Brierly Hill 90210 presents... 2008 v2

As a youngster, on the way to my grandparents, there was a hill completely covered with trees except a small clearing in the middle and down one side. I remember thinking that it would be an ideal place to build a perfect house, white and overlooking the valley below. I only realized relatively recently that childhood memory stayed with me and subconsciously resurfaced when we saw a Victorian gothic revival house for sale in Pennsylvania. It was white, perched on a hill with a view of a creek in the small valley below. As 2008 began, our second child was born and our offer on the house was accepted. The high-school drop-out from the Cotswolds, survivor of Cheltenham's drug-fueled excesses of the 1980s and 90s, was happily married with two kids, working in Silicon Valley with more stock options than he new what to do with and, by April was living in his dream house with beautiful views of the Pennsylvania countryside. The job in California still meant traveling out there once a month and the first monthly trip after we moved wasn't timed well. Leaving a wife with a baby and a two-year-old in a run-down house with no phone or running water did not go down well! Like a lot of people at that time, we thought we were financially indestructible. We'd bought the new house without selling our old one, thinking that would inevitably happen soon after. The global financial situation had other ideas. While Americans are focused on the campaigns for a presidential election in November, there are major red flags being waved in the automotive, insurance and financial industries. Get ready for a fall. Welcome to 2008.