I’m not usually one to "share", but I just came back from walking the dog and thought I’d relate what happened …… I live in a small neighborhood tucked away across the street from where I work. The university baseball field is just across the street and when there’s a game on, you can hear the crowd (and the floodlights light up the tops of the tall trees that are everywhere in my neighborhood, it’s a pretty cool sight, especially when the wind is blowing, which is often).

I’m not usually one to "share", but I just came back from walking the dog and thought I’d relate what happened …

I live in a small neighborhood in the US tucked away across the street from where I work. The university baseball field is just across the street and when there’s a game on, you can hear the crowd (and the floodlights light up the tops of the tall trees that are everywhere in my neighborhood, it’s a pretty cool sight, especially when the wind is blowing, which is often).

The game must have been exciting because I could hear the crowd were just rocking, (literally). Jimi Hendrix was blasting out into the night and everyone was clapping in time. Every now and then there would be a huge roar because of whetever was going on onfield.

The temperature was about 65 degrees, clear sky, just typical for early spring.

So, what’s this got to do with anything? Well, it’s just one of several reminders I’ve had recently, (now I’m getting ready to move back to the UK), of how many cool things there are about living in the US. When I left last time, (1999), I attended a high school softball game on a similar clear, cool spring night out in the middle of rural middle TN and it was like something out of a Hollywood movie.

So often in the forums of this site people get defensive about "their" country, or critical about the country they are leaving and I was just reminded tonight that lots of people go back to the UK not because Oz/US/Middle East or wherever country they live is parochial, unfriendly, materialistic, etc, but just because it’s time to go home.

I think I’ve also got a feel for the "curse of the expats": nowhere is perfect and you can spend half your life reminiscing about what you don’t have where you are, that you did have where you were.

I’m hoping I can get my occasional US "fix" by visiting and that I don’t torture myself with thoughts of "what did I do?"