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Editor�s NoteIt�s funny that when you live in a foreign country far from your home, the things that you miss the most don�t end up being the things that you thought you�d miss. I really miss my family and friends. That�s not too surprising. Nobody can take the place of your family, and I�ve never made friends here like the ones that I had back home. One of the other things that I miss is the easy access to really good music. The choices here are pretty limited, especially since my tastes run more toward the offbeat and hard to find. If all I wanted to listen to was the Black Eyed Peas, Shayne Ward or Girly Berry, I�d be set. I can�t even get iTunes here, for heaven�s sake. (Hear that, Steve?) Among other things I also miss, in no particular order, are beef jerky, pine trees and driving on the right side of the road. They�re small things, but taken together they sometimes get me down. Don�t get me wrong � I like living in Thailand. But as the old cliché goes, it�s the little things. But sometimes I get a pleasant surprise, something that I�ve missed that suddenly appears out of the blue unlooked for. Take for instance my recent discovery of really good burritos. Good Mexican food is difficult to find in Thailand�s City of Angels, but at last somebody has opened a place on Sukhumvit that actually knows how to make a tasty burrito. A quick note to anybody who might wonder or be thinking of opening their own Mexican restaurant in the future: Tacos should not have beans in them, and never, under any circumstances, should a burrito include corn of any kind. Another thing that I�ve missed since I came here all those years ago is diet soda in any flavour besides cola. I don�t drink regular fizzy drinks because they�re nothing but empty calories and are bad for your teeth. Pepsi Max and Coke Zero are great, but there�s more to life than cola. And I get enough caffeine in my daily dose of coffee. For the past four years or so, I�d been complaining to anybody who�d listen that I wished there were other diet sodas to choose from. With that in mind, you can imagine how happy I was on a recent trip to the supermarket to find Sprite Zero. Now, I wasn�t as happy as, say, if I�d discovered a trunk full of gold under my patio, but one takes one�s pleasure where one can. Because I�m basically a fatalist at heart and assume that nothing good ever lasts, I stock up on the stuff every time I go to the store. I even pick up an extra bottle when I go to Seven � even if I don�t need it. So life has recently become just a small bit better for me here, so far from home. And once again, it�s a little thing that did it. Sean Vale |
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