Anyone who saw my episode of Show Me the Monet will know that my finances are currently in a bit of a state and at the time the programme aired, I was in serious danger of losing my home.

Well the inevitable happened and on 16th August I received a hand-delivered letter from the local county court. Our eviction date has been set for Thursday 6th September at 10am.

I know this bit of a digression from my ‘arty’ blogs but those closer to me will know the title of my blog site Dancing With Crocodiles is also the title of a book I have been writing for a while. This book started originally as a self help book for start up businesses and has gradually evolved into an autobiographical account of my life as a small business owner.

To cut an extremely long story short, I was made redundant from a very lucrative job and took the plunge and set up a business making fine art prints for artists and photographers. The journey was interesting at the begining as I threw my time and energy into the business believing with every fibre of my being that it would all come good. It was not easy and I made some horrible mistakes  won a number of wars and ultimately lost the battle. Do I have any regrets? Yes, some – I mistakenly thought running a business would bring me financial freedom and time to spend with my (at the time) very young children. So yes my regret is in a lot of time lost whilst they were growing up. However I would never have gained all the experience I got just reading about someone else’s experience in a book.

What else I have learned? That complete strangers can show acts of true altruism and kindness and come to your aid when you are feeling at your most vulnerable. I have many people to thank for this, not least my friend and mentor Rachel Elnaugh.  I also learned that people you considered friends or who at least had some understanding of your situation can turn on you at the drop of a hat; that all care and respect can be lost because of your precarious financial situation;  that your indebtedness to one gives them the right to harrass and abuse you verbally; that others will attempt to eat your dinner whilst it is yet still on your plate because you are too weak and too tired to eat it yourself.

I am at peace when I paint. Majorelle Gardens (c) Anne Blankson-Hemans

So on Monday 3rd September, I will move out of the house that has been our home for the last 15 years, thinking of all the irony, that at the time I moved into it, I had a 15 year Virgin One Mortgage that allowed my to pay off more off my mortgage each month. That at the end of the mortgage period in 2012, I would fully own my home. I am actually smiling at the irony of it all. I thought I had it all worked out.

I take a very philosophical view; it could be worse. These past two weeks I have had to hire a car and drive up and down the M1 to visit my dear sister Liz in hospital as she bravely battles severe anaemia due to a hemolytic sickle cell crisis and septicaemia along with a bunch of renal issues. At one point her HB count was as low as 3.8. To put it in perspective, mine is 14 and though Liz can operate effectively on 6 you can imagine how weak she was. As I write my sister is still in hospital and is improving every day.

What is important? My friends, Asab who painstakingly went throug my finances with me and wrote letters to creditors on my behalf, Seiwa and Ofo who held me up in love and prayerj my Auntie Stella in Bridgport, Connecticut who has had phone calls from me at all hours; my dear dear friends Theresa and Mitzi in Boston, Massachusetts who’s arms of warm love have been around me despite our geographical separation; Lisa my sister in art from Cape Town, South Africa; Amy (aka MsMoem) whom I have never met but nevertheless has been a chief supporter, my children,  Nick, George and Elliot.  My very close relationship with Lorraine and also my sister Liz, my brother David and my dear ‘little’ brother Charles who yet again has baled me out. My debt to him is now something on the scale of Greece’s debt to the EU but he hangs in there in complete faith and trust in his sister. “We all need a break from time to time” he tells me. I must not forget my wonderful new church family, all the wonderful people at Christian Celebration Church in Wootton. Life is good.

I cannot imagine life without my faith because it has been tough. I have come close to the wire and have almost lost my mind but the joy of the Lord has been my strength.

I have to share a favourite piece of scripture because I feel it is apt in this situation where I have lived with a lot and now have to live with a little and in both situations I am at peace.

Phil 4:11-13 (KJV)

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.