Progress and non-progressives

So we landed, got met by a suitably reactionary car driver who immediately handed me a copy of the Mail on Sunday (‘welcome to Britain, did you know our Post Offices are being closed by knife wielding maniacs protesting the cost of petrol?” or something like that), spent a few nights at Nanny and Grandads’ before moving in minus most of our furniture, which is languishing in the port in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Our most used expression (apart from “don’t think of the amount in dollars, just think in pounds”) has been “on the boat,”, as in:

• “Where are all of our plates, cups and glasses? On the boat.”
• “What about the kids lunch boxes? On the boat”
• “And my solitary golf club? On the boat.”

You get the idea.

Still, we’re here, our phones & internet are up and running, even if our TV is somewhat scratchy – who knew the aerial was struck by lightning about two months ago? We certainly didn’t!

But being able to nip up to a wonderful park after work to play a quick game of cricket with your son, not to mention having a 9-hole pitch & putt right near by (and a super-fast DSL connection!) makes the other niggles you inevitably come across when disconnecting your life on one side of the Atlantic and re-connecting it on the other, all worthwhile.