The clock ticks past 11pm (local time) a I write this, sat at my desk in the deserted studios of one of the worlds more controversial news channels, I sit and think of my previous life – that of Bon Vivant, Raconteur, micro philanthropist, club impresario, and question my reason for living in the desert?

Why does someone knowingly leave London undoubtedly if not the best, one of the best places on earth? I had a lifestyle of out 3-4 times a week, a flat on the southbank (I still have a flat on the south bank just other people are living in it!) regular nights out at the shunt vaults, Bethanal green working men’s club, Cabaret Kasbah once a month, regular late night/early mornings in Soho, beautiful friends etc.

I think because I decided it was time to grow up. All those words that people say to you when you are young about a career, buying a house, living the dream, settling down etc. started to crystallize in my mind, I wanted to do those things. But as most Londoners know trying not going into spiraling credit card debt let alone saving money or paying off a mortgage before the allocated 35 years is incredibly hard. Especially when you add into the equation that I work in the fabulous TV industry, which whilst is a lot of fun most of the time, isn’t known for either its sociable working hours or good pay – the job I left was 12hr nightshifts 7 on, 7 off in the back end of West London with ok money for a 25 year old but wasn’t exactly inspiring on the work front and certainly had no career options in the imminent future.

So I relocated to Doha about 2 months after being headhunted by a mate (after a massive amount of hurdles; I will, dear reader tell you about them some day).

So why did I move since I love London and all that it has to offer so much? Because I simply had to, to continue living the life I wanted to live, and to provide for the future for my future life partner (whom ever that may be…..) with the life I want and I want my spouse to live.

Its purely a financial move, by the time I retire (assuming I live a normal life and have 2.4 children) each one will cost aprox. 1million pounds each to raze, and In addition I need approximately 1 million pounds of assets to retire comfortably. My basic sums add to 3.4 million pounds over the period of the next (assuming I want to retire at 65) 40 years. This can be achieved in many ways – but realistically unless I go into the bank robbing business – I’m going to have to earn and invest for most of it. This necessitates that I pay my mortgage off as soon as humanly possible.

So in short that’s why I’m here, If I sacrifice the short term for the long term, this is a possibility, if I want to remain in London and a committed Londoner, I needed to leave and save some serious cash to send home to pay off my mortgage early.

This doesn’t mean I have left my old London life, just simply paused it for 24 months, I will return with stories of Camels and Kings, of wild roof top parties during Ramadan, and a whole new group of fearless friends who live in Kevlar body armor as they report from the worlds trouble spots. No doubt London will have moved on by the time I return, but so will have I. London will still be the greatest city on earth, but I will have a slightly more secure place in it.