Why don’t we go for January. It’s a bit of a grim boring month normally, and it will be nice to have something to look forward to. 
I am also thinking that the first time I use the babysitting agency, I should probably stay a bit closer to home in case there is an issue with Mr Moo being a grump or something. So we’ll do a few trial runs locally in Dec and then be experts at leaving him by the time we come to Glasgow for the meat in Jan. 