The More Curious Culture Shocks Of The USA vs. UK

Being a Brit living in America is full of surprises, and you never know where the next one will come from. I was alone in the house the other day and became aware of the sound of water running. It was one of those things that slowly crept into the consciousness, and eventually surfaced as … Read more

All The Fun Of A County Fair In Rural Illinois

One of the summer traditions in both the UK and the USA is the County Fair. In my time living in the UK, I’d been to a couple of these, the most recent being in Norfolk. So it was with interest that I attended a County Fair in rural Illinois. I wasn’t sure if there … Read more

Life’s A Beach at Lake Michigan

The last place I lived in the UK before emigrating was on the North Norfolk coast, about 5 miles from a most pleasant beach. I would often just go there for on the spur of the moment just to walk on the sand or enjoy the seascapes. Before that I lived in a London suburb, … Read more

Out And About – Interstate Travelling In The USA

Over the last few months I have had occasion to drive between St Louis, Chicago and Northern Illinois quite regularly, and interstate travelling makes it easy to do these fairly long distances, much easier than equivalent distances back in the UK. One thing that is noticeable as you travel, not just on these routes, but … Read more

Out Of Contact

There is much to love about living an expat life, but one thing that is really hard that family members and close friends are so far away. It is hard to comprehend just how difficult communication over long distances must have been before the internet age. Living as I do in an area that was … Read more

Clang, Clang, Clang Went The Trolley

An exciting new development has started here in St Louis, as work on the Delmar Loop Trolley gets underway. I’m sure there have been other films set here, but “Meet me in St Louis” is certainly the most famous. Like many of these films that “everybody has seen” it seemed to pass me by entirely, … Read more

For The Birds

One weekend in early February, my wife asked me first thing on Saturday morning if I had filled up the car with gas, and then asked if I was up for a road trip. You bet I was, and before long we were heading off to… somewhere, but where was to be a surprise. We … Read more

A New Expat In St Louis

(Welcome! This is my first post here on Expat Focus, so I thought I’d start with a look at some of the things I’ve noticed since being a resident in America.) When I first moved here to St Louis from the United Kingdom almost 3 years ago, I was constantly being asked where I was … Read more