Time to move on - when is it time to move on?

I've always been pretty risk averse in life. When I've bought houses, I was always sure I could afford them and did n't stretch myself finacially. Pretty much all of my pension fund is in low risk accounts. I don't like worry, it's not nice, but if you don't ever take risks then you don't get very far.

This lovely house I'm living in here I definately have until April 26th, but then I'm at the landlord's mercy. Will he want to rent for longer? Will he put the price up? Will he decide to sell? I've moved house three times in the last two and half years already and I'm struggling to feel at home and put down any real roots in the villages I get shunted between. When I first moved to Over and hooked up with the boys from the village bike club (careful!) that was fantastic but now I barely see them since I've moved to a new village (twice!).

Had an interesting conversation with my mum at the weekend. She's a shrewd old bugger ;-). It went along these lines .... how are old you again David? (!!!) ..... 43 mother, please don't forget my birthday in May when I'll be 44 ....... Oh, so do you think you'll be able even to get a 20 year mortgage before long? ...... probably not Mum (thanks for that!) ....... (Mum pauses for thought) ...... you know there's a recession on don't you and there will never be a better time to buy a house ...... so after the three hour drive back to Cambridgeshire with plenty of time to think, then 6 days later I seem to have appointments to look at houses for sale. My mum is hilarious and wonderful, rarely criticises (but will do when I need a poke) and always has my best interests at heart.

My future lies in Warboys, I'm pretty much convinced of it. The conversation with Kate was tentative, with me definately feeling my way, but it was clear that we were both in the same place. The idea of me moving into the village and us being a lot closer geographically was very agreeable. At the same time I wanted a second opinion (needed a second opinion) when viewing new houses and I wanted her to be aware that this house could end up being one we all live in at some point down the line. You get to point nine months into a relationship were it's either completley clear that it is wonderful, or sadly, it's time to move on. So along she came and was very helpful. Whilst the dream home did not present itself on saturday I (we?) did come to some quite clear conclusions about the kind of place that would work and the areas that might not.

And she's still not running for the hills :-)