the good and bad of coming home

Minnesota often has great clouds in the summer; I guess it comes with the big storms that we have, like the tempest to which I fell asleep the first night I was home. The day after, I took these photos of our home and neighborhood:







This is great weather to come home to. It was cooler in London, and I do prefer that, but for summer weather, this is pretty hard to beat.

There are lots of other great things about coming home. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

1. The little lady
2. Being able to drive again.
3. Cold A/C, cold drinks, etc. No country does these things like the US.
4. Being able to use my own soap and shampoo instead of the hotel stuff.
5. Having access to home-cooked meals.
6. Being able to listen to music with great sound without having to put headphones on.
7. Not having to listen carefully when people are talking.
8. Sleeping in my own bed. I never have trouble sleeping in hotels, but one's own bed can never be beat.
9. Real salsa and other Mexican foods. Britain's approximations are beyond bland.
10. Not having to hear about the World Cup everywhere I go.
11. Having access to keyboards and computer screens larger than what my work laptop has.

There are also a number of things I miss about the UK and Turkey:

1. Digestives. They're like cookie-shaped graham crackers, maybe with a coarser texture. I typically buy the ones that have dark chocolate on one side, and they're excellent. I first became friends with Digestives in Hong Kong, and I pound them whenever I get my hands on them.
2. Turkish meat. Shish, kebabs (they're actually not the same thing), doner (giant skewers of roasted meat from which small strips are cut off, kind of like Greek gyros) and the like are awesome.
3. Britain's public transportation.
4. Being able to walk to interesting restaurants, shops and other things to do/see.
5. Ethnic and cultural variety. Everywhere I've ever been in Europe blows MN out of the water. Of course, so do most places in the US I've been, with possible exceptions like Utah and North Dakota.
6. Indian food. The British supposedly don't even like Indians, but man oh man, do they love their curry.
7. Interesting cars. Whether it's different brands or models or something totally exotic and expensive, interesting cars are everywhere in London.
8. The rolling hills of the English countryside. I was chauffeured to Birmingham one day, and the highway between there and London is a very pleasant drive of rolling hill greenery.
9. High streets. As I've previously mentioned, every town in Britain has one. It would be cool if towns here had an equivalent.
10. History. America's got hardly any, by comparison. It is awesome to be able to take a cab or a short subway ride and end up where there are famous works of art, historical buildings, etc.