People who have moved to the country from London

[CountessDracula]

What exactly is so much cheaper about living in the country to justify the massive salary cut you have to take when you move?

Food, clothes, schools etc the same price surely. Plus masses of petrol so that is more. If you are moving to an area where the house prices are not dissimilar to London, I can't see where you make the saving.

Ah yes, that is the area where "P" that Enid and I both know just moved back into London from! TBH I think as they didn't have kids and were working in London it was hard to integrate properly so you shouldn't have that problem.

Datchet/Windsor are both very expensive, aren't they?

CD - does he have to move out to get the work he wants? I was asking dh's best mate (high-flying partner in Cambridge law firm, formerly associate in corporate law firm in city) about work/life balance and he said that he works jsut as hard here as he ever did in London, but that both here and in London there are jobs you can do that are just 9-6. has your dh fully explored the possibility of finding a job he likes within a London firm so that you can stay? Or is he just fixated on getting to Winchester because he thinks it's his only solution

Sorry for highjack - Yes Dinausaur Datchet/Windsor are expensive but the transport links to London and work are great and the area seemed very nice indeed. I need good transport becasue (dare I say it) I don't drive

No Prufrock it's not that he wants really short hours. He is naturally a hard worker. The issue is that he doesn't want what comes with city partnership (ie the pressure and the selling your soul to the devil). He is not corporate btw.

However he doesn;t want to just time-serve in the city, he likes to have something to strive for and so either west end or country partnership are a possibility. Winchester just came up as it would be nice to live near ps etc

Aah - I misunderstood, it's not that he doesn't want partnership, it's that he wants a partnership and a life does such a thing exist, even in Winchester?

Seriously, if you are so sure you would not like country living, can he not explore the west End option further?

oh yes he is, it's just that he has two firms after him at the moment within striking distance of Winchester and so he we are being forced to make a decision.

About 3 years ago he turned down one in Winchester where they really pushed the boat out for him but he didn't fancy the sort of work they did. These are both really good sounding jobs.

Here's more thoughts that may/may not be relevant....if you make the move on a trial basis, suppose that you'd probably need to give it a couple of years to adjust socially and professionally and to truly explore more obscure quality of life issues in any sort of depth. If, after a few years, you both decided that it would be better to return to London, would dh be likely to have difficulty getting back into a London firm?

Also, in order to make your situation more bearable, have you considered looking for work in the Winchester area to avoid the drudgery of a grinding daily commute?

CD - all corportae lawyers end up selling their souls to the devil at some stage !

I refused to sell mine, well, the devil suggested that I should kill myself doing long hours working on meaningless million £ deals for a* hole corporate clients instead of giving up work to have my darling angel son...so I told the devil to sod off !!!

I can totally understand why your DH doesn't want to become a partner...I absolutely detested every single one of my City partner bosses who spent all their time licking the boots of potential clients...except one male partner who was a good friend of mine but he was truely exceptional...

I now have less money, but a great LIFE !!

Lawyer disclaimer: the above is the very personal view of this poster based on bitter experience...

Earlybird, yes he could come back. I don't want to change my job as I have about the only IT consultancy job on earth that involves no travel (all my clients are in the city) AND lets me work part time, so I just don;t want to jack it in. I could go in-house but that would be (a) dull and (b) a big paycut so I think I will stick where I am!

Nanneh he is not corporate, he is a litigator. But the partners in his firm still flog their souls it seems.

CD - litigation is tough with long hours - I totally sympathise !

tbh he doesn't really flog his guts out all the time at the moment. I keep telling him he has it cushy but he won't have it, says he feels like he is time serving and waiting for his pension which he feels at 39 is too awful for words (I agree)

He needs a new challenge

CD - totally understand your DH. I started law really late (did lots of other more interesting but less paid jobs before doing law).

I only worked in the City for 3 years and still felt I needed a new challenge after just a short time there.

I am now setting up my own business so that I can work from home and look after my 19 mo old son who enjoys having his mummy around (most of the time any way !!)

Looks like we are going.....

How are you feeling about it cd?

Oh my! Good luck.

odd

you freak
dont do it

Well that was helpful Cod.

bloody hell

Are you really doing it.
We have decided not to for now, but all the best to you

hmmm now he is umming an ahhing again

Have done the sums (one of them has offered him a lot more than we thought!) and we can do with me not working! So may become a SAHM for a bit. Quite fancy it actually.

Would involve living somewhere cheaper but near (ie off the main commuter track) current thinking is Romsey/Salisbury/Ringwood or New Forest.....

c an i be your cleaner?

No you talk too much, I want a cleaner who will shut up and get on with it

Cod do you know this place? Nice?