Missing US already

I've not been back a week yet and while the jetlag has now gone, I'm missing America already.

Rach and I spent the Christmas holidays in Pennsylvania with some very close and very lovely friends. It was our first time together away from our families at Christmas, which was a little strange, but one: we're very fortunate and see a lot of them throughout the year and two: you gotta fly the coop at some point. In any case we were treated so well and felt so at home, we had an amazing time.

Christmas across the pond was, in many ways, not so different from our own. Turkey is of course, native and so the festive meal was very similar, but we needed to add some English flavour by insisting on roast potatoes instead of just the planned mash and sourcing some "breakfast" sausages to wrap in bacon. In fact, the only thing missing was a traditional Christmas pud! However, to replace this was a truly amazing trifle made by our host's sister. Eating this was like a dream come true for me as only a day before I had been introduced to something that we definitely don't have here - Lact-Aid!

For the last three and a half years, I have steered clear of milk, yoghurt, cream and most cheeses due to developing a severe lactose intolerance. Yet available from pharmacy shelves is a product that allowed me to tuck into this wonderful cream-filled treat, that was sooo good. I know our laws and processes here are different, but I hope we see something similar available to us, here soon.

This, as you'd expect was one of the many differences we experienced, but the more we visit, the more some gaps narrow and others widen. The range of products available (not counting pharmaceuticals) is very similar, but if course at 2 dollars to the pound, much more can be had for less as a UK visitor. General attitudes are very similar - middle-class concerns about safety and career prospects with rising costs, and we were (as ever) greeted with warmth and friendliness wherever we went. We're very lucky to know some fantastic people there and to have met many more.

Where we really saw some divides are in the recent changes in the UK's outwardly facing societal attitudes towards energy and resources. Food and gasoline come cheap in America. Where in Waitrose (or indeed some Tescos) if you're not putting your shopping in a reusable, hessian bag that's been handsewn in an African village both cashiers and fellow customers alike will be threatening to cause you GBH with a clubcard, Wal-Mart, by contrast was giving me a fresh plastic bag for every two items I purchased!

Cars are yet another matter. With a gallon of petrol costing a quarter of what it does here, travelling by automobile is a very different matter altogether. But it needs to be. It wasn't until I walked off our friends' property to take some photos that I noticed that there weren't any pavements! None at all until the downtown area (10 miles away). Its not a choice to drive everywhere, its a necessity. Even across a retail park there was no way to walk from one unit to another. If we are truly facing an oil and energy crisis (& with oil reaching $100 a barrel, the first signs are surely showing), then I have sympathy for our transatlantic cousins. When the new Tata "peoples car" goes on sale in India this week - the second largest nation on the Earth will increase its demand significantly. I'm praying for a replacement for the combustion engine to raise its head soon!

If I'm coming across in a negative way, forgive me, these are purely my observations. For two weeks I enjoyed great food and even better prices, but this was purely the icing on a cake made of good values and intelligent, fun company. People. Places are always made by the people and although my experience is founded by having great friends in the 'States, I've been welcomed and befriended by countless others.

So I'd like to thank our great friends Tim & Taryn for being such wonderful hosts and to everyone else we met - God bless America!

One more thing I loved... it was awesome to see proper snow again!