I’ve been thinking for the longest time that the only reason I have to keep this website going is that my expat musings from the years of living in England can be of use to friends and strangers alike. Only yesterday a couple of friends relocating to England for work…
An espresso at a European café or even a restaurant is likely to cost €2. Maybe, €2.50. If the restaurant is upscale, it could go for as much as €3.50. But paying more than that for a shot of espresso happens only at the brazenly overpriced locations, such as Venice’s…
When I went abroad for the first time while owning an iPad, I decided to try out AT&T international 3G plan. The verdict: Never again, it’s a waste of money. The plan is supposed to be for a full month, but the data allowances are ridiculously un-balanced towards minuscule amounts…
Mark Wahlberg turns 40 today. Noah Wyle turned 40 yesterday. Me, I’ve been on the other side of 40 for a few days now. I have a vivid recollection of a kitchen conversation between my Dad and one of his friends that took place some short time after my Dad…
What do you know? The patient still has a pulse. Despite the fact that I have been, sometimes willfully other times inadvertently, shirking my blogging duties for most of the last couple of months, Google Analytics tells me that there continues to be a fairly steady flow of visitors to…
Remember my editorial of several years back on the curiosity of British street naming practices? It occurred to me the other day that the Brits do not have monopoly on making weird decisions in regard to street names. Not far from where we live, if you travel eastward on Lafayette…
In the middle of the night, needing to put gas in my car, I ended up paying over $4 per gallon for the first time that I can recall. I was unpleasantly bothered by that fact. Rewind a few years back, and I used to pay nearly £5 per gallon…
I learned somewhat accidentally the other day that when Russia moves their clocks one hour forward at the start of their summer daylight savings period this coming Sunday, it will be their last such time change. From that point on, people in Russia will no longer be adjusting their clocks…
For the second year in a row, I manage to see one single Oscar contender for the Best Picture award ahead of the annual ceremony. The movie wins the corresponding Golden Globe award and is generally regarded as a front-runner for the Academy award, but ends up losing both the…
I am still listening to music on an iPod. I am still reading books on a Sony PRS-505. It is pretty clear to me that those habits are not going to change, as my preferences outlined here were not swayed by the capabilities of an iPad. However, I quickly found…
I’ve been back in the States and off UK payroll for nearly a year and a half. But because of the quirks of the UK taxation calendar, I ended up having had worked part of the 2009-10 tax year in the UK, for which the returns were due this coming…
Why do I not need an iPad? Let me count the ways… I listen to music only when I am on the move. Driving or walking. When I am otherwise stationary, say, on the bus during my commute, I prefer to read. And I do not listen to music and…
My Russian-speaking audience will enjoy this impromptu performance by Becky of the well-known New Year’s song, which she literally learned in an hour or so prior to going to her New Year’s party. Those of you who do not speak Russian may still be able to appreciate the fact that…
The trajectory of my blogging activity went from unenthusiastic to senile. In the last few weeks, there’s been a spike in electronic communications with my high-school friends. We go through these periods once in a while, when we realize that the last time we had any meaningful exchange was months…
I’ve had this idea for a recurring blogging feature/angle ever since I knew that we were repatriating and my “expat observations” would be soon drying up. Which means, I’ve been considering it for roughly 18 months now. The concept was fairly simple: An essay about each place that I’ve become…
OK, instead of Phillies vs Yankees World Series, it’s Giants vs Rangers. As disappointing as that is, at least I am not missing anything I care about due to the Cablevision/FOX dispute. I suspect World Series ratings will take a big hit in markets other than Northern Cal and Dallas-Ft…
For the third time in about a year, Cablevision is in a dispute with a content provider that prevents us from watching channels that we like. First, it was HGTV and The Food Channel (no big problem for me, much bigger problem for Natasha) – “blackout” lasted for about a…
I’ve been having internet connectivity problems with my main home PC ever since we moved into our house over a year ago. The house configuration and the locations of various computers in the house are such that it only made sense to place the cable modem and the wireless router…
I’ve become such a true convert to electronic book reading since I bought my Sony reader at the start of the year, that I for once managed to come up all on my own with a gift idea for my wife on her birthday. (Never mind that her birthday is…
On balance, having a pool in your backyard is probably worth it. It costs ridiculous money – the exact total expense will be tallied later in the budget year, but I can already venture a fairly educated guess. It takes plenty of effort to maintain – hiring a pool guy…