One Last Hurrah

I'm perched once again within an arm-rest infested cluster of airport departure chairs. I'm still sane, but barely. I leave for Blighty this evening, not to return to Tucson until August, and likely not to frequent this page in a manner befitting my audience. I apologize in advance. My mind numbs with the pleasures of home and there are far too many distractions on holiday to piece together a coherent strain of thought. I'll use the opportunity to vocalize my opinions rather than change them. Indeed, I've never been so sad to leave the States, even during a period of unseasonably cool weather here in Arizona: good preparation, no doubt, for the unpredictability of England. As the climate warms here so do I toward the notion of calling America home, at least for the foreseeable future. It was Orwell who highlighted the wealth of names we ascribe to Britain, not to mention its divisions: the British Isles, the United Kingdom, the UK, Britain, Great Britain, and I'm positive I've missed a couple. It indicates a nation unsure of itself, disjointed and fractured. As individuals, the people of Britain are educated and tolerant, but as a collective they're cynical, introvert, and intolerant. Watching scandal after scandal unfold in British politics over the last few weeks (not to mention the greatest travesty of them all - Brown remains PM) has left me remarkably grateful not to be a recipient of all the media guff that comes with it, and grateful to be blogging at a fairly safe distance. So, I shall take up the reins again in August, dear reader. I wish I had a protege to hand over to for the time being but, so far, no one has volunteered (I admit, the bar is set pretty high). Wish me a safe and pleasant crossing. I pass on my sincerest good-will for the Summer months. Enjoy yourself, as I shall be. Before I go, a sweet little girl of five or six, barely three arm-rests away from me, has just exclaimed to her oafish mother, "Mum, that man looks like my Dad!", and accompanied her assertion with an outstretched finger. Absolutely fantastic.