Gains and Losses - Pt. 1

I have been in the good Ole US of A almost 6 years now and an American for a year this week, so I thought I'd take a tongue in cheek look at what I have lost and gained during that time.

First the losses:

3 teeth! Seriously, I lost on average 1 every 15 months when I first got here and it's not like I don't take care of them, I'm actually a qualified Dental Assistant. It was just a combo of continued issues from the UK and then an especially nasty accident where I fell flat on my face and broke a front tooth, well a crown but it resulted in a VERY costly implant. For awhile I began to wonder if there was something in the Okie water.

Bacon Butties - to understand the full impact of this on a Brit go HERE

Some body weight, probably due in part to the above, but also see Pt.2.

Traffic and all I have to say about that is "THANK YOU GOD".

A cat called Felix, who stayed behind with neighbours who loved him very much and gave him a great home.

A Water Butt, for those not in the know that's not a physical affliction, it's a very 'green' rainwater recycling receptacle much loved in England. I have yet to see one here in what's currently the new mid-west desert area known as Okieland.

Umbrella usage, for much the same reasons as above. Although I did import 3 with me just in case when I moved here, it's not easy seperating a Brit from their trusty umbrella. Having said that, I have yet to use one of them as it's either: unbelievably windy, crazy lightening or totally mad rain as Okieland only seems to do severe weather.

Football (Soccer) fever of the nationalistic kind only seen in European countries, I'm not sure anyone here gets the true significance of Manchester United's influence on the World.

Snake free rambles across the countryside, these days it's all too fraught with potential danger for any possible pleasure to be gained.

Walkers Cheese & Onion Crisps, nuff said if you're a Brit.

Pubs, the bars over here are just not the same in either appearance or atmosphere.

The metric system and this is another 'thank god' moment, as I am of the age where I was right on the cusp of the changeover and I just never did.

Close proximity to the Sea, probably the loss I feel the most, that's not family oriented. Brits have a percentage of seawater in their veins I think due to being an island nation and I miss the ability to just go and sit by the sea hugely. If I ever do make it to the seaside here, I am likely to make a spectacle of myself running in fully clothed and dancing with joy.

The use of the word A-L-U-M-I-N-I-U-M, although I do have fun confusing the Yanks occasionally with this one ;-)

Stress free gardening, I have had to learn it all over again moving to an entirely different climate and eco-system. However I am starting to feel better as many of my gardening friends here seem to suffer the same stresses I do and there's some comfort in this.

Historic architecture around every corner. I find it hard to get even slightly excited about something that's less then 150-years old, coming from England.

Indian Curry. I have to drive 3 hours to find one and occasionally do.

Small bugs. Seriously people what is up with bugs over here, are they on speed or something?

Shopping in London on my doorstep, OKC just ain't quite the same.

British humour, nobody else really gets it.

Hats (not cowboy), people just don't wear hats here like they do in England.

Next up the gains, good and bad.

Now this is a motivation!

Whilst I have been gone, we saved ourselves $40 a month and switched from DirectTV to cable and with no loss of channels or quality. In addition we gained a few channels, including one that has made my life in the USA complete with happiness.

We now have Fox Deportes, the Spanish language sports channel that features football (that's the proper kind - aka soccer) 95% of the time. In particular they show many live games from the Barclays Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup competitions.

This means in the past 8 days I have got to watch my team, Manchester United live twice, something I couldn't even do back in England due to 'tv rights'. I also got to watch Arsenal & Spurs in Europe and tomorrow Man Utd once again, also in Europe.

Some might say the downside is it's all in Spanish. But you know what I don't care at all, in fact I have got a Spanish language course and am now motivated to learn some. It will be handy at work too as we have quite a few Hispanics in our area and it can sometimes be a struggle communicating.

Watching in Spanish is no hardship as we know the game inside out and most of the players, so we know what's going on and the more we watch the more phrases we pick up.

I have only been able to see a handful of games in the past five + years and Manchester United (and #11 Ryan Giggs) has been a passion of mine since childhood. I spent the whole of last week looking forward to the Man Utd v Arsenal FA Cup game on Saturday - and then we won too.

My love of our national game and my team is one of the things that makes me so quintessentially British and I am chuffed to bits to have it back in my life.

Sometimes you only realise what you miss when you get it back.