living in Arizona - a short compendium/eulogy on its advantages

I land at Newark last night and it is freezing cold. I am suddenly reminded of the freezing wet mornings walking to work in London so I feel that it is time I give Arizona its due. Needless to say everyone I meet is stunned that I decided to leave London for Arizona. They all look at me in disbelief when I then add that my goal is to find a job in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I don't really mean it, but I like the look on their faces when I say it.

Why am I saying this?

Let me just use some good old wisdom: the grass is ALWAYS inevitably damn emerald green on the other side of the fence!

Now that I am here, I am confronted by a multitude of people who would love to have been in my place and spent the past 10 years of their lives in London. And I can see why! There is no other place in the world like London and I have loved living there , but I guess I was ready to go and Arizona has definitely given me some good reasons to enjoy what others might consider a scorched patch of dusty grass.

First, there is the sky. It is just so big that I have spent a lot of time staring at the clouds passing by (as my sister would have recommended, I should have spent the time studying I know!).

Then there are all these incredibly tall palm trees - there is a road called Glendale Avenue, nothing spectacular per se, were it not for these majestic jade umbrellas. The road runs west and at the sunset it is quite magical driving along it with these silent green giants wishing me a pleasant evening.

And yes a pleasant evening it will be, because inevitably I will be sitting somewhere outside enjoying the cooling off of a hot day.

OK OK - enough of this! I don't want to rub it in! But please come and visit and I will be more than happy to share it!