As I like it

Barbers are becoming quite uncommon, it seems. I found a listing for a local barber in the modern e-world equivalent of the Yellow Pages, but he was shut. Hairdressers are beginning to dwindle, too, apparently.  So I passed by the braiding salon and ended up at a stylist. I think that must be vogue.  The lady was not from these parts, so we got chatting about what it's like to live your life in a strange country.

It's a conversation that I've had a few times before. One of the biggest talking points is usually the things that you miss the most.  In this regard, I haven't lived in my own country for a while, so I tend to think about my previous place of residence, too.  I can also give a couple of other places a passing mention.  As such, here are one or two things that I like in different countries.


The UK (my country of birth)

Pubs. Not surprising, perhaps, but true.  I have tried to analyse this, but it is difficult to get to the root of it.  British pubs are somehow unique.  In other countries, they become bars or something similar, and it's not the same thing.  I don't know what it is that does it.  It's not cosy furnishings, because I know several fine pubs in Edinburgh where the only seating is bare wood.  It's not dim lighting, because, heaven knows, I've been into some distinctly gloomy bars over the years. It's not even the beer, because British draught ale has become a popular import in many parts of the world. (Not here in Valdosta, though - where, I might mention, one waitress suggested to me that a local Georgia beer to try would be Guinness. But that's a different topic.) I know a pub when I walk into one.  I just have difficulty defining it.

News media.  This may be a little controversial post-Leveson, but I don't mean the puff-pastry tittle-tattle that replaces real news in some rags. The better news organisations in Britain still know a thing or two about investigative journalism, and many papers report the facts even if they don't sit neatly with the general editorial sympathies.  There is also a variety of views: left of centre, right of centre, and the plain old awkward squad.  I have not found the same breadth, coupled with the same hard-nosed questioning, in the mainstream anywhere else. Pick up a couple of weekend papers, and find a nice pub in which to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon: luxury!

Let's not get into Britain's leaking plumbing or creaking railway system. That would be tasteless.


Finland (my previous country of residence)

Sauna. I'm not sure how well this notion will travel for anyone not familiar with the Nordic countries.  Sauna is not a hot room where you go with your swimming trunks and a vague sense of naughtiness. You wouldn't wear clothes in the bath, would you? Get naked and relax. Get your steam on.  Life is not the same without it.

Doctors and nurses.  Which is not to say that health care is poor elsewhere, and maybe I was just lucky in Finland ... but with a combination of occupational health services and an insurance policy, it all seemed so easy.  Sure, it's not free at the point of delivery, as is traditional in the UK, but one big point for me is the idea of holistic well-being that seems so big in Finland. In some places, you are expected to just get the jab and walk straight out, for example.  I always found the care in Finland to be sympathetic and thorough. Two healthy thumbs up.

We will not dwell here on the long darkness of winter or the lack of air-conditioning in summer.


Bulgaria (a shout-out to some memories from years ago)

Hospitality.  I do not think that I've found any people so eagerly hospitable as the Bulgarians. I was invited into an incredible number of homes, even by hosts with whom I did not share a language.  It goes beyond buying a drink at a bar or a meal at a restaurant.  People opened their lives to me for long hours of nibbling salad and sipping vodka, and usually I couldn't leave without being given a bottle of home-made rakia or a package of meatballs or ... just something to keep that warm feeling alive.


The USA (where I have now landed - for the moment)

Grocery shopping.  I am still building my impressions stateside, but there is already one thing that I find myself thinking about when I'm elsewhere.  That is, how the food shops are always well stocked with a good range of ready-to-eat fresh fruit and vegetables.  This is not to say that the produce in Britain or Finland, for example, is not fresh, but it does tend to be more seasonal. It also tends to be less convenient. Maybe the truth is that I just like it when someone else does the washing, slicing, and dicing of fresh produce.  Perhaps it's my imagination, but cooking seems so much easier over here.