Andy Oakley

It started on the flight back, looking through the Skymall (or whatever it’s called) magazine for duty free sales. This time I’m going to do it right. I’m going to make a list of the things I really miss living in the US and be sure to bring back a wholesome stash to ration until my next resupply.

• Chocolate. Obviously. Chocolate is made with lots of cocoa and not high fructose corn syrup. If you do it right, you end up with a piece of food that is milky, soft and tasty. If you do it wrong, you get candle wax.
  • Smarties. Always liked them, especially because you get�a letter on the inside of the cap.
  • Dairy milk. Pretending it’s Cadbury’s while making it with Hershey’s chocolate is inexcusable.
  • Mars bars. Useful as currency, among other things.
  • Curly wurly, twirl, double decker, time out, finger of fudge and all of the other�great chocolate bars that have yet to penetrate the world market.
  • Big tin of Roses. I just saw an advert on TV.
• HP Brown Sauce. How can a country that, in every restaurant,�has 5 salad dressings as standard neglect to include brown sauce in its cuisine.
• Kingsmill. Probably difficult to take back effectively. I include it here in protest.
• Twiglets. Very tasty.
• IRN-BRU. Made from girders in Scotland. What more do I need to say?
• Dandelion and burdock. I quite like the taste but�I think more that it’s a miracle they ever managed to market a drink with this name. To be fair, this is hard to find in Britain as well.
• Bacon. Low grade, fatty, streaky bacon shouldn’t qualify for the ‘bacon’ moniker on any continent. Bacon should be salty, possibly smoked and comprise significantly more meat than fat.
• Bangers. Sausages are just for breakfast you know.
• Cherry bakewells, economy swiss rolls. Included for sentimental attachment.

This list has been longer in the past. I have been fortunate to discover:

• Baked beans. QFC, Larrys and a handful of other places sell these for $1.99 a can. Extorsion, yes, but sometimes the toast just isn’t the same without.
• Marmite. Love it or�hate it.
• Tea. I’ve found a handful of places that import Twinings and life has improved with the discovery.

I’ve a feeling this entry will be subject to a few edits and additions.

I’m not exactly sure where the month of December has gone. Between arriving back from Stehekin after Thanksgiving and boarding my flight to O’Hare this morning, many things have happened but I’ve not had a chance to keep up to date here. We had a big push up to code complete at work, which turned out well as we hit the 12/15 date (you have to love the date selection�- slip by a day and you slip by a whole month with the holidays). Add to that a week-long visit from Lauren (among other things, we took the Concorde tour, which was great), a holiday party, a whistlestop tour for Bob on his way to Whistler and plenty of other things I’ve since forgotten.

Anyway, I finally find myself in my home bedroom, in (not) my old bed, with things so very similar to how I remember them. My brother picked me up from Manchester Airport early this morning and we had breakfast at a Little Chef with real bacon (yes!) and brown sauce (even better) and chatted over non-latte coffee. There are some experiences you can miss without even noticing.�A quick nap over lunch and we spent the evening catching up with the family; it’s been thirteen months since I’ve been back to the UK and it certainly feels like it.

Seen on a bumper sticker in Bellevue Square: George W Bush is saving your ass whether you like it or not. Indeed.