Friends,
After two years in Santa Barbara and one year in Nottingham, England, I have returned to my hometown of Portland, Oregon. Everything feels novel and new right now. Actually, it's this weird blend of new and familiar. My brain still demands that cars must drive on the left side of the road, and I can't figure out which side of the car to get into. I also want to keep multiplying price tags by two. Damn that British pound! Why did we have to be living abroad when the pound is so strong and the dollar so weak?!
Well, what can I tell you all about my observations of England?... We had a wonderful stay. We found Brits to be friendly and bright. They keep up on politics and world events MUCH better than the average American (sorry folks, but it's true). They were remarkably forgiving and generous in not blaming us personally for the myriad follies of our current President. Although Tony Blair's England is theoretically our closest current ally, we were hard pressed to find ANYONE that ANYTHING good to say about our current administration. In other words, we fit right in. But here's something scary to think about: I keep telling myself that the world won't put up with U.S. bullying, greed, and insanity indefinitely. At some point they're going to revolt and stand up to us. Well, as someone said to me over there, "We can't believe you Americans will put up with this nonsense indefinitely. We keep waiting for you all to revolt." Uh-oh...
O.K., the scoop on health care. I kept using the phrase "health insurance" during conversations with Brits, which of course makes no sense to them. They don't have health "insurance", they have universal health "care". Here's how it works (prepare yourself, because this may sound strange): You walk into a doctors office and say, "I'd like to see a doctor." They ask for your NHS (National Health Service) number. You say, "I don't have one, I just moved here." They say, "Fill in your address and signature on this tiny form." Within five minutes you're a member of NHS and have an appointment... Sound to good to be true? Well, there are drawbacks. The biggest drawback is just that it can take months to move up the waiting list to see a specialist (unless its bleeding or broken). But, everyone's got basic health care, and you can typically get in to see your regular doctor within one day or less. And, prescriptions cost about twelve bucks to fill no matter what they are for. Pretty cool, huh?
And, the scoop on castles. As most of you know, what we refer to as an "historic district" is little more than new architecture to a European. In my mind, castles seemed more fairy tale than reality, and our first visits seemed very surreal and unreal. We explored castles of various makes and centuries, including the Tower of London, Scarborough Castle, Edinburgh Castle, and many more. While some have been well preserved, others are ghostly ruins giving just a hint of their original granduer. Truth be told, we thought that the ruins were more fun to explore. They're cheap or free, leave more to the imagination, and allow you to get close up and touch it all.
Well, that's your teaser. There's many more stories to tell (and photos to share). Feel free to drop me line if you have any specific questions or topics you'd like to know more about, or if you'd like to tell me that I've got it all wrong... Hey, have you checked out the video of "Click", the Amazing Guitar Playing Cat? Let me know what you think. Also, let me know what you've thought of the new CD release. And, feel free to review the CD online at CD Baby or Tower Records.
Take care. Drop me a line in the guestbook. Talk to you soon.
