I think I've confused some people about where I live. Let me fill you in:

I tend to move around a lot - this has been something that I've done / has happened to me since I was a very young child. In fact, I probably average around two years in any one location. My timeline going backwards is thus :

• currently living in Hornsby (Sydney) - since March 2009
• Cumnock (north-west NSW) - nearly six months
• Berowra (Sydney) - nearly two years
• Armidale (northern NSW) - approx one year
• Berowra (Sydney) - about four years
• Wauchope (mid-north Coast, NSW) - two years
• Adelaide (the Hills district) - nearly a year
• Adelaide (the Plains district) - six months
• Crows Nest (Sydney) - about six months
• Hornsby (Sydney) - about a year
• No fixed abode - travelling between Sydney and Murwillumbah (very north-coast NSW) for six or seven years
• Cremorne (Sydney) - about eighteen months
• London (England) - approx nine to ten months
• Normanhurst (Sydney) - five or so years
• Roseville (Sydney) - around four years
• Ngaio (Wellington, New Zealand) - approx nine months
• Seacliff or thereabouts (Adelaide, South Australia) - three or so years
• Brighton or thereabouts (Adelaide, South Australia) - I guess around two years
• Mascot (Sydney, NSW) - less than a year, I think
• Ngaio (Wellington, New Zealand) - Birthplace

As you can probably imagine, I've not had the most stable of lives moving around so much and I wonder if this pattern will ever change, whether I'll ever manage to settle down or whether I'm destined to be transient for the rest of my life. For the sake of my little girl, I hope desperately to find somewhere I can settle down so that she does not have to endure the instability, loss of friendship, inability to sustain relationships, etc, that appears to have happened to me.

(Mmmmm, just as I thought - I counted the above list and I was right in my guess that I average about two years anywhere.)

I am currently awaiting government housing (I've been told that this could take up to ten years) and have applied for priority housing on various grounds including the fact that I am on a disability pension and cannot afford rental accommodation. My current rental accommodation is heavily subsidised by my mother who is 69 years of age and still working full-time. Not ideal if they decide against my application for priority as I could not ask mum to support me indefinitely and she has gently indicated that I have up to six months to get something more affordable without the need for further financial support. My father has decided to ignore me since the breakup of my marriage and so, at the ripe old age of 42, I wonder if I will be facing homelessness in the not too distant future - distressing to say the least.

Anyway, if life is what we make it, I'll have to start making something of it very soon so that Jasmine will not suffer unnecessarily - it's not her fault that her mum is incapable of working (reasons not for public consumption) and I will endeavour to do whatever I can to safeguard her future.

My name is Kelly - this is my life.