I’m deserting my oasis for Abu Dhabi

According to the BBC's weather website, it's a balmy 24oC in Abu Dhabi and every day for the next five is marked with a shining little sun. It's a website I've spent much time on recently because I am shortly moving approximately 3,243 miles there, and I worry that it might rain one day soon. In a month of obsessive monitoring, there hasn't been a drop. So goodbye frosty, credit-crunched London; hello to the sandy Gulf.

The decision has not been an easy one. Could I desert my friends and family? Is it rash to give up one job and move so far away when employment opportunities are narrowing every day? Could I bear to leave my beloved Brixton flat in the hands of my primitive brother?

Such are my levels of control freakery that I am most troubled by the last part. My precious bed was a moving-in present from my mother; my room an oasis from the smells and sights of my sibling.

"My friend Sam is moving into your room when he's back from Uganda," read a recent email from the brother.

"Is he like you, or does he wash up?" I replied tersely.

"I've told him we'll need Elaine [our cleaner] for an extra two hours a week," was the alarming response.

But perhaps when I'm ensconced in the United Arab Emirates, worries about dirty plates will evaporate. Because given the financial state of London, running away seems a sensible move. Abu Dhabi-based friends send me Facebook messages about enjoying the kind of worry-free lifestyle that young professionals revelled in here before cost-cutting hit home.

Weekends in the Emirates are spent in dune buggies or diving, because tax-free salaries are high enough to fritter on frivolous pursuits as well as save up a nest-egg for the return home or to pay off student loans. One wise colleague told me solemnly to expect "quite a bit of sitting around drinking in hotel bars" as if that was a downside. Really, what more could a twentysomething look for?

Predictably, my preparations for this life-changing move have been minimal. Apart from soldiering to Waterstone's last week to buy a copy of the Koran, I have yet to pack, put anything into storage, sell my bicycle (I'll take £200 if you're looking) or organise a leaving party.

"How long will you go for?" is a question often asked, to which I reply "Who knows?" But I'm hoping by the time I return house price worries, mortgage issues and job jitters will be calmer. Living in London will be affordable again. Now, does anyone know where I can buy flip-flops in December?