Benefits of expatriatism
January 18th, 2005 by HenTo counter-point last night’s entry, there are positive things to consider.
For a long time I really missed the tube and being able to get 2 hours of reading done a day. I’m a master at the art of the tube, focus inwardly on your book, pda or navel and ignore the throng. I hated having to drive each morning as it was missed reading time and I’m hardly the most awake person in the mornings. The Subaru has changed a lot of that, it’s a pleasure to drive and while I don’t look forward to going for a drive, I don’t look at it as a huge lump of wasted time. So having a nice car has been a big positive.
While I find the American fascination with cookies of the chocolate chip kind to be far too specialised, leading to a lack of such wonders as the Jammy Dodger, it has lead to some very good cookies. As a kid in the US I loved the “Almost Home” brand that is non-existent nowadays. In its stead I’ve discovered “Soft Batch” and have to fight the addiction. There are a couple of other brands which are well worth a taste.
Ice cream is a US addiction it seems, and I’m well and truly ensourcelled. A local chain (I think) called Graeters is the pick of the bunch, they even have Banana which is a tough flavour to find in the US (banana milk shake seems to have lost out to that bland evil known as vanilla). Graeters even throw in dry-ice for long journeys, and the subsequent physics experiments which every techie-minded individual just has to do.
There’s a chain called “Outback” which is pretty good, a place called “Applebee’s” has a good dessert, “TGI Fridays” have a nice sauce on their burger, but the only restaurant I’d pick out as being something to write home about is “W W Cousins”. It’s a build it yourself burger-bar that makes the best burgers I’ve ever had. So good that it’s about the only beef I eat, all other burgers just make me kick myself for not going to cousins, which I manage to do once every couple of months.
Our house is a major benefit. I love it. Whenever we move I doubt we’ll choose anywhere as extravagent (for us) as the budget-minded voice in the back of my head likes to point out that we don’t really need all of this. Sounds like a palace doesn’t it 
Before we moved over, we were used to living in a single room, so this 4 bedroom 1800 sq-ft house feels like a mansion to us.
London->Louisville is a definite change in cost of living, so there’s actually liquid cash around to consider buying toys like a new camera or a mac mini. Even though the house seems too much, as a %age of our salary it’s still less than I’d the 50% I expect to pay on accomodation in London.
Which leads to another benefit. Carrie no longer has a job. The lower cost of living means it’s a lot easier for her to stay at home, which is good all around.
Football is another benefit. In the UK I’m a terrible player and would be laughed off of local teams, but here I’m an adequate player and can enjoy myself without turning my side into the laughing stock. Not played for a while, but planning to dip my feet back into the beautiful game again soon.
I can order from Bookpool now I’m here, and Thinkgeek finally stopped claiming that my credit card had the wrong email address (there was no email address, but I was unable to talk to the 3rd party people claiming it was so). KY is a pretty good place for Amazon, one of the centres is just down the road and UPS are based here so things turn up pretty quickly.
So, there are some +ves. Now if only the only decent pub in Louisville (the Churchill Tavern) hadn’t just closed down. It was a mile from where we live and I adored walking there in summer after mowing the lawn for a couple of drinks and an apple pie and custard.