When the US motorist complains about $4 a gallon for gas, the UK is currently charging on the average £1.35 per litre, making a gallon cost about six pounds, which in US dollars currently means well over $10, so calm down, guys!                                                             I could not IMAGINE living in the US and trying to do what I’m doing in UK. But I have this amazing history in my adult life, of somehow landing on my feet whenever a crisis threatens. I equate my career to crossing a fast moving river that’s leading to a waterfall. There’s always the chance of being swept away, but I keep finding the next dry rock to leap onto. So in 2000, the combination of a second failed marriage and a career that was going nowhere led me to leap to that next rock, which was England. I was $20,000 in debt when I first came here; by mid-2004, my entire debt was paid off, and I stayed out of debt until last year.                                                                                                                                 

Sure, I’m concerned about my native country. I’ve been living in England officially since late 2003, and when I got married in 2004, I thought I’d live here the rest of my life. Well, that thought was given a jolt when we split in 2009, and I envisioned selling everything and moving back to America with my tail between my legs, but knew that it would be far more difficult to make a living there, so I stayed. I still envision moving back there, but when, to where, to what, and for what I just don’t know. It’s fun to look at the situation from afar, and marvel that not only am I doing what I want to do and continuing to make a living at it, but also doing so over ten years after Los Angeles essentially told me I was over the hill. I’m also doing it at a convenient age where I qualify for all sorts of benefits that I couldn’t imagine getting in the States. I ride London buses and Underground for FREE! I get 1/3 off on all National Rail fares! I get my prescriptions for FREE! Oh yeah, and there’s that health care thing! And when I have to prove to certain factions that I am in fact, 60, it’s with the same jubilation that I had when I was 25 or 30 and had to occasionally prove I was over 21.                                                                                                                                                                             Yep, we get all these things just for living here and paying taxes, and while the Daily Mail LOVES to run stories about the low-lifes (and not just immigrants) who abuse the system, the fact is, it still works. If I get sick here, I go to my corner doctor, have a consultation and not worry about a $100 fee just to hear the doctor say “Oh, it’s probably a virus.” God help me if I should get sick while I’m in America. Oh shit, I shouldn’t have even put the thought down there, “lalalala, I can’t hear what I just said….”                                                                                                              

I’ll be in California until the 15th. Hope to see as many of you as possible over that time, and Go Giants!