Why?

Lots of people have asked us why. Why London? Why now? Why move? These are all good and valid questions, and the answer, as with most of the answers to the really good questions, is complex, multidimensional and deeply subjective. In short, I think it comes down to this: because we want to. I know that seems facile - after all, why would we do something so drastic if we didn't want to - but it actually sums up our sentiment pretty nicely.

Michele and I first talked about this move after our first visit to London in 1999. Ah, the good old days, before we had a house full of stuff, and a mortgage and children. Things were simpler then, and it would have been a lot easier to do this move at that time. And we were ready to, too, but then the market tanked in 2000 and my company stopped all relocation. We've talked about it off and on in the years since, but it never seemed to be the right time.

After my last visit there in January of 2006, we talked about it again and decided that if we're going to do it, we should stop talking about it and just get on with it. It doesn't get any easier as we get older and more set in our ways, nor does it get easier as the kids become more entrenched in school, their social lives and other activities. So I guess that's the answer to the 'why now' question.

It's funny how many people on learning of our plans have said something like "I'd love to do something like that, but..." My advice is this - if you want to do something like this, then do it. We dithered for 6 years after the first plans fell through. That means that we could have been 6 years further along and the move 6 years less complicated. Not that I have any regrets, the past is what it is. My point is that there's never a good time to do something like this. You just have to set your teeth and do it.

But then, we haven't actually moved yet. Talk to me in a month and I may feel differently.