We’re in Raleigh, North Carolina at the moment, enjoying the sun (here, more welcome gift than daily delivery), relaxing in the great outdoors, and catching up on our reading. Whenever I read a lot I get the urge to write, so here I am.

Life progresses apace in the Land of the Free, and the ‘dark days’ of early 2009 seem a long, long way behind me now. Not necessarily for the better. While I certainly prefer the daily stability of going to a job and being steadily employed, I miss a lot of people back in the UK, and the support network I had around me then which I’ll admit, I took for granted. That’s probably because it didn’t feel like a support network at the time, but the best ones don’t. More like an invisible hand holding you steady.

Now, life is a daily high-wire act, and although I feel confident in my abilities as… umm… a high-wire act, that doesn’t mean it’s any less scary to perform. To complete the metaphor, you have to pay attention to what you’re doing, otherwise it’s a long, long way to fall.

To all of you back in Blighty, then, I miss you more than I probably expected, although I won’t be running back any time soon. I’m not one to give up that easily, and although it’s tough, we’re going to soldier on. What I will say is that even if I haven’t been in touch recently, that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought of you, and doesn’t mean that I don’t want to stay in touch. I’ve just been busy.

With what? Well, mostly the banalities of moving your life halfway across the world, setting up a new place to live and assimilating yourself into society. It’s pretty much all done now, from the Social Security Number to the California Driver’s Licence (License, sorry). I’ve even availed myself of the American Healthcare system and found it to be very helpful, but then again it should be considering what I’m paying for it.

The day job has been good to me, with a few trips (Germany, Las Vegas, Austin) to keep me busy, and other stuff besides. We’re still at a relatively early stage with things, so I can’t spill too many beans here, but one day we will.

With that, I seem to run out of things to says, so I’ll leave you for now. Just know I’m probably thinking about ya. Talk soon.