right, SW London is indeed even more expensive - unless you shuffle yourself into the odd enclave of affordable flats. The trade off, alas, is only two trains an hour into London, with the last train home at something like 10.30. Gone will be my lovely days here of just rocking up to the station, knowing I'll never have to wait long! And, having lived there before, there's no sense of community, and no lovely little shops and cafes on the doorstep. Argh!

And anotherjohn, yes, I saw those flats, and would definitely consider them - but as I say, I'm not able to buy yet, and I imagine that in a year's time, when I have the finance, those flats are going to have gone up exponentially, along with everything else. You never know - I might be lucky!

It's not just Forest Hill's issue, of course, this is a generic London housing market thing, and whilst I am frustrated, a lot of that is actually inward, at having made one or two decisions which have unwittingly led to this inability to buy something I like, somewhere I like (and trust me, I don't need a mansion in Belgravia!). I'd like to stop caring - I rent a lovely flat, and have super landlords - but what happens when I finally hit 70 and get to retire?

Still, my best friend has four houses. (Because that's what people do these days, apparently.) So maybe when I'm a destitute pensioner she'll let me move into one of those - or the wendy house in the garden ;-)