What a difference a day makes.

On a day-to-say basis, life is pretty much normal. We worry about bills, and the kids just like everyone else does. We get up, work, play, laugh and cry in much the same way as I have always done. Nothing much, in that respect, has changed between my old life and my new one.

I love my wife and take a great deal of pride and pleasure in the kids I have here, and I miss the two that are not here. Life is as normal for me as it was when I lived in England, and it is for everyone else.

It's sometimes hard to see the differences, but they do exist. For a start, I am an Alien in this place. I have no right to be here, I live here by permission and with the consent of the authorities. This consent is conditional, and could be removed. Most people live in their country of birth and never experience the unsettling feelings associated with immigration. Not a daily thing, but it creeps up sometimes.

I try to avoid comparasions as much as possible. It isn't fair to compare America with the UK. America is not the UK and shouldn't, even in my own mind, be subjected to negative comparasions. A bit of me does wish that Americans would do some comparing, however, they might find such an exercise er ... illuminating. But that's not how Americans do things. Well, at least it isn't how the American leaders have done things in the last eight years but I suspect that is about to change.