Rob, don't be so fanciful. If it was, I'd be living where you are!
Rob,
The response above was glib and I apologise. I completely empathise - and from experience, although nothing like your own exile which, from reading between the lines, may have been a compelling idea at the time but which, now, seems to be exacting a heavy price.
You surmised it would be a big mistake for me to do something similar and you are absolutely right. I don't particularly like imparting personal information on an open forum (I could respond to you privately of course) but I willingly do so in response to your comment in case anybody here is in similar circumstances, and may be considering hasty decisions which have lasting and irretrievable consequences.
My beloved wife, Sheila, passed away last March, aged 65 after a four year battle with breast cancer. (I've had my own hard-won battles with Mister C as well, and another one is looming according to the latest scans, but that's another story.)
Not long afterwards, I fled the house, bereft and lost, and, with a one-way ticket, hurried to my eldest son in Barcelona where I lasted a mere five days before returning home. In September, I fled again, this time to Brisbane to my other son, married with a lovely little boy who will soon be three.
I spent six weeks in and around Brisbane and Sydney where we as parents had been a few times before, and while it was wonderful to see them again, it only served to underscore my sense of loss. I returned sure of only one thing: I don't want to live anywhere other than in Ireland, and specifically in my home town, Sligo, in the North West. I didn't know that before I left and I'm glad I found out when I did.