Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house

Broad is the way that leads to destruction and narrows is the way that leads to eternal life so the Good Book says. Well here we are living in Cherington Road which, for those who don't know, is situated just off Broadway, one of the premier addresses in Cheadle and very nice it is too. Now I now how the 5% live.

The first few days were carnage with a great deal or sorting out to do. Beds to assemble, boxes to unpack, networks to install and the like. Now, after two weeks, we have reached the equilibrium point after which, if I'm honest, few meaningful improvements will be made.

There are great practical benefits to being here, not least that two of the kids now have their own rooms (the two boys still share), we have more room to manouevre / get away from each other when we need the space and we have appreciably more storage (though being rented means that you can't install shelves or the like)

On the debit side, large houses can be remote and lonely houses, though the people we have met on the road have been very friendly. It is also strange to be so far from church. OK enough during a Sabbatical, but too distant for day to day operations from which you feel disconnected. That's without the hassle of finding a parking place in Stockport Road on a Sunday, though the family usually walks.

Lastly, what about the vexed issue of clergy housing as a concept? There is no doubt that, on the one hand, it is a great perk - though if you don't own another property that has to be weighed against the need to prepare for retirement in some way or other and the costs pertaining to this - for large families which, of course, this provision encourages this is a real boon. On the other hand, the great danger is that as one's accomodation gets larger more luxurious - have you seen the Vicarage at Bramhall?! - one becomes increasingly distanced from the lives of normal people or at least the majority of them. This distance re-inforced the image of the clergy as somehow 'diffferent' and that, in my opinion, cannot be a good thing especially when the difference is in wealth and status.

How to square the circle? I'm not sure. Doesn't the Good Book say something about snakes and doves?