however, the black plague came back to london in the summer of 1604 and proved to be particularly severe. for this reason, the opening of parliament was changed to 1605. by christmas eve, the miners had still not reached the buildings of parliament, and just as they restarted work early in 1605, they learned that the opening of parliament had been further postponed to 3 october. the plotters then took the opportunity to row the gunpowder up the thames from catesby's house in lambeth, to hide it in their new rented house: they had learned (by chance) that a coal merchant named ellen bright had vacated a ground-floor undercroft directly beneath the house of lords chamber. presented with this golden opportunity, percy immediately took pains to secure the lease. he created the story that his wife would join him in london and that he would need the extra storage space.