I have good news and bad news.
The good is this post does not signal the full return of this blog.
The bad is I have still written a post.
Before I begin, to everyone who entered the APSOTW … we’re close to having consolidated feedback and it will [hopefully] be posted in a couple of weeks. Huge apologies for the delay, but with the move – and the usual ‘herding sheep’ – it’s taken longer than I would have liked.
As for the move. Well, after an incredibly emotional goodbye we – Jill, Otis, Rosie the cat and myself – got to America unscathed.
I have to say it was weird having Rosie on board with us – hearing her meow – but given how quickly she acclimatised to her new surroundings, it obviously was a much better experience for her than the other times she has flown in the cargo.
We have been here just under a week and while it’s been rather hectic – organising social security numbers and driving tests and looking for places to live, not to mention enduring some rather extreme jetlag – it has been pretty special.
Not just because we got to spend time together exploring our new surroundings, but because we had family visiting America so we got to hang out with them too.
But more than that, everyone has been super nice to us. Everyone.
Strangers, government officials, [soon-to-be-new] colleagues … people have gone out of their way to make us feel welcomed.
Even the immigration officer was nice when we entered the country and that literally has never happened to me before.
There is a little park near us where we have taken Otis on a number of occasions. Every single time, a different family have come up to us and said hello and offered to help with anything we need. Even if they’re just saying it – and I don’t think they are as they gave us their phone numbers – I’ve got to be honest, it’s pretty lovely.
And don’t get me started on how amazing the community-run, hippy, mandarin-speaking, creative-focused pre-school is …
Of course it’s early days so I know I’ll find stuff that drives me fucking insane [like the whole tipping protocol] but when I see the smile on Otis’ face as he runs along the beach, I know that as much as I love – and miss – China, this was the right thing to do for my little family.
So of course, now I am in a new country, I need a new blog header and as you can see from above, Jill has worked her magic again.
Or should I say, worked her imagination.
Though after 6 days in LA, I must admit I have grown to have a bit more respect for Mr Hulk Hogan, because how anyone can have a body like that when every place serves food in quantities that would be too much for an elephant, is anyone’s guess.
I miss you China but I like you LA.
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tell jill she forgot to add a bunch of fucked up, fucking expensive gadgets and an endless stream of bullshit tshirts.
Comment by andy@cynic May 23, 2017 @ 11:10 pmShe didn’t forget. That’s called love.
Comment by Rob May 24, 2017 @ 9:37 amtheyre only nice because yanks are still a sucker for a brit accent. give them time, even the biggest fucking airhead will work that out eventually.
Comment by andy@cynic May 23, 2017 @ 11:10 pmAnother reason to hate the west coast.
Comment by DH May 23, 2017 @ 11:41 pmFTW
Comment by Billy Whizz May 23, 2017 @ 11:55 pmBrian Clough is pointing at you and saying “I don’t like that.”
Comment by DH May 23, 2017 @ 11:42 pmAnd having you post at the start of my day rather than the end is screwing with my routine. Maybe you should go back to China.
Comment by DH May 23, 2017 @ 11:43 pmI know exactly what you mean Robert. It took me a while to feel comfortable with their enthusiastic generosity. See you very soon.
Comment by George May 24, 2017 @ 12:02 am“Enthusiastic generosity”. Yep, that sums it up perfectly.
Comment by Rob May 24, 2017 @ 9:39 amDon’t worry Rob, you’ll see the other side of them when they start working with you.
Comment by Bazza May 24, 2017 @ 2:09 amHow long do you give them?
Comment by Rob May 24, 2017 @ 9:40 amMy guess is that they take one look at your outfit and assume you’re homeless.
Comment by John May 24, 2017 @ 6:11 amBrilliant. i won’t get mugged then.
Comment by Rob May 24, 2017 @ 9:39 amThey are known for kicking vagrants.
Comment by Bazza May 24, 2017 @ 9:52 amSee! LA optimism is already rubbing off on you.
Comment by Pete May 24, 2017 @ 11:06 amno one in their right fucking mind would rub anything off on campbell.
Comment by andy@cynic May 24, 2017 @ 9:52 pmYou arrive in California. The Pacific Highway throws itself into the sea. Coincidence? I think not.
Comment by John May 24, 2017 @ 4:51 pmtherell be a fuckload of californians doing the same fucking thing within weeks.
Comment by andy@cynic May 24, 2017 @ 9:51 pmAs Rumpole put it: “It’s a nice place to live, if you’re an orange”.
(Love the new masthead, BTW).
Comment by Ian Gee May 25, 2017 @ 9:28 amexcept his fucking face is whiter than his body.
Comment by andy@cynic May 25, 2017 @ 12:48 pmoh i know why, because he keeps his fucking head in the sand while all the shit hes caused goes on around him. jills a fucking genius.
Comment by andy@cynic May 25, 2017 @ 12:48 pmIt’s a cry for help.
Comment by DH May 25, 2017 @ 7:52 pmAnd he’s using Arnie’s body. Clive James said it was like looking at ‘a condom full of walnuts’.
Comment by Ian Gee May 26, 2017 @ 11:27 amI think it’s Hulk Hogan. Clive James comment still applies.
Comment by Pete May 27, 2017 @ 11:25 amYou mentioned birkenstocks in an interview about your new job! Are you being paid by them?
http://tinyurl.com/mnpa7lj
Comment by DH May 28, 2017 @ 3:31 amAccording to the article, today is your first day. Good luck. Not to you, but the planners at Deutsch.
Comment by DH May 30, 2017 @ 5:43 amIt is … in a few hours in fact.
Worse, there’s a blog post about it coming.
And you thought it was just the people at Deutsch who were about to have a bad day.
Comment by Rob May 30, 2017 @ 6:44 am[…] So I’ve already written how much I’m enjoying LA. […]
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