to relocate or not to relocate - wwyd?

[midnightexpress]

Here's the deal: DP works as a contractor, and after almost a year of unemployment he got a job in London in the Autumn. We live in Scotland. We are both from the south-east of England though, and our family are down there, as are many of our friends (we moved up here about 8 years ago). And, it seems most of the work for DP, if not all. I can work anywhere, as I work remotely.

ATM DP is staying with relatives during the week and commuting up here at weekends, which is not ideal. But we are swithering about relocating.

DS1 due to start school in Aug/Sept, so we've missed, or are about to miss, most of the English deadlines for applications. We'd need to do quite a lot of work to the house before selling, assuming we could sell at all in the current market. And we would inevitably be able to afford only something much smaller if we moved south.

Gah. We go round and round and round and can't make any sort of a decision. Help!

Congratulations to your DP for getting his new job

Why did you move to Scotland in the first place? Are there any things you would desperately miss about living where you do if you were to move 100s of miles away? How long is your DP's contract for?

Thanks.

I moved up here for a (pre-children) job, which I now do freelance. DP moved up here for me (the old romantic), but he'd also lived here before.

His contract's for about a year, but there's basically nothing much in his fairly specialised field up here at the moment, and much more down south.

The main thing we'd miss is the space we have here - there's no way we could afford the same size of place we have here down south, and the lovely countryside that is just a short drive from our door - hills, beaches, islands, which we are finally getting back to now that the DCs are getting a bit older.