Lyrical Lady & Dianavan: I am soon coming up to the same situation, and, as you say, Dianavan, I find the whole prospect very exciting and "kinda like being eighteen again". My daughter is 15 and, because she has had to share her time in living in two houses, with me and with her father, she is very keen to establish a base of her own as soon as she is old enough, and then just come visiting each of us. Once she starts college and the delights of student bedsits (!)I will happily 'downsize' where I live (I'll need to, to finance her) and live somewhere cheaper and away from London.

I'm a long way off retiring age - in fact, I don't intend or want to retire, ever. I do a little teaching, but most of my work now is freelance translating, working from home, and none of my clients are in this country. It's the kind of work I can do anywhere, just as long as I can plug in a laptop and connect to the internet. So, the exciting prospect for me is that I could wander around the world and end up anywhere. Needless to say, I rather like this idea of the "Mudcat Time-Shares" !

- jeanie