When Alex and her husband moved from London to Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 2006, she felt a bit apprehensive. “It was daunting to go somewhere we didn’t know anyone, but we had a young daughter and couldn’t afford a house with a garden in the city.” She was still commuting to the capital for her job in children’s publishing, and was worried she would struggle to meet new people locally.
But the day they arrived, a friendly neighbour came to say hello. “It was Jules. She had two children and had recently moved from London, too, for the same reasons as us.”
