Thanks for the help. I know there is no optimal solution but then again not much in life is optimal. In the future I am going to generate high res TIFF files for all the images that I have "finished" or "nearly finished" and keep them next to the original raw file, so if things change and I need to move it won't be as hard. I think this actually should be a best practice that everyone should consider. In the meantime I have some work to do.
As for the future of Lightroom, Adobe as far as I can tell, has been non-committal about whether Lightroom will always be available as a non-cloud, non rent only, solution. I think they have said Lightroom 5 will be, but who knows about the future, and to be honest I am not convinced that Adobe is really interested in the hobbyist or amateur markets, they seem to be focused on the "professional" market that treats software as a monthly line item expense that can be easily managed. This fine for Adobe, but not so good for us - the amateur, hobbyist, or individual photographers. And, as was mentioned, the only vote that really counts is the "economic vote", and thats the only one that Adobe and most other large corporations listen to.
Thanks again everyone, take care, consider future proofing your work in some manner, and reward good behaviour - carrots work better than sticks.
Cheers