I was in London.

Had friends, but most are partnered up and married / got kids. So I would see some every few weeks, months or a few times a year.

Rising living costs.

Job not fussed if I am in the office.

Weirdly, lots of reddit posts from the London subreddit got me thinking. Posts with people stating why they were leaving London, and naturally you'd get people saying why they love London and could never leave. However lot's of their reasons to stay didn't appeal to me, especially around culture. i.e. activities, theatre, museums, the west end, opera, food etc. My response, after looking at my general spending was :

• There are pubs and sports clubs everywhere in the world.
• I don't like theatre
• I use one of the museums as a cafe space.
• I haven't seen a show in years
• I like opera, but honestly haven't been for years
• Food options are great, but I'm a good cook. And a lot of the food becomes routine. (see the English Sunday roast).

All of a sudden London wasn't "London", but a random collection of streets, buildings and air, something you can get anywhere. Time to move. If I play my cards right I may get an EU passport eventually.