Town Mouse vs Country Mouse

I've always thought of myself as being the proverbial country mouse. I need to be able to see green open spaces, need to know that the Highlands are only a half hour drive away. Yes, I like spending time in cities (most of my holidays are city breaks) but I've always maintained that I could never live in one.

Lately, though, I've been wondering whether that's strictly true. I loved London so much when I was there last summer that it was a wrench leaving. Sure, that's probably because I was living in an apartment worth about £750,000, which was walking distance to work and only 20 minutes from the West End.

But I honestly think it might be more than that. I also found myself wishing I lived in Sydney and Melbourne when I was on holiday there last year. All three cities are huge, bustling and culturally vibrant, and I want to be a part of that. I know some people find cities this size impersonal, but I love the fact I can lose myself in a crowd, be completely anonymous for a while. And I just can't do that here. Edinburgh and Glasgow are nice, but ultimately no bigger than small towns - there's always a risk that I'll bump into someone I know. Not that that's a bad thing, just that sometimes it's nice to know that I can escape for a while.

And yes, Edinburgh and Glasgow pride themselves on having a lot going on culturally, but generally this is confined to specific festivals throughout the year so advance planning is always needed. You can't just wake up one Saturday and decide to go to the theatre, as chances are whatever it is you want to see sold out weeks or months in advance.

Then there's sport, shopping, sightseeing, (slightly) better weather, and I suspect that even I would take years to get bored. All of which makes this country mouse think that a move to London is an incredibly good idea.

But then reality sets in. I can enjoy the odd break in London (and other cities), and all the culture central Scotland has to offer because I'm not spending over £1000 a month on rent. I don't have to spend several hours a day crammed into a tin can like a sardine just to get to and from work (Scotrail ain't great, but they're not quite that bad), and I don't get kept awake all night by the constant wail of sirens.

So for now, this little country mouse is quite content to enjoy the best of all worlds and to carry on visiting her town mouse friends from time to time. For now....