I’ve traveled on four continents, lived in England and Japan, and gone to sea with the British Merchant Navy. But wherever I am, when I close my eyes against the sun on a hot summer’s day, I’m lying on a front lawn in San Fernando, California.
In my last post I described some of the scary things you might encounter while walking in the California countryside: rattlesnakes, poison oak, mountain lions, etc. In Britain, by contrast, you'll encounter nothing that's poisonous or person-eating. There’s one...
Walking for exercise? Sure, it sounds easy: just put one foot in front of the other and repeat. Yet for the unwary walker, complications lurk, like ... um ... well ... like lurky complicated things. (Note to self: work on similes.) My neighborhood is...
Interview between the Gods of Living Abroad and me, December 1984. Gods: We understand you'd like to live abroad. So tell us a bit about yourself. Me: Well, I love English literature and dairy products. I’m good with words but not with pictures. I’m an Anglophile but...
My more evolved friends have sometimes suggested that I “get in touch with my inner child.” To which I've replied: “If my inner child has anything to say, she can get in touch with me. Preferably by email.” But most of the year, my encapsulated offspring is silent....
There are masochists and then there are masochists. That wasn't clear? Sorry. I’m a bit tired. What I meant to say is that there are masochists in a sexy “fun if you like that sort of thing” way, and then there are masochists like me. We non-sexy masochists don’t need...