Sorry - didn't mean to be patronising. I didn't know you were an ex-pat or had lived here.

I live almost in the centre of England, less than 20 miles from Birmingham. My job is in Warwick, but I have to drive across the county to a lot of meetings and such, and there's not a bus or train handy for all that.

They reckon the housing market is finally turning. The news last week is scaremongering about mortgages, and how many borrowers won't be able to get new mortgages when their fixed-interest terms are up. It's all bloody worrying.